Rhetorical Purpose & Tone
Start
Start
Rhetorical Purpose & Tone
When someone decides to write a text message, an email, a comment in a post, or any type of text, there is always a reason behind this action. Let's see the following examples:
Example 1
Example 2
Continue
Rhetorical
Purpose & Tone
What is the purpose of this email?
Example 1
In other words, why is Susan writing this email?
Which of the following is the best answer?
To inform the company she is quitting her job.
To welcome a new employee.
To complain about her team at work.
Rhetorical
Purpose & Tone
What is the purpose of this email?
Example 1
In other words, why is Susan writing this email?
Which of the following is the best answer?
To inform the company she is quitting her job.
Correct!
From explicit ideas in the text such as the subject "Resignation – Susan Sharp" and the first line "… I am leaving my position...", you may infer that she wrote this email in order to quit her job.
Therefore, Susan's purpose for writing this email is to inform the company that she has decided to quit her job.
Rhetorical
Purpose & Tone
Example 2
This is a teacher's post for her students. They will do an activity online where they can interact by posting unpopular opinions.
Take a look at the post and think of the purpose/objective/reason the teacher had to show this to her students.
Which of the following best states the purpose of this post? In other words, what is the intention of the teacher with this post?
To give instructions of the activity.
To set clear rules for her students.
To show an example of an unpopular opinion.
Rhetorical
Purpose & Tone
Example 2
This is a teacher's post for her students. They will do an activity online where they can interact by posting unpopular opinions.
Take a look at the post and think of the purpose/objective/reason the teacher had to show this to her students.
Which of the following best states the purpose of this post?
In other words, what is the intention of the teacher with this post?
To set clear rules for her students.
Correct!
Here are three common purposes in writing:
Purpose
The author’s
reason for writing
is called
the purpose
selection
of a
Continue
To inform
Often, the cover and the title of a book or article will suggest the author’s main purpose.
What would you say is the primary purpose of each of these books?
To inform
To inform
To persuade
To persuade
To entertain
To entertain
To inform
Often, the cover and the title of a book or article will suggest the author’s main purpose.
What would you say is the primary purpose of each of these books?
To inform
To inform
To inform
To inform
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To entertain
To entertain
To entertain
To inform
Often, the cover and the title of a book or article will suggest the author’s main purpose.
What would you say is the primary purpose of each of these books?
To inform
To inform
To inform
To inform
To inform
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To entertain
To entertain
To entertain
To entertain
To inform
Often, the cover and the title of a book or article will suggest the author’s main purpose.
What would you say is the primary purpose of each of these books?
To inform
To inform
To inform
To inform
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To entertain
To entertain
To entertain
To entertain
Continue
To inform
Read this paragraph and decide what the author’s purpose is.
The typical American gobbles three burgers and four orders of fries every week. Toss in the pizzas, the popcorn, the sugary breakfast cereals, the sodas, the snack cakes, candy bars, ice cream and everything else we eat in lieu of real food in this society, and your body is like an eighteen-wheeler roaring down a high-fat highway straight to obesity and an early grave. Fast food is bad food. It’s loaded with bad stuff like fat and sugar and sodium. It’s packed with chemicals that are in there to make it taste and smell and feel like it’s real food. What it lacks is vitamins, minerals, fiber, all the stuff you really need.
Primary purpose:
To inform
To inform
To entertain
To entertain
To persuade
To persuade
To inform
Read this paragraph and decide what the author’s purpose is.
The typical American gobbles three burgers and four orders of fries every week. Toss in the pizzas, the popcorn, the sugary breakfast cereals, the sodas, the snack cakes, candy bars, ice cream and everything else we eat in lieu of real food in this society, and your body is like an eighteen-wheeler roaring down a high-fat highway straight to obesity and an early grave. Fast food is bad food. It’s loaded with bad stuff like fat and sugar and sodium. It’s packed with chemicals that are in there to make it taste and smell and feel like it’s real food. What it lacks is vitamins, minerals, fiber, all the stuff you really need.
Primary purpose:
The writer tells us the things that are wrong with fast food in order to persuade us that we shouldn’t eat it.
To persuade
Continue
To inform
Now try this paragraph.
I don’t know which is harder, taking my body to the doctor or my car to the garage. Both worry me. I’m always afraid they’ll find something I didn’t know about. The only advantage of taking my body to the doctor over taking my car to the garage is that the doctor never asks me to leave it overnight.
Primary purpose:
To inform
To inform
To entertain
To entertain
To persuade
To persuade
To inform
Read this paragraph and decide what the author’s purpose is.
I don’t know which is harder, taking my body to the doctor or my car to the garage. Both worry me. I’m always afraid they’ll find something I didn’t know about. The only advantage of taking my body to the doctor over taking my car to the garage is that the doctor never asks me to leave it overnight.
Primary purpose:
The writer uses playful and exaggerated details to entertain the reader. Clearly, the doctor is not going to ask the writer to leave his body overnight.
To entertain
Continue
To inform
What the author’s purpose in this paragraph?
Personal contact is necessary for common cold viruses to spread. The viruses must get into the nose, where they can infect the nasal membranes. Inhaling contaminated droplets produced when someone else coughs or sneezes may be one way to catch a cold. Cold viruses can remain infective even if they are outside the body for a few hours. Therefore, you can also catch a cold if you handle something that is contaminated with a cold virus—for example, the doorknob of a classroom or a restroom door—and then scratch your nose or rub your eyes with your contaminated fingers. The cold viruses can reach your nose when you rub your eyes because the virus can be passed down the tear ducts that go from the eyes into the nasal cavities.
Primary purpose:
To inform
To inform
To entertain
To entertain
To persuade
To persuade
To inform
What the author’s purpose in this paragraph?
Personal contact is necessary for common cold viruses to spread. The viruses must get into the nose, where they can infect the nasal membranes. Inhaling contaminated droplets produced when someone else coughs or sneezes may be one way to catch a cold. Cold viruses can remain infective even if they are outside the body for a few hours. Therefore, you can also catch a cold if you handle something that is contaminated with a cold virus—for example, the doorknob of a classroom or a restroom door—and then scratch your nose or rub your eyes with your contaminated fingers. The cold viruses can reach your nose when you rub your eyes because the virus can be passed down the tear ducts that go from the eyes into the nasal cavities.
Primary purpose:
The purpose is to inform us about how cold viruses spread. To do this, the author describes two specific ways they spread.
To inform
Continue
More than one purpose
might include a number of facts
Inform
Sometimes, writing may blend
Persuade
two or even three purposes.
Entertain
and even some comic touches.
For example, a persuasive article on the importance of avoiding junk food
But remember to focus on the author’s primary purpose.
Continue
There are other purposes in texts. Here is a list of them:
- to analyze
- to clarify
- to classify
- to compare
- to conclude
- to criticize
- to define
- to describe
- to develop
Continue
Tone
Tone is expressed through the words and details the writer selects.
Tone
is a
A writer’s voice can project one or more tones, or feelings, such as
writer's atttitude
towards his or her subject
Anger
Cheerfulness
Respect
Continue
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
3.People convicted of drunk driving should automatically lose their licenses and get jail terms.
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
3.People convicted of drunk driving should automatically lose their licenses and get jail terms.
4.Angora sweaters are made from the long, silky hair of Angora goats or rabbits.
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
3.People convicted of drunk driving should automatically lose their licenses and get jail terms.
4.Angora sweaters are made from the long, silky hair of Angora goats or rabbits.
5.The old Mary Tyler Moore Show, featuring a cast of likable characters with real and endearing human qualities, should be honored as the best show in the history of television.
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
3.People convicted of drunk driving should automatically lose their licenses and get jail terms.
4.Angora sweaters are made from the long, silky hair of Angora goats or rabbits.
5.The old Mary Tyler Moore Show, featuring a cast of likable characters with real and endearing human qualities, should be honored as the best show in the history of television.
6.When the robot was buried, its owner wrote on its gravestone, “Rust in piece."
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
3.People convicted of drunk driving should automatically lose their licenses and get jail terms.
4.Angora sweaters are made from the long, silky hair of Angora goats or rabbits.
5.The old Mary Tyler Moore Show, featuring a cast of likable characters with real and endearing human qualities, should be honored as the best show in the history of television.
6.When the robot was buried, its owner wrote on its gravestone, “Rust in piece."
Continue
To inform
Three examples of tone: Statements made by students of a demanding teacher.
She hates students, that’s all there is to it. I can’t wait until I’m out of her class.
(Tone: Bitter, angry)
She’s tough, but she’s also really good. I’ve learned more from her than I’ve learned from any other teacher.
(Tone: Fair, objective)
I might as well just stop going to class now. I’m never going to understand the material. It’s hopeless.
(Tone: Pessimistic)
Continue
For a list of tone words, see List of Tone Words in the sources for this week.
Continue
To inform
What is tone in this statement?
This place may be shabby, but since both of my children were born while we lived here, it has a special place in my heart.
encouraging
encouraging
determined
determined
sentimental
sentimental
To inform
What is tone in this statement?
This place may be shabby, but since both of my children were born while we lived here, it has a special place in my heart.
“It has a special place in my heart” expresses tender emotions.
sentimental
This isn’t the greatest apartment in the world, but it’s not really that bad.
tolerant
tolerant
cynical
cynical
regretful
regretful
To inform
What is tone in this statement?
This place may be shabby, but since both of my children were born while we lived here, it has a special place in my heart.
“It has a special place in my heart” expresses tender emotions.
sentimental
This isn’t the greatest apartment in the world, but it’s not really that bad.
The words “it’s not really that bad” show that the writer is tolerant, accepting the situation while recognizing that it could be better.
tolerant
tolerant
If only there were some decent jobs out there, I wouldn’t be reduced to living in this miserable dump.
cheerful
cheerful
threathening
threatening
bitter
bitter
To inform
What is tone in this statement?
This place may be shabby, but since both of my children were born while we lived here, it has a special place in my heart.
“It has a special place in my heart” expresses tender emotions.
sentimental
This isn’t the greatest apartment in the world, but it’s not really that bad.
The words “it’s not really that bad” show that the writer is tolerant, accepting the situation while recognizing that it could be better.
tolerant
tolerant
If only there were some decent jobs out there, I wouldn’t be reduced to living in this miserable dump.
The writer is bitter about the situation that forces him or her to live in a “miserable dump.”
cheerful
bitter
Continue
Time to practice!
- Review the list of Tone Words.
- Complete the exercises before our next session.
- Answer the pre-reading activity before our next session.
Rhetoric purpose & tone
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Transcript
Rhetorical Purpose & Tone
Start
Start
Rhetorical Purpose & Tone
When someone decides to write a text message, an email, a comment in a post, or any type of text, there is always a reason behind this action. Let's see the following examples:
Example 1
Example 2
Continue
Rhetorical Purpose & Tone
What is the purpose of this email?
Example 1
In other words, why is Susan writing this email? Which of the following is the best answer?
To inform the company she is quitting her job.
To welcome a new employee.
To complain about her team at work.
Rhetorical Purpose & Tone
What is the purpose of this email?
Example 1
In other words, why is Susan writing this email? Which of the following is the best answer?
To inform the company she is quitting her job.
Correct!
From explicit ideas in the text such as the subject "Resignation – Susan Sharp" and the first line "… I am leaving my position...", you may infer that she wrote this email in order to quit her job.
Therefore, Susan's purpose for writing this email is to inform the company that she has decided to quit her job.
Rhetorical Purpose & Tone
Example 2
This is a teacher's post for her students. They will do an activity online where they can interact by posting unpopular opinions.
Take a look at the post and think of the purpose/objective/reason the teacher had to show this to her students.
Which of the following best states the purpose of this post? In other words, what is the intention of the teacher with this post?
To give instructions of the activity.
To set clear rules for her students.
To show an example of an unpopular opinion.
Rhetorical Purpose & Tone
Example 2
This is a teacher's post for her students. They will do an activity online where they can interact by posting unpopular opinions.
Take a look at the post and think of the purpose/objective/reason the teacher had to show this to her students.
Which of the following best states the purpose of this post? In other words, what is the intention of the teacher with this post?
To set clear rules for her students.
Correct!
Here are three common purposes in writing:
Purpose
The author’s
reason for writing
is called
the purpose
selection
of a
Continue
To inform
Often, the cover and the title of a book or article will suggest the author’s main purpose.
What would you say is the primary purpose of each of these books?
To inform
To inform
To persuade
To persuade
To entertain
To entertain
To inform
Often, the cover and the title of a book or article will suggest the author’s main purpose.
What would you say is the primary purpose of each of these books?
To inform
To inform
To inform
To inform
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To entertain
To entertain
To entertain
To inform
Often, the cover and the title of a book or article will suggest the author’s main purpose.
What would you say is the primary purpose of each of these books?
To inform
To inform
To inform
To inform
To inform
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To entertain
To entertain
To entertain
To entertain
To inform
Often, the cover and the title of a book or article will suggest the author’s main purpose.
What would you say is the primary purpose of each of these books?
To inform
To inform
To inform
To inform
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To persuade
To entertain
To entertain
To entertain
To entertain
Continue
To inform
Read this paragraph and decide what the author’s purpose is.
The typical American gobbles three burgers and four orders of fries every week. Toss in the pizzas, the popcorn, the sugary breakfast cereals, the sodas, the snack cakes, candy bars, ice cream and everything else we eat in lieu of real food in this society, and your body is like an eighteen-wheeler roaring down a high-fat highway straight to obesity and an early grave. Fast food is bad food. It’s loaded with bad stuff like fat and sugar and sodium. It’s packed with chemicals that are in there to make it taste and smell and feel like it’s real food. What it lacks is vitamins, minerals, fiber, all the stuff you really need.
Primary purpose:
To inform
To inform
To entertain
To entertain
To persuade
To persuade
To inform
Read this paragraph and decide what the author’s purpose is.
The typical American gobbles three burgers and four orders of fries every week. Toss in the pizzas, the popcorn, the sugary breakfast cereals, the sodas, the snack cakes, candy bars, ice cream and everything else we eat in lieu of real food in this society, and your body is like an eighteen-wheeler roaring down a high-fat highway straight to obesity and an early grave. Fast food is bad food. It’s loaded with bad stuff like fat and sugar and sodium. It’s packed with chemicals that are in there to make it taste and smell and feel like it’s real food. What it lacks is vitamins, minerals, fiber, all the stuff you really need.
Primary purpose:
The writer tells us the things that are wrong with fast food in order to persuade us that we shouldn’t eat it.
To persuade
Continue
To inform
Now try this paragraph.
I don’t know which is harder, taking my body to the doctor or my car to the garage. Both worry me. I’m always afraid they’ll find something I didn’t know about. The only advantage of taking my body to the doctor over taking my car to the garage is that the doctor never asks me to leave it overnight.
Primary purpose:
To inform
To inform
To entertain
To entertain
To persuade
To persuade
To inform
Read this paragraph and decide what the author’s purpose is.
I don’t know which is harder, taking my body to the doctor or my car to the garage. Both worry me. I’m always afraid they’ll find something I didn’t know about. The only advantage of taking my body to the doctor over taking my car to the garage is that the doctor never asks me to leave it overnight.
Primary purpose:
The writer uses playful and exaggerated details to entertain the reader. Clearly, the doctor is not going to ask the writer to leave his body overnight.
To entertain
Continue
To inform
What the author’s purpose in this paragraph?
Personal contact is necessary for common cold viruses to spread. The viruses must get into the nose, where they can infect the nasal membranes. Inhaling contaminated droplets produced when someone else coughs or sneezes may be one way to catch a cold. Cold viruses can remain infective even if they are outside the body for a few hours. Therefore, you can also catch a cold if you handle something that is contaminated with a cold virus—for example, the doorknob of a classroom or a restroom door—and then scratch your nose or rub your eyes with your contaminated fingers. The cold viruses can reach your nose when you rub your eyes because the virus can be passed down the tear ducts that go from the eyes into the nasal cavities.
Primary purpose:
To inform
To inform
To entertain
To entertain
To persuade
To persuade
To inform
What the author’s purpose in this paragraph?
Personal contact is necessary for common cold viruses to spread. The viruses must get into the nose, where they can infect the nasal membranes. Inhaling contaminated droplets produced when someone else coughs or sneezes may be one way to catch a cold. Cold viruses can remain infective even if they are outside the body for a few hours. Therefore, you can also catch a cold if you handle something that is contaminated with a cold virus—for example, the doorknob of a classroom or a restroom door—and then scratch your nose or rub your eyes with your contaminated fingers. The cold viruses can reach your nose when you rub your eyes because the virus can be passed down the tear ducts that go from the eyes into the nasal cavities.
Primary purpose:
The purpose is to inform us about how cold viruses spread. To do this, the author describes two specific ways they spread.
To inform
Continue
More than one purpose
might include a number of facts
Inform
Sometimes, writing may blend
Persuade
two or even three purposes.
Entertain
and even some comic touches.
For example, a persuasive article on the importance of avoiding junk food
But remember to focus on the author’s primary purpose.
Continue
There are other purposes in texts. Here is a list of them:
Continue
Tone
Tone is expressed through the words and details the writer selects.
Tone
is a
A writer’s voice can project one or more tones, or feelings, such as
writer's atttitude
towards his or her subject
Anger
Cheerfulness
Respect
Continue
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
3.People convicted of drunk driving should automatically lose their licenses and get jail terms.
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
3.People convicted of drunk driving should automatically lose their licenses and get jail terms.
4.Angora sweaters are made from the long, silky hair of Angora goats or rabbits.
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
3.People convicted of drunk driving should automatically lose their licenses and get jail terms.
4.Angora sweaters are made from the long, silky hair of Angora goats or rabbits.
5.The old Mary Tyler Moore Show, featuring a cast of likable characters with real and endearing human qualities, should be honored as the best show in the history of television.
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
3.People convicted of drunk driving should automatically lose their licenses and get jail terms.
4.Angora sweaters are made from the long, silky hair of Angora goats or rabbits.
5.The old Mary Tyler Moore Show, featuring a cast of likable characters with real and endearing human qualities, should be honored as the best show in the history of television.
6.When the robot was buried, its owner wrote on its gravestone, “Rust in piece."
Indicate whether the primary purpose of each sentence is to inform (I), to persuade (P), or to entertain (E).
1.Recent surveys reveal that the average daily television use per household is seven hours.
2.Our neighbor, the dentist, just got a new license plate for his car; it reads “DR-DKAY.”
3.People convicted of drunk driving should automatically lose their licenses and get jail terms.
4.Angora sweaters are made from the long, silky hair of Angora goats or rabbits.
5.The old Mary Tyler Moore Show, featuring a cast of likable characters with real and endearing human qualities, should be honored as the best show in the history of television.
6.When the robot was buried, its owner wrote on its gravestone, “Rust in piece."
Continue
To inform
Three examples of tone: Statements made by students of a demanding teacher.
She hates students, that’s all there is to it. I can’t wait until I’m out of her class.
(Tone: Bitter, angry)
She’s tough, but she’s also really good. I’ve learned more from her than I’ve learned from any other teacher.
(Tone: Fair, objective)
I might as well just stop going to class now. I’m never going to understand the material. It’s hopeless.
(Tone: Pessimistic)
Continue
For a list of tone words, see List of Tone Words in the sources for this week.
Continue
To inform
What is tone in this statement?
This place may be shabby, but since both of my children were born while we lived here, it has a special place in my heart.
encouraging
encouraging
determined
determined
sentimental
sentimental
To inform
What is tone in this statement?
This place may be shabby, but since both of my children were born while we lived here, it has a special place in my heart.
“It has a special place in my heart” expresses tender emotions.
sentimental
This isn’t the greatest apartment in the world, but it’s not really that bad.
tolerant
tolerant
cynical
cynical
regretful
regretful
To inform
What is tone in this statement?
This place may be shabby, but since both of my children were born while we lived here, it has a special place in my heart.
“It has a special place in my heart” expresses tender emotions.
sentimental
This isn’t the greatest apartment in the world, but it’s not really that bad.
The words “it’s not really that bad” show that the writer is tolerant, accepting the situation while recognizing that it could be better.
tolerant
tolerant
If only there were some decent jobs out there, I wouldn’t be reduced to living in this miserable dump.
cheerful
cheerful
threathening
threatening
bitter
bitter
To inform
What is tone in this statement?
This place may be shabby, but since both of my children were born while we lived here, it has a special place in my heart.
“It has a special place in my heart” expresses tender emotions.
sentimental
This isn’t the greatest apartment in the world, but it’s not really that bad.
The words “it’s not really that bad” show that the writer is tolerant, accepting the situation while recognizing that it could be better.
tolerant
tolerant
If only there were some decent jobs out there, I wouldn’t be reduced to living in this miserable dump.
The writer is bitter about the situation that forces him or her to live in a “miserable dump.”
cheerful
bitter
Continue
Time to practice!