TEN STEPS CHAPTER 8 EXERCISE SHEET 1 Purpose and Tone CONCEPT REVIEW Complete each of the following questions. Selected examples have been written in for you in order to aid you with coming up with your own. a. When a text s purpose is to inform, it will b. an example of an informative text is A news article about a recent earthquake c. When a text s purpose is to persuade, it will d. an example of a persuasive text is An essay in favor of a woman s right to choose e. When a text s purpose is to entertain, it will f. an example of an entertaining text is A graphic novel g. Name 1-2 texts that might combine two purposes: 1
h. Explain what an author s tone is. i. List an adjective that describes a tone, and then write a sentence that reflects that tone. Cheerful: There is simply nothing better than getting up in the morning to do what you love to do. PART 1 DIRECTIONS: Read each item. Then choose the primary purpose of the item. 1. More than half of adult Americans are overweight, and more than a fifth are obese. 2. Fast-food chains should not be allowed to advertise their high-fat, high-calorie products to children. 3. I get my exercise every day by lifting weights: my heavy arms and legs. 4. Medical problems associated with obesity include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease, arthritis, diabetes, breast cancer, and colon cancer. 2
5. My son explained that the healthy vegetable side of his stomach felt full, but that the dessert side was very empty. 6. To reduce crime and make the city safer for residents, police must enforce the new curfew and keep teenagers off the streets at night. 7. My brother says that I was so ugly as a kid that my mother had to tie a pork chop around my neck to get our dog to play with me. 8. Scientists are almost certain that a catastrophic collision between the Earth and a large meteor will happen sometime in the next fifty thousand years. 9. When I saw my daughter dumping large amounts of salt on her food, I asked, "Would you like a little dinner with your salt?" The primary purpose of this statement is to: 10. (1) If manufacturers of children's breakfast cereals were honest, they would call their products names like "Too Much Sugar Crisps" and "Fake Fruit Flakes." (2) Breakfast foods targeting children are filled with excess sugars and unnecessary chemical dyes. (3) Such foods condition young children to start their days with sweetened foods, making them more likely to continue eating heavily sugared foods as adults. (4) In addition, these cereals are often more expensive than healthier foods. (5) When shopping for children's breakfast foods, parents should leave these little boxes of sugar chips where they belong on store shelves. 3
The primary purpose of the above passage is to: PART 2 DIRECTIONS: Read each passage. Then choose the correct answer to each question. Passage 1 (1) Some students spend their first weeks in college lost in a dangerous kind of fantasy. (2) They feel, "All will be well, for here I am in college. (3) I have a student ID in my pocket, a sweatshirt with the college name on it, and textbooks under my arm. (4) All this proves I am a college student. (5) I have made it. (6) The worst is now behind me." (7) Such students have succumbed to a fantasy we all at times succumb to: the belief that we will get something for nothing. (8) But everyone knows from experience that this hope is a false one. (9) Life seldom gives us something for nothing and students must understand that school won't either. 1. The primary purpose of Passage 1 is to: Passage 2 (1) A community of nuns living in the Bronx faced a problem when their dog died. (2) There was too much tar and concrete in the Bronx for easy burial, so the nuns decided to put their old German shepherd in a big suitcase. (3) They would take their beloved pet to a convent in Yonkers, New York, where there was land enough for a decent burial. (4) Two of the sisters lugged the heavy suitcase to the subway. (5) At the station a courteous man helped the women in the brown Franciscan habits to lift the load onto the train. (6) On the crowded train two passengers gave up their seats to the sisters, and the kind man took a position with the suitcase not far behind them. (7) All seemed to be going well until they arrived at their stop, when a big surprise awaited them. (8) Their suitcase was gone, obviously stolen by the man, who was not so nice after all. (9) Happily, their surprise was not the only surprise of the day. 2. The primary purpose of Passage 2 is to: Passage 3 (1) The United States has always been a diverse society. (2) In 1673, more than three centuries ago, a visitor to what is now New York City was astonished to find that eighteen languages were spoken among the city's eight thousand inhabitants. (3) By the middle of the nineteenth century, so many people from so many lands had come to the United States that the novelist Herman Melville exclaimed, "You cannot spill a drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole world." (4) One can only imagine what Melville would say today (5) The United States has become the most diverse society on the face of the Earth. (6) For more than a century, most immigrants to the United States were Europeans Irish, Germans, English, Scandinavians, Greeks, Poles, Italians, and others. (7) Together with African Americans, they made America the "melting pot" 4
of the world. (8) Today another great wave of immigration more than one million people a year, mostly from Asia and Latin America is transforming the United States into what one writer has called the "first universal nation," a multicultural society of unmatched diversity. 3. The primary purpose of Passage 3 is to: a. inform readers that the United States is and always was a diverse society. b. persuade readers that a multicultural society is the best type of society. c. entertain readers with colorful facts about the United States. 4. The tone of Passage 3 is one of a. distress. b. amazement. c. tolerance. d. compassion. Passage 4 (1) Habitat for Humanity is a program aimed at eliminating substandard housing and homelessness around the world. (2) Habitat employees and dedicated volunteers work together to build new homes and renovate old ones that are then sold at no profit to families in need. (3) The Habitat volunteers are rewarded with a keen sense of accomplishment and strong bonds of friendship. (4) New volunteers are needed throughout the country to continue the work of this wonderful organization. (5) No special building skills are required. (6) Wouldn't you like to join the thousands who have enabled more than 300,000 people around the world to live in sturdy, decent housing? 5. The primary purpose of Passage 4 is to: a. inform readers about the existence and work of Habitat for Humanity. b. persuade readers to volunteer to help Habitat for Humanity. c. entertain readers with details about an interesting organization. 6. The main tone of Passage 4 can be described as a. compassionate. b. humble. c. admiring. d. lighthearted. 5
Passage 5 (1) Our country has lost its head when it comes to gun control. (2) When the framers of the United States Constitution said that people have the right to bear arms, they did not mean highpowered automatic rifles and assault weapons. (3) Such guns are designed to kill not defend. (4) The long range and high power of these weapons jeopardize the safety of people miles away from where the gun is fired. (5) No one is safe as long as these guns are available. (6) And each time another one is manufactured and brought into a neighborhood, America's streets become more dangerous. (7) We have a right to be safe at home, but these weapons do not guarantee safety. (8) They prevent it. (9) Until we outlaw them once and for all, we will have to live like prisoners in our own homes. 7. The primary purpose of Passage 5 is to a. objective. b. impassioned and indignant. c. sarcastic and revengeful. d. relaxed and chatty. Passage 6 8. The tone of Passage 5 can be described as (1) During our daily bouts of pessimism, we can see its constructive role in our lives. (2) In these mild forms, pessimism serves the purpose of pulling us back a bit from the risky exaggerations of our optimism, making us think twice, keeping us from making rash, foolhardy gestures. (3) The optimistic moments of our lives contain the great plans, the dreams, and the hopes. (4) Reality is gently distorted to give the dreams room to flourish. (5) Without these times we would never accomplish anything difficult and intimidating; we would never even attempt the just barely possible. (6) Mount Everest would remain unscaled, the four-minute mile unrun; the jet plane and the computer would be blueprints sitting in some financial vice president's wastebasket. 9. The primary purpose of Passage 6 is to a. inform readers about research on pessimism and optimism. b. persuade readers of the usefulness of both pessimism and optimism. c. entertain readers with inspiring achievements. 10. The tone of Passage 6 can be described as a. critical but concerned. b. lighthearted and amused. c. cynical and disbelieving. d. serious and positive. 6