Purposes of non-fiction writing

Question 1 of 10

1

What is meant by form, audience and purpose in relation to writing tasks

Select one of the following:

Type of text, , who it is written for, reason for writing
Style, people, effect
Structure, tone, effect

Explanation

Question 2 of 10

1

What is the purpose if the following piece of writing?

We are a father and two sons living in a household without women. We are like an experiment in a satellite, free of normal earthly influences (like guilt, and bleach and sock drawers). We've lived for years now in a whole new all-male institution. Given its inadequacies as a child-rearing unit, I like it. It's so different from a household run by a woman. It's home alone except there are three of us. Here are a few characteristic gender moments.

Select one of the following:

Inform
Explain
Advise

Explanation

Question 3 of 10

1

Look at this plan for a piece of writing to argue. The candidate has been asked to write a letter to a local newspaper to express their views on the closure of a local school. Complete the plan by dragging and dropping the points that could be made as counter arguments.

Plan:

F = Letter so remember full addresses & postcodes, date in full. Start Dear . . . end Yours Faithfully.
A = Local people, particularly parents and children.
P = to argue that the school shouldn't be closed.

Main argument:
Lots of children attend the school
The next nearest school would mean a drive = more traffic, pollution, dangerous roads
Results have been getting better.

Counter argument.
❌
❌
❌

Drag and drop to complete the text.

Local population is aging

They can easily make new friends

County council will run a bus

The children could walk there

Results better at other school

Results were worse this year

Explanation

Question 4 of 10

1

When writing to argue you must always include points from both sides of the argument

Select one of the following:

True
False

Explanation

Question 5 of 10

1

Click on each orange point and select the correct answer.

Verb choice is important when writing to persuade, argue or advise. This text has been written to advise. Choose from the drop-down menus to label the verbs as either modal or imperative.

Explanation

Question 6 of 10

1

Which of these conventions can be found in all three writing purposes, argue, persuade, advise? Choose all that apply.

Select one or more of the following:

Variety of sentence structures
Emotive language
Emphatic language
Rhetorical questions
Sequential connectives
Imperative and modal verbs

Explanation

Question 7 of 10

1

Annotate this advert which has been written to persuade by choosing the correct convention from each drop-down menu.

Drag an answer into the correct orange point.

Emphatic language

Fact

Interesting adverb

interesting noun

Personal pronoun

Third person

2 three-part lists

2 short sentences

Identifies with target audience

Formal tone distances audience

Repetition

Rhetorical question

More emphatic language

More emotive language

3 emotive adjectives

3 emotive verbs

Rhetorical Q

Direct question

Explanation

Question 8 of 10

1

When writing to inform or explain it is O.K to use bullet points.

Select one of the following:

True
False

Explanation

Question 9 of 10

1

Complete the sentences by dragging and dropping the correct causal connectives in the spaces.

1) Water expands as it freezes, ❌ ice takes more space than water.

2) Sales are down ❌ high prices.

3) As a ❌ overnight rain, the pitch is not fit to use and ❌ the match has been cancelled.

Drag and drop to complete the text.

so

and

but

because of

despite

but there are

result of

response to

precaution against

therefore

now

thus

Explanation

Question 10 of 10

1

Select from the dropdown lists to complete the text.

In any piece of writing, whatever the purpose, it is important to be able to use punctuation for effect. See if you can remember how to use the 7 most common punctuation marks by choosing from the drop-down menus to complete the explanations.

1) A full stop (.) is used to ( indicate that you have finished a point, indicate you need to take a breath, indicate you are about to start a list ) and are about to make a new one.

2) Commas (,) can indicate ( a pause, time, a stop ), ( separate clauses, join sentences, end sentences ), allow the use of more than one ( adjective or adverb, noun or verb, word ), ( separate items on a list, separate sentences, separate paragraphs )
3) Exclamations marks (!) should be used sparingly at the ( end of sentences, beginning of sentences, end of paragraphs ) to convey ( emotions such as surprise, anger, fear, emotions such as love, greed, and envy, emotions clearly and concisely ) etc. .

4) Questions marks (?) are used to ( turn sentences into questions, ask rhetorical questions, grab the reader's attention ) which can be ( direct or rhetorical, long or short, open or closed ).

5) A colon (:) is used to make a ( very definite pause, slight pause, definite stop ) and is most often used ( just before a list, at the end of a sentence, to separate clauses ).

6) A semi colon (;) is used instead of a ( full stop, a comma, a colon ) so that two sentences which ( are linked by theme, are not linked at all, about opposite ideas ) can be joined.

7) The apostrophe (') has ( two, three, four ) main uses. It can be used to ( indicate possession, indicate time, indicate place ) or to show ( when a letter is missing., when a word is missing, when a sentence is missing )

	Created by Sarah Holmes about 8 years ago

A resource to help learners understand the conventions of different non-fiction writing purposes. Covers writing to argue, persuade, advise, inform, explain.

Purposes of non-fiction writing

Question 1 of 10

What is meant by form, audience and purpose in relation to writing tasks

Select one of the following:

Explanation

Question 2 of 10

Select one of the following:

Explanation

Question 3 of 10

Drag and drop to complete the text.

Explanation

Question 4 of 10

When writing to argue you must always include points from both sides of the argument

Select one of the following:

Explanation

Question 5 of 10

Click on each orange point and select the correct answer.

Verb choice is important when writing to persuade, argue or advise. This text has been written to advise. Choose from the drop-down menus to label the verbs as either modal or imperative.

Explanation

Question 6 of 10

Which of these conventions can be found in all three writing purposes, argue, persuade, advise? Choose all that apply.

Select one or more of the following:

Explanation

Question 7 of 10

Annotate this advert which has been written to persuade by choosing the correct convention from each drop-down menu.

Drag an answer into the correct orange point.

Explanation

Question 8 of 10

When writing to inform or explain it is O.K to use bullet points.

Select one of the following:

Explanation

Question 9 of 10

Complete the sentences by dragging and dropping the correct causal connectives in the spaces. 1) Water expands as it freezes, ❌ ice takes more space than water. 2) Sales are down ❌ high prices. 3) As a ❌ overnight rain, the pitch is not fit to use and ❌ the match has been cancelled.

Drag and drop to complete the text.

Explanation

Question 10 of 10

Select from the dropdown lists to complete the text.

Explanation

Complete the sentences by dragging and dropping the correct causal connectives in the spaces.

1) Water expands as it freezes, ❌ ice takes more space than water.

2) Sales are down ❌ high prices.

3) As a ❌ overnight rain, the pitch is not fit to use and ❌ the match has been cancelled.