It's test time again and you've just finished reading the first paragraph in the test booklet and are preparing to answer the questions. The first question? Piece of cake! It's a context clue. The second question? No problem! The answer's right there. The third one is a little harder - it's an inference question, but you still figure it out.

Whoa! What's this? Which of the following was the author's purpose in writing this? "To torture children who have to take these tests," you think grumpily, but that answer is not one of your choices...

Authors' purpose questions are another way of saying, "Why did the author write this anyhow, or what was the reason this piece was written?"

to inform to perform a task to sell to inspire to correct a misunderstanding to show differing points of view to review a film to review a book

Entertain Instruct Persuade Describe

THE AUTHOR TELLS A STORY THAT DESCRIBES SOMETHING OR SOMEONE IN AN INTERESTING WAY!

Writing To Entertain Short Story Poetry Novel Drama Comedy Riddles Jokes Song lyrics

The author will explain or teach something in the story that the reader doesn’t know. The author provides knowledge to the reader.

Writing To Inform News articles Textbooks Biographies Documentaries Technical Manuals Charts, graphs, tables Power Points Recipes

The author tries to change our opinion on a topic by appealing to our emotions.

Writings that Persuade Editorials Advertisements Campaign speeches Bumper Stickers Posters Billboards Commercials Some graphs and charts Letters/ s

Authors often describe to support other purposes in writing. They use it to create a character, set a mood or envision a scene. To describe is to use senses to paint a picture.

Did the author try to make me laugh? Entertain Did the author want to tell me a story? Entertain Did the author try to amuse me? Entertain

Did the author give me facts? Inform Did the author try to teach me something? Inform Did the author try to convince me? Persuade Did the author want to change my opinion? Persuade

To whom do they write? Who might their audience be? Grandmother Friend Another student Teacher Adults Young children Taxpayers Teenagers Teenagers Scientists Scientists Doctors Doctors Politicians Politicians Babies Babies Criminals Criminals Voters Voters

Will: prepare your mind for the type of information in the reading make the article easier to summarize make it easier for you to discriminate between the article's main idea and important details