Author’s Purpose, Tone, Point of View & Intended Audience PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Author’s Purpose, Tone, Point of View & Intended Audience PDF

Description

20/4/2018

DETERMINING THE AUTHOR’S PURPOSE, TONE, POINT OF VIEW, AND INTENDED AUDIENCE

ELC231/230 – APB UITM SHAH ALAM

Author’s Purpose

1

• An author’s purpose is simply his or her reason for writing. • Common purposes include:

--to inform (to give information) --to instruct (to explain how to do something) --to persuade (to convince readers to do or believe something) --to entertain (to present humor or other enjoyable material)  Author’s purpose is usually found in the beginning and/ or

the end of the passage

1

20/4/2018

Purpose??

3

Author’s Tone

2

• Tone refers to the author’s use of words

and writing style to convey his or her attitude towards a topic. • Tone can be positive (+),negative (-), or neutral. • an author's tone is described by adjectives:

cynical, depressed, sympathetic, cheerful, outraged, positive, angry, sarcastic, prayerful, ironic, solemn, vindictive, intense excited.

2

20/4/2018

Examples of Tone •Cautious •Humorous •Affectionate •Hostile •Critical •Objective •Personal •Violent

• • • • • • • •

Solemn Serious Sarcastic Disapproving Enthusiastic Desperate Pleading Indifferent

Real-life Example You can say the same phrase in different ways, each showing a different attitude or tone.

Try saying, “Come here, Sally” using the following tones: • Commanding or bossy • Secretive • Loving • Angry • Excited • Playful

3

20/4/2018

•

If you misinterpret the tone (such as sarcasm), you may misinterpret the message.

•

Tone and purpose go together.

•

Ask yourself what the author’s voice would sound like if he or she had spoken the words rather than written them.

• The tone can change very quickly, or remain the same throughout the writing. • Tone is expressed by the use of syntax, point of view, diction, and the level of formality of the writing.

Example in Text Donovan and Larry were early for baseball practice. They decided to run up and down the bleachers to exercise before the rest of the team arrived. Larry was first to the top. He whispered to Donovan, “Look over there.” He pointed to a man sleeping on the highest, narrow bench of the bleachers. His pants and shirt were faded, worn, and too large for his thin frame. One big toe stuck out of a huge hole in his sock. His scraped-up shoes sat a few feet away. Donovan whispered, “We should help him out. Let’s hide something good in his shoes. Then, when he wakes up, he will have a nice surprise.” Larry smiled. He enjoyed giving to others. The tone of this passage is: a. positive b. neutral c. Negative

Which word best describes the author’s attitude toward the homeless man? a. Angry b. uncaring c. Sympathetic Tone clue words: help, nice, good, giving, smile

8

4

20/4/2018

What is Mood? • The mood of a text is how the reader feels after

reading. • The details that the author uses can help create mood. • The words that the author uses can help create mood.

9

Tone and Mood Together Example 1 During the holidays, my mother's house glittered with decorations and hummed with preparations. We ate cookies and drank cider while we helped her wrap bright packages and trim the tree. We felt warm and excited, listening to Christmas carols and even singing along sometimes. We would tease each other about our terrible voices and then sing even louder. Mood: Content, happy. How do we know? Details like “Warm and excited” and “glittered with decorations” are used by the author. What is the author’s TONE in this passage? Happy because the author uses words that make the reader feel happy thoughts like those experienced during the holidays. 10

5

20/4/2018

Example 2 The girls were playing in the pond, splashing each other and trying to catch fish with their hands. They were having fun, but kept looking over their shoulders at the looming forest. The long grass of the field kept moving and they sort of felt like they were being watched… About a half hour passed and still the girls kept checking the field for movements. It seemed like a pair of dark eyes was on them. They even considered going back inside, but that would mean homework time. So they continued splashing, but with caution now. Their eyes hardly left the field. Tone: threatening, suggesting a mood of fear and suspense. Words like "caution, dark, and looming” lead readers to the tone. Phrases like “looking over their shoulders,” “being watched,” and “checking the field for movement” lead readers to the mood.

11

Example 3 After New Year's the time came to put all the decorations away and settle in for the long, cold winter. The house seemed to sigh as we boxed up its finery. The tree was dry and brittle, and now waited lonely, by the side of the road to be picked up. Mood: Dreary, depressed. How do we know? "cold, sigh, brittle, lonely"

12

6

20/4/2018

3

Author’s Intended Meaning

• The author’s intended meaning is what the author wants

readers to understand, even if the words appear to be saying something different. • A sarcastic tone, for example, can change the meaning completely. • Ask yourself, “What is the author’s real meaning?”

Author’s Point of View

4

• An author’s point of view refers to his or her position on

an issue or, in other words, the author’s opinion or belief regarding an issue. --Authors may have conflicting points of view (opinions) about controversial issues. --When authors favor one side of an issue, they are said to have a bias in favor of that side of the issue. --Authors may be unbiased (neutral or objective).

7

20/4/2018

Author’s Intended Audience

5

• Intended audience means the people the writer

has in mind as the readers. • The intended audience will be --a specific person (e.g., a newspaper editor) --a group of people (e.g., college students, parents) --the general public (e.g., the public at large; the “typical” American adult)  Knowing the audience for a particular essay is

important because it determines the content that will appear in the writing.  The audience is WHO the author has in mind as

readers for his/ her passage.  Ask yourself: WHO is the author writing for?

The content of an essay that has a specific topic will vary depending on the intended audience.

Example • Let’s say you are writing an expository

(informative) essay on the most important practice techniques in becoming a better tennis player. your audience is beginning tennis ayers, or players who know little about e game, the techniques needed to get etter the writing should be more basic. you are writing to intermediate players ho want to become good enough to nter and/or win tournaments, the writing hould be more advanced.

8

20/4/2018

• Either way, the topic of the essay,

becoming a better tennis player, is the same, but because the audiences are different, the information in each essay will be different as well.

Try this out…

• Time is dangerous. If you don’t

control it, it will control you! If you don’t make it work for you, it will work against you. You must become the master of time, not the servant. In other words, as a college student, time management will be your number-one problem. 1.What is the author’s purpose? 2.Who is the author’s intended audience? 3.What is the author’s Main Idea?

• As a high school principal, I strongly believe that there shouldn’t be any penalties for students who are caught cheating. After all, everyone does it. Besides, cheating in school will help prepare these same students to cheat on their employers later on, to cheat on their spouses when they marry, and to cheat on their taxes. In fact we could help students even more if we offered a course on how to cheat. 1.What is the author’s purpose? 2.Who is the author’s intended audience? 3.What is the author’s Main Idea?

9

20/4/2018

Review • Understanding the author’s purpose, tone,

point of view, and intended audience are complementary skills. • Understanding one skill helps you

understand the others. • If you think the purpose is to inform, think

about whether there is a more precise way to describe it. (For example, if it informs you about how to do something, call it instruct.) • Authors sometimes state their purpose. • Author’s point of view is also called the

“author’s argument.”

REMINDERS: • In literature, “point of view” means the person through

whose eyes the story is being told. • The author’s tone helps you understand the author’s

intended (real) meaning. • There are many words that can be used to describe an

author’s tone. • Don’t confuse a description of a topic with a description of

the tone. (A sad topic could be presented in a neutral tone.) • Be specific about who the intended audience is. (Do not say the intended audience is “the readers.” Tell who those readers would be.)

10...