Higher Close ReadingTone

Tone is important in your appreciation of the passages you are given to read. There is nothing worse than taking everything seriously only to discover later it was all tongue-in-cheek. It is important to take an overview before you become involved in the individual questions.

Tone

Because tone is so subjective, there are often a number of acceptable answers, but identification of tone is usually only worth something if you justify your choice of that tone by referring to the passage.

Don’t put down a list and hope that one of them is right – you won’t get any marks!

Identify and justify!!!

What gets marks?

Tone reveals the feelings and attitudes of the writer

It is how the voice/ how the writing might be said if it were read aloud

You will be asked to identify it, justify it and/or explain its impact

Having a tone vocabulary helps.

Recap

humorous tongue-in-cheek ironic emotional -name

the emotion eg angry, depressed, elated, moody, indignant,

Conversational Sarcastic (only if

there is something quite nasty to it)

A Tone Vocabulary

• business-like• curious• chatty/friendly• mocking• disapproving• critical• contemptuous• menacing• dismissive• approving

Despairing Superior Admiring Uplifting Hectoring Doubtful Self-deprecating

More tones

So . . .

1. Identify the tone

2. Provide the evidence- usually a quote

3. Comment on how the tone creates the effect or impact as required by the question.

Identify the tone Explain how the tone is conveyed. You will

usually need to quote for this. Often you will be commenting on word choice, sentence structure etc.

How to Answer

I am fed up listening to scaremongers about the E-coli virus, telling me my child should never come into contact with farm animals. I am weary of organisations that are dedicated to promulgating the idea that threats and dangers are lurking everywhere. I am sick of charities who on the one hand attack overprotective parents and at the same time say children should never be left unsupervised in public places.

2004 Question 6.

6ai – Identify the tone ii- Explain how this tone is conveyed.

Is the writer serious? – Yes. (a bit unhinged perhaps, but serious)

Is she conveying strong emotion? Yes. What voice/ emotion would be used when

reading the paragraph? Anger/ outrage The answer: anger, contempt, frustration, ... Do not accept: tired, bored, weary, …

Identify the Tone

Highlight particular words/ phrases in the paragraph that are particularly effective in conveying the tone.

Quote them and explain how they create the tone, commenting on any relevant language features.

Explain How This Tone is Conveyed

I am fed up listening to scaremongers about the E-coli virus, telling me my child should never come into contact with farm animals. I am weary of organisations that are dedicated to promulgating the idea that threats and dangers are lurking everywhere. I am sick of charities who on the one hand attack overprotective parents and at the same time say children should never be left unsupervised in public places.

2004 Question 6.

Repetitive structure of all three sentences. Each starts with ‘I am’ followed by an example of how outraged the writer is by the actions of the ‘paranoid’ helps to forcefully reinforce her anger, making it seem as if it is building to a furious climax.

The only solution—and I am just waiting for the politicians to recommend it explicitly—is for none of us to go anywhere. Stay at home and save the planet. But that would be a craven retreat from all the social, professional and cultural interactions that unrestricted mobility makes possible—and which, since the Renaissance, have made great cities the centres of intellectual progress.

2008

Identify the tone Explain how it is conveyed.

Is it serious? Extremely when putting forward the writer’s views; far less so when paraphrasing the ‘anti-flying’ lobby.

Is there an emotion? Angry when considering restrictions on travel.

What is the tone- dismissive, angry, scathing.

Identify the tone

The only solution—and I am just waiting for the politicians to recommend it explicitly—is for none of us to go anywhere. Stay at home and save the planet. But that would be a craven retreat from all the social, professional and cultural interactions that unrestricted mobility makes possible—and which, since the Renaissance, have made great cities the centres of intellectual progress.

2008

Short, simple sentence ‘Stay at home and save the planet.’ The simplistic nature of this sentence mirrors what the writer’s believes to be the misguided and overly simplistic approach of the environmental groups. By shortening it to this, she suggests it can easily be dismissed.

Word choice of ‘craven retreat’ suggests that restrictions on air travel would be cowardly- something to be despised and rejected.

Mood is very similar to tone. However, rather than the voice (tone) of the

passage, mood deals with the emotional dimension of the text such as fear, excitement, sadness, calm, determination, reflection, elation, optimistic, concern, reassurance etc.

It is detected through the language of the text and should ‘fit’ with the sense of the passage.

Mood

1. Identify the mood2. Provide the evidence- usually a quote3. Comment on how the mood is created or

creates the effect or impact as required by the question.

Answering on Mood

I have a halcyon library memory. I am sitting under a cherry tree in the tiny central courtyard of the Cambridge University Library, a book in one hand and an almond slice in the other. On the grass beside me is an incredibly pretty girl.

Identify the mood of these lines/ Explain how this mood is conveyed.

2007 Question 8

1 (very) happy 2 idyllic 3 carefree 4 nostalgic 5 calm, peaceful 6 any other answer which conveys a

positive feeling or the importance of the memory to the writer

Unfortunately, nauseating was not an option.

Possible Answers

I have a halcyon library memory. I am sitting under a cherry tree in the tiny central courtyard of the Cambridge University Library, a book in one hand and an almond slice in the other. On the grass beside me is an incredibly pretty girl.

Identify the mood of these lines/ Explain how this mood is conveyed.

2007 Question 8

Word choice of’ halcyon’ has positive connotations of something peaceful and pleasurable. This is reinforced by the references to the pretty girl and the cherry tree. It is an almost over romanticised version of the past.