Reading a Letter About a Temple Festival Donation
You read a two-paragraph letter in Tamil from a village temple committee to a family that moved to Perth. Paragraph one thanks the family for a 5,000-rupee donation last year and describes the festival: three days, 400 attendees, a new sound system. Paragraph two says attendance fell to 250 this year, the sound system broke, and the committee is 'not asking for money again' but hopes the family will 'remember the village' at the next festival in eight months. The letter ends with a request to reply before the next full-moon day. The exam question asks: what is the writer's main purpose, and what does the phrase 'not asking for money again' actually do in the text?
1. State the writer's main purpose and justify it with two textual details, distinguishing stated content from implied intent.
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The main purpose is to prompt another donation while preserving the family's goodwill - not merely to report festival news. Stated content: the committee reports attendance dropping from 400 to 250 and a broken sound system, both of which establish need. Implied intent: the disclaimer 'not asking for money again' is followed immediately by 'remember the village', which is an indirect request; if the purpose were purely informational, no reply deadline before the full-moon day would be needed. The reply deadline converts a friendly letter into a request with a timeline. So the answer must say the purpose is persuasive and relational, supported by (1) the need-establishing details and (2) the reply deadline, with the disclaimer read as face-saving rather than literal.
2. How would you describe the tone of paragraph two, and why is a single tone label risky here?
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The tone is best described as deferential and gently persuasive, with an undercurrent of communal obligation. The committee lowers itself ('not asking') while invoking shared identity ('remember the village'), which is polite pressure rather than neutral reporting. A single label like 'polite' is risky because it hides the persuasive work: politeness here is a strategy, not just a manner. A label like 'manipulative' overstates it, since the need is real and stated. The accurate answer names both the surface tone (respectful, warm) and the function (indirect request), and notes that the family's distance - they now live in Perth - makes the appeal to memory do more work than a direct request would.