Voice, Tone & Mood: Understanding the Author’s Purpose

Voice, Tone & Mood:

Using the State Farm “Jacked Up!” Commercial
Be sure to go over the definitions of voice, tone, and mood before
introducing the activity. I have a Google slide presentation that I use, and I
can share that if you are interested in seeing it! I have copied and pasted
the important information below:

Voice: Tone:
• Voice refers to an • Tone refers to an
author’s style and author’s attitude
the qualities that (established through
make it unique. his/her voice) toward
• Voice conveys the his/her subject,
author’s personality audience, and/or self.
and character. • Punctuation can
• Ex. The word choice often have a big
and sentence affect on tone as it
structure showcases can change the way a
the author’s voice. character or the
narrative voice is
talking.

Mood:
• Mood refers to the feeling the reader gets from a
piece of writing (based on voice and tone of the
author).

Other Ways An Author Establishes Voice is Through…

1. Diction: word choice
2. Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word
3. Connotation: the associated, secondary meaning of a
word
4. Syntax: sentence structure
5. Point of View: the perspective from which an author
tells his/her story or presents information

The State Farm Commercial can be found on YouTube at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ultPAIkFoRw
 Voice, Tone & Mood: Understanding the Author’s Purpose

The transcribed script is written below. The objective of the activity is that
SWBAT identify the two distinct tones of the commercial, by analyzing the
script and viewing the commercial.
The summative activity will be that the SWBAT create their own 30 second
script which can be read in 2 different tones, based on the author’s voice,
the mood of the piece based on the situations presented in the script and
acting it out in two different ways.

In the commercial, each statement is read twice; the first is in an excited

and happy tone, the second in an exasperated and disbelieving tone.

Script:
I’m going to have to call you back.
Is this my car?!
What?!
This is ridiculous!
This can’t be happening!
2nd speaker: Oh, it’s happening, sweetheart! (First tone
sincere; second tone condescending/sarcastic)
Shut up!
AHHHH!
(Clap)
What a day!

The student activity sheet is on the next page. I hope this activity is fun and
helpful for your students to understand voice, tone, and mood!

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the State Farm commercial, nor do I
own the rights to the script.
 Voice, Tone & Mood: Understanding the Author’s Purpose
Some of the ways to understand the author’s purpose comes from
analyzing the author’s voice, tone, and mood. It is important to read the
context clues when analyzing literature, because they give a clue to the
tone and mood of a piece. It can be hard to analyze when there aren’t any
clues to help us out.

Read the following script silently in your head. What is the tone and mood
that is implied from this script? If there could be a secondary tone and
mood from a different situation in which the same dialogue was applied,
what would that be? Read these aloud at your tables, taking turns to each
read as Scene 1 and Scene 2, and change the tone of your voice and the
mood of the situation between the two scripts. Then write down in the
space provided what tone and mood you used for each scene.

Scene 1 Scene 2
I’m going to have to call I’m going to have to call
you back. you back.
Is this my car?! Is this my car?!
What?! What?!
This is ridiculous! This is ridiculous!
This can’t be happening! This can’t be happening!
2nd speaker: Oh, it’s 2nd speaker: Oh, it’s
happening, sweetheart! happening, sweetheart!
Shut up! Shut up!
AHHHH! AHHHH!
(Clap) (Clap)
What a day! What a day!

Tone: Tone:

Mood: Mood:
 Voice, Tone & Mood: Understanding the Author’s Purpose

This script has actually been transcribed from a State Farm car insurance
commercial, which we will watch together. After viewing the commercial,
let’s analyze the tone and mood of each scene as portrayed by the actors.
Make sure to note why each actor was using that tone and expressing
that mood, based on the situation the actor found his or herself in.

Scene 1 Scene 2

Tone: Tone:

Mood: Mood:

Situation: Situation:

NOW WHAT?
Your job is… to write your own script! The script should be short (about 30
seconds when read aloud) and imply 2 different tones based on the
situations that you create for the script, similar to the commercial. You can
work in pairs or groups of 3 for this activity. Make sure that the same
dialogue is used in both scenes, even though they are taking on different
scenarios, tones, and moods.