6th grade author's purpose worksheets

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Sixth grade author's purpose worksheets ask what the author thinks, not only why the piece exists. Students read letters, reviews, how-to guides, humor columns and speeches, then find the author's point of view and the word choices, jokes and details that carry it, even when the author never states it.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core RI.6.6.

Each click picks one of the 15 passages written for this grade. Every sheet comes with its answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of passages you'll get

Read the passage, then circle the letter of the best answer. The questions ask what the author thinks and how the writing shows it.

Check Out a Drill

Our town library lends books, movies, museum passes, and, since last year, wifi hotspots. It should add one more shelf: tools. A drill, a ladder, a sewing machine, a pressure washer. Things most households need a few times a year and store the rest of…

  1. Why did the writers most likely write this editorial? to persuade readers to back a tool shelf at the library · to explain how the Berkeley tool library first began · to teach readers how to use a power drill safely · to criticize the library board for turning down the whole idea

    Answer: to persuade readers to back a tool shelf at the library

  2. The writers mention a claim that a home drill is used for only thirteen minutes in its whole life, then say they will not repeat it as fact. Why? to show they will not use evidence they cannot confirm · to prove that drills are used more often than people think · to make fun of families who own drills they never use · to show that a library board member invented the number

Each print picks one of the 15 passages written for this grade, and its questions come with it. With 15 to pick from, a second print can land on one you've used, so check the title before you hand it out.

What's on a 6th grade sheet

6th grade sheets draw from 15 passages, 394 to 428 words long. 6th to 8th grade print from the same 15 passages. What changes is the standard (RI.6.6 here) and the teaching notes below. None of these passages are on 5th grade sheets. On 5th grade sheets they run 260 to 342 words.

Some of the titles: Fixing a Flat Without Losing Your Mind, The Corner of Delmar and Tenth, How to Keep a Tent Dry, A Modest Parking Proposal, Seeds on the Windowsill, A Muffin at the Front Door.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

Ask for the author's opinion in one sentence, then for the proof. Point of view hides in small choices: the detail the author opens with, the word picked where a milder one would do, the joke aimed at one side. If your child can name the choice and the opinion it shows, the sheet is doing its job.

Watch for: Purpose and point of view get mixed up. A passage can be written to entertain and still hold a firm opinion; the question says which one it wants. The author's view is not always in one sentence. At this level it often lives in word choice, in which details come first, and in what the author jokes about.

Common questions about 6th grade author's purpose

What is the difference between purpose and point of view?
Purpose is why the author wrote: to argue, to explain, to make you laugh. Point of view is what the author thinks about the topic. A humor column can exist to entertain and still carry a clear opinion, and sixth grade questions ask for both.
Do sixth graders still use PIE?
As a starting point, not the answer. Real middle school texts mix purposes, so the questions ask what the author wants and how the writing shows it. The answer key explains every choice.

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Aligned to Common Core RI.6.6. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 241, updated October 2026.

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