Copyright 2002 © Laraine Flemming.
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Directions: Circle the appropriate letter ("a" or "b") to indicate if the author's purpose is to inform or persuade.
1. Business leaders and other critics of America's public education system like to point out that United States students lag behind the students of the rest of the world in all academic areas. However, these international comparisons are neither accurate nor fair. For one thing, the United States educates 75 percent of our youth through high school. Our goal, of course, is to teach as many students as possible for twelve full years. In contrast, many other countries weed out the weakest students and send only their academically strongest students to high school. Therefore, all of our students are being compared to just the elite of the other countries. When that's the case, it's unfair to conclude that American students are not as smart or well educated. Besides, when elite American students are compared to elite international students, Americans rank near or at the top of the scale. But test scores, on which such comparisons are based, are an inadequate measuring tool in any case. After all, they don't address many areas of our country's rich and varied curriculums, so they cannot evaluate the many strengths of our young people. Overall, Americans may not score as well as the Japanese, for example, on international exams, but our nation's economy is as strong, even stronger than theirs. This indicates that our schools consistently produce citizens who go on to successfully contribute their talents, skills, and knowledge to a healthy workforce. (Adapted from Paul Demone, Educational Issues, p. 14.)
Purpose:
a. To inform
b. To persuade
2. One way to classify culture is in terms of masculinity and femininity. Masculine cultures emphasize success and encourage assertiveness. Members of a masculine culture are likely to confront conflicts directly and to compete openly. These cultures are more likely to emphasize win-lose strategies. Feminine cultures emphasize the quality of life. They socialize people to be modest and to value interpersonal relationships. Members of a feminine culture are more likely to emphasize compromise and negotiation and to seek win-win solutions. (Adapted from Joseph A. DeVito, Interpersonal Communication Book, p. 43.)
Purpose:
a. To inform
b. To persuade
3. The five primary media categories are entertainment, news, information, education, and advertising. Each category features products that all serve the same major purpose. The entertainment label, for example, includes events such as parades, television sitcoms, and sports. The primary goal of this group is to get people's attention and make them happy. The news category includes shows that recount and comment on past and present events. Newspaper articles, editorials, and investigative television shows are all in the news genre. The information category describes products that aim to deliver facts and knowledge. This category includes websites, databases, and reference books. The education genre features content designed to teach people specific skills or give them knowledge. This category includes products like educational television programs (like Sesame Street), textbooks, flash cards, and computer software. Finally, the advertising category includes all content that seeks to influence people to feel favorably about a particular product or service.
Purpose:
a. To inform
b. To persuade
4. In 2001, the postal system in the United States became an avenue for bioterrorism. Anthrax spores sent in letters resulted in the deaths of several innocent people. Such attacks are just one reason why Americans should seriously consider permanently shutting down the U.S. Postal Service and moving to a purely electronic mail system. Lethal bacteria cannot be transmitted in the digital world, of course. But there are other good reasons for shutting down our old-fashioned system of physically transporting person-to-person letters. Specifically, continuing to move paper mail around is wastefully inefficient. Eliminating what has clearly become an obsolete delivery system would put a stop to the millions of dollars the post office loses every year. We would also conserve precious natural resources, such as trees and water, and eliminate the pollution caused by the manufacture of paper. With the money we save by shutting down post offices we could furnish every household with a personal computer so that everyone could use the faster and more cost-effective electronic mail system.
Purpose:
a. To inform
b. To persuade
5. Many scientists have long believed that either a change in climate or widespread disease killed the world's huge animals, such as the mastodon and the wooly mammoth. Some evidence suggests, though, that these theories may be incorrect. Evidence from two different continents indicates that humans may have hunted these animals to extinction. In Australia, scientists have dug up bone and eggshell fossils that indicate a massive die-off of large animals about 46,000 years ago. This extinction occurred after humans arrived on that continent about 52,000 years ago. These timeframes suggest that people may have been responsible for the animals' disappearance. Similar evidence comes from North America. Humans arrived there about 13,000 years ago. Approximately 1200 years after their appearance, about thirty species of large animals were gone.
Purpose:
a. To inform
b. To persuade
Last change made to this page: November 15, 2004