Quick Guide to Tones

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What’s Tone?

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Tone matters in writing just as it does when you're speaking. Yelling, using advanced vocabulary with a young child or talking to your boss like he's five years old wouldn't get your message across very well; similarly, when you write, you need to deliberately choose words and sentence structures that are appropriate for your audience. Here’s a guide explaining some of the most common tones and examples to show how they’re properly used.

Definition of Tones

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Formal/Professional  A formal or professional tone is used in academic or scholarly papers. You would expect to see this type of writing in scientific or other professional journals. A formal tone requires the writer to use third person (he/she/it) rather than second person (you/your/yours). Avoid slang and contradictions and take extra care to ensure that only standard spelling and grammar are used. Example: “The best way to understand behavioral targeting is to consider familiar examples. For instance, advertisements that tend to follow people around on the Internet.”

Objective

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An objective tone is used when the writer wants to remain neutral or avoid upsetting readers. It reports facts without siding with involved parties in order to avoid bias or an accusatory tones. An objective tone is often used when reviewing products or reporting news. Example: "Three men have been identified as leaders in the San Francisco bank robbery.”

Journalistic

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News outlets, such as The New York Times, use a journalistic tone. This is a combination of a formal and objective tone; the focus of the piece is on reporting the facts. A journalistic tone informs readers of who was involved in an incident and what happened without providing an opinion. Example: “Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Speaker John A. Boehner, worked with Republicans to win support from the Senate.”

Enthusiastic

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An enthusiastic tone conveys high energy, confidence and interest without sacrificing professionalism. Positive reviews, job application letters and congratulatory letters use this tone. To convey confidence, the writer uses words that express excitement or appreciation while still using conventions, such as refraining from slang. Example: “We’re pleased to announce that we’ve raised additional funding for our charity thanks to an overwhelmingly warm response from clients.”

Whimsical

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A whimsical tone relies on the use of metaphors and hyperbole to convey a sense of fantasy. It’s often used in children's literature; see, for example the poem “The Dragon of Grindly Grun” by Shel Silverstein. Example: “I breathe fire as hot as the sun.”

Persuasive

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A persuasive tone is used when the author wants to persuade the audience to do or believe something. For instance, editorials and opinion columns endorsing a particular candidate, in addition to advertisements and marketing copy. Example: “There are several reasons why you need to include content in your marketing strategy.”

Reserved

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A reserved tone is similar to a formal and impersonal tone. This tone is used when the writer wants to convey deep respect for the reader or subject and is holding back information and opinions that could interfere with that goal. Obituaries and biographies of key figures in a company often use a reserved tone. The following is an example from Harold Camping’s obituary in The New York Times. Example: “Critics called him a con man, a lunatic, a heretic and worse. But to his believers he was a throwback to the biblical prophets.”

Commentary

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A commentary tone is used when giving an opinion of an idea, product or event. Emotional words may be used, but the writer tries not to use overly loaded words, such as "horrible" or "amazing," in order to give the reader space to evaluate the commentary. Reviews and editorials sometimes use a commentary tone rather than a persuasive one. Example: “Luke made a hopeful promise that his contributions to the city would impact its troubling fiscal situation.”

Conversational

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A conversational tone, as the name implies, is less formal and more like a conversation. This type of writing uses contradictions and slang or colloquialisms. Some non-standard spelling and grammar may be used. Emails, social media posts and some blog posts use a conversational tone. Example: “A big thanks to everyone who attended last night’s event; it was a blast.’

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“Tone was the most important thing of our content strategy. We want to be helpful,

relatable, and inspirational – cheering people on rather than tsk-tsking them for what they

hadn’t done yet.”

-  Carrie Sloan Editor-in-Chief, LearnVest

Tone Inspiration  When we asked Carrie Sloan, the Editor-in-Chief of LearnVest, what the most important part of their

content strategy was in the very beginning stages, she said finding the right tone.