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AUTHOR’S PURPOSE
the reason why the author
wrote the passage.
THERE ARE 4 MAIN
PURPOSES FOR WRITING:
To Inform
To Influence/Persuade
To Express
To Entertain

WHEN THERE IS A TEST
QUESTION THAT ASKS YOU
TO DETERMINE THE
AUTHOR’S PURPOSE, LOOK
FOR CLUES IN THE PASSAGE
TO HELP YOU CHOOSE THE
CORRECT ANSWER.
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CLUES THAT THE AUTHOR IS WRITING
TO INFORM
 Explanations
 Definitions
 Illustrations
 Diagrams
 Maps
 Charts
 (bolded/underlined)
Headings
 Bulleted or numbered lists.
CLUES THAT THE AUTHOR IS WRITING
TO INFLUENCE/PERSUADE
 Opinions
 Words
like should and must
that assign value such as
worst and best.
 Words
CLUES THAT THE AUTHOR IS WRITING
TO EXPRESS
 Frequent
use of the word I
 Emotional words such as feel,
smile, cower, sob, giggle, etc.
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CLUES THAT THE AUTHOR IS WRITING
TO ENTERTAIN
 Vivid
descriptions
 Dialogue
 Rhymes
 Drama
 Humor
AUTHOR’S PURPOSE
PRACTICE:
Notice how the following passages
are about the same topic, opossums,
but they do so in very different ways.
What is the purpose of each passage?
PASSAGE 1
The common opossum is the only kind
of opossum found in the United States.
This species grows about as big as a house
cat. It has rough grayish-white hair, a
long snout, dark eyes, and big hairless
ears. This opossum has a long tail that
does not have much hair on it. The animal
can hang upside down by wrapping its tail
around a tree branch. Its teeth and claws
are sharp.
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The purpose of passage 1 is TO
INFORM
because all it does is EXPLAIN key details about
the opossum (size of a housecat, grayish white
hair, long snout, dark eyes, hairless ears, long
tail, sharp teeth and claws, hang upside down on
a tree branch)
PASSAGE 2
One warm fall evening, our son Tom
went out to the garage to feed the cat.
Suddenly we heard him yell out, “A rat! A
Texas-sized rat!” His older brother Joe
went to investigate and reported back,
“Sure enough, Mom. It is a rat!” Finally,
Barb and I went to look at this “rat.”
When the little critter turned around to
see us gawking, we realized that it was an
opossum…a fat opossum.
The purpose of passage 2 is TO
ENTERTAIN
because there are VIVID DETAILS (the little critter
turned around to see us gawking), DIALOGUE (“A
Texas-sized rat!”), and HUMOR.
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SOMETIMES
THE TEST WILL
ASK ABOUT AUTHOR’S
PURPOSE, AND THE CHOICES
WON’T EXACTLY BE THE SAME
4 PURPOSES
THAT WE JUST
WENT OVER.
Extended practice with identifying
author’s purpose. Answer these on
your own.
PASSAGE 3
Hand grippers can help give your
arms those bulging biceps you’re after, but
only if they offer enough resistance. If you
can squeeze them repeatedly for one to
two minutes, and your hands don’t get
tired, they’re too weak for you. You can
keep buying stronger ones or make
something at home that can do the same
job.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF PASSAGE 3?
A.
B.
C.
D.
to instruct about the correct use of hand
grippers
to persuade people to buy the right kind
of hand gripper
to describe an event that happened while
using hand grippers
to instruct how to make hand grippers at
home.
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PASSAGE 4
Twelve-year-old Nadia told us a true story that seemed
unbelievable about her family’s journey to the United
States. In Romania, her father was involved in
politics on a national level, opposing the communist
regime of Ceausescu. Because of death threats made
against her family, Nadia and her family had to leave
the country in the middle of the night. They had
arranged for a boat to meet them, so they could sail
the Black Sea to freedom in Bulgaria. Because they
left in a hurry, they took nothing with them except
their clothes. The boat never came, so they swam into
the sea until a boat from Bulgaria discovered her
family swimming. All of them survived the swim
except for Nadia’s little brother, Dimitri. From that
country, they obtained refugee status and traveled to
the United States. Nadia is very grateful to be living
here, and after hearing her story, so are we.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF PASSAGE 4?
A.
B.
C.
D.
to instruct readers about the history of
Romania
to describe an event in the politics of
Eastern Europe
to persuade readers that democracy is a
violent form of government
to relate an adventure one family had
while escaping oppression
PASSAGE 5
My family came to America in 1985.
No one spoke a word of English. In school,
I was in an English as a Second Language
class with other foreign-born children. My
class was so overcrowded that it was
impossible for the teacher to teach
English properly. I dreaded going to
school each morning because of the fear of
not understanding what people were
saying and the fear of being laughed at.
Yu-Lan (Mary) Ying, an eyewitness account about learning English
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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF PASSAGE 5?
A.
B.
C.
D.
to cast doubt on the wisdom of
immigrating to the United States
to motivate schools to spend more money
on English classes
to share the personal experience of a
foreign-born English student
to create suspense about whether
English classes are useful for all
students
ANSWERS
Passage 3: A. (to instruct about the correct use of
hand grippers [to inform])
 Passage 4: D. (to relate an adventure one family
had while escaping oppression [to inform])
 Passage 5: C. (to share the personal experience of
a foreign-born English student [to express])

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