Author's Purpose: Mayan Ball Game

What is the author's purpose for writing this selection?

• To describe a popular Mayan sport and explain how it is played.

• To inform the reader about the Mayan culture and their beliefs.

• To inform the reader about Mayan traditions and culture.

• To compare a popular Mayan sport to the sports enjoyed today.

Why did the author include paragraph 1?

• To explain the purpose of the Mayan game

• To introduce the sport and explain that it is a distant ancestor to some of our common sports.

• To show how the sport is similar to our sports.

• To explain why the sport was played.

Why did the author include the lines below?

In these games, the losers would be killed, and would have their heads displayed in front of the court.

• to show how ruthless and significant the games that were dedicated to the major Gods were to the Mayans.

• to show how the Mayan civilization died out.

• to show how the Mayans punished those they found unworthy.

• to contrast what losing meant to the Mayans with what losing means to us.

Why did the author include the last paragraph?

• to compare winning and losing in the Mayan culture.

• to explain what it takes to win and show the result of winning.

• to show the consequences of losing.

• to show that the Mayans were a lot like the people of today.