Writing to Express: Poems, Letters, and Personal Stories

Some authors write mainly to share feelings or reflect on an experience.

Some texts aren't mainly trying to teach, convince, or amuse. Their purpose is to express: to share the author's feelings, memories, or reflections. Poems, diary entries, thank-you letters, and personal narratives often have this purpose.

Clues include first-person words like I and my, emotional language, sensory details, and moments where the writer looks back and thinks about what something meant. Read: 'When Grandma's garden was sold, I stood at the fence for a long time. I could still smell the tomato vines. That garden was where she taught me patience, one seed at a time.

' The author isn't teaching gardening or asking you to do anything. They're expressing love and loss, and reflecting on what Grandma taught them. Naming 'to express feelings' or 'to reflect' is more accurate here than simply saying 'to entertain'.

• 1Expressive texts share feelings, memories, or reflections.
• 2Clues: I and my, emotional words, sensory details.
• 3Reflection means thinking about what an experience meant.