2.5 Author's Purpose, Tone, and Point of View

Why Purpose and Tone Are Tested

Every passage on the ATI TEAS 7 Reading section was written by someone with a reason and an attitude. The Craft and Structure sub-content area (9 scored questions) asks you to look past the literal words and identify why the author wrote a text and how they feel about the subject. In nursing practice you will read patient-education pamphlets, drug warnings, discharge instructions, and journal abstracts—each with a different purpose. Reading the intent correctly prevents dangerous misunderstandings, which is exactly why ATI tests it.

Author's Purpose

Author's purpose is the reason a text exists. The TEAS uses four broad purposes, often remembered by the acronym PIE+E (Persuade, Inform, Entertain, Express).

Many passages mix purposes—a magazine article may inform and entertain—but the TEAS expects you to choose the dominant purpose. Ask: "If I deleted everything else, what is the author mainly trying to accomplish?"

Tone vs. Mood

These two terms are frequently confused, and the TEAS exploits that confusion.

• Tone is the author's attitude toward the topic—serious, hopeful, critical, sarcastic.
• Mood is the reader's emotional response—anxious, calm, inspired.

Example: A passage that opens "Despite three failed treatments, the trial nurse refused to give up" has a determined, admiring tone, and it may produce a hopeful or tense mood in the reader. Same passage, two different feelings—because tone belongs to the writer and mood belongs to you.

Common TEAS Tone Words

Word Choice (Diction) Reveals Tone

The single strongest clue to tone is diction—the connotation of the words an author selects. Synonyms are rarely neutral.

When two answer choices both seem possible ("informative" vs. "enthusiastic"), let the loaded words decide. Words like remarkable, breakthrough, and thrilling push toward enthusiastic; the data indicate and researchers measured push toward objective.

Fact vs. Opinion

Distinguishing fact from opinion underpins both tone and purpose questions.

A persuasive author blends the two, stating opinions as if they were facts. Spotting the unverifiable claim is often the key to a tone or purpose question.

Point of View

Point of view is the narrative perspective, signaled by pronouns.

A shift to second person ("you should wash your hands for 20 seconds") usually signals instructional or persuasive intent, not an objective report.

Persuasive and Rhetorical Devices

When the purpose is to persuade, authors reach for rhetorical devices:

1. Emotional appeal (pathos) — language that triggers fear, pity, or pride: "Imagine your own grandmother left untreated."
2. Appeal to authority (ethos) — citing experts or institutions to build trust.
3. Rhetorical question — a question asked for effect, not an answer: "Can we really afford to ignore this?"
4. Repetition — repeating a phrase to drive it home.
5. Loaded language — emotionally charged diction (devastating, miracle).

Worked Example

Passage: "Every winter, emergency rooms overflow with patients who never received a simple, free flu shot. We have the vaccine. We have the clinics. What we lack is urgency. It is time—past time—for every health system to make vaccination effortless. The cost of inaction is measured not in dollars, but in lives."

Step 1 — Purpose: The author wants the reader to act ("It is time…to make vaccination effortless"). That is persuade, not inform.

Step 2 — Tone: Words like overflow, urgency, and measured…in lives show an urgent, concerned attitude.

Step 3 — Devices: The rhetorical question ("What we lack is urgency" follows the implied question), the repetition of "We have," and the emotional appeal ("in lives") are all persuasive tools.

Step 4 — Fact vs. opinion: "We have the vaccine" is a fact; "It is time…past time" is an opinion stated for effect. Recognizing that mix confirms a persuasive purpose.