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What the Author Wanted is a free printable Grade 2 English worksheet on identifying the main purpose of an information text, aligned to Common Core standard RI.2.6. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 19 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

What the Author Wanted

RI.2.6

NameDate

Tick the right answer.

1.A text describes what a fire engine carries. What is it mainly doing?
  • A.Describing
  • B.Giving an opinion
  • C.Telling a story
2.A text explains the five stages of recycling paper. What is the author's main purpose?
  • A.To make you laugh
  • B.To sell you paper
  • C.To explain a process
3.An author writes "Glass is unusual." What are they about to do?
  • A.Give an opinion about bottles
  • B.Describe a glass factory worker
  • C.Explain what makes glass different
4.What does an author of an information text mainly want to do?
  • A.Answer, explain or describe something
  • B.Rhyme every line
  • C.Entertain you with characters
5.Which title tells you the author will explain a cause?
  • A.My Day at the Tower
  • B.The Tall Building Song
  • C.Why Tall Buildings Do Not Fall Over
6.A text is titled "How a Camel Survives". What question does it answer?
  • A.Where can I buy a camel?
  • B.How does a camel survive in a desert?
  • C.Who owns the camel?
7.Why would an author give a number like "eighteen hundred litres"?
  • A.To fill up space
  • B.To make the fact exact rather than vague
  • C.Because numbers look important
8.How can you tell an information text from a story quickly?
  • A.It is always shorter
  • B.It gives facts you could check, and has no made-up characters
  • C.It always has pictures

LessonPrint · RI.2.6 · Set 19 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — What the Author Wanted

Set 19. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Describing
  2. 2.To explain a process
  3. 3.Explain what makes glass different
  4. 4.Answer, explain or describe something
  5. 5.Why Tall Buildings Do Not Fall Over
  6. 6.How does a camel survive in a desert?
  7. 7.To make the fact exact rather than vague
  8. 8.It gives facts you could check, and has no made-up characters

More practice for RI.2.6

Say why the author wrote it and what they wanted to explain.

Teaching this next? What the Author Wanted to Do is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 2 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.2.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.