Tone in Writing

TONE IN WRITING IS NOT REALLY ANY

DIFFERENT THAN THE TONE OF YOUR VOICE. YOU
KNOW THAT SOMETIMES IT IS NOT “WHAT” YOU
SAY, BUT “HOW” YOU SAY IT.

IT IS THE SAME WITH WRITING. EVERY

ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB YOU USE, YOUR
SENTENCE STRUCTURE, AND THE IMAGERY YOU
USE WILL SHOW YOUR TONE. THE DEFINITION OF
“TONE” IS THE WAY THE AUTHOR EXPRESSES HIS
ATTITUDE THROUGH HIS WRITING.  
THE TONE CAN CHANGE VERY QUICKLY, OR MAY REMAIN
THE SAME THROUGHOUT THE STORY. TONE IS
EXPRESSED BY YOUR USE OF SYNTAX, YOUR POINT OF
VIEW, YOUR DICTION, AND THE LEVEL OF FORMALITY IN
YOUR WRITING.
EXAMPLES OF TONE IN A STORY INCLUDE JUST ABOUT
ANY ADJECTIVE YOU CAN IMAGINE:
SCARED
ANXIOUS
EXCITED
WORRIED
FOOLISH
SMART
DEPRESSING 
CONVEYING TONE IN A STORY
Tone in writing is conveyed by both the choices of words and the narrator of the story.
Consider the tone of The School by Donald Barthelme. Here, words
like "death" and "depressing" set a negative or unhappy tone:
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.
 IN CONTRAST, IN CHARLOTTE'S WEB, ALTHOUGH THE BOOK
IS SAD, THE TONE IS ONE OF PEACE AND ACCEPTANCE:

But I feel peaceful. Your success in the ring this morning was, to a small
degree, my success. Your future is assured. You will live, secure and safe,
Wilbur. Nothing can harm you now. These autumn days will shorten and
grow cold. The leaves will shake loose from the trees and fall. Christmas
will come, and the snows of winter. You will live to enjoy the beauty of the
frozen world, for you mean a great deal to Zuckerman and he will not harm
you, ever. Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the
pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake,
the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be
yours to enjoy, Wilbur—this lovely world, these precious days…”
 FORMAL AND CASUAL TONES

Formal and Casual Tones

An example of a casual tone is:
The way I look at it, someone needs to start doing something about disease. What’s the big
deal? People are dying. But the average person doesn’t think twice about it until it affects them.
Or someone they know.
A formal tone is shown in this example:
There was a delay in the start of the project, attributable to circumstances beyond the control of
all relevant parties. Progress came to a standstill, and no one was prepared to undertake the
assessment of the problem and determination of the solution.
There are as many examples of tone in a story as there are stars in the sky.  Any adjective you
can think of can be the tone in a story.
 M O O D

In literature, mood is the feeling created in

the reader. This feeling is the result of both
the tone and atmosphere of the story. The
author's attitude or approach to a character
or situation is the tone of a story. ... A
cheerful mood fills you with joy and
happiness.
 DEFINITION OF
MOOD
As a literary device, mood is the emotional feeling or atmosphere that a work of
literature produces in a reader. All works of literature produce some sort of
emotional and psychological effect in the audience; though every reader may
respond differently to the same work of literature there is often a similar type of
mood produced. For example, in a thriller most readers will feel some sort of
suspense, while dramatic novels may produce a sense of sentimentality. Authors
use many different factors to create mood, including setting, theme, voice, and
tone.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOOD AND TONE

Though mood and tone are related and often confused,

they are very different literary devices. Tone refers to the
author’s attitude toward the work, while the definition of
mood is that it is the emotions provoked in the reader.
Thus, the difference can be understood in this way: tone is
how the author feels, while mood is how the reader feels.
 COMMON EXAMPLES OF MOOD

There are many different things that affect our emotions on a

daily basis. Politicians use their speeches to create a certain feeling in
the audience, including everything from hope to anger. Politicians try
to provoke these feelings to advance their own agendas, win votes,
sway opinions, and so forth. Advertisers also try to produce certain
emotions such as nostalgia or fear to influence customers to buy their
products. Here are examples of mood in these two cases:
Political speeches
In his presidency, Barack Obama has given speeches to arouse many different types
of moods. In this first example, he is trying to make his listeners feel hopeful and
united:
The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into red
states and blue states; red states for Republicans, blue states for
Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an “awesome God”
in the blue states, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our
libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states and
yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who
opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in
Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and
stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
 In the following example, President Obama had just released his official
birth certificate and was trying to make Americans feel annoyed and
frustrated that he had to address this issue instead of more pressing matters:
I know that there’s going to be a segment of people for which, no
matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest.  But I’m
speaking to the vast majority of the American people, as well as to
the press.  We do not have time for this kind of silliness.  We’ve got
better stuff to do.  I’ve got better stuff to do.  We’ve got big
problems to solve.  And I’m confident we can solve them, but we’re
going to have to focus on them — not on this.
Advertisements
Many advertisements, such as the following one from Listerine in the 1950s, try to
inspire fear in the consumer so they will think they need a certain product so as not to
fail:
Jane has a pretty face. Men notice her lovely figure but never linger long.
Because Jane has one big minus on her report card – halitosis: bad breath.
Other advertisements try to make customers think about how much happier they will
be when they have the product. Here are some examples of this strategy:
Disneyland: The happiest place on earth.
Coca Cola: Open happiness.
McDonald’s: I’m lovin’ it.
Holiday Inn: Pleasing people the world over.
KFC: Finger lickin’ good.
 SIGNIFICANCE OF MOOD IN
LITERATURE
Much of literature’s power rests in its ability to provoke and inspire
different emotions and psychological states in the reader. Readers often
appreciate literature more when the emotional and psychological payoff is
greater. For example, if a character is killed off in the first few pages the
reader won’t feel much emotion. However, if the book establishes good 
characterization and the reader feels a connection to a particular character, the
reader will be much more affected emotionally if the character dies later in the
book.
All literature creates some sort of feeling in the reader, whether it is
positive, negative, or neutral. Even indifference is an example of mood. The mood
that a work provokes often changes many times throughout the book.
 EXAMPLES OF MOOD IN LITERATURE
Example #1
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.    
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,    
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
(“Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare)
Shakespeare’s famous “Sonnet 18” is a poem that provokes a feeling of love and
sentimentality in most readers. Shakespeare does this by describing his feelings of eternal
passion for his beloved.
Example #2
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
(“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe)
Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” tells a tragic story of love and loss. The mood that this
poem provokes in the reader is generally one of sadness and nostalgia. Poe inspires this mood by
establishing a somber psychological setting and showing the art of the relationship up to Annabel
Lee’s death.
Example #3
They’re trying to kill me,” Yossarian told him calmly.
“No one’s trying to kill you,” Clevinger cried.
“Then why are they shooting at me?” Yossarian asked.
“They’re shooting at everyone,” Clevinger answered. “They’re trying
to kill everyone.”
“And what difference does that make?”
(Catch-22 by Joseph Heller)
Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22 is famous for its absurd situations. In this piece
of dialogue, the protagonistYossarian explains that he’s upset about being
targeted. The character of Clevinger thinks he’s paranoid, but Yossarian shows
the logic behind his fear. This exchange provokes a feeling of bemusement in
the reader.
Example #4

He rolled in his bed, twisting the sheets, grappling with a problem years
too big for him, awake in the night like a single sentinel on picket. And
sometime after midnight, he slept, too, and then only the wind was awake,
prying at the hotel and hooting in its gables under the bright gimlet gaze
of the stars.

(The Shining by Stephen King)

Stephen King’s The Shining is a novel that creates a lot of suspense in the reader. This
particular mood example creates tension by describing both the feelings of the character
and the outside setting.
What is the best word for the mood that the following passage from
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Julietmight inspire in a reader?

JULIET: What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand?

Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.—
O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after? I will kiss thy lips.
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make me die with a restorative.
A. Anger
B. Excitement
C. Sadness
Consider the following excerpt from Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Raven”:
`  Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Nameless here for evermore.
What is the best word for the mood that this passage inspires?
A. Somber
B. Jubilant
C. Peaceful
PLEASE PREPARE FOR A
LONG QUIZ TOMORROW
ON TONE, MOOD,
IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT
MESSAGE