Understanding the author’s purpose
You will see questions on determining the author’s purpose on many standardized exams.
Students will be expected to determine the author’s purpose for different types of passages.
The author’s purpose usually fits into one of the following three categories:
- to inform or educate
- to persuade or argue
- to entertain or tell a story
Informing and Educating:
The first thing to remember is that you shouldn’t let the wording of the answer choices confuse you.
You may see answer choices like those below for questions asking you to determine the author’s purpose:
- to describe recent trends
- to provide the historical background
- to dispel a misconception
- to compare and contrast
The four answer choices in the preceding list are descriptions of specific functions from the “inform or educate” category.
For instance, passages that provide historical background or describe recent trends will inform the reader about dates and events.
Passages that wish to dispel a misconception will mention facts or statistics in order to clarify the mistake in past thinking.
So, passages that dispel a misconception will be informative in nature.
Comparison and contrast passages are also informative since they will discuss factual elements of the things being compared.
Persuading and Arguing:
Following persuasive or argumentative passages, you may see answer choices like these:
- to give an opinion
- to criticize
- to influence the reader
- to emphasize a particular point of view
So, in the same way that you may see specific answer choices for an informative passage, the answer choices for a persuasive or argumentative piece may also be more focused, like the ones above.
Author’s Purpose – Passage 1
Now read the passage below and answer the question that follows.
A cliché is a commonly-used phrase that expresses a particular idea or sentiment. Most of us use clichés in our day-to-day speech without even realizing it. For example, the phrase “an ax to grind” is believed to come from a popular story by Benjamin Franklin, while the works of Shakespeare have been the source of countless other phrases that have become clichés.
What is the author’s purpose in above passage?
A. to entertain
B. to inform
C. to give an opinion
D. to influence the reader
E. to tell a story
Informative articles will give reasons and examples that support the main theme of the passage.
This passage gives information about clichés and their origins. The writer gives the works of Benjamin Franklin and Shakespeare as examples to support the main theme.
So, the correct answer is B.
Author’s Purpose – Passage 2
Passage 2 is slightly different than passage 1 above. Read the passage below and answer the question that follows.
A cliché is a commonly-used phrase that expresses a particular idea or sentiment. Most of us use clichés in our day-to-day speech without even realizing it. Phrases are considered to be clichés when they become overused. Because these phrases are so widely overused, the original sources of many clichés have been long forgotten. Since clichés are overused and unoriginal, they are an indication of lazy thinking.
What is the author’s purpose in above passage?
A. to describe recent trends
B. to provide the historical background to a situation
C. to dispel a misconception
D. to argue a point
E. to tell a story
Passage 2 is very similar to passage 1.
However, passage 2 has an important difference because it ends with a strong assertion.
The strong assertion is that “Since clichés are overused and unoriginal, they are an indication of lazy thinking.”
When a passage is ends with a strong assertion like the one above, the author’s purpose is usually to argue a point.
So, the correct answer is D.
Author’s Purpose – Passage 3
Now read the passage below and answer the question that follows.
When most of us think of deserts, we recall sandy deserts such as the Sahara, which consists of over ten thousand square miles of sand-covered terrain. Contrary to the popular belief that deserts are vast, sandy wastelands, only about one-fifth of the desert area on earth is covered with sand.
What is the author’s purpose in above passage?
A. to emphasize a particular point of view
B. to provide the historical background to a situation
C. to describe recent trends
D. to compare and contrast
E. to dispel a common misconception
The brief passage above is factual, so its general purpose is to inform.
Here, we have the more specific answer choices that you may see for informative passages on your examination.
For passages like this, pay special attention to the phrases that the author uses.
In the last sentence, the author uses the phrase “contrary to popular belief” in order to dispel a common misconception.
So, the correct answer is E.
Author’s Purpose – Passage 4
Now read the modified passage below and answer the question that follows.
Contrary to the popular belief that deserts are vast, sandy wastelands, only about one-fifth of the desert area on earth is covered with sand. Even though they are lesser in number, sandy deserts such as the Sahara are impressive, containing over ten thousand square miles of sandy terrain.
What is the author’s purpose in above passage?
A. to entertain
B. to inform
C. to give an opinion
D. to influence the reader
E. to tell a story
Authors use adjectives and adjectival phrases to express opinions.
In the passage above, the author uses the adjective “impressive” to give her opinion about the Sahara.
So, the correct answer is C.