Chapter 10: Review Test 6
 
Author's Purpose

A. Label each of the following types of writing according to its purpose:

I = to inform
P = to persuade
E = to entertain

      ___ 1. A chemistry textbook  

  I
  P
  E


      ___ 2. A romance novel  

  I
  P
  E


      ___ 3. A newspaper editorial  

  I
  P
  E


      ___ 4. A front-page news story in a newspaper  

  I
  P
  E


      ___ 5. A comic book  

  I
  P
  E


      B. Read the following passages. Identify the primary purpose of each passage.

6.

Renewed

The afternoon finds me, on the front porch in the same rocker
mother used to quiet our baby fears, searching for peace.
The steady plop of rain drops on the mulch in the azalea beds,
the fresh, sweet scent of the newly washed earth,
the glistening greens of grass, and trees, and shrubs,
the steamy mist rising from the black top road,
All awaken me to a moment created by Hands
stronger and more sure than mine.
And peace comes to me.

Purpose: ___  

 
 
 


      7.

Five Signs You're Being Too Lenient

     Not too long ago, I was in the checkout line of a trendy boutique with my 13-year-old daughter. I wasn't happy with the overpriced clothing she had bullied me into buying, any more than I was with the slow, snooty service. But then came the deal breaker: As I handed the shirts over to the cashier, I noticed they would barely cover the midriff, a clear violation of my daughter's school dress code. "You can't get these," I said flatly. "But you already agreed," she hissed back. Before you could say "public humiliation," she stalked off, planting herself defiantly behind a rack of coats.
     So did I drag her out kicking and screaming? Abandon the shirts-and my daughter-to seek solace in a quart of Jamoca Almond Fudge? Hardly. I slammed down my money, gathered up the bag, as well as my tattered dignity, and made a beeline for the exit.
     Being a pushover is a problem for many parents.

—Rubin, "Five Signs You're Being Too Lenient," Good Housekeeping. January 2003, p. 56.

Purpose: ___  

 
 
 


      8.

Gangs Around the World

     Nearly four decades ago, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the United Nations General Assembly became alarmed about the worldwide rate of youth crime and gang behavior. In 1965, Interpol studied over 32 countries. In the study, a gang was defined as a group of four or more young people who take part in antisocial or illegal behaviors. Gangs were found most often in the larger cities of developed countries. And the numbers of gangs had risen since the end of the Second World War. Many of those who were questioned said that the growth of gangs had three main causes: the destruction caused by war, homelessness, and lack of family unity.

—Adapted from Hazlehurst & Hazlehurst, Gangs and Youth Subculture, p. 1.

Purpose: ___  

 
 
 


      9.

Emma Chappell, Founder of the
United Bank of Philadelphia

     "First of all," says Emma Chappell, known throughout her native Philadelphia as "the people's banker," "you have to understand that my whole life has been a series of crises. I'm not someone who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth." To look at her, you might easily think otherwise: Dressed in a gray pinstriped wool jacket, seated behind a heavy desk, gold and silver jewelry accenting her neck and wrists, Chappell radiates not only prosperity but the kind of confident, relaxed authority one might expect from a Rockefeller, a Mellon, or some such old-line financier. She herself, however, is neither male nor white nor to the manor born. She's a big, robust African American woman, high-spirited, and alive with far more humor than one would expect from the average bank's CEO.

—Farnham, Forbes' Great Success Stories, p. 107.

Purpose: ___  

 
 
 


      10.

Not the Answer

     Suicide is not the answer. If you think it is, talk to Sue Smith. She was only 17 years old the day she found her father. He was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. She found him in his car parked in their driveway. More than 50 years later, at the age of 70, she still recalls every vivid detail of the gory scene of his brutal self-murder. And not one day goes by that she doesn't blame herself for his death. "Somehow, I should have known," she says. She still believes to this day that she could have stopped his self-destruction. For decades, she struggled with depression, guilt, and anger. She found it difficult to trust anyone, much less become truly intimate with someone. Sue's father's life insurance benefits put her through college. It was his stated reason for killing himself. "At least this way, I am of some use to you," his note had said.
     "I would have rather had him a thousand times over than his money," Sue states flatly. "Suicide has more than one victim," she says with wise, sad eyes. She pleads, "Tell anyone thinking about committing this horrid act: it is not the answer!"

Purpose: ___  

 
 
 







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