1. Non-Fiction Practice Reading Skills
May 12

2. Do Now
1. How can an author’s tone influence the content of a passage? 2. How might it be a positive tone? 3. How might it be a negative tone?

3. Today’s Focus
Tone Bias Connotation Denotation

4. Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009
Tone
Writers choose a tone based on
their personal feelings about a subject.
purpose, i.e., informative or persuasive.
context , e.g., for a reference book or a weekly magazine, a newspaper front page, or an inside
editorial.
personal preference: some writers vary their tones;
others are more comfortable assuming a comic or a
serious tone.
the audience.
Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009

5. Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009
Tone
All of the following can play a role in making readers hear a feeling
or an attitude in the writer’s words:
word choice
imagery
sentence and paragraph length
grammar, i.e., formal or conversational
references to the audience or self
selection of details
Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009

6. Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009
11.3 Tone and Readers
Readers need to pay attention to tone because
it helps reveal the writer’s purpose.
it helps them better understand the effect of tone on their response.
it offers a solid clue to the writer’s degree of bias, i.e., the more emotional the tone, the greater the bias.
it will make them better readers, more aware of the many different ingredients that go into an effective piece of writing.
Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009

7. The Role of Bias in Informative and Persuasive Writing
The more passionate the tone the more likely it is that the
author harbors a bias for or against the subject or issue under
discussion.
In persuasive writing,
bias is to be expected.
bias is only bad if the writer goes overboard and insults or
won’t even acknowledge an opposing point of view.
In informative writing,
authorial bias is supposed to be almost completely eliminated.
Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009

8. What’s the author’s purpose and can you detect a bias?
What’s a Mining Hall of Fame without Miners?
The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, first opened in 1988, cries out to be included in any discussion of how history can be distorted. The Mining Museum doesn’t say much about those who have done the actual mining in the United States; the luminaries* it does showcase are mainly white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men, most of them mine owners, executives, or engineers rather than, god forbid, actual miners, who risked their life to dig metals from the earth.
In reality, mining has been one of America’s most multicultural occupations with, among others, Italians mining granite in Vermont, Finns digging for copper in Michigan, and Chinese Americans panning for gold in the West, but you’d never know that from visiting the National Mining Hall of Fame.
* luminaries: famous people, stars
This excerpt has been adapted from James W. Loewen, Lies Across America, p The book’s copyright is 2000, so the situation Loewen describes may well have changed.
Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009

9. 1. What’s the primary purpose of the following reading?
Finishing Up: More on Purpose, Tone, and Bias
1. What’s the primary purpose of the following reading?
Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, was born in Denison, Texas in He was the first professional soldier elected to office since Ulysses S. Grant and the first president to preside over 50 states. Eisenhower’s public image was that of a conservative thinker, who believed deeply in the rights of the states to govern themselves. But the real “Ike” was a good deal more devious and less conservative than the public knew. People were profoundly shocked when Eisenhower called in the national guard to protect black students trying to enter an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Conservatives didn’t interfere with states rights. Eisenhower, however, was never a conservative. As he himself expressed it in a 1951 letter kept secret for years, he had always had “liberal sympathies.” He just kept them hidden.
Copyright Laraine Flemming 2009

10. Denotation
The denotative definition is based on the________definition of a word.
The connotative definition is the________________________ meaning of a word.
literal
figurative or emotional

11. Connotation Positive Negative
We bought inexpensive souvenirs at the amusement park.
I ate a moist sandwich.
I am a bargain shopper.
Negative
We bought cheap souvenirs at the amusement park.
I ate a soggy sandwich.
I am a cheapskate.

12. Positive or Negative Connotation
Which One?
Positive or Negative Connotation

13. Positive Connotation
immature
youthful
Back to Game

14. Positive Connotation
limit
restrict
Back to Game

15. Positive Connotation
filthy
dirty
Back to Game

16. Negative Connotation
stingy
thrifty
Back to Game

17. Negative Connotation
cluttered
messy
Back to Game

18. Negative Connotation
unusual
weird
Back to Game

19. Quick Response
1. Should people from different social classes be allowed to have a relationship? 2. How might it be difficult to communicate with someone in a social class higher than one’s own? 3. Besides social issues, what are some outside influences that could affect a relationship? 4. Would you prefer to have a relationship/friendship with someone in the same social class as you?

20. When Richer Weds Poorer, Money Isn’t the Only Difference
Task: Read the Article Work together to answer the questions using specific quotes from the article When finished: Compare your responses and list them on your wall Be prepared to present your findings to the class

21. Exit
Finish your remaining questions on your own We will meet and present our findings next class