tone what is tone?. tone what is tone? the writers or speakers attitude toward a subject, character,...
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Tone
What is Tone?
Tone
What is Tone?The writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject, character, or audienceConveyed through the author’s choice of words, detail, imagery, and language
Tone
In order to understand tone, we must understand how our choice of words (or Diction) effects the tone
Diction
What is diction?
Diction
What is diction?Diction is word choice intended to convey a certain effect
Diction
What is diction?Diction is word choice intended to convey a certain effect To communicate ideas and
impressions To evoke emotions To convey your views of truth to the
reader
Diction
Levels of Diction High or Formal Diction Neutral Diction Low or Informal Diction
Words to Describe the Language
JargonSlangColloquial FormalInformalConcreteAbstractConnotativeEsoteric PlainDetached Pedantic Pretentious
OrdinaryLearnedSimpleBombasticGrotesque Poetic PicturesqueProvincial ObscureExactVulgarInsipidPrecise
Artificial Literal EmotionalEuphemistic Sensuous ExactSymbolic Figurative ObtuseMoralistic Idiomatic Cultured Scholarly
Types of Diction
Monosyllabic (one syllable) Polysyllabic (more than one syllable)
Types of Diction
Concrete – specific words that describe physical qualities or conditionsAbstract – language that denotes ideas, emotions, conditions, or concepts that are intangible
Types of Diction
Slang – a group of recently coined words (informal and goes out of style)Jargon – words and expressions characteristic of a particular trade, profession, or pursuit (Moby Dick)Dialect – nonstandard subgroup of a language with its own vocabulary and grammatical features; it often reveals a person’s economic or social class (The Skin I’m In)
Types of Diction
Denotation – the exact, literal definition of a wordConnotation – the suggestions, associations, and emotional overtones attached to a word (house/home)
Types of Diction
Figurative Language Simile – compares 2 things using ‘like’
or ‘as’ The warrior fought like a lion
Types of Diction
Figurative Language Metaphor – compares 2 things
without using ‘like’ or ‘as’ Time is money
Types of Diction
Figurative Language Personification – a kind of metaphor
that gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics The wind cried in the dark
Types of Diction
Figurative Language Onomatopoeia – the use of words that
mimic the sounds they describe hiss, buzz, bang
Types of Diction
Figurative Language Alliteration – beginning several
consecutive or neighboring words with the same sound The twisting trout twinkled below
Types of Diction
Figurative Language Idioms – an expression that means
something different than its literal meaning He kicked the bucket
Levels of Diction
Levels of Diction
Levels of Diction
What Level of Diction?
Formal?
Informal?
Ordinary?
Ordinary?
Informal?
Formal?
Levels of Diction
Diction
List the Clock Exercise Presented with a vague or general word such as “house,” and you generate a list of specific words to replace that word home, domicile, castle, residence,
etc.
Diction
Funny
Diction
Sad
Diction
Happy
Diction
Upset
Writing Exercise
Respond to the prompt Write a minimum of one pageDO NOT use the same word more than once in the entire page
Prompt If you could become an expert in any
profession, sport, or activity, what would you choose and why?
OR Write about jealousy. Tell a story about
yourself; write about someone you are jealous of. Give jealousy a voice.
ORExplore the subject of illness. Select a
moment of personal experience of being sick or being a caregiver.