TONE = DIDLS Elements to consider when analyzing the tone of a piece of writing.

TONE ► TONE = the author’s (or speaker’s) attitude toward the subject and audience ► TONE is created by the author’s choice of 5 main elements: DIDLS

DIDLS ► D Diction: The connotation of the word choice ► I Images: vivid appeals to understanding through the senses ► D Details: facts that are included or are omitted ► L Language: the overall use of language, such as formal, clinical, jargon ► S Sentence Structure: how structure affects the reader’s attitude

D is for Diction ► Diction - the connotation of the word choice  What words does the author choose? Consider his/her word choice compared to another.  Why did the author choose that particular word? What are the connotations of that word choice?

Diction words… ► Remember that the words chosen by the author can have a positive or negative effect on the tone.  Laugh: guffaw, chuckle, giggle, cackle, snicker, roar  Self-confident: proud, conceited, egotistical, stuck-up, haughty, smug, condescending  House: home, hut, shack, mansion, cabin, residence  Old: mature, experienced, antique, relic, senior, ancient  Fat: obese, plump, corpulent, portly, porky, burly, husky, full-figured

I is for Images ► Images – vivid appeals to understanding through the senses  vivid descriptions  figurative language  sensory details ► (sight, touch, taste, smell, sounds etc.)

Images ► The use of vivid descriptions or figures of speech that appeal to sensory experiences helps to create the author's tone. ► Examples: Her love is the sun—bright and warm. (sentimental) (metaphor) An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king. (somber, candid) (imagery) The leaves raced to the ground as the rain viciously pounded down. (dramatic) (personification) Love sets you going like a bird soaring through the sky on a sunny summer day. (fanciful) (simile)

D is for Details ► Details - facts that are included or those that are omitted  The author’s perspective shapes what details are given and what details are purposely left out. (Think back to your Persuasive Essay. You were on one side of an argument and chose to give certain facts to support your argument and purposely left out other facts that may not have supported your side.)  What details does the author choose to include? What do they imply?  What does the author choose to exclude?  PLEASE NOTE: Details are facts. They differ from images in that they don't have a strong sensory appeal.

L is for Language ► Language - the overall use of language, such as formal, clinical, jargon, etc.  What is the overall impression of the language the author uses? ► Jargon= Does it reflect education or a particular profession? EX: medical jargon like ACL: anterior cruciate ligament ► Dialect or Slang= a regional variety of language. EX: One example of Northern Kentucky dialect is y’all. ► Alliteration= repetition of a particular sound EX: Carrie’s cat clawed her couch, creating chaos. EX: Carrie’s cat clawed her couch, creating chaos. ► Onomatopoeia= the use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the object or action. EX: buzz **Make sure you don't skip this step.

Language ► 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 a wedding might use formal language, while a biology text would use scientific and clinical language. When I told Dad that I had goofed the exam, he flipped his lid. (slang) A close examination and correlation of the most reliable current economic indexes justifies the conclusion that the next year will witness a continuation of the present, upward market trend. (jargon)

S is for Sentence Structure ► Sentence Structure - how structure affects the reader's attitude  What are the sentences like? ► Are they simple? Compound? Complex? Compound-Complex? (Why did the author choose that specific structure?) ► Are the sentences choppy OR flowing? ► Is there parallel construction? ► What emotional impression do they leave? ► If we are talking about poetry, what is the meter? Is there a rhyme scheme?

Sentence Structure ► How a sentence is constructed affects what the audience understands. ► Parallel syntax (similarly styled phrases and sentences) creates interconnected emotions, feelings and ideas. ► Short sentences are punchy and intense. Long sentences are distancing, reflective and more abstract.

Use DIDLS to practice analyzing and determining TONE. ► This sample from “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe has created a sense of foreboding. ► During the whole of a dull, dusk, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing along, on horseback through singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of melancholy House of Usher…I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled luster by the dwelling…[with] vacant and eye-like windows.

DIDLS ► Word choice and imagery create a melancholic, somber tone. In this case, the imagery and diction also produce an oppressive atmosphere, or mood, which helps to establish this somber tone. Words such as “dull, “dark,” and “dreary” suggest the oppressive feeling, whereas the image “vacant and eye-like windows” creates the melancholy and somber attitude.