Tone and Purpose

1
Tone and Purpose

• The Indirect Ways That Writers Communicate

2
Understanding the Authors Purpose

• In many textbooks, the writers purpose is fairly
  clear.
• However, sometimes a writer will express an
  opinion indirectly.
• Writers use tone, style and other features of
  language to achieve the results they want.

3
Understanding Tone

• Refers to the authors attitude toward his/her
  subject.
• Think of how you interpret the tone of a
  speakers voice
• Pay attention to word choice, types and length of
  sentences, description
• Tone is important in determining the authors
  purpose.

• Examples
• Instructive
• Sympathetic
• Persuasive
• Humorous
• Nostalgic
• Humorous
• Angry
• Insensitive
• Naive

4
Style and Intended Audience

• Style may be defined as the characteristics that
  make a writer unique.
• Depending upon whom the writer is addressing, he
  will change the level of language, method of
  presentation, and word choice.

5
Language

• Objective
• factual

• Subjective
• Express attitudes, feelings opinions

• Authors use language in special ways to help the
  reader understand and create a picture of a
  situation.
• Create Descriptions
• Making comparisons
• Using symbols

6
Word Choice

• Connotative Meanings
• Opposite of Denotation
• Implied Meaning
• A Words Nuanceideas associated with the words
  usage
• May be Favorable or Unfavorable

• Denotative Meanings
• Literal Meaning
• found in the dictionary
• Factual, exact
• No added meanings

7
Connotationpositive vs. negative

• Request, demand, command, appeal, plead, claim,
  ask
• Gaudy, showy, flashy, tawdry, glitzy, jazzy
• Glance, stare, look, glimpse, peek, peer,
  examine, gaze, scan
• Take, snatch, grasp, filch, pocket, steal

• Crowd, mob, gang, audience, class, congregation
• Slim, skinny, slender, slight, wiry, scrawny
• Intelligent, brainy, nerdy, smart, gifted
• Particular, picky, fussy, meticulous, precise,
  exacting

8
Figurative Language

• Describes something that makes sense on an
  imaginative level but not on a factual or literal
  level.
• Example
• Sam eats like a horse.
• The wilted plants begged for water.

9
Making Comparisons

• Similes and metaphors
• Compare one object or living thing with another
• Questions to ask yourself
• What two things is the author comparing?
• Why did the author choose that comparison? What
  do they have in common?

10
Figurative Language-Comparison

• The purpose of figurative language is to paint a
  word pictureto help the reader visualize how
  something looks, feels, or smells
• The red sun was pasted in the sky like a wafer.
• I will speak daggers to her, but use none.
• Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

11
Using Symbols

• Symbols can be either pictures or objects that
  stand for ideas, people, concepts, or anything
  else the author decides.
• Symbols are a communication shortcutmake ideas
  more understandable by connecting them with
  things the reader can see.
• Common symbols U.S. Flag (loyalty to country),
  Statue of Liberty (freedom), dove (peace),
  golden arches (McDonalds), scales (law/justice)

12
Typical Stem Items

• Conclusions, generalizations, summary,
  comparisons, cause-effect, time relationships,
  authors tone
• Which of the following conclusions about X is
  supported by the passage?
• Which word would the author most likely use to
  describe his subject?
• The author implies that X and Y differ in what
  ways?
• The authors opinion about X is that ?

13
Typical Stem Items

• Application of one or more ideas
• Based on the authors description of X, how would
  a teacher using this plan arrange the students
  activities?
• Based on the examples provided in the passage,
  how could the government best deter illegal
  immigration?

14
Typical Stem Items

• Figurative language
• By the phrase, a breath of fresh air in lines
  6-7, the author means that
• The use of the phrase alien from another planet
  to describe the sister is an example of what type
  of figurative language?
• By saying the room was like a sauna, the author
  is indicating that

15
Review/Recall

• What are inferences and why are they important
  for reading?
• What do you do with inferences once you have made
  them?
• Explain why the conclusions you draw about a
  reading selection can be tentativewhy you can
  change you mind about how you understand them.
• What are some things that might influence a
  change in how you understand a reading selection?