Year 9 Media
Anaysis
Identifying Tone & Purpose in Newspapers
What is tone?
• Tone is the author’s attitude/emotions toward the
topic
• We find tone when we read through an article,
there will be several sentences that show us the
tone of a piece.
• The tone in a textbook is often objective – it is to
provide information.
• The tone in a newspaper or media piece will often
be subjective – it is trying to express opinion.
• Tone and how the writer uses it, makes for a strong
language device.
• We use emotional tonal words to describe tone.
Examples of tone
Example:
Tonal words we can use:
“I am so sick of my child coming home
with all the this homework!”
Angry, frustrated, infuriated, fed up,
aggressive, furious.
“They simply cannot knock down the
park, all the memories will be lost, it is a
special place to all of us.”
Sympathetic, sentimental, upset,
hurt, emotional, disappointed.
“This is a sensational move for
Melbourne, a new train station is well
overdue!”
Optimistic, pleased, upbeat,
grateful, joyous.
“I’m beginning to believe that Robert
Doyle may not be the sharpest tool in
the shed.”
Humorous, sarcastic, topical,
‘punny,’ mocking.
“It is in our best interests that we
articulate a strong response and
resolve the issue at hand.”
Formal, responsive, serious, stiff,
diplomatic, earnest.
Your turn
• Identify the tone for the following:
1. “The man scaled incredible heights to save the
kitten from falling”
2. “Can we simply accept a train system this
disorganised and this inefficient?”
3. “Tim Cahill clearly had his Weet-Bix in the morning
after he put home 3 goals for the Socceroos!”
Tone and purpose
• The tone will also relay to the reader what the
purpose of the piece is.
• The main idea/s of the writer will show their purpose,
which can be:
1. To inform – to give information about a subject. The
author wants to provide facts.
2. To entertain – to amuse and delight; to appeal to a
reader’s sense and imagination.
3. To persuade – to convince the reader to agree
with the author’s point of view on a subject.
Your turn
• Identify the purpose for the following:
1. “Homework does not belong in a primary school
environment, let alone a high school one!”
2. “Princess Kate was her usual glowing self when she
visited the local school.”
3. “The latest results from NAPLAN showed that our
literacy and numeracy rates fell by 3.3%.