Okay, so today I was trying to figure out how to pinpoint the overall feeling of a piece of writing. You know, like, is it happy, sad, sarcastic, or what? The question was basically “which word best describes the tone of the passage?” and I was like, “Alright, let’s do this!”
First, I grabbed a bunch of different texts – some news articles, a couple of blog posts, and even a short story. I figured I needed a good mix to really test this out.
Then, I started reading. And as I was reading, I tried to pay attention to the words the author used. Like, were they using positive words? Negative words? Were they being formal or informal? All that good stuff.
My Little Checklist
- Positive Words: Happy, excited, joyful, wonderful – words like that usually mean a positive tone.
- Negative Words: Sad, angry, frustrated, terrible – you get the idea, these point to a negative tone.
- Formal Language: Big words, proper grammar, serious sentences.
- Informal Language: Slang, contractions, jokes – more relaxed.
- Look for exclamation: Find more exclamation, it means some emotions.
After I read each passage, I jotted down a few words that I thought described the tone. For example, for one news article about a fire, I wrote down “serious,” “somber,” and “factual.” Because, well, it was a serious event, and the writing was pretty straightforward.
For a blog post about someone’s awesome vacation, I wrote things like “enthusiastic,” “positive,” and “lighthearted.” It was all about fun and good times, so the tone was totally different.
The short story was a bit trickier. It was a mystery, so the tone shifted throughout. Sometimes it was “suspenseful,” other times it was “anxious,” and then it got a little “hopeful” at the end. See the key is to feeeeeel the vibes
Basically, I learned that picking the right word to describe the tone is all about paying attention to the details and putting yourself in the writer’s shoes. How are you feeling? How I am feeling?It’s like being a tone detective!