Determine the tone,

mood and purpose of

the Author
 TONE
Tone is the authors expresses attitude toward his writing.
You can recognize the tone/attitude by the word choices the
author uses.
His language will reveal his perspective/opinion whether it
is positive or negative about the subject.
Tone must be inferred through the use of descriptive words.
 EXAMPLE
And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t
know why they died, they just died. Something wrong with
the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the
nursery wasn’t the best. We complained about it. So we’ve
got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree
to plant and we’ve got these thirty dead trees. All these
kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was depressing.
 MOOD
Is the overall feelings or emotions that are
created in the reader.
 EXAMPLE
During the holidays, my mother's house glittered with
decorations and hummed with preparations. We ate
cookies and drank cider while we helped her wrap
bright packages and trim the tree. We felt warm and
excited, listening to Christmas carols and even singing
along sometimes. We would tease each other about our
terrible voices and then sing even louder. 
Identifying the mood and tone is important,
because if you miss it you are missing a lot of the
meaning behind the text. Authors use all kinds of
tools to help give their readers hints about what
the mood and tone should be, but it is up to the
reader to do the detective work.
 PURPOSE OF THE AUTHOR

The author is not a character in the story. The

author feels absent; therefore the author is merely
delivering the story and not making any
judgement. 
 THREE MAIN PURPOSE OF
AUTHOR’S WRITING
TO INFORM
TO ENTERTAIN
TO PERSUADE
 INFORM

Expository Essay or Articles

Instructions or Directions
Encyclopedia or other reference text
 ENTERTAIN
Story
Poems
Drama
Songs
 PERSUADE

Advertisement
Campaign Speeches
Persuasive letter or Notes