Authors Purpose,

Intended Audience, Tone

& Point of View

By the end of this lesson, students should

be able to determine authors:
Purpose
Intended Audience

Tone
Point of View

Learning Outcomes

When reading, readers will not only try to

understand the content of the reading
material, but to also assess authors styles
of writing.
These styles of writing are materialised in
the form of authors purpose, intended
audience, tone & Point of View.

Introduction

Authors purpose The intention or

reason for writing.
There are four main purposes of writing:

To
instruct

To
inform

To
entertain

To
persuade

Purpose

To instruct

Purpose

To inform

Purpose

To entertain

Purpose

To persuade

Purpose

Exercise 1

Let us do some exercises!

Exercise 2

Let us do some exercises!

Exercise 3

Let us do some exercises!

Exercise 3

Let us do some exercises!

Once you have known the authors

purpose, you may want to know whom the
message in the writing is intended for.
The table on the next slide will help you to
determine the intended audience.

Intended Audience

Language

Content

Intended Audience

General

General Knowledge General public

General

Specific Subject

People interested in the subject

or stakeholders

Specific

Specific Subject

Subject specialists or experts in

the field

Intended Audience

Sample 1

Intended Audience

Sample 2

Intended Audience

Language

Content

Exercise 1

Intended Audience

Exercise 2

Language

Content

Intended Audience

Exercise 2 (Cont.)

Tone is authors use of words and style of

writing to express his or her attitude
towards a topic/issue.
Possible tones that match their purposes:
Purpose

Possible Tone

To instruct

Enthusiastic, eager, passionate

To persuade

Angry, anxious, concerned,

serious, urgent

To inform

Indifferent, objective

To entertain

Humorous, mocking, sarcastic

Tone

Words that describe authors attitude

Attitude

Tone Description

Positive

Concerned, encouraging, nostalgic, optimistic,

supportive

Neutral

Fair, just, objective

Negative

Condescending, critical, disapproving, fanatical,

insulting, intolerant, mocking, pessimistic,
righteous, sarcastic, sceptical

Tone

Words that describe authors emotion

Attitude

Tone Description

Positive

Amused, cheerful, compassionate, eager,

enthusiastic, humorous, passionate, playful,
sincere, sympathetic, urgent

Neutral

Indifferent, impartial, serious, solemn

Negative

Angry, anxious, grave, grim, remorseful,

vindictive

Tone

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Tone

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Tone

Point of view is the writers belief or

position in an issue or a topic.
Hence, the author point of view can be in
favour of or against the issue/topic.
In writing, the author may seem to agree
or disagree with the whole issue.
Sometimes, the author can agree and
disagree on the same issue.

Point of View

Below are some questions that you may

want to ask when evaluating authors point
of view.
What is his stand on the issue?
Is he in support of the issue?
Is he biased or neutral?
Is he not in favour of the issue?

Point of View

Study the text below and identify the

authors purpose, tone and bias.

Exercise for all!

Exercise for all! (Cont.)

Suggested answer

Exercise for all!

Teoh, S.A., Chai, M.H., Azlina Abd. Rahman

& Paul-Evanson, C. (2010). Reading and
critical thinking. KL: McGraw-Hill.

References

Content Developer
Eliyas S. Mohandas
works as an English
Lecturer at Universiti
Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
Shah Alam. The content
of this chapter was
developed by him. He
can be contacted at the
following email:
eliyas9154@salam.uitm.edu.my