Author's Purposes:  A Practice Page for "Tarantulas and Typhoid"

Examples of Author's Purposes

To inform	To provide accurate information that might help someone
To entertain	To tell a story that amuses people, like a fairy tale or a story book
To persuade	To convince someone to do something, to convince someone to think the author is right

Directions:  Carefully read each of the short paragraphs below.  For each paragraph, identify the author's purpose:  to inform, to entertain, or to persuade. Be careful!  Sometimes the author has more than one purpose in mind when writing a story!

Author's Purpose(s)	Item	Paragraph
	1.	"Twinkle, twinkle little star!  How I wonder what you are!"
	2.	The temperature yesterday was 96 degrees.
	3.	When 28 inches of rain fell in Houston, trucks floated away on Interstate 10 when the drivers drove into water they thought was shallow.  They were lucky to get away with their lives!
	4.	And the wolf huffed and puffed, and puffed and huffed, but he could not blow down the brick house.  The three little pigs were saved!  The oldest pig was very glad he had done all that work building his brick house.
	5.	So remember to brush your teeth with Toothy Toothpaste, the most popular brand of children's toothpaste, to prevent cavities!  And visit your dentist regularly!
	6.	The settlers who pitched their tents in Lawton and survived the tarantulas and typhoid had to be brave in order to survive.

Return to the "Tarantulas and Typhoid" Lesson Plan.