Words That Support the Author's Purpose

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Supports Purpose

Is Neutral

Read the passage and decide whether each phrase

supports the author's purpose of showing how lovely

and full of life the place was.

Along the roads, laurel, viburnum and alder, great

ferns and wildflowers delighted the traveler's eye

through much of the year. Even in winter the

roadsides were places of beauty where

countless birds came to feed on the berries and on the

seed heads of the dried weeds rising above the snow

-Silent Spring,

Rachel Carson

The phrases that support the author's purpose of describing how lovely and full of life the place was:

Supports Purpose

-wildflowers delighted

-places of beauty

-countless birds

Is Neutral

-the snow

-in winter

-Along the roads

Explanation:

These are words that supports the author's purpose and the ones that are neutral.

The phrases "places of beauty", "wildflowers delighted", and "countless birds" all support and give credence to the loveliness and liveliness of the place.

However, the neutral words that do not directly support the author's purpose, the neutral phrases "the snow", "in winter", "along the roads" are just used to describe the weather and road without supporting the author's description of liveliness.