ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

CAHSEE ELA 5.5 Main Idea and Sources 252 Views


Share It!


Description:

CAHSEE ELA 5.5 Main Idea and Sources. What was the author's purpose in writing this passage?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour... Hit pause and read this passage. You may experience

00:08

a bit of déjà vu...

00:21

What was the author's purpose in writing this passage?

00:24

And here are the potential answers...

00:30

So... what is this question asking? Well, it's asking us to peer inside the

00:34

author's head and see if we can get at their reason for writing this little historical nugget.

00:39

Was it A... to entertain? Meh. There isn't a lot of plot development,

00:44

and there are no thrilling chase sequences... probably not.

00:48

What about B... to inform? Certainly sounds plausible. There's a lot

00:52

of information here... meaning that we're being informed...

00:54

How about C... to persuade? There are certain things the author is trying

00:59

to persuade us of... ...such as the idea that the railroad helped

01:03

bring people together, or made travel more efficient...

01:05

...but it still seems more like the purpose was to inform us than to sway our beliefs.

01:11

And D? To argue? Not much argumentation here. Besides, "arguing"

01:15

is pretty close to "persuading"... Nope... answer B is our best bet.

01:20

As in, "Brain privacy."

Up Next

CAHSEE 1.1 Passage Drill
1135 Views

CAHSEE 1.1 English Language Arts Passage Drill. Which line is an example of a metaphor?

Related Videos

CAHSEE 1.3 Passage Drill
337 Views

CAHSEE 1.3 Passage Drill. Which of the following is the best way to express the meaning of the word alumni in this sentence?

CAHSEE 1.2 Passage Drill
246 Views

CAHSEE 1.2 Passage Drill. Which of these sentences from the story best illustrates the sensitive side of the narrator's nature?

CAHSEE 1.4 Passage Drill
210 Views

CAHSEE 1.4 Passage Drill. What does the use of flashbacks accomplish in "Graduation"?

CAHSEE 1.5 Passage Drill
642 Views

CAHSEE 1.5 Passage Drill. In this line from the story, the words buzz and pulsated suggest the crowd is...what?