Author Purpose and Rhetorical Intent
SAT Reading & WritingCraft & StructureHard
Determine what the author is trying to accomplish through the passage as a whole.
What you need to know
- Purpose combines content with action: explain a mechanism, challenge a view, compare accounts, or advocate a change.
- A passage can inform while also arguing; choose the more specific supported purpose.
- Tone and evidence selection help reveal intent.
- Purpose answers should not attribute motives or emotions absent from the text.
The AYLOTI method
- Identify the main subject.
- Ask what changes in the reader’s understanding by the end.
- Choose an accurate action verb.
- Verify that every paragraph contributes to that purpose.
AYLOTI • Sir Hunain Zia • SAT Score 1594/1600 • 154 Total A Grades (Personal), 11 World Records, 7 Distinctions
Worked example
A passage describes overlooked records and argues that they revise historians’ understanding of a strike. What is its main purpose?
- Content: newly examined records.
- Effect: prior historical understanding changes.
- Action: explain how evidence revises an interpretation.
Answer: To explain how overlooked records challenge an established account of the strike.
Common SAT traps
- Selecting a purpose broader than the passage.
- Confusing the author’s subject with the author’s goal.
- Assuming the author wants to entertain because an example is vivid.
Quick check
A passage neutrally compares two models without choosing one. Is its purpose necessarily to prove one model superior?
No. Its purpose may simply be to compare their assumptions or predictions.
Before you move on
- Explain the core rule without looking back.
- Redo the worked example using your own steps.
- Write the trap you are most likely to fall for.
