ENGLISH A

WEEK 12
 TONE

Tone reveals the author’s attitude about a subject or topic to their reader. It can be delivered in
different ways, like through word choice, punctuation, and sentence structure.
It’s similar to when you’re engaging with someone in person. Your facial expression, vocal
pitch, and body language might convey a certain tone that informs the language you use in
conversation.
By using the right tone in your writing, your readers can better understand your emotions
regarding a topic. It’s a signal to your reader about how your writing should make them feel.
Your tone might be delightful or sarcastic, lighthearted or aggressive, among other types of
tones, all through your writing.

20XX Presentation title 2

EXAMPLES OF TONE IN WRITING

20XX 3
 4

Presentation title 20XX

 5

Presentation title 20XX

 6

MOOD
• Mood represents the intention of
the speaker or writer in a
sentence. It denotes if the stated
sentence is a request, order,
suggestion, fact or something
imaginary

20XX
 7

MOOD IN PASSAGES
• Cheerful: This light-hearted, happy mood is shown with descriptions of laughter, upbeat
song, delicious smells, and bright colors. A cheerful mood fills you with joy and happiness.

• P.L. Travers in Mary Poppins creates a cheerful mood throughout the story by using silly
words, such as "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," taking the reader on wild adventures
with the children and filling the pages of the book with scenes that make you laugh out loud.

Presentation title 20XX

 8

Humorous: This mood is silly and sometimes ridiculous. Characters will do and say odd or
funny things. This mood can be used to alleviate a somber or dangerous situation or to
ridicule or satirize a situation. Jane Austin in Pride and Prejudice uses humor and absurd
characters to take a comical look at love, reputation, and class.

For example, Elizabeth says the following humorous phrase about Mr. Darcy, "I could
easily forgive his pride if he had not mortified me."

Presentation title 20XX

 9

Idyllic: This is a calm and peaceful feeling, and the mood can sometimes
be created by describing a natural setting, like in the countryside, as in this
example from Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers:

"The river, reflecting the clear blue of the sky, glistened and sparkled as it
flowed noiselessly on."

Presentation title 20XX

 10

Madness: This is a chaotic mood where random things happen, characters

may feel out of control, and there seems to be no reason for what is
happening. Madness can be clearly seen in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Black
Cat."

The reason the narrator gives for wanting to kill his beloved cat is that, "I
fancied that the cat was avoiding my presence... The fury of a demon
instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer." Obviously, he has no
justified rationale and made his choices out of madness.

Presentation title 20XX

 11

EMOTIVE LANGUAGE/EMOTIONS

• Emotive language is the term

used when certain word choices
are made to evoke an emotional
response from a reader.

Presentation title 20XX

 12

Presentation title 20XX

 13

ATMOSPHERE

The atmosphere in literature is the way an

author uses setting, objects, or internal
thoughts of characters to create emotion,
mood, or experiences for the reader.
Although closely related to mood, the
atmosphere is a more broad perspective that
accounts for the whole versus a par

Presentation title 20XX

 14

PROSE
In writing, prose is a style used that does not follow a structure
of rhyming or meter. Rather, prose follows a grammatical
structure using words to compose phrases that are arranged into
sentences and paragraphs. It is used to directly communicate
concepts, ideas, and stories to a reader. Prose follows an almost
naturally verbal flow of writing that is most common among
fictional and non-fictional literature such as novels, magazines,
and journals.

Four types of prose:

Nonfictional prose
Fictional prose
Prose poetry
Heroic prose
Presentation title 20XX
 15

PROSE VS POETRY
To better understand prose, it’s important to understand what structures it does not follow which
would be the structure of poetry. Let’s analyze the difference between prose vs poetry.

Poetry
Poetry follows a specific rhyme and metric structure. These are often lines and stanzas within a
poem. Poetry also utilizes more figurative and often ambiguous language that purposefully
leaves room for the readers’ analysis and interpretation.

Finally, poetry plays with space on a page. Intentional line breaks, negative space, and varying
line lengths make poetry a more aesthetic form of writing than prose.

Take, for example, the structure of this [Why] by E.E. Cummings. Observe his use of space and
aesthetics as well as metric structure in the poem.

Presentation title 20XX

 16

Presentation title 20XX

 17

Prose
Prose follows a structure that makes use of sentences, phrases, and paragraphs.
This type of writing follows a flow more similar to verbal speech and
communication. This makes it the best style of writing to clearly articulate and
communicate concepts, events, stories, and ideas as opposed to the figurative
style of poetry.

Presentation title 20XX

 18

Take, for example, the opening paragraph of JD Salinger’s The

Catcher in the Rye. We can tell immediately the prose is written
in a direct, literal way that also gives voice to our protagonist.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably
want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy
childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all
before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap,
but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

From this example, you can see how the words flow more
conversationally than poetry and is more direct with what
information or meaning is being communicated. Now that you
understand the difference between poetry, let’s look at the four
types of prose.

Presentation title 20XX

 19

Types of prose
While all four types of prose adhere to the definition we
established, writers use the writing style for different purposes.
These varying purposes can be categorized into four different
types.

Presentation title 20XX

 20

Nonfictional prose
Nonfictional prose is a body of writing that is based on factual
and true events. The information is not created from a writer’s
imagination, but rather true accounts of real events.

This type can be found in newspapers, magazines, journals,

biographies, and textbooks. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young
Girl, for example, is a work written in nonfictional style.

Presentation title 20XX

 21

Fictional prose
Unlike nonfictional, fictional prose is partly or wholly created
from a writer’s imagination. The events, characters, and story
are imagined such as Romeo and Juliet, The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer, or Brave New World. This type is found as novels,
short stories, or novellas.

Presentation title 20XX

 22

Heroic prose
Heroic prose is a work of writing that is meant to be recited and
passed on through oral or written tradition. Legends, mythology,
fables, and parables are examples of heroic prose that have been
passed on over time in preservation.

Presentation title 20XX

 23

Prose poetry
Finally, prose poetry is poetry that is expressed and written in
prose form. This can be thought of almost as a hybrid of the two
that can sometimes utilize rhythmic measures. This type of
poetry often utilizes more figurative language but is usually
written in paragraph form.

An example of prose poetry is “Spring Day” by Amy Lowell.

Lowell, an American poet, published this in 1916 and can be
read almost as hyper short stories written in a prose poetry style.

The first section can be read below:

Presentation title 20XX

 "Bath 24

The day is fresh-washed and fair, and there is a smell of tulips and narcissus in the air.

The sunshine pours in at the bath-room window and bores through the water in the bath-tub in
lathes and planes of greenish-white. It cleaves the water into flaws like a jewel, and cracks it
to bright light.

Little spots of sunshine lie on the surface of the water and dance, dance, and their reflections
wobble deliciously over the ceiling; a stir of my finger sets them whirring, reeling. I move a
foot, and the planes of light in the water jar. I lie back and laugh, and let the green-white
water, the sun-flawed beryl water, flow over me. The day is almost too bright to bear, the
green water covers me from the too bright day. I will lie here awhile and play with the water
and the sun spots.

The sky is blue and high. A crow flaps by the window, and there is a whiff of tulips and
narcissus in the air."

While these four types of prose are varying ways writers choose to use it, let’s look at the
functions of them to identify the strengths of the writing style.

Presentation title 20XX

 Function of prose in literature 25

What is prose used for and when? Let’s say you want to tell a story, but you’re unsure if using prose or poetry would
best tell your story.

To determine if the correct choice is prose, it’s important to understand the strengths of the writing style.

Direct communication
Prose, unlike poetry, is often less figurative and ambiguous. This means that a writer can be more direct with the
information they are trying to communicate. This can be especially useful in storytelling, both fiction and nonfiction, to
efficiently fulfill the points of a plot.

Curate a voice
Because prose is written in the flow of verbal conversation, it’s incredibly effective at curating a specific voice for a
character. Dialogue within novels and short stories benefit from this style.

Think about someone you know and how they talk. Odds are, much of their character and personality can be found in
their voice.

When creating characters, prose enables a writer to curate the voice of that character. For example, one of the most
iconic opening lines in literature informs us of what type of character we will be following.

Presentation title 20XX

 26

Albert Camus’ The Stranger utilizes prose in first person to

establish the voice of the story’s protagonist.

“Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The

telegram from the Home says: YOUR MOTHER PASSED
AWAY. FUNERAL TOMORROW. DEEP SYMPATHY. Which
leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday.”

Presentation title 20XX

 27

Build rapport with the reader

Lastly, in addition to giving character’s a curated voice, prose
builds rapport with the reader. The conversational tone allows
readers to become familiar with a type of writing that connects
them with the writer.

A great example of this is Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels.

As a nonfiction work written in prose, Thompson’s voice and
style in the writing is distinct and demands a relationship with
the reader.

Whether it is one of contradiction or agreement, the connection

exists through the prose. It is a connection that makes a reader
want to meet or talk with the writer once they finish their work.

Prose is one of the most common writing styles for modern

writers. But truly mastering it means understanding both its
strengths and its shortcomings.

Presentation title 20XX

 28

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VMa6-i3Mss

Presentation title 20XX