Nonfiction- The Author’s Influence

1. Nonfiction- The Author’s Influence Tone, Mood, and Purpose

2. Dear Marjorie, Please forgive me for what I said last night. You have beautiful hair, and I love your new haircut. I meant to say it was “pert” or “radically chic” or something like that, but I couldn’t think of the right words. “Dorky” just kind of popped out of my mouth. You know I think you’re beautiful. I haven’t been able to sleep all night thinking that I hurt your feelings. I’d do anything to patch things up. Love, Erwin P.S. Hope this is the right locker. I’m so tired they all look the same.

3. Dear Marjorie, When are you going to forgive me for last night? So What if I said your new haircut looked dorky? I didn’t mean it. the way you treated me really ticked me off. I couldn’t even sleep last night. I mean, you know I’d never say anything to hurt you. Unless I was really really tired, like now. (Just kidding.) Erwin

4. Is the tone positive, negative, or neutral? • Positive tone • Conveys good feelings about the topic • Negative tone • Communicates bad feelings about the topic • Neutral tone • Neither positive nor negative

5. Passage 1 “I just saw this awesome new movie, Space Heroes. It’s about this cool kid named Freddy, who finds out that he’s really an alien from Altair. An amazing starship, with brilliant red and green lights flashing, shoots out of the sky like a falling star and zips him back to his home planet, where he meets his handsome older brother, Zendar. Zendar files a futuristic starfighter in a battle with some creepy green creatures. Needless to say, Freddy and Zendar save the galaxy, and Freddy falls in love with a beautiful alien girl called Mella. The special effects blew my mind, and the acting was great!”

6. Passage 2 In the new film Space Heroes, a boy named Freddy discovers he is not from earth. A spaceship from his home world arrives and takes Freddy back to Altair. There Freddy meets his brother, Zendar, who enlists him in a conflict with a rival alien race. An Altairian girl, Mella, serves as a love Interest.

7. Passage 3 “Hollywood has coughed up another chunk of garbage. Space Heroes, which should have been called Space Zeroes, is a dull, formulaic exercise in special effects substituting for story. The main character, a blank-faced child named Freddy, turns out to be an alien. We can tell because a clunky spaceship decorated in holiday lights appears out of nowhere and drags the kid to another planet. No one on Earth seems to notice this. For some reason, Freddy’s “hunky” brother Zendar needs a fifteen- year-old kid with no experience to help him defend the planet Altair from some unconvincing green rubber bad guys…”

8. Mood • The feeling the writing leaves with you What word best describes the mood the author creates In passage 1? A. exciting B. joking C. serious D. frightening

9. Purpose • Author’s reason for writing

10. Inform Shares information without offering opinions. Explains, describes, & gives facts. -News stories -Nonfiction articles in magazines

11. Entertain Author amuses audience with a funny story or essay, Or frightens them with a scary tale. -Short story -Novel -Humorous Essay -Play -Poem

12. Teach Teaches or instructs • -Textbooks and workbooks • “How-to” books • Recipes • Instructions

13. Persuade Author encourages audience to consider their way of thinking. -Editorials -Letter to the editor -Movie, book, and music reviews

14. Express When an author wants to put his or her thoughts onto paper -Journal entries