Author's purpose and tone #2

TWhat's Beneath Your Plane?

As Shane Loeffler, a geology student at the University of Minnesota, was flying home from Europe, he looked down at the landscape and began to wonder what he was flying over. He realized that a plane flight would be a good opportunity for people to learn about the geological features of the earth below them. As a result of this experience, with a grant from the National Science Foundation, he created a free app called Flyover Country. The app provides users with information on natural formations, man-made features like dams, and even where fossils can be found. The features are pinpointed on a map that corresponds to the landscape below the plane.

What is the main idea of the passage?

• Shane Loeffler's experience in a plan led him to create an app that would provide information to flyers about the land below them

• Shane Loeffler's plane flight home from Europe led him to think about the geological features of the land below him.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

Cooperative Trees

We often think of trees as simple objects that provide us with things we need, such as lumber, shade, or fruit. Yet trees are far more complex—and social—than we recognize. An underground network of fungi, which some have called the "wood-wide web," connects the roots of numerous trees in a forest. Using the network, trees can communicate with and support one another. They may share water, carbon, nutrients, and protective compounds with one another. Scientists believe that one explanation for this phenomenon may be a "source-sink model." According to this theory, trees growing in excellent conditions with many resources transfer these resources to trees growing in less favorable conditions. In this way, trees in a forest ensure the health of the entire community by working cooperatively.

What is the main idea of the passage?

• Different parts of a forest may provide different conditions for trees, some more and some less favorable for growth.

• Trees in a forest work to support one another by using an underground fungal network.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

Which sentences is more formal?

• Man banks will begin imposing higher fees for checking accounts.

• A bunch of banks are about to start charging higher checking account fees.

Which sentences is more formal?

• Most of the apartments in New York City's Upper West Side are extremely expensive.

• Most of the apartments in New York City's Upper West Side cost an arm and a leg.

Select the passage that has a more outraged tone

• Suddenly, as he spoke, the tall grey form of Merlin took shape before them, for so great and marvelous was the power of this wizard, that he could come and go unseen, except when he willed that men should see him.

• Merlin has wrought a spell! Merlin, indeed! The cheap old humbug, that maundering old fool? Nonsense, pure nonsense, the silliest nonsense in the world! Why, it does seem to me that of all the childish, idiotic, chuckle-headed, chicken-livered superstitions that ev-oh cursed Merlin!

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.4

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

Select the passage that has a threatening tone.

• There was a steaming mist in all the hollows. and it had roamed in its sadness up the hill, like an evil spirit, seeking rest and finding none. The cold mist made its slow way through the air in ripples that visibly followed one another, as the waves of unhealthy sea might do.

• Nantucket stand on a rising sandbank. There are two place of worship, one for the society of Friends, the other for Presbyterians. In the middle of the town stands a simple building, which the county courthouse.

Tags

CCSS.RL.4.4

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

Read the text

I was very concerned by the school board's recent announcement that lunch breaks will be shortened next year. This may seem like a good idea now, but in the long run it will only hurt students.

The current lunch break gives students a chance to exercise and breathe fresh air. More importantly, it lets them take a break from their hard work. Shorter lunches don't give students enough time for a real break. For the sake of all students, contact the school board today and let them know that breaks matter!

Which author's purpose is suggested by the text?

• to inform readers about why lunch breaks are being shortened.

• to persuade readers to speak out against shorter lunch breaks.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.6

CCSS.RI.6.9

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RI.7.6

Read the text

I was very concerned by the school board's recent announcement that lunch breaks will be shortened next year. This may seem like a good idea now, but in the long run it will only hurt students.

The current lunch break gives students a chance to exercise and breathe fresh air. More importantly, it lets them take a break from their hard work. Shorter lunches don't give students enough time for a real break. For the sake of all students, contact the school board today and let them know that breaks matter!

Which best shows that the author's purpose is to persuade readers to speak out against shorter lunch breaks?

• The author asks readers to contact the school board today.

• The author tells readers about the contents of a recent announcement

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.6

CCSS.RI.6.9

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

CCSS.RI.7.9

Read a text about dark dining.

Dining without light is a considerable challenge. Even simple tasks, such as spearing food. With a fork or reaching for a water glass, become difficult and awkward when one cannot see. Nevertheless, several "dark restaurants" across the globe serve their meals in pitch blackness. "Dark-dining" enthusiasts claim that in the absence of sight, the senses of tastes and smell become keener. THis results in a more intense dining experience. The dark-dining trend was inspired by the world's first dark restaurant, blindekuh, which opened its doors in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1999 and which continues to thrive.

Select two details that are included in the text.

• Blindekuh's success has inspired others to open dark restaurants around the world.

• Many people feel that dining in the dark can heighten the sense of taste.

• Blindekuh's waitstaff is compose entirely of people with visual impairments.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RL.6.1

CCSS.RL.7.1

Read a second text about dark dining.

In 1999, an unusual restaurant called blindekuh open in Zurich, Switzerland. It was unique for two reasons. First, the meals were served in total darkness. Second, the entire waitstaff was blind or only partially sighted. The result was an opportunity for sighted people, guided by the visually impaired waitstaff, to understand the world in which servers live every day. The establishment ultimately became so successful that it inspired other restaurants to adopt the "dark-dining" concept. By changing the setting, these restaurants may even transform people's understanding of what a disability is. After all, visual impairment is not a disability when everyone is in the dark.

Select two details that are included in the text.

• Blindekuh's success has inspired other to open dark restaurants around the world.

• Many people feel that dining in the dark can heighten the sense of taste.

• Blindekuh's waitstaff is compose entirely of people with visual impairments.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.7

CCSS.RI.7.7

CCSS.RL.5.7

CCSS.RL.6.9

CCSS.RL.7.7