Author's Purpose, Tone, Attitude and Style
Purpose, tone and style items ask why the text was written and how the author positions themselves towards the material. Purpose is an action (to inform, rebut, recommend, warn); tone is an attitude (cautious, sceptical, sympathetic, detached). Options frequently swap one for the other.
Identifying purpose
- Ask what changes if the text succeeds: a briefing informs, a consultation response argues, an evaluation judges, a press release promotes.
- Prefer the most specific accurate verb: 'to qualify a widely held claim' beats 'to talk about compliance'.
- Distinguish the author's purpose from the purpose of a person quoted inside the text. A passage may report a minister's aim without sharing it.
Reading tone
- Hedging: 'appears', 'tends to', 'it would be premature', 'the evidence is mixed'. These signal caution, not commitment.
- Concessive structure: 'although', 'admittedly', 'granted that'. The author concedes, then asserts; the real position follows the concession.
- Evaluative adjectives and adverbs: 'belated', 'modest', 'welcome but limited', 'questionable'.
- Distance markers: scare quotes and 'so-called' signal disagreement or irony.
- Modality: 'must', 'should', 'could' reveal how strongly the author recommends.
Worked example
Passage: 'It is tempting to read the fall in recorded infringements as proof that enforcement has improved. Tempting, but premature: recorded infringements depend on inspection intensity, which has itself declined. A quieter inspectorate can look like a cleaner sector.'
Purpose: (A) argue that enforcement improved; (B) explain why a statistic should not be taken at face value; (C) criticise inspectors; (D) propose inspection targets.
Answer B. 'Tempting ... but premature' explicitly rejects A; C misreads the point about intensity; D is never proposed. The tone is sceptical and analytical, with mild irony in the final sentence, not hostility.
Traps
- Treating 'neutral' as 'uninterested'; most such passages are neutral yet argumentative.
- Taking a reported view as the author's own.
- Choosing emotive tone words where the text is measured.
- Missing that a concession signals where the real emphasis lies.
Style questions
Look at sentence length, nominalisation and passive constructions. Heavy nominalisation and impersonal phrasing signal detachment, which is itself an answer-relevant stylistic feature.