Unlocking Tone

Remember, when a person speaks, the audience detects the attitudes and meanings in the message by listening to the speaker’s tone of voice. In written works, the reader must determine tone by paying attention to the words used.

If you misinterpret the tone, you have missed the meaning of the work!

Tone is conveyed through...  Diction  Imagery  Details  Language  Syntax

Diction – the author’s choice of words Connotation vs. Denotation – Why does the author choose one word instead of another with a similar meaning?

Imagery – the author’s use of descriptive language or figurative language that appeals to the senses  Hyperbole - Exaggeration used for effect  Idiom - Expression that has a different meaning from its literal definition  Personification – giving something nonhuman, human characteristics

Imagery - continued  Simile – comparisons between two unlike things using words such as “like” or “as”  Onomatopoeia – word whose sound imitates its meaning  Metaphor – comparisons between two unlike things in which one becomes another; often, a form of the verb “be” is used  Alliteration – same sound starts a series of words.

Details – facts the author includes or leaves out Ex. Irony – occurs when there is a contrast between what is expected or intended to happen and what actually happens.

Song Lyrics from “Isn’t It Ironic” Alanis Morisette  An old man turned ninety-eight He won the lottery and died the next day  It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late  It’s like rain on your wedding day  It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid

Language – how formal or informal the writing is  Jargon – technical terms  Cultural dialect  Sophisticated vocabulary  Slang – language specific to the times generally short-lived (ex. groovy)

Syntax – sentence structure  Long and flowing or short and quick Long = reasonable or scholarly Short = emotional or assertive  Simple or complex  Declarative, Interrogative, etc.

You can unlock Tone by remembering...

D I (HIPSOMA) D L S

One final note...  Clichés are expressions that are so overused, they have lost their effectiveness. Ex. Blind as a bat Through thick and thin  Avoid clichés “like the plague”