The document discusses how writers use tone, style, word choice, figurative language, and other language techniques to indirectly express their purpose and communicate attitudes without expressly stating them. It provides examples of how writers establish tone through word choices and sentence structures, tailor their style to the intended audience, use connotative and denotative word meanings, make comparisons through similes and metaphors, and employ symbols to represent ideas. Understanding these indirect language aspects is important for discerning an author's full message and purpose.

1. Tone and
Purpose
The Indirect Ways That
Writers Communicate

2. Understanding the
Author’s Purpose
In many textbooks, the
writer’s purpose is fairly clear.
However, sometimes a writer
will express an opinion
indirectly.
Writers use tone, style and
other features of language to
achieve the results they want.

3. Understanding Tone
 Refers to the author’s Examples
attitude toward his/her Instructive
subject. Sympathetic
 Think of how you interpret Persuasive
Nostalgic
the tone of a speaker’s voice
Humorous
 Pay attention to word Angry
choice, types and length of Insensitive
sentences, description Naive
 Tone is important in
determining the author’s
purpose.

4. Style and Intended
Audience
Style may be defined as the
characteristics that make a
writer unique.
Depending upon whom the
writer is addressing, he will
change the level of language,
method of presentation, and
word choice.
Writing may be academic,
technical, formal, or informal.

5. Language
Objective Subjective
factual Express
attitudes,
feelings &
opinions
Authors use language in special ways to help the
reader understand and create a picture of a situation.
Create Descriptions
Making comparisons
Using symbols

6. Word Choice
Connotative Denotative
Meanings Meanings
– Opposite of – Literal Meaning
Denotation found in the
– Implied Meaning dictionary
– A Word’s Nuance— – Factual, exact
ideas associated – No added meanings
with the word’s
usage
– May be positive or
negative

7. Connotation
positive vs. negative
• Request, demand,
• Crowd, mob, gang, command, appeal,
audience, class, plead, claim, ask
congregation • Gaudy, showy,
• Slim, skinny, slender, flashy, tawdry,
slight, wiry, scrawny glitzy, jazzy
• Intelligent, brainy, • Glance, stare, look,
nerdy, smart, gifted glimpse, peek,
• Particular, picky, peer, examine,
fussy, meticulous, gaze, scan
precise, exacting • Take, snatch,
grasp, filch,
pocket, steal

8. Figurative Language
• Describes
something that
makes sense on an
imaginative level
but not on a
factual or literal
level.
• Example:
– Sam eats like a
horse.
– The wilted plants
begged for water.

9. Making Comparisons
• Similes and metaphors
• Compare one object or living thing
with another
• Questions to ask yourself
– What two things is the author
comparing?
– Why did the author choose that
comparison? What do they have in
common?

10. Figurative Language-
Comparison
S a m e a t s lik e a h o r s e
( s im ile )
A h o r s e e a t s la r g e a m o u n t s o f fo o d . S a m e a t s la r g e a m o u n t s o f fo o d .
• The purpose of figurative language is to paint a
word picture—to help the reader visualize how
something looks, feels, or smells
• The red sun was pasted in the sky like a wafer.
• I will speak daggers to her, but use none.
• Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

11. Using Symbols
• Symbols can be either pictures or
objects that stand for ideas, people,
concepts, or anything else the author
decides.
• Symbols are a communication shortcut
—make ideas more understandable by
connecting them with things the reader
can see.
• Common symbols: U.S. Flag (loyalty to
country), Statue of Liberty (freedom),
dove (peace), “golden arches”
(McDonald’s), scales (law/justice)

12. Typical Stem Items
• Conclusions, generalizations,
summary, comparisons, cause-
effect, time relationships, author’s
tone
– Which of the following conclusions
about X is supported by the
passage?
– Which word would the author most
likely use to describe his subject?
– The author implies that X and Y
differ in what ways?
– The author’s opinion about X is that

13. Typical Stem Items
• Application of one or more ideas
– Based on the author’s description of
X, how would a teacher using this
plan arrange the student’s activities?
– Based on the examples provided in
the passage, how could the
government best deter illegal
immigration?

14. Typical Stem Items
• Figurative language
– By the phrase, “a breath of fresh air”
in lines 6-7, the author means that …
– The use of the phrase “alien from
another planet” to describe the sister
is an example of what type of
figurative language?
– By saying “the room was like a
sauna,” the author is indicating that
…

15. Review/Recall
• What are inferences and why are they
important for reading?
• What do you do with inferences once you
have made them?
• Explain why the conclusions you draw
about a reading selection can be tentative
—why you can change you mind about
how you understand them.
• What are some things that might influence
a change in how you understand a reading
selection?