Name _______________________________________________________ Date ____________________ Period _______
Tone, Diction, & Syntax
Quickwrite: In today’s society, we constantly communicate with one another through text messages, social
media, and other electronic sources. As convenient as this may be, it requires us to be more thoughtful of
what or how we write to someone.
Have you ever had difficulty understanding what someone has said to you in a text message? Or has someone
ever misread or misunderstood what you have texted? What might happen if someone misinterprets a text?
What details in the text may lead to misunderstanding? Explain.
Vocabulary:
•
Tone—____________________________________. Tone is conveyed mainly through the writer’s choice of words
and syntax.
•
What are some examples of tone words?________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
•
Diction—_________________ intended to convey a certain effect. Diction should adapt to the tone and audience of
the piece. Types of diction include but are not limited to: ___________, simile, ___________, personification, verbal
irony, etc.
•
•
Example: _______________________________________________
Syntax—______________; the arrangement of words in a sentence; length of sentences; length of sentences; also
includes use (or misuse) of grammar or punctuation for effect
•
Example: _______________________________________________
Practice: Read the excerpt from an actual restaurant review. Highlight or underline examples of diction and syntax in the
text. Annotate the implied tone of each example.
We watch the salty juices pool on the plate, exploding with umami, and conclude we need bread. “I’m sorry sir,
we don’t serve bread.” Eh? What’s all that about? I could see this as some trend, carb-free Palaeolithic diet,
were it not for the fact they serve chips. Mind you, they’re terrible chips, huge fat things. Who actually likes their
chips this way? They’re advertised as coming with truffle and foie-gras salt, which is like getting a gold-plated,
diamond-encrusted case for your smartphone because you’ve run out of things to spend money on. It’s a spoiled
person’s version of luxury; the pillowy “chips” do not taste either of goose liver or truffle.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Read the article below: “Never Misinterpret a Text Again”
Your crush sends you a text and you're mystified. You spend hours trying to interpret exactly what the message
means. Every period, every ellipsis, every slang word becomes a clue; your closest friends weigh in their thoughts.
Name _______________________________________________________ Date ____________________ Period _______
Finally, there's a new website that will take the guesswork out of cryptic texts and emails.
Tone Analyzer is a service that detects and interprets emotions in text using linguistic analysis. All you have to do is plug
sentences into Tone Analyzer and press the analyze button. From there, you’ll be shown results from the analysis of the
document as a whole and sentence-by-sentence. The color-coded results show you how much anger, joy, fear, disgust,
or sadness are likely in the text, along with additional analysis about the language style (Is it analytical, confident, or
tentative?) and its social tendencies. (Does it exhibit traits such as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, or
agreeableness?)
A quick example from the Tone Analyzer's website explains that the sentence, "Sorry, can't make it." has a 50%
likelihood of sadness. But if you change the period to an exclamation point, the likelihood of sadness drops to 38% and
anger becomes the most dominant emotion.
In a few tests, our results were mixed. It nailed that our own messages had a high level of conscientiousness and
emotional range, but found "disgust" in some texts where there was zero disgust intended. It did, however, seem to
recognize emoticons — typing "have a good day" with a smiley face at the end yielded a 96% likelihood of joy. Swapping
that smiley with a frown, joy went down to 60% while sadness went up from a 9% to 46%. If you try it out, take the
results with a grain of salt.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Your assignment: Go to the Tone Analyzer website: https://tone-analyzer-demo.ng.bluemix.net/ . On the main page,
you will find a sample analysis for a tweet, an online review, and an email message. Choose one of the examples. In the
chart below, write two of its highlighted examples and determine which aspects of the sentence most likely shaped the
tone result.
Highlighted sentences
Tone words
Identify the diction and/or syntax in the
sentence that most likely yields this
tone.
Now, click on the “Your Own Text” bubble. In the typing space provided, copy and paste another example you find
online or type in your own example. Then, complete the chart for your results. (Keep in mind, the analysis may not be
entirely accurate. Use your judgement. If the analysis seems very inaccurate, type in another example.
Highlighted sentences
Tone words
Identify the diction and/or syntax in the
sentence that most likely yields this
tone.
Review: How does tone impact our understanding of what we read? _________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Predict: What other details may influence our understanding in a piece of writing? ______________________________