Determining

the Author’s
Purpose
English 8 Quarter 1 Lesson 6
EXPECTATIONS

this lesson will help you learn and

understand: Determining the Author’s
Purpose.
PRETEST

Directions: Read the description of each text

and identify the main purpose of the author.
Write the letter of the answer on the space
provided before each item.
_____ 1. A recipe to make an award-winning spicy chicken
salad

a. Persuade b. Inform c. Entertain

_____ 2. A note from your friend asking you to be his science

partner

a. Persuade b. Inform c. Entertain

_____ 3. A map of the school showing all of the emergency
exits

a. Persuade b. Inform c. Entertain

_____ 4. A poem about a chef who ruins every meal he cooks

a. Persuade b. Inform c. Entertain

_____ 5. A speech suggesting that the 8th-grade class should
read The Hunger Games

a. Persuade b. Inform c. Entertain

_____ 1. A recipe to make an award-winning spicy chicken
salad

a. Persuade b. Inform c. Entertain

_____ 2. A note from your friend asking you to be his science

partner

a. Persuade b. Inform c. Entertain

_____ 3. A map of the school showing all of the emergency
exits

a. Persuade b. Inform c. Entertain

_____ 4. A poem about a chef who ruins every meal he cooks

a. Persuade b. Inform c. Entertain

_____ 5. A speech suggesting that the 8th-grade class should
read The Hunger Games

a. Persuade b. Inform c. Entertain

RECAP
Did you know that
everything you read has a purpose?
When an author writes something
(book, magazine, newspaper,
article, etc.), he chooses his words
that focus on what he hopes to
achieve. A purpose that refers to
the „whys‟ behind his writings,
and identifying the author’s
purpose accurately is essential for
the student to effectively evaluate a
piece of writing.
LESSON
Identifying the Author’s Purpose is
an important component of reading
comprehension. That is because knowing
why an author wrote a text is the key to
knowing what to remember when you’ve
read the last page. It’s sort of like setting a
purpose for comprehension.
In general, there are three (3) basic reasons for an
author to write something: to persuade, to inform, or to
entertain their reader. These can easily be remembered
with the PIE acronym.

P - is for Persuade
I - is for Inform
E - is for Entertain
PERSUADE
 Persuade
+ If the author’s purpose is to persuade, the author will want you to believe
his position or point of view. This purpose can be found in all kinds of
writing.
+ It can be in fiction writing that tends to include a message or a life lesson.
However, it is most commonly the motivation behind essays,
advertisements, and political writings such as speeches and propagandas.
+ To identify when the author’s purpose is to persuade, students should ask
themselves if they feel that the writer is trying to get them to believe
something or take a specific action.
For example:
“Rules are very important. They help keep
things running smoothly. Rules let you know what
you can and cannot do whether you are playing a
game or explaining how to act in class. You
should follow rules; they help people get along.”

signals persuasion
 In the example presented, we can clearly
state that the purpose of the author towards the
reader is to convince them how following rules
will help people (the reader) to get along.
Also, the clause “You should follow rules”
indicates that the author is persuading the readers
to do so.
INFORM
Inform
+ When an author’s purpose is to inform, they usually
wish to enlighten their readers about a real-world
topic. Often, he does this by providing lots of facts.
Informational texts are geared toward imparting
information to readers to educate them on a given
topic.
Inform

+ Many types of schoolbooks are written with the

express purpose of informing the reader. Added to
textbooks, we also have encyclopedias, recipe books,
and newspapers.
Inform
+ In the process of informing the reader, the author makes use of
facts, a certain way to spot the author’s purpose to inform.
However, when the author’s purpose is persuasion, he likewise
provides readers some facts in convincing them. The main
difference between the two is that, when the intention is to
inform, facts are presented only to teach the reader. And on the
other hand, when the author’s purpose is to persuade, common
facts are most likely accompanied by the author’s opinion.
 signals information
For example:
“Rodrigo Duterte, also called Digong, (born
March 28, 1945, in Maasin, Philippines), Filipino
politician who was elected president of the
Philippines in 2016.”
 The information that has been introduced in the
example are all facts about the subject of the topic,
which is Rodrigo Duterte, the 16th president of the
Philippines. These facts support that the purpose of the
author towards the reader is to inform, and also, facts
presented to the subject teach the reader to understand
accurately what’s the subject all about.
ENTERTAIN
Entertain
+ If the author’s purpose is to entertain, one goal maybe is to tell the
story or to describe characters, places, or events (real or imaginary).
+ Examples of entertaining texts include scripts, poems, stories, jokes,
or even comic strips.
+ When a writer is attempting to entertain readers, he uses a variety of
techniques to engage their attention. He may employ humor into his
story, or even have characters tell jokes.
For example:

“The boys were happy when they wake up to

find that it was windy outside. It would be a
perfect day to fly a kite. They grabbed their kites
and went to the park. They spent the whole day
there having kite contests and races. The best part
was that no one broke or lost his kite.”
 The passage is an example of the Author’s
Purpose: to entertain, because the author amuses
the reader by way of telling what’s the character
has been doing. Moreover, the author also
describes clearly the feelings and emotions that
have been felt by the characters as they do the
flying of the kite that serves as the subject of the
passage.
Guided Practice

Read the following passages and answer the

questions that follow.
1) “His face appeared in the window.
She knew he had been the cause of
her waking at 3 a.m. Was she seeing
things? Was his face real? She tried
to lie and decide what to do. Just
then, the window shattered. She flew
across the room to the hallway and
straight into her mother's room.”
Question:
What’s the author’s purpose in the passage?
A.Inform
B.Entertain
C.Persuade
 The answer is B, to entertain, where the
author is trying to capture a suspenseful
mood in the story, and simply telling what’s
the character of the story has been doing
amidst that frightening thoughts and feelings
she has been experiencing.
2) “It is recommended that parents
should read to their children everyday,
starting as early as six months of age.
When you read with your children, you
are starting them off in life as a life-long
reader and learner. It is never too late to
pick up a book and read; people in their
eighties have learned how to read and
discovered the pleasure of reading. Turn
off the television and read a book!”
Question:
What’s the author’s purpose in the passage?
A.Inform
B.Entertain
C.Persuade
 The correct answer is C, to persuade. The
author shares an emotional appeal to do the
right thing: READ! Also, the last sentence
tells us to do something: “Turn off the
television.”
3) “Film writer and director M. Night
Shyamalan gained international
recognition when he wrote and directed
1999‟s The Sixth Sense, which was
nominated for six Academy Awards
including Best Picture, Best Director, and
Best Original Screenplay. (That's the
award for scriptwriting!) His 2002 film
Signs, in which he also acted, gained both
critical and financial success.
Question:
What’s the author’s purpose in the
passage?
A.Inform
B.Entertain
C.Persuade
 The answer is A, to inform the reader
about M. Night Shyamalan’s
filmography.
WRAP-UP
To wrap everything up that we have talked about in this lesson, let us always
remember that authors write for different purposes. They may write to persuade, to
inform, and/or to entertain. Always remember the acronym
PIE.
+ P is for Persuade – the author shares their opinion with the reader or tries to get
you to do something, buy something, or believe something
+ I is for Inform – the author presents facts to the reader or tells you how to do
something
+ E is for Entertain – the author amuses the reader or simply the passage is
somewhat enjoyable to read, tells a personal story, or uses a story to teach a lesson.
VALUING
In our lives, we serve as authors on how are we
going to navigate our lives towards achievements and
successes. And just like the entire idea in this lesson, a
great author should consider purposes on how he/she
would write his/her story to make it more meaningful;
a purpose that would fuel his/her passion to be more
determined in reaching his/her dreams.