Tone
What is Tone?
Tone
What is Tone?
The writer’s or speaker’s attitude
toward a subject, character, or audience
Conveyed 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
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To communicate ideas and impressions
To evoke emotions
To convey your views of truth to the reader
Diction
Levels of Diction
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High or Formal Diction
Neutral Diction
Low or Informal Diction
Words to Describe the Language
Jargon
Slang
Colloquial
Formal
Informal
Concrete
Abstract
Connotative
Esoteric
Plain
Detached
Pedantic
Pretentious
Ordinary
Learned
Simple
Bombastic
Grotesque
Poetic
Picturesque
Provincial
Obscure
Exact
Vulgar
Insipid
Precise
Artificial
Literal
Emotional
Euphemistic
Sensuous
Exact
Symbolic
Figurative
Obtuse
Moralistic
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 conditions
Abstract – 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 word
Connotation – the suggestions,
associations, and emotional overtones
attached to a word (house/home)
Types of Diction
Figurative Language
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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
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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
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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?
Ordinary?
Informal?
Formal?
Informal?
Ordinary?
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
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home, domicile, castle, residence, etc.
Diction
Funny
Diction
Sad
Diction
Happy
Diction
Upset
Writing Exercise
Respond to the prompt
Write a minimum of one page
DO 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.
OR
Explore the subject of illness. Select a moment
of personal experience of being sick or being
a caregiver.