Free HESI A2 Reading Comprehension guide
October 2026 - Author's Purpose & Tone Study Guide for nursing students in
Tone is the author's attitude, and it is carried almost entirely by word choice. The same event described as "a firm decision" or "a stubborn refusal" reports identically and feels completely different. Underline the adjectives and adverbs: tone lives there far more than in the nouns and verbs.
Where tone comes from
Two sentences can report the same fact and carry opposite attitudes, because most words carry a feeling alongside their meaning. That feeling is connotation, and it is the raw material of tone.
Compare "the committee reconsidered its decision" with "the committee backtracked". Same event; one is procedural and one is disparaging. When a tone question is hard, find the two or three words in the passage that could have been swapped for neutral ones and were not.
A working vocabulary of tone words
Answer choices use words many students recognise but could not define under time. These are the ones that recur.
| Word | Means | You would see |
|---|---|---|
| Objective | Neutral, without personal feeling | Plain reporting, figures, no evaluative adjectives |
| Critical | Finding fault, with reasons | Named shortcomings, evidence for them |
| Sceptical | Doubting a claim | Questions, "supposedly", demands for evidence |
| Sympathetic | Understanding towards someone | Attention to difficulty, generous framing of motives |
| Indignant | Angry at something unjust | Strong language, a sense of grievance |
| Nostalgic | Fond about the past | Warm description of how things were |
| Cautionary | Warning | Consequences, "risk", "before it is too late" |
| Optimistic | Expecting a good outcome | Forward-looking, improvement, promise |
| Resigned | Accepting something unwelcome | No fight left, "in the end", "there is little to be done" |
Tone, mood and purpose
These get confused in answer choices, and the three are genuinely different.
- Tone — how the author feels about the subject.
- Mood — how the writing makes the reader feel.
- Purpose — what the author wanted the reader to do or know.
Most passages on this exam are moderate in tone. When a choice offers something extreme — furious, contemptuous, jubilant — it is usually too strong for a piece of writing that is merely disagreeing or approving. Choose the moderate word unless the passage genuinely shouts.
Terms to know
- Tone
- The author's attitude towards the subject, conveyed by word choice.
- Mood
- The feeling the writing produces in the reader.
- Connotation
- The feeling a word carries beyond its literal meaning.
- Denotation
- A word's literal dictionary meaning.
- Diction
- An author's choice of words, and the level of formality that follows from it.
- Loaded language
- Wording chosen to prompt a reaction rather than to describe neutrally.
What the HESI asks most
The same core ideas appear in different wording. If you can answer these without stopping to think, you have what this section requires.
Which word best describes the tone of the passage?
Judge from the adjectives and adverbs, and prefer the moderate option over the extreme one.
The author's tone in the final paragraph shifts to …
Tone can change mid-passage. Read the last paragraph on its own terms rather than carrying the earlier tone into it.
Which phrase from the passage best conveys the tone?
The phrase with the strongest connotation, where a neutral alternative was clearly available.
Key points
- Tone is attitude and it lives in word choice, especially adjectives and adverbs.
- Connotation is the mechanism: words carry feeling beyond their meaning.
- Tone is the author's feeling, mood is the reader's, purpose is the aim.
- Prefer moderate tone words. Extreme options are usually too strong.
- Tone can shift between paragraphs, and questions exploit that.
Review quiz
4 questions on this topic, each with the reasoning worked through. Pick an answer to see how it went, or open the explanation straight away.
Read the passage, then answer the questions below
The new electronic prescribing system was introduced with a fanfare of internal emails promising an end to transcription errors. What it delivered, on the ward at least, was a login procedure of eleven keystrokes and a drop-down menu that offers three formulations of paracetamol with no indication of which one the pharmacy actually stocks. None of this is beyond fixing. It is a pity that nobody appears to have asked a nurse before the fanfare rather than after it.
-
Question 1 of 4
Which word best describes the tone of the passage?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. Wryly critical
"A fanfare of internal emails", the precise eleven keystrokes and the closing "it is a pity" are dry, pointed and amused rather than heated — critical with a wry edge. Enthusiasm is contradicted throughout, "furious" is far too strong for this register, and indifference is ruled out by how much care the complaints show.
-
Question 2 of 4
Which phrase most clearly conveys the author's attitude?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. "a fanfare of internal emails"
"Fanfare" was chosen where "announcement" would have done, and it frames the launch as self-congratulation — that is connotation doing the work. The first and third are neutral descriptions, and the fourth is a concession that softens the criticism rather than carrying it.
-
Question 3 of 4
What does the sentence "None of this is beyond fixing" contribute to the tone?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. It keeps the criticism measured by conceding the problems are solvable.
The concession stops the piece tipping into a rant, which is exactly why the tone reads as measured criticism rather than fury. One sentence is not enough to make the whole passage optimistic, the objections are plainly real, and there is no warning about future consequences.
-
Question 4 of 4
How would the tone change if the final sentence read: "Nobody asked a nurse before the launch, and patients will pay for it"?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. It would become more cautionary and less wry.
Naming a consequence and saying who will bear it turns understatement into warning, which is the cautionary register. Sympathy would require attention to someone's difficulty, nostalgia needs a fond past, and predicting harm is the opposite of neutral reporting.
Put this HESI topic into practice
Build a set on author's purpose and tone and use the rationale on every question to reinforce what you just reviewed.
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