Chapter 9: Focusing More On
Purpose and Tone
From this chapter, you’ll learn
• more about how to identify an author’s
purpose.
• what role tone, or voice, plays in revealing
purpose.
• about the presence of bias in both persuasive
and informative writing.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Informative Writing
• doesn’t attempt to convince readers to share
a specific opinion.
• describes or explains ideas without evaluating them.
• makes it clear that opinions expressed belong to people
other than the author.
• expresses both sides of an argument with equal force.
• relies on language that produces little or no emotional
impact on reader.
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Informative Writing (continued)
• appears mainly in reference works, newspaper articles,
journals, and educational web sites.
• relies on factual language rather than colorful images.
• makes no personal references to the author or to the
audience.
• likely to include information expressed in numbers.
• avoids using words that tell readers how to interpret
events, e.g. fortunately, more important, impossible as it
may seem.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Example of Informative Writing
Sleep researcher Robert Stickgold says that rapid-eye movement,
or REM, sleep is essential to memory consolidation. In other
words, it is during REM that new information is analyzed,
categorized, and stored in long-term memory. In support of his
theory, Stickgold cites numerous studies in which researchers
teach subjects a new task and then break the subjects into two
different groups: (1) subjects who get tested later the same day
and (2) subjects who get re-tested after a night’s sleep. Based
on his research, Stickgold maintains that subjects who sleep
after learning consistently perform better than those who got
no sleep.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Persuasive Writing
• tries to convince readers to share or at least consider
a specific point of view.
• expresses competing points of view with the intention
of showing that one opinion or perspective is better
than another.
• explicitly or implicitly reveals the author’s point of view.
• usually employs emotionally charged language.
• uses words and phrases meant to guide the reader’s
interpretation, e.g. thankfully, surprisingly, fortunately.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Persuasive Writing (continued)
• appears in editorials, reviews, books, and web sites
promoting a theory or person.
• makes use of strong imagery designed to sway emotions.
• often includes personal pronouns that refer to the author
and/or the audience.
• features a tone, or voice, that betrays an attitude or
emotion.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Example of Persuasive Writing
• Sleep researcher Robert Stickgold has solved the mystery of
rapid-eye movement, or REM, sleep, which has long been a
puzzle. REM has been a mystery because the brain waves
recorded by electroencephalographs during this stage of the
sleep cycle suggest a highly active state of mind, similar to the
state of being awake. Stickgold, however, has solved the
mystery, and his research shows that during REM, new learning
is analyzed, categorized, and stored in memory. In other words,
it’s during REM sleep that memory consolidation takes place.
While Stickgold’s theory still has its critics, the majority of those
engaged in sleep research believe he has figured out why brain
activity during REM sleep is so intense: It’s because the
sleeping brain is busy working.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Recognizing the Primary Purpose
When thinking about purpose, keep in mind that
1. the purpose sometimes changes as the reading develops.
2. a persuasive piece of writing can open with a purely
informative introduction but then move steadily in the
direction of persuasion.
3. if informative writing turns persuasive, the primary, or
main, purpose is almost always persuasion.
4. it’s less likely for a writer to open with a persuasive
passage and then turn strictly informative.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Spot Quiz: What’s the primary purpose of the following reading?
• Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United
States, was born in Denison, Texas in 1890. He was the first
professional soldier elected to office since Ulysses S. Grant and
the first president to preside over 50 states. Eisenhower’s
public image was that of a conservative thinker, who believed
deeply in the rights of the states to govern themselves. But the
real “Ike” was a good deal more devious and less conservative
than the public knew. People were profoundly shocked when
Eisenhower called in the national guard to protect black
students trying to enter an all-white high school in Little Rock,
Arkansas. Conservatives didn’t interfere with states rights.
Eisenhower, however, was never really a conservative. As he
himself expressed it in a 1951 letter kept secret for years, he
had always had “liberal sympathies.” He just kept them hidden.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Definition: Tone
• Like the tone of a person’s voice, tone in writing refers is
the attitude, emotion, or feeling a writer conveys to the
reader. Depending on the subject under discussion,
writers can use any number of different tones.
A few of many possibilities:
• furious
• neutral
• bullying
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
• sympathetic
• comical
• skeptical
How Writers Choose a Tone
Writers choose a tone based on
• purpose, i.e., informative or persuasive.
• context, e.g., for a reference book or
a weekly magazine.
• audience, e.g. is the audience likely to be
receptive or unreceptive to the ideas expressed?
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
The Verbal Devices that Create Tone
Writers create tone through any one or all of the
following:
• word choice
• sentence length e.g.. a succession of short sentences can
create a chatty, conversational tone.
• grammar, i.e., formal or conversational
• references to the audience or self
• selection of details
• imagery and figurative language, e.g. While his ex-wife got
on with her life, he wrapped depression around him like a
warm blanket and spent his days moping.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Tone and the Reader
Recognizing tone is important because
• it helps readers identify the writer’s purpose.
• it allows readers to control how much tone affects their
response.
• it offers a solid clue to the writer’s degree of bias, i.e., the
more emotional the tone, the greater the bias or
favoritism expressed toward one position or another.
What tone do you hear in the following excerpt?
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Listening for Tone: What Tone does the Writer
Use in the Following Passage?
Birds of America
• The new year did not bring good news for thousands of birds flying the
skies above the little town of Beebe, Arkansas. Just before midnight on
New Year’s Eve, around 2000 birds dropped to the ground dead from what
researchers are now calling severe trauma. Although ornithologist Karen
Rowe claimed that such incidents are not unusual, most Americans would
be hard put to come up with a memory of a similar event: Arkansas
residents woke up to find their lawns and pathways littered with bird
corpses. While spokespeople for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
tried to calm the population by saying that such incidents occur in the
aftermath of hail storms or fireworks, a general air of mystery prevailed
because no one could adequately explain why the birds had died since
blackbirds do not generally fly at night in the first place.
• What would you say the purpose is?
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Listening for Tone: NowWhat Do You Hear
in this Passage?
More Mysterious Bird Deaths
• Three days after thousands of birds died in Arkansas on the first day
of 2011, a similar event happened in Louisiana, where state
biologists spent January 3rd picking up the bodies of birds and
shipping them off to be analyzed. It will take several weeks before
the lab results on the birds become public. In the aftermath of the
event, State Wildlife Veterinarian Jim LaCour pointed out that
starvation and cold fronts have caused “massive” bird deaths
before, but never in quite the same numbers. According to Paul
Slota, a spokesperson for the U.S. Geological Survey’s National
Wildlife Center, the U.S.G.S’s record show that there have been 16
similar events involving blackbirds in the past 30 years with as many
as 1,000 blackbirds dying simultaneously. (Source of quotations:
theadvocate.com, WBRZ, Louisiana Broadcasting LLC)
• And what would you say the purpose is?
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
A Word to the Wise on Tone and Bias
The more strongly you can “hear” a tone in the
author’s writing, the more likely it is that the
author also has a bias, a leaning in favor of
one side or another.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
A Word to the Wise
A Word to
Identifying the author’s tone can help you
determine the author’s degree of bias, but as you
will see in Chapter 9, bias is reflected
in more than just the author’s choice of tone. It’s
also revealed in the author’s choice of detail and
for that matter, in what the author chooses to
leave unsaid.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
An Example of Bias that Depends on What’s Left Unsaid
The author of this excerpt seems to be offering a fair and
unbiased evaluation of a common claim—that public schools
used to do a better job than they do now.
Critics who claim that our public schools are no longer
doing their job effectively do have proof for their
claims. The scores on the Scholastic Assessment Test
(SAT) have declined by more than 10 percent over
the last half century. That’s a hard fact to argue
against.
And then again maybe it’s not so hard to argue with.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
What’s Been Left Out Often Counts for a Lot!
The author is correct. SAT scores in reading and math have declined.
But here’s what’s missing:
Today the SAT is taken annually by roughly two million students with
very different degrees of preparation. When it was first
administered, it was taken by only around 10,000 students. And as
one writer expressed it, this was a “largely self-selected group
seeking admission to elite private colleges.” In other words, they
had been preparing for the test for most of their lives. (Quotation is
from “Dreams of Better Schools” by Andrew Delbanco. The New York Review of
Books)
Given the differences in the make up and size of the test populations,
pointing out score increases or decreases doesn’t prove much. So
perhaps the author is more biased than you might think at first
glance once you know what’s been left out of her argument. Or
perhaps she just doesn’t know about the test’s origins. Either way,
what’s missing makes all the difference.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Bias and Textbooks
Although you might assume that textbooks
never have a bias, think again. Textbook
authors may try and control their bias and let
readers draw their own conclusions, but they
too can reveal a personal point of view or a
bias for or against a particular position. Pages
558-559 of Chapter 9 will give you some
examples of textbook authors that differ on
how they interpret the same facts.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Final Wrap: Focusing More on Purpose and
Tone
1. In a piece of informative writing, which one of the
following would the author not do?
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
describe an issue or topic without evaluating it
avoid any personal references
use a friendly, engaging tone
attribute the opinions expressed to other people
describe both sides of an argument with equal force
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Final Wrap: Focusing More on
Purpose and Tone
2. In a piece of persuasive writing, which one of the
following is the author very likely to do?
a.) use a cool, informal tone
b.) explain both sides of an issue with equal force.
c.) address the audience personally with the
pronoun “you.”
d.) rely heavily on statistics
e.) avoid emotionally charged language
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Final Wrap: Focusing More on Purpose and Tone
3. What would you say is the tone of the following
reading?
•
Ever since it was identified in the 1980s, victims of chronic fatigue syndrome have
been treated with something close to contempt. It was generally assumed that the
disorder they complained of was imaginary, a reflection of unresolved psychological
conflict. In other words, it was all in their head. Thankfully new research has put an
end to this insulting attitude and two different medical studies have connected the
disease to the presence of a specific virus. As a result, an advisory panel for the Food
and Drug Administration has suggested that blood donations from people with the
disease—now that it’s actually acknowledged as such—not be accepted. The F.D.A. is
not required to accept the recommendation of the panel, but at least this is a sign
that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which has caused so many people so much agony,
will not be treated as an imaginary ailment. It’s about time. (Source of
information:http:www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04 David Tuller, “Exhausted by Illness.”)
What made you choose the tone and what do you think is the author’s
purpose?
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Final Wrap: Focusing More on Purpose and Tone
4. How would you label the tone and purpose of this reading?
• Having recently written an e-book, now available on line, I find that I have
to rethink a slogan I once passionately espoused : “The Internet is Free.”
While that slogan certainly applied to the idea of censoring the Internet, it
was also meant to be taken literally, and I once believed that everything
available on the Internet should be given away, not sold. What I’m
infinitely more aware of these days, is how much work goes into those
applications, programs, and widgets I used to download without a second
thought. When I charge for an e-book, I’m charging for the enormous
amount of time and knowledge that went into creating what I will,
without shame, call my product. I’m also asking you the consumer to pay
for something you save when you buy my e-book, and that’s time. I can
show you how to do efficient file management in about the two and a half
hours it takes to read my book. Can you figure it out for yourself over the
course of several months? Absolutely, but would you want to spend all
that time on something you can learn in a few hours. Probably not, and it’s
the time saving that you are paying for, in addition to my mental labor.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Final Wrap: Focusing More on Purpose and
Tone
5. What tone do you hear? What’s the author’s purpose, and do
you see any evidence of bias?
a. Andre Hall’s new year got off to a bad start. On January 4th, a
city contractor mistakenly demolished Hall’s newly purchased
Pittsburgh home. The house had been condemned but Hall
had purchased it from the city and agreed to make repairs,
which he had already begun. However, when he returned
from a holiday vacation, he found his house had disappeared.
The house next store to it had been slated for demolition, but
the contractors assigned the job had made an error and taken
down Hall’s new home instead. The city’s solicitor’s office is
looking into how the mistake was made.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012
Final Wrap: Focusing More on Purpose and Tone
What tone do you hear? What’s the author’s purpose, and do you see any
evidence of bias?
•
When new home-owner Andre Hall of Pittsburgh returned from
his holiday vacation, he was shocked to find his house was
missing. City contractors had, “by mistake” demolished it, and in
its place stood a lonely backhoe. Sadly, Hall’s experience is not
the first of its kind. A homeowner in Carrollton, Georgia saw the
house his father had built knocked down by city contractors who
had used a faulty GPS locator that led them to the wrong house.
Then there was the woman in Denton, Texas, who was gardening
just about the time yet another carless city demolition crew
“mistakenly” swung a wrecking ball into her home. Pittsburgh’s
city solicitor is said to be looking into the matter of Andre Hall’s
demolished home. It’s doubtful he will find much except sloppy
human error, the kind that occurs quite regularly when city
officials are in charge.
Copyright © Laraine Flemming 2012