Tone and Voice

Prepare to be thrilled. –Tone= sarcastic

Tone

• the writer's attitude toward the material and/or readers.

• This is the feeling the author is trying to convey or show to the audience through their written piece.

Tone Words

• Can be positive, negative, or neutral.

• They are usually “feeling” or emotion words: • (i.e. happy, sad, confident,

passionate, fanciful, accusing, mocking, flippant, loving, objective, matter-of-fact, taunting)

How does an author create tone?

• Diction –word choice of author• Images- when an author appeals to

the reader’s senses• Details- Facts given can support

attitude or tone• Sentence Structure- How a speaker

or writer constructs a sentence affects what the audience understands:• Inverted• Interrogative• Short or long

Practice makes you perfect (or clinically insane...one of the two)

• Try to figure out the tone in the following passages. Look for:• Diction • Images• Details • Sentence Structure

I do not think that you are a bad person by any means. Your current behaviors seem to suggest that there is something going on that you can not rationalize and react to in a productive manner. That is called a defense mechanism. For instance, if a person is instructed to go directly home, but instead chooses to stop at various stores and arcades so as to pass the time. He may indicate that he does not want to spend time shopping and playing video games. He is, instead, showing an avoidance behavior that suggests he does not want to be home at all. Therefore, he prolongs getting there. You are displaying that behavior, and I do think it is more productive for you to address your feelings with your parents directly instead of evading them.

Tone? Example: 1

Informative, Formal, Candid, Instructive, Authoritative

• How do you know that?• Diction used? Use of pronoun “you”,

vocabulary is strong “rationalize”, “productive manner”, “defense mechanism.”

• Images (there are none- too formal)• Details- gives concrete examples with

evidence to support argument• Sentence Structure- Long! Complex

sentences to display authority over “you.”

• Oh – my – Gosh! You have no idea how much you scared me! There is no way I am going with you on a roller coaster again. I thought I was going to wet myself. You are such a jerk and I am never speaking to you again! Of all the things! Humph!

Tone? Example: 2

outraged, furious, fearful

• How do you know that?• Diction used? OMG! Jerk, Humph• Images used? Wetting herself

• (Umm gross)

• Details used? Not many, just insults. This persons too upset to give long explanation

• Sentence Structure? Short, choppy sentences

Voice

• Voice is the author's style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author's attitude, personality, and character.

• This allows the reader to “picture/visualize” the speaker, whether it is the author or character.

How does an author create voice?

• Diction• Images• Sentence structure• Subject:

• Sometimes what the character is talking about can give you insight…(death, parties, kids, high school etc…)

Voice Example 1

• “I've got a fantastic boyfriend, and an even hotter guy to mack with behind the emergency generator when that boyfriend isn't around…And okay, I know it's wrong to make out with other guys when you have a steady boyfriend, but whatever. I'm having fun.”

Person you should visualize: Teenage Girl

• Word choice:• “mack with”• “but whatever”• “even hotter guy”

• Subject matter: • Fluff…relationship

(obviously not serious)

• Sentence structure:• Long and strung

together • Almost stream of

consciousness

Voice Example 2• Each of these technological triumphs

advanced the art of mass murder by a factor of a thousand. From Gettysburg to the block buster, a thousand times more explosive energy; from the blockbuster to the atomic bomb a thousand times more; and from the atomic bomb to the hydrogen bomb, a thousand times still more…in less than one century, our most fearful weapon has become a billion times more deadly. But we have not become a billion times wiser in the generations that stretch from Gettysburg to us.

Person you should visualize: Older, intelligent person

• Word choice:• “technological

triumphs”• “art of mass murder”• “a billion times wiser”

• Subject matter: • Serious

• Sentence structure:• Long but smooth

transitions • Repetitive words=

intelligent writer

Please keep in mind:

•Tone and Voice are VERY similar BUT:

•TONE= whole passage • VOICE= characters

Writing Theme Statements

Theme Statements• The insight about human life that is

revealed by the literature. • A theme is on over-arching idea that

can apply to literature from different time periods, poems and even movies.

• The theme is stated in at least one sentence or more. • “For most young people, growing up is a

process that involves the pain of achieving self-knowledge.”

Theme is not a moral

• A moral tells how to behave or what to do. Theme is an observation.

• Incorrect theme: The theme of “The Bass, the River and Sheila Mant” is that you shouldn’t try to be someone you’re not.

• Morals are for children's books—leave them there!

A theme is not a bumper sticker statement or a cliché

•Incorrect theme: The theme of “The Bass, the River and Sheila Mant” is that what comes around goes around.

Themes do not refer to the specific names or the events of the plot

•Incorrect theme: The theme of “BRSM” is that Sheila Mant is selfish and doesn’t realize she’s mean.

Wording to use

• Avoid shallow words like “anyone” “all” “none” “everything” “everyone” “you”

• Use terms that suggest a more realistic view of human experience like “we” “us” “society often” “people sometimes”

Thematic Vocabulary

Alienation

Ambition

Appearance/ reality

Custom/ tradition

Betrayal

Courage/ cowardice

Women/ feminism

Cruelty/ violence

Defeat/ failure

Chance/ fate/ luck

Heart vs Reason

Law/ justice

Free will/ will power

Greed

Guilt

Falsity/ pretense

Dreams/ fantasies

Loyalty

Materialism

Mob psychology

Search for identity

Scapegoat/ victim

Innocence/ illusion

Prejudice

Social status

Persistence

Repentance

Revenge

Journey

Using the theme vocabulary, write a theme statement for a movie that you just saw or a book you just read. Be prepared to share it with the class.

“Everyday Use” Vocab

• Sidle• Furtive• Cowering• listlessly• Rifling • Define the word/

find a synonym and use it in a sentence

• Recompose• Doctrine• Heritage• Lamented• Discordant