UNIT 6
Nonfiction: Essays, Articles, and Speeches
ENGELBERT ENGLISH 9 CP
FLT:
 Given a memoir, we will elicit meaning from the text by
examining the tone, diction, and syntax of the author’s piece.
 HOW WILL I KNOW IF I KNOW IT?
 -I can define syntax, diction, and tone as well as explain how
the author used them in his story.
Think/Pair/Share
 What is/are…
CULTURE?
TRADITIONS?
BELIEFS?
Be prepared to share…
 What traditions do you celebrate
with your family/community?
WRITE THESE DOWN:
 Culture: the behaviors and beliefs of a particular
social, ethnic, or age group
 Tradition: an act, custom, belief, legend or way
of thinking, usually passed down or inherited
 Belief: confidence, faith, or trust in something
(like an idea)
Also, write these down:
 Diction: the words an author uses to create a tone
 Syntax: the arrangement of words in a sentence
 Tone: the author’s attitude toward the audience
or subject
LASTLY…
 Autobiography: a text written by an author about the events,
details, and facts his life
 Biography: a text written by an author about someone else’s
life including events, details, and facts
 Memoir: an autobiographical piece usually spanning a longer
period of time that focuses on the feelings and emotions of
life’s pivotal moments rather than just factual details
Let’s talk about the tone….
Take a look at the next
few pictures, and describe
the “tone” of the
photographer
Let’s look at tone some more….
Watch the following
movie clips, and tell me
what “tone” the director is
going for….
Dead Poet’s Society
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS1esgRV4Rc
300
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qR0Uke2XNI
Describe the tone of the following
composers.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHJUTxuj5yM
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS25aDhTpuI
One more time!
 Listen to me read the following passages, and tell me what
tone the author is going for…
EXAMPLE LINKS

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-tone-in-a-story.html
DICTION
 Once again, specific words choices can change/improve the
tone of a piece of work.
 For example….
I ate the apple because I was hungry from doing a lot of
work.
Can become
I inhaled the apple because I was famished from the slave
labor my parents were making me do…
Before we read…
 Copy down the definitions of the blue vocabulary words on
page 442 on your study guide.
A Celebration of Grandfathers
 1.) What is the tone of this essay? How do you know?
 2.) What is the author’s attitude or tone towards the elderly
vs. the young people in this story?
 3) How does the grandfather change at the end of his life??
 4.) The grandfather is described using indirect
characterization. What did you learn through the diction the
speaker uses to describe the grandfather?
 5.) List three “life lessons” the author learns from the
grandfather.
FLT: Given a reflective narrative (On
Summer), we will identify the author’s
tone by investigating jargon, diction,
syntax, and tone.
How will I know if I know it?
I can describe the author’s tone using specific examples of diction and syntax.
“On Summer”
 By Lorraine Hansberry
TERMS TO KNOW: (copy in notes)
 CLICHÉ:expression, phrase, or idea that has become tired
from it’s overuse
 EXAMPLES:
 -Absence makes the heart grow fonder
 Achilles heel (also an allusion!)
 Actions speak louder than words
MORE TERMS TO KNOW:
 Idiomatic Phrase/Idioms: an expression that means
something but is not to be taken literally
 EXAMPLES:
 He kicked the bucket.
 That homework assignment was a piece of cake.
 The student who skipped class only got a slap on the wrist.
BEFORE WE READ:
 Copy down the vocabulary words in blue on page 454.