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READING WORKSHOP

It’s possible that at some point you have been on the receiving end of this sentence: “Don’t take that tone with me!” If you have been, you know that the speaker was likely reacting less to what you said and more to how you said it—your attitude. If you said “whatever” dismissively, it’s likely not the word itself that they objected to, but the way you said it.

This is exactly why the definition of the literary term tone is “the author or speaker’s attitude toward his or her subject.” Writers can take on a whole range of tones, expressing the full spectrum of human emotion, from joy to frustration, from anguish to ecstasy. Look at this excerpt from an editorial written by a high school senior upset about not being accepted to any Ivy League schools, the most exclusive colleges in the United States:

I also probably should have started a fake charity. Providing veterinary services for homeless people’s pets. Collecting donations for the underprivileged chimpanzees of the Congo. Raising awareness for Chapped-Lips-in-the-Winter Syndrome. Fun-runs, dance-a-thons, bake sales—as long as you’re using someone else’s misfortunes to try to propel yourself into the Ivy League, you’re golden.

It’s clear that in addition to expressing her anger at not being accepted, she takes a mocking tone toward the kinds of charitable activities that those students who were accepted participated in.