Discovering an author's purpose and tone in a text

2. What’s your purpose?
Think about your purpose for being
in school for a moment.
Why are you here?
You must have some reason, some
purpose, for why you decided to sit
in this class today and every week
for 16 weeks.

3. Writers have a purpose too
While writing, writers typically have a purpose for
doing so.
Think about when you write: Do you just write for no
reason, or is there a purpose?
Most of the texts you read will be written with a
purpose.

4. Purpose: What is it?
A purpose is a writer’s reason for writing
A good way to determine the writer’s purpose
is to ask:
“What is the main reason why this
writer wrote this?”

5. Purpose: Three Types
To inform: Gives information on a
subject.
To persuade: Tries to convince the
reader to agree with the writer’s point of
view on a subject.
To entertain: Amuses or delights.

6. Try it
Take a look at the book covers on page 331 and try
to determine the writer’s purpose of each.
Then do Check Your Understanding on page 331.

7. But what if there is more than one
purpose evident?
Your goal as a reader is to identify the PRIMARY purpose.
Consider this question: “What is the main reason why this writer
wrote this?”
Your goal should be find the primary purpose.
However, writers will often combine purposes. They might be
trying to persuade AND inform.
In that case, always try to identify the PRIMARY one. Which
one is the author doing more of?

8. Try It
Please complete Practice 1 and 2 on pages 333-335.

9. Tone: What is it?
A writer’s tone reveals
the attitude that he or
she has toward a
subject.
Tone is expressed
through the words and
details a writer chooses.

10. Tone: similar to voice
Just like a speaker who can project one or
more tones, so can writers.
A tone might be:
Angry, sad, respectful, morose, sympathetic,
hopeful, humorous, matter-of-fact, shocked,
etc!
Page 337 have a whole list of tones!

11. Try It
Take a look at Check Your Understanding on page
338 to help you better understand tone.

12. Test Yourself
1. What is a writer’s purpose?
2. What are the three types of purpose?
3. What happens if there is more than one purpose?
4. What is a writer’s tone?
5. What are some examples of tone?