HSPT: Author's purpose: name the job and the target
Learn to identify why a writer wrote a whole passage or included one detail, by choosing an action word that matches the writing's tone and a target that matches its content.
How do you find the author's purpose when several choices mention the right topic?
Short answer
Name what the writer is doing with an action word such as explain, describe, recommend, instruct or tell, and name what it's about. The answer needs both the right action and the right target, at the right strength.
Know first: Main idea: the point of the whole passage, Telling facts from opinions
Step 1 of 5
Purpose is the reason behind the words
Purpose is why the writer wrote something. Two passages about the same topic can have different purposes: one explains how a recycling plant works, another argues that the town should build one.
HSPT purpose questions come in two forms. Some ask about a whole passage: What is the writer's main purpose? Others ask about one detail: Why does the author mention...? Both are answered with an action word and a target.
| Action word | What the writing does | Signals |
|---|---|---|
| Explain | Shows how or why something works | because, this causes, steps in a process |
| Describe | Paints a picture of a person, place or scene | Sensory details, few opinions |
| Recommend or argue | Tries to convince the reader | should, we need, reasons, answers to objections |
| Instruct | Tells the reader how to do something | Commands: first, record, do not |
| Tell a story | Relates events that happen to characters | Characters, dialogue, a sequence of events |
| Clarify | Heads off a misunderstanding | only, still, this does not mean |
Step 2 of 5
Match the verb and the target
A short proposal
Our class should start a lost-and-found shelf1 near the gym door. Right now, found items pile up in the office, where most students never look2. A shelf by the door would be easy to check on the way out. Anything still unclaimed at the end of the month could go to the clothing drive3.
- Should signals a recommendation.
- A reason: the current system has a problem.
- A practical detail that answers an obvious question: what happens to items nobody claims.
Worked example: The lost-and-found shelf
Using the passage above: What is the writer's main purpose?
- ATo explain how the office sorts lost items
- BTo recommend a lost-and-found shelf near the gym door
- CTo criticize the office staff for losing items
- DTo describe the gym door
- 1
Find the action word
Should and a list of reasons point to recommending.
- 2
Find the target
A lost-and-found shelf by the gym door.
- 3
Check the strength
The writer says should and gives reasons but never insists or blames anyone, so recommend matches. That's B.
- 4
See why the other choices are there
A uses the right topic with the wrong verb: the passage doesn't explain how lost items are sorted. C is too strong; the writer never criticizes the office staff. D describes a detail as if it were the purpose.
Answer
B. To recommend a lost-and-found shelf near the gym door
Wrong: To demand that the school build a shelf right away
Right: To suggest a shelf where students will see it
Both name the same topic. Only the second matches the writer's mild verb, should, and the reasons that follow it.
Step 3 of 5
Name the purpose
Check yourself · Question 1
Students may bring a snack on the zoo bus. This does not mean food is allowed inside the zoo. Snacks must stay on the bus until lunch.
Why does the notice include the last two sentences?
Answer: D
The first sentence allows snacks on the bus. The next two head off a likely mix-up: a student might think snacks are fine inside the zoo too. This does not mean is the signal that the writer is clarifying.
Trap answer: To persuade students to pack healthy snacks
Wrong action word
- Why it looks right
- Snacks are the main topic, so a choice about packing them seems to fit.
- Why it's wrong
- The notice states a rule. It never urges anyone to pack or buy anything.
- The right answer
- To keep students from thinking they can eat anywhere on the trip, which is what the last two sentences do.
Check yourself · Question 2
The old mill sat at the bend of the river. Ivy covered its stone walls, and its great wooden wheel, stopped for fifty years, still held a few drops of morning rain. Swallows darted in and out of a broken upper window.
What is the author's main purpose in this passage?
Answer: C
The passage is made of sensory details: ivy, stone, the still wheel, raindrops, swallows. There are no opinions, steps or characters. Its purpose is to describe.
Common mistake
Picking the choice that names the right topic, without checking the verb.
- Why it's tempting
- When a choice mentions exactly what the passage is about, it feels right.
- Do this instead
- Check the action word too. Ask: is the writer explaining, describing, recommending, instructing or telling a story, and how strongly?
Step 4 of 5
What to remember
Remember
- A purpose answer needs the right action word and the right target.
- For one detail, ask what would be lost or misunderstood without it.
- Watch the strength of the verb. Recommend and demand are different purposes.
Step 5 of 5
Practice on a real question
Use what you just learned on this question, then check the explanation.
In your own words
In the practice question, which words in the passage showed you the writer's action, and which choice had the right topic with the wrong verb?