Lab Activity 48: Purpose and Tone in Nonfiction

Chapter 10: Tone and Purpose
Lab Activity 48: Purpose and Tone in Nonfiction

Objective
To identify the author's purpose and tone in works of nonfiction.

Step 2: Refer to Mark Twain's speech in Activity 48 in the Lab Manual, and then answer the questions that follow.

6. Twain pretends to present the purpose of his speech in the first paragraph as

a. an entertaining message about his childhood.

b. a cautionary message on three things he hopes the young ladies will avoid.

c. an instructive lecture on the negative consequence of sin.

d. none of these.

7. The three things Twain presents include all of the following except

a. smoking to excess.

b. gambling to excess.

c. drinking to excess.

d. lying to excess.

8. "Now, if you young ladies will refrain from all these things you will have all the virtues that anyone will honor and respect."

The tone of this sentence is

a. serious.

b. matter-of-fact.

c. tongue-in-cheek.

d. confident.

9. "While we were in a quandary I espied a valuable dog on the street. I picked up the canine and sold him to a man for three dollars."

Quandary means

a. an alley between two banks.

b. a portside city that is surrounded by wealth.

c. position that presented a difficult choice.

d. a pathway near a racetrack.

10. The purpose of the anecdote about the dog is

a. to present an entertaining example of how Twain needed to lie but rectified the situation so no one was hurt.

b. to persuade the young ladies to keep their dogs on a leash.

c. to inform the young ladies about the tactics of con artists.

d. none of these.