TONE

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TONE

• Analyzing Style

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TONE
Tone is the attitude or feeling that the writers
words express.
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LANGUAGE

• Like word choice, the language of a passage has
  control over tone. Consider language to be the
  entire body of words used in a text, not simply
  isolated bits of diction. For example, an
  invitation to graduation might use formal
  language, whereas a biology text would use
  scientific and clinical language.

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Language

• The following words describe the force or
  quality of the diction, images, and details, and
  help us to recognize tone.
• JARGON VULGAR MORALISTIC
• SCHOLARLY INFORMAL ESOTERIC
• SYMBOLIC COLLOQUIAL ARTIFICIAL
• HOMESPUN PEDANTIC EUPHEMISTIC
• PRETENTIOUS SENSUOUS ORDINARY
• LEARNED BOMBASTIC PICTURESQUE
• DETACHED GROTESQUE POETIC
• EXACT SLANG TRITE
• OBTUSE PLAIN PRECISE
• INSIPID CONCRETE OBSCURE

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LANGUAGE

• Some Examples
• Colloquial When I told Dad I goofed on the exam
  he blew his top.
• Informal I had him on the ropes in the fourth
  and if one of those short rights of mine had
  connected hed have gone down for the count. I
  was aiming for his glass jaw.
• Formal A close examination and correlation of
  the most reliable current economic indexes
  justifies the conclusion that the next year will

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TONE

• When discussing tone, consider such questions
  as
• What seems to be the speakers attitude in the
  passage?
• Is more than one attitude or point of view
  expressed?
• Does the passage have a noticeable emotional mood
  or atmosphere?
• Can anything in the passage be described as irony?

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SHIFTS IN TONE

• As you grow more aware of tone, you will
  discover that good authors are rarely monotone,
  that is, monotonous. You will notice how often a
  speakers attitude will shift on a topic, or that
  an author might have one attitude toward the
  audience and another attitude toward the subject.
  Look at these clues to note a shift in tone
• key words (but, yet, nevertheless, however,
  although)
• punctuation (dashes, periods, colons)
• stanza and paragraph divisions
• changes in line and stanza or in sentence length
• sharp contrasts in diction

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DIDLS

• When analyzing tone, remember the acronym
• Diction The connotation of words/phrases and
  specific word choice.
• Images Vivid pictures which appeal to the
  senses.
• Details Facts that are included or those omitted
• Language The overall use of language (see
  examples)
• Sentence Structure How structure affects the
  readers attitude.
• To misunderstand tone is to misunderstand meaning

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TONE

• Ultimately,
• what is the writer feeling? How does he/she feel
  about the subject? How does that make you feel?

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WATCH YOUR TONE!
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TONE

• The more words
• you know, the more
• accurate your
• description of an
• authors style will
• be.

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Lets Practice

• Bouncing into the room, she lit up the vicinity
  with a joyous glow on her face as she told about
  her fiancé and their wedding plans.
• What are the specific words that create the
  feeling of the sentence? What words did the
  author use to create the feeling of the sentence?

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Lets Practice

• Bouncing into the room, she lit up the vicinity
  with a joyous glow on her face as she told about
  her fiancé and their wedding plans.
• Bouncing lit joyous glow fiancé -
  weddingWhat kind of words are these?

Joyful, Euphoric,
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Lets Practice

• She huddled in the corner, clutching her
  tattered blanket and shaking convulsively, as she
  feverishly searched the room for the unknown
  dangers that awaited her.

Frightening, Alarming,
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Lets Practice

• Bursting through the door, the flustered mother
  hollered uncontrollably at the innocent teacher
  who gave her child an F.

Fierce, Antagonistic
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Lets Practice

• Drawing the attention of his classmates, as well
  as his teacher, the student dared to experiment
  with his professors intelligence by
  interrogating him about the Bible.

Challenging, Confrontational,
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Lets Practice

• She lay on the couch in a white evening dress,
  whispering softly in the ear of her fiancé,
  running her fingers through his hair and gently
  nibbling his earlobe.

Romantic, Seductive
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Lets Practice

• He furtively glanced behind him, for fear of his
  imagined pursuers, then hurriedly walked on,
  jumping at the slightest sound, even of a leaf
  crackling under his own foot.

Threatening, Frantic,
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Lets Practice

• Gently smiling, her mother tenderly tucked the
  covers up around the childs neck, and carefully,
  quietly, left the room, making sure to leave a
  comforting ray of light shining through the
  opened door should the child awake.

Loving, Serene,
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Lets Practice

• The laughing wind skipped through the village,
  teasing the trees until they danced with anger
  and cajoling the grass into fighting itself,
  blade slapping blade, as the silly dog with
  golfball eyes and flopping, tongue bounded across
  the lawn.

Carefree, Happy-go-lucky,
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Your
Assignment
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Tone in 1984