"Rinse the brushes before the paint dries. Stand them bristles-up in the jar; laid flat, they dry bent and never sit flush against a canvas again." What is the writer's main purpose?

"The council has money for one project this year. A sidewalk on Ellis Road would carry two hundred children to school off the shoulder of a highway. The fountain would carry nobody anywhere." Why did the writer write this?

"The county's three ferries carried 41,000 riders last year, about 6,000 fewer than the year before. Two run on weekends only; the third runs daily from May through October." The writer's main purpose in this paragraph is:

"'The goat is on the roof again,' my sister announced, the way other people announce the weather. Nobody moved. By then the goat's habits ran the household, and we had all agreed not to discuss it." What is the writer's main purpose?

"The stairwell smelled of wet stone. Each landing held one window the size of a shoebox, and the light stopped about two steps down, so the rest of the climb was done by hand along the rail." Which purpose does this passage serve?

"Hold a seedling by a leaf, never the stem. A crushed leaf costs the plant a week. A crushed stem costs you the plant." What is the writer's main purpose?

"Study hall was cut to make room for a second lunch. Since then the library at four o'clock has been standing room only. The period paid for itself, and the schedule should give it back." Why was this written?

"In snow, set the exposure a stop under whatever the meter gives you, then push the film a stop in development." Who is this written for?

"He will pull toward every other dog for the first week. Stop walking each time the leash goes tight, and wait. He is learning that pulling ends the walk." Who is this written for?

"The seafloor spreads a few centimeters a year, about as fast as a fingernail grows. Where two of these moving plates meet, one slides beneath the other, and that is where the deepest trenches lie." Who is the intended audience?

"Bring a folding chair. The bleachers were condemned in the spring and have not been replaced, so anyone who shows up empty-handed stands for three hours." Who is this written for?

"Log the coolant temperature at the top of each hour. If it climbs 3 degrees Celsius above the shift's opening reading, shut the line down and page the on-call engineer before it trips itself." Who is the intended audience?

An essay follows one family's grocery bills across a year of three moves, each apartment cheaper than the last and each farther from a store. Which is the essay's message rather than its topic?

A coach's end-of-season speech lists the games the team lost by one point, then the practices nobody missed in the weeks after each of those losses. Which statement is the speech's message rather than its topic?

A memoir chapter describes the writer's grandmother teaching her to read a bus map, then a lease, then a hospital form. What is the chapter's message, as opposed to its topic?

An article compares two city blocks on the same July afternoon, one lined with mature trees and one bare, and reports the temperature measured on each. Which is the article's message rather than its topic?

A pamphlet opens with a photo of a cracked water main, gives the cost of three recent emergency repairs, then closes with the date and time of the vote on the bond. Which detail most clearly reveals its purpose?

A report on a proposed landfill gives the acreage, a truck traffic estimate and the county's cost, then sets out the hearing's objections and the company's answers in the same even tone. Which detail most clearly reveals its purpose?

A flyer shows a photo of a stray dog, tells how it was found beside a highway, and prints the shelter's address and adoption hours at the bottom in the largest type on the page. Which detail most clearly reveals its purpose?

A page about hurricanes opens with a paragraph on how a storm gathers over warm water, then gives a numbered list: fill the bathtub, charge the radio, move the car uphill. Which detail most clearly reveals the page's purpose?