Quiz:
Recognizing Tone and Purpose


Directions: Circle the correct letters to indicate purpose and tone.

1. Queen Latifah got her start as a female rapper who consciously tried to combat the widespread sexism in the lyrics of Gangsta Rap. Her 1989 album All Hail the Queen features lyrics written from a womans point of view, and her songs celebrate powerful women, who don't need guns to be strong. But the Queen of Royal Badness, as Latifah is sometimes called, is a multi-talented personality. In her hit situation comedy Living Single, Latifah revealed that, in addition to a riveting presence, she also had superb comic timing. From a bit part as a sassy waitress in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, Latifah went on to starring roles in movies like Set It Off and Living Out Loud. Although neither movie was wildly successful at the box office, the Queen got superb reviews, as well she deserved. When Queen Latifah is on the screen, you cant watch anyone else; shes just that good.

Purpose

  1. To inform readers about Queen Latifah's background and career
  2. To convince readers that rap singer Queen Latifah is much more than a rap star

Tone

  1. emotionally neutral
  2. sarcastic
  3. admiring

2. The snowy owl is normally found in the coldest regions of North America. Every three or four years, however, snowy owls appear in large numbers in towns all across the United States. Animal behaviorists believe the periodic owl migrations are due to changes in the owls' food supply. Snowy owls feed heavily on lemmings, and lemmings migrate every three to four years in search of food. When the lemmings leave the cold northern regions, so do the owls. Unfortunately snowy owls are becoming increasingly rare, in part because hunters often shoot them when they show up in large numbers.

Purpose

  1. To inform readers about the behavioral habits of snowy owls
  2. To convince readers that something must be done to save the snowy owl

Tone

  1. emotionally neutral
  2. enthusiastic
  3. ironic

3. Several states are being forced to provide schooling for teenage criminals. The reasoning is as follows: In the United States, kids have to go to school until the age of sixteen. If their parents keep them out of school, it's a crime. From this perspective, prison officials housing teenagers under the age of sixteen have to provide them with schooling or they too are breaking the law. Given the fact that most kids in high school get to play sports, why don't we raise money to build teenage criminals a gym or a football field? That makes just about as much sense as spending money educating kids who have landed in jail for crimes like armed robbery and murder.

Purpose

  1. To tell readers why some states are providing schooling for teenage criminals
  2. To convince readers that providing schooling for teenagers behind bars is a mistake

Tone

  1. emotionally neutral
  2. passionate
  3. ironic

4. In his book Cutting, author Steven Levenkron focuses on a psychological problem that is too often avoided or ignored: Levenkron describes the psychological experience of young patients, often girls, who seek relief from pain and anxiety by cutting or scratching their own bodies. As Levenkron points out, cutting or self-mutilation is an all-too-common phenomenon. It may, in fact, be as common as anorexia or bulimia, yet it is seldom discussed, in part because self-mutilators work hard to keep their dangerous behavior a secret. It's possible, too, as Levenkron suggests, that most people, even therapists, don't want to acknowledge the reality of self-mutilation. In the words of the author, "Just as we fear the human potential for violence against others, we may also fear the possible impulse to hurt ourselves." Fearful of what cutting means, we turn away from it, and refuse to acknowledge its presence in our midst. Yet when five hundred school psychologists were asked if they had treated a cutter in the last year, they indicated that they had each treated two or three per school. Self-mutilation among young teenage girls can no longer be ignored. We need to acknowledge its existence and make treatment available.

Purpose

  1. To inform readers about the psychological problem known as cutting, or self-mutilation
  2. To persuade readers that self-mutilation has to be acknowledged and treated

Tone

  1. emotionally neutral
  2. ironic
  3. concerned

5. Author Gail Sheehy became famous with her 1976 best seller Passages, which argued that adulthood, like childhood and adolescence, consisted of stages or tasks that must be completed in order to reach emotional maturity. The book struck a chord with the American public, and Sheehy went on to write several follow-up books, all of which emphasized the notion of life's stages. In The Silent Passage (1993), she described the stages that women pass through in the latter part of their lives. In Understanding Mens Passages (1998), she outlined the emotional tasks men needed to complete once they abandoned the role of breadwinner. Yet popular as Sheehy's books are, they are also deeply flawed. What Sheehy doesn't ever really acknowledge is that her descriptions apply mainly to a financially comfortable middle class. In The Silent Passage, the women she interviewed have the luxury of debating whether or not they will combat the effects of menopause with hormone therapy. Yet for many poor women, the high price of hormone pills precludes their use. For these women, such a debate is pointless. Similarly, Understanding Mens Passages focuses on men who can, if they are wise enough, use the second half of their life to play new roles such as mentor, community wise man, or benefactor. The author apparently doesn't realize that many men have to work as hard in the second half of their lives as they did in the first. After working two shifts to make sure their kids can stay in college, these man may not fear intimacy as Sheehy suggests. They may just be too tired to even dream of it.

Purpose

  1. To describe the central point of Gail Sheehy's books
  2. To convince readers that Gail Sheehys reasoning is flawed

Tone

  1. critical
  2. ironic
  3. emotionally neutral



Last change made to this page: Jan. 8, 2007

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