1. 09/03/14

2. Mood, Tone, and Style Part 1

3. Just like people have different personalities, every story has its own personality – one that you respond to negatively or positively. You are going to learn about the elements that make up a story’s personality.

4. These elements are Mood, Tone, and Style.

5. SO… What’s the Difference??

6. Mood Mood is the feeling the writer creates for readers – it is what the reader FEELS!

7. Mood Words to Describe Mood joyfulthreatening exciting eerie peacefulscary eerie

8. Peaceful Mood They were standing in a sunlit field, and the air about them was moving with the delicious fragrance… from A Wrinkle in Time

9. Read “Dragonwings” along with me on pg. 417. Complete the first square at the top of the handout.

10. Tone The attitude of the author toward the subject of the text.

11. How can you identify the tone? The writer uses details, imagery, figurative language, and diction to give us clues.

12. Read “Knots in my Yo-Yo String” with me on p. 417. Complete the square on the top of the handout to the right. Is the tone amused, irritated, joking, or something else??

13. … I worked in construction, mostly hitting my fingers with a hammer and making serious attempts at cutting something off my body with power saws while I tried to build houses. Mocking and Sarcastic Tone:

14. Please fill in the blanks with words or phrases to describe a food choice. _____________ is my ________ food. Just the smell of it ______________. It tastes ________________. I _____________ it.

15. You set the tone of this writing by the descriptive words that you use. We are going to read five examples of your writing. What tone do you recognize in each example? What mood does each example put you in?

16. Mood If your team won a soccer game against a team that was sure to beat you, the mood would be excitement. Tone Later, the other team says, “Great game.” You will know their tone by the way they say, “Great game.” Is it bitter or sweet?

17. Part 2

18. Style – Refers to a writer’s unique way of communicating ideas.

19. Elements of Style:

20. A writer’s use of language is a basic element of style.

21. Refers to the lengths and types of sentences writer’s use.

22. Some writers are known for their use of imagery (language that appeals to reader’s senses).

23. From

24. Claudia and Jamie awoke very early the next morning. It was still dark. Their stomachs felt like tubes of toothpaste that had been all squeezed out. Giant Economy sized tubes. They had to be out of bed and out of sight before the museum staff came on duty.

25. Konigsburg uses casual, informal language like giant and squeezed out. She uses short, simple sentences. This creates a straightforward style. She used humorous images like stomachs like tubes of toothpaste. This create a playful style.

26. From

27. Miyax pushed back the hood of her seal skin parka and looked at the Arctic Sun. It was a yellow disc in a lime- green sky, the colors of six o’clock in the evening and the time when the wolves awoke.

28. Quickly she put down her cooking pot and crept up to the top of a dome- shaped frost heave, one of the many earth buckles that rise and fall in the crackling cold.

29. George uses precise, descriptive adjectives, such as dome-shaped. She uses longer, complex sentences that are packed with descriptions. George uses vivid images like yellow discs in a lime- green sky.

30. Read the excerpt from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson on page 419 of the Literature book. Find three images that help you hear what is happening. This is the author’s style. Are his sentences short and simple or long and complex?

31. Read the excerpt from Duffy’s Jacket by Bruce Coville on page 419 in the Literature book. Compare the sentences with the ones from Treasure Island. Which words or phrases are informal and sound like everyday phrases? These all add to the author’s style!

32. Read the excerpt from Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt on page 420 in the Literature book. Now read the excerpt from Block Party by Jewell Parker Rhodes on p. 421.

33. Make a T-chart. Write the names of each of the story excerpts at the top of your columns. Now record the differences between the summer days from each passage. Be sure and cite the line number for each of your examples.

34. At the bottom of each column, identify the mood and tone from each passage. You may use your group members for advice. (The style of each writer will help you with your decisions.)

35. You are now an EXPERT on Mood, Tone, Style! Enjoy what you read even more – taaaa-daaaaa!