Author`s Craft: Purpose & Point of View

English Language Arts, Grade 5

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Grand Opening!!! You’ll be sorry if you miss this sale. Come early to save big! Why Does an Author Write a Text? An author writes for one of three reasons: to inform to teach or explain something to the reader. This is the purpose behind most nonfiction writing. Examples include the directions to assemble a model car, and a nonfiction book about the Civil War. to entertain to hold the reader’s interest; to make the reader enjoy the writing. This is the purpose behind most fiction writing. Examples include a story about a Native American boy following a herd of buffalo in the 1700s, and a futuristic story about a girl traveling to Mars. to persuade to convince the reader to agree with the author’s point of view about an issue. Editorials and advertisements are examples of persuasive writing. What’s Point of View? An author chooses the point of view from which the text is written. This is also known as the narrator voice. There are four choices for point of view: First person The narrator uses the words I, me, and myself. The narrator is a character in the story, living through the events in the tale. With this voice, the narrator only knows what other characters tell him or her. The narrator cannot reveal to the reader what another character is thinking. Second person The narrator uses the words you and your. A writer chooses second person voice if he or she wants to make the reader feel as if they are a part of the action. This is the voice used least often. Third person omniscient The narrator uses the words he, she, and they. The narrator is not a part of the story but can enter any of the characters’ minds and tell the reader what the characters are thinking. Third person objective The narrator uses the words he, she, and they. The narrator is not a part of the story and cannot go into any of the characters’ minds and let the reader know what the characters are thinking. Newspaper articles and nonfiction books are often written in this voice. “I’m so sad, I can’t stop crying.” She is thinking about scoring the winning goal. Author’s Craft: Purpose & Point of View Visit www.newpathlearning.com for Online Learning Resources. © Copyright NewPath Learning. All Rights Reserved. 92-4052
Read each text. Identify the author’s purpose and point of view. The purpose can be: inform, entertain, or persuade. The point of view can be: first person, second person, third person omniscient, or third person objective. The mara is a South American rodent related to the guinea pig. They live on the plains in Argentina. Maras mate for life. After babies are born, the parents drop off their infants in one den. One mother cares for the babies while her mate guards the outside. The others return with food for the babies and their sitters. The babies all look alike, yet the parents can identify their own offspring by their scent. Raising babies is the only thing that maras do in groups. You get inside the time machine and set it to 360 million years ago. The time machine hums and vibrates. When the door opens, you step out into a hot, humid rain forest. Something huge flaps its wings near your head. Was that a hawk? No, it was a dragonfly! You look around. Everything is huge: the nearby ferns are as tall as giraffes. You run over and hide beneath them. The school board’s proposal to change the district’s elementary schools’ start time to make it later than the high school’s start time makes no sense. Studies have shown that adolescents’ health and education would benefit from a later school start time. Vote no on this proposition next week. I ran along the cliff, waving my arms frantically. If only a sailor aboard the ship would see me! But even if he did, would he realize I was warning them to turn back? The distance to the ship was too far for my voice to carry. Yet I couldn’t stop shouting myself hoarse, hoping that somehow I could prevent the ship from wrecking on the reef. Author’s purpose Point of View Vote NO! Author’s Craft: Purpose & Point of View Visit www.newpathlearning.com for Online Learning Resources. © Copyright NewPath Learning. All Rights Reserved. 92-4052