Tone & Mood
Tone, Mood & Register In An Essay
“Director Alejandro can create atmosphere and moods to express emotions, and Leo doesn’t have to explain how he feels — he can just show how he feels. And that is uncommon these days in Hollywood. ” Jacqueline West, costume designer of “The Revenant”
Cambridge OL English marking scheme on essay requires the learners to pick the appropriate tone and register. Many a learners pose questions upon this requirement. Following is a brief explanation on the matter.
Tone is the author’s attitude to the reader or audience (e.g. formal, intimate, pompous) or to the subject matter (e.g. ironic, light, solemn, satiric, sentimental).
Mood is the emotional-intellectual attitude of the author toward the subject. In another words, it is the emotional effect that the text creates for the reader or audience.
Mood is the emotional-intellectual attitude of the author toward the subject. In another words, it is the emotional effect that the text creates for the reader or audience.
A mother’s tone with her son might be stern, angry or disapproving if he comes home with a bad report card, and jovial, ecstatic or nonchalant if he comes home with a great report card.
Similarly, the tone of a persuasive essay might be serious and formal, while the tone of a travelogue might be humorous and satirical.
In general, the tone of an essay may be described as serious, ironic, formal, informal, angry, funny or any other adjective that appropriately defines the implied attitude of the writer or the speaker.
In general, the tone of an essay may be described as serious, ironic, formal, informal, angry, funny or any other adjective that appropriately defines the implied attitude of the writer or the speaker.
The river journey creates enormous anticipation about Kurtz, and Marlon Brando fulfills it. When the film “Apocalypse Now” was released in 1979, Francis Ford Coppola’s casting was criticized and his enormous paycheck of $1 million was much discussed, but it’s clear he was the correct choice, not only because of Marlon Brando’s stature as an icon, but because of his voice, which enters the film from darkness or half-light, repeating the words of T.S. Eliot’s despairing “The Hollow Men.” That voice sets the final tone of the film.
|
Diction
|
Tone
|
Mood
|
|
Used by the writer
|
Created by the writer
|
Resulted in the mind of the reader or
audience |
|
The writer’s choice of words is called diction The use, the arrangement and the meaning of these words
creates the essay’s tone. |
A mother’s tone with her son might be stern, angry or disapproving if he comes home with a bad report card, and jovial, ecstatic or nonchalant if he comes home with a
great report card. |
The different tones that the mother uses with her son will evoke different feelings in the son, thus creating different moods in the home at the time of the conversation.
The tone in an essay serves the same function. It evokes certain feelings in the reader,establishing the atmosphere or mood of the essay. |
Effect of Diction on Tone
Literary Device |
Effect |
Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration |
An essay that employs a lot of hyperbole may have a tone of sarcasm,
|
Litotes: deliberate understatement |
An essay that uses a lot of understatements may have a mocking tone.
“He isn’t the cleanest person I know” could be used as a means of
indicating that someone is a messy person. |
|
Positive tone words
|
Neutral tone words
|
Negative tone words
|
|
admiring, adoring, affectionate, appreciative, approving, bemused, benevolent, blithe, calm, casual, celebratory,cheerful, comforting, comic,compassionate,complementary, conciliatory, confident, contented, delightful, earnest, ebullient encouraging, delightful, happy……
|
commanding, direct, impractical, indirect, meditative, objective, questioning, speculative, unambiguous, unconcerned,
understated, ……. |
hostile, impatient, indifferent, derisive, evasive, fearful, bossy, frightened, haughty, hopeless, apprehensive, belligerent, angry, annoyed, conceited, despairing, ……..
|
|
Positive mood words
|
Negative mood words
|
|
amused, grateful, determined, confident, cheerful, bouncy, amused, bouncy, enthralled, harmonious, hopeful, joyous, empoered, energetic, dreamy, content, calm, dignified, flirty, grateful, awed, enlightened, enthralled, ecstatic, giddy, contemplative, relaxed, thankful, warm ………
|
aggravated, annoyed, irritated, confused, disappointed, enraged, sick, terrifying, foreboding, crushed, exhausted, grumpy, restless, rejected, tense, violent, worried…………………
|
Register
A term used in stylistics to refer to a variety of language used in specified kinds of social situation: thus a formal register differs from an informal one, usually in vocabulary, pronunciation, and (if written) punctuation.
A term used in stylistics to refer to a variety of language used in specified kinds of social situation: thus a formal register differs from an informal one, usually in vocabulary, pronunciation, and (if written) punctuation.
We use the term ‘register’ to refer to particular varieties or styles of speaking and writing. Registers vary because the language is used for different purposes, in different contexts and for different audiences. For example, there is a legal register, a register of advertising, registers of banking and a register of weather forecasting. We commonly recognize registers because of their specialized vocabulary but also because of particular uses of grammar. We also use the term register to refer to whether language is being used formally or informally:
[From a weather forecast register: depression is a specialized word meaning a system of weather that brings rain.] There is a depression moving in from the Atlantic and we can expect high winds and local storms over the next few days in the north of the country.
[From a weather forecast register: depression is a specialized word meaning a system of weather that brings rain.] There is a depression moving in from the Atlantic and we can expect high winds and local storms over the next few days in the north of the country.
Works Cited
Prudchenko,Kate. “How to Identify Tone in an Essay”
http://classroom.synonym.com/identify-tone-essay-1989.html.
http://classroom.synonym.com/identify-tone-essay-1989.html.
Cambridge Dictionaries on-line. “Register from English Grammar Today”
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/register
