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Analyzing
Tone
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Objectives
Students will be able to identify
complimentary tones and tonal
shifts in a variety of passages by
highlighting and indicating in
writing.
Handout: tone words
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How is tone created?
Diction and Syntax can both be used
to create a tone.
Figurative language (similes,
metaphors, etc.)
Detail, imagery & local color
Rhetorical techniques These are all part of an authors
STYLE.
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Intro to Tone
When a prompt is asking about theauthors attitude, it is referring to tone.
Tone is the attitude expressed by the
author, speaker, or character toward thetopic at hand.
In one piece, there may be a main tonewith supporting undertones. There may betwo or three complimentary tones. Theremay be shifts in tone. We must practiceidentifying all of these so that we can writeabout them.
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Complimentary Tones
Complimentary tones are similar,
but not exactly the same.
Complimentary tones are not
synonyms.
Tone words may be various parts of
speech, but should be consistent.
For example, use two adjectives OR
two nouns to indicate tone.
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Instructions for Practice
Read each passage and write down a
list of words which seem important
to you and also words which may
suggest a deeper meaning. Then
read back over the passage.
Consider the words you chose and
decide which two tones they maysuggest. These are the two
complimentary tones of the passage.
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Example 1
There was a steaming mist in all the hollows,and it had roamed in its forlornness up the hill,like an evil spirit, seeking rest and finding none.A clammy and intensely cold mist, it made itsslow way through the air in ripples that visiblyfollowed and overspread one another, as thewaves of an unwholesome sea might do. It wasdense enough to shut out everything from thelight of the coachlamps but these its ownworkings, and a few yards of road; and the
reek of the labouring horses steamed into it, asif they had made it all. -A Tale of Two Cities
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Words that Create Tone
There was a steaming mist in all the hollows,and it had roamed in its forlornnessup the hill,like an evil spirit, seeking rest and finding none.A clammyand intensely cold mist, it made itsslowway through the air in ripplesthat visiblyfollowed and overspread one another, as thewaves of an unwholesome sea might do. It wasdense enough to shut out everything from thelight of the coachlamps but these its ownworkings, and a few yards of road; and the
reek of the labouring horses steamedinto it, asif they had made it all. -A Tale of Two Cities
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Complimentary Tones
The words steaming mist, hollows,
clammy, and dense create a sense
of mystery and secrecy.
The words forlornness, evil,
intensely cold, unwholesome sea,
and reek of labouring horses are
hints of evil, ominous strangeness.
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Sentences
A. TONES: mysterious, ominous
B. The mysterious new girl in schoolhas made the other students curious
because she wont say where shecame from, and wont talk about herfamily or past.
C. The warning sign on the fence wasominous, so, fearing for our safety,we decided not to go further.
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For each example:
1. Write the words which seem
important/ tone words/ connotative.
2. Identify the two complimentary
tones.
3. Write two sentences, using the
tone words, that clearly reveal the
tones meaning.
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Passage 1
Oh! No mortal could support the
horror of that countenance. A mummyagain endued with animation could not
be so hideous as that wretch. I hadgazed on him while unfinished; he wasugly then; but when those muscles and
joints were rendered capable of
motion, it became a thing such as evenDante could not have conceived. -Frankenstein
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Possible Complimentary Tones
Frightening, repulsive
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Passage 2
It was a mighty nice family, and a mightynice house, too. I hadnt seen no house outin the country before that was so nice andhad so much style. It didnt have an iron
latch on the front door, nor a wooden onewith a buckskin string, but a brass knob toturn, the same as houses in a town. Therewarntno bed in the parlor, not a sign of abed; but heaps of parlors in town had beds
in them. There was a big fireplace that wasbricked on the bottom, and the bricks waskept clean and red by pouring water onthem- Huckleberry Finn
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Possible Complimentary Tones
Impressionable, admiring
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Passage 3
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea behind him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
-The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
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Possible Complimentary Tones
Awe, respect
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Tonal Shifts
Good authors rarely use one tone
Speakers complex attitudes
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Look for:
Key words (e.g. but, yet,
nevertheless, however, although)
Punctuation (dashes, semicolons,
periods)
Stanza & paragraph divisions
Changes in line & stanza or sentence
length
Sharp contrasts in diction
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The Man He Killed
Read the poem, The Man He Killed.
Note how the speaker puzzles about
the irony of killing men in war who
might have been neighbors or friends.
However, the speaker grows more
uncertain of his attitude.
Repetition & punctuation guide thereader to the speakers shifting tone.
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DIDLS
Diction the connotation/word
choice
Images vivid appeals through the
senses
Details facts included/omitted
Language overall use/ level
Syntax
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