Topic 4Craft and Structure

Author Purpose, Perspective, and Structure

These questions ask why the author made a move, who is speaking, and what job each part of the passage is doing.

Core Idea

Read for function, not just content. A purpose, perspective, or structure answer is right only if it matches what the passage is trying to accomplish in that exact spot.

Understanding

Start with the job of the passage. Ask whether the writer is trying to explain, argue, narrate, compare, critique, or qualify a claim.

Then track the local move:

  • Speaker: whose voice or viewpoint is active here?
  • Purpose: what is that voice trying to do?
  • Function: does this paragraph introduce, concede, shift to evidence, or judge between ideas?

This skill can appear in literary narrative, humanities, social science, or natural science passages. Do not treat it as literary-only analysis. ACT can ask the same purpose, perspective, or function question in an informational passage, a paired set, or a passage with visual support.

Question

Worked Example

Excerpt: Some historians argue that the bridge was built mainly to speed trade across the river. Yet diary entries from army engineers describe the bridge as a strategic supply route, and the passage later explains why those diary entries are more reliable than later commercial records.

The passage is organized mainly to:

Select an answer to see the explanation

Concept Guides

5
1

Identify author’s purpose (to explain, argue, narrate, critique, compare, etc.).

Match the answer to what the author is doing, not just the topic.

2

Identify perspective, stance, or narrator voice and how it shapes meaning.

Use tone and attitude clues to identify the speaker's stance.

3

Analyze text structure and how sections/paragraphs contribute to the whole.

Track what each section does for the whole passage.

4

Recognize rhetorical moves (claim, evidence, concession, counterargument) in arguments.

Name the rhetorical move before you choose the answer.

5

Differentiate between viewpoints and sources of information within a passage.

Separate a person's viewpoint from the evidence source being cited.