Authors, Audience, Context, and Purpose

Lesson 3.1.1

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Writing: Purpose and Audience

Lesson Overview

Learners can:

• write legibly and fluently in cursive to complete assignments

• identify the purpose and audience

• identify text structures and purpose

• identify and introduce a topic clearly

Identifying Purpose

Writers have a reason for writing a text. The main reasons an author writes a text are:

• to persuade;

• to inform; and

• to entertain.

You can look for clues when reading to determine the writer's purpose for writing a text.​

​When the author's purpose is to persuade, they try to convince the reader of their point of view.

Authors share their opinions and reasons for thinking or feeling a certain way.

Persuade

When the author's purpose is to inform, they try to teach the reader about a topic.

The text will include facts, details, and information to help a reader have a better understanding.

Inform

When the author's purpose is to entertain, they try to bring enjoyment to the reader.

Fiction and poems are examples of writing meant to entertain.

Entertain

To learn more about identifying the author's purpose for writing by looking at the cover of a text.

You can look for clues as you read a text to determine the author's purpose for writing.

Determining the Author's Purpose

Look at the various text features. How do they determine the author's purpose?

Match

Match each example with the correct author's purpose.

• Inform

• Persuade

• Entertain

To provide information or facts.

To convince someone to take action.

To amuse or engage the audience.

• To provide information or facts.

• To convince someone to take action.

• To amuse or engage the audience.

Writers think about whom they are writing for. The people they are writing for are called their audience.

Once the writer decides on who their audience is, they know what the appropriate style for their writing is.

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Audience

You use the formal style when you are addressing a leader like someone in the community or a teacher. You also use a formal style when you are writing to inform.

Formal Style

You use the informal style when you are addressing a friend or family member. This style is more casual.

Informal Style

Labelling

Read the audience examples below and sort them into the correct groups.

Drag labels to their correct position on the image

your grandparent

your brother

the president

a friend

a community leader

your teacher

Text Structure

Text structure is how an informative text is organized. Writers use text structure to organize their writing in a way that is easy for readers to understand.

The main text structures writers use are:

• cause and effect;

• problem and solution;

• order and sequence;

• descriptive; and

• compare and contrast.

Writers use a cause and effect structure to show what made something happen or what happened as a result of something.

Cause and Effect

Writers use a problem and solution structure to tell readers about what went wrong and how it was fixed. The author may include more than one solution.

Problem and Solution

Writers use order and sequence to show the order in which things happen. Look for transition words like first, then, next, or dates and times

Order and Sequence

Writers use descriptive text to give facts and details about a topic. They describe the topic to make it easier for the reader to understand.

Descriptive

Writers use compare and contrast to tell about how two or more things are similar and different.

Compare and Contrast

Multiple Choice

Read the text.

Carla got soaked on the way to school because she forgot her umbrella. Her new shoes were ruined.

What text structure did the author use?

• compare and contrast

• descriptive

• cause and effect

• problem and solution