Where Tone Comes From
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| tone/təʊn/ | The attitude conveyed by a speaker's or writer's choice of words and expression. |
Tone 语气 has a definition, and it is not "mood"
- The attitude of narrators, characters or speakers toward an idea, character or situation emerges from their perspective and may be referred to as tone.
- So tone is an attitude, held by somebody, toward something specific.
- "The tone is sad" names a feeling; the definition asks whose attitude, toward what.
A speaker may sound cheerful about bad news; the weather in the scene gets no vote on tone.
Tone is defined as...
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It emerges from perspective and is held by somebody, toward something.
Tone comes out of background
- Narrators', characters' or speakers' backgrounds and perspectives shape the tone they convey about subjects or events.
- So tone is not chosen freshly for each sentence — it follows from who is speaking.
- A shift in tone therefore signals either a shift in perspective or a change of speaker.
Adjectives and adverbs only qualify the things they describe.
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They also convey a perspective toward those things — that is the analysable job.
Descriptive words do two jobs
- Descriptive words, such as adjectives and adverbs, not only qualify or modify the things they describe but also convey a perspective toward those things.
- So every adjective is doing double duty, and the second duty is the analysable one.
- A small clerk of a man qualifies the man and reveals the speaker.
Is this a usable tone statement?
Sort each by whether it names a holder and an object.
Narrators' ____ and perspectives shape the tone they convey.
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So a shift in tone signals a shift in perspective or a change of speaker.
A tone is an attitude held by somebody toward something. "The tone is sad" names neither the holder nor the object, so it cannot be evidenced. Name whose attitude it is and what it is directed at, and the same sentence becomes checkable against the page.
Select all the parts of a precise tone statement.
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The reader's reaction is a different thing from the speaker's attitude.
Naming a tone precisely
- Weak: the tone is negative. Strong: the narrator is impatient with his own sympathy.
- A precise tone word contains an attitude and an object.
- If you cannot name the object the attitude is toward, you have not identified a tone.
Match each statement to its verdict.
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Only the third names a holder and an object, so only it can be evidenced.
A tone pass
- List the adjectives and adverbs in the passage. Circle those that could have been neutral.
- Name whose attitude they convey, and toward what.
- Then look for where the tone changes, and ask whether the perspective or the speaker changed.
"She had, of course, kept every receipt." The adjective work is done by of course: it modifies nothing physical and conveys the speaker's attitude — a weary familiarity with her carefulness. The tone is not "critical"; it is a brother's practised, faintly tired expectation.
Tone is an attitude toward an idea, character or situation, emerging from perspective. Backgrounds and perspectives shape it, so a tone shift signals a change of perspective or speaker. Descriptive words qualify and also convey a perspective — name whose attitude, and toward what.