Page 2 - Identifying the Author Purpose – Reading in English – ESL Library

Identifying the Author’s Purpose

Reading in English

Lesson Objective

In this lesson, you will learn how to find the author’s purpose in a short
text. First, let’s learn a useful acronym. An acronym is an abbreviation
(short form) that is pronounced like a word. It is made with the first letter
of a set of words (e.g., NASA).

Pre-Reading

A. Warm-Up “The purpose of

literature is to turn
The purpose of a text is why the author writes. The three main reasons an
author writes are to: blood into ink.”

• persuade —T. S. Eliot
• inform
• entertain

What useful acronym can help you remember these three purposes?

B. Vocabulary Preview

Match up as many words and meanings as you can.
Check this exercise again after seeing the words in context on page 3.

1. purpose a) not being on any side

2. persuade b) most important

3. entertain c) a reason

4. acronym d) a short form that uses the first letter of a set of words (e.g., NATO)

5. informative e) to cause another to enjoy

6. neutral f) to convince

7. recipient g) the person who receives

8. primary h) giving a lot of information

Copyright 2019, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only. (LOW INT – INT / VERSION 1.1) 2