SIx-Way Tone Paragraphs DUE Wed 1/3/18
Assignment:
Write six paragraphs. Each of which exemplifies one of
the following tones:
Condescending: showing or implying condescension by stooping to the level
of one's inferiors, especially in a patronizing way
Nostalgic:
unhappy about being away and longing for familiar things or persons
Whimsical:
playfully quaint or fanciful, esp. in an appealing and amusing way
Sardonic: grimly mocking or cynical
Threatening: expressing an intention to cause somebody
deliberate harm or pain
Befuddled: confused or perplexed
DO NOT TITLE EACH PARAGRAPH. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO READ YOUR
INTENDED TONE WITHOUT A HINT!
Remember, tone (in
writing) is conveyed by Details, Imagery, Diction, Figurative Language, and
Syntax. See
the examples below.
Casual tone
"The way I look at it, someone needs to start doing
something about disease. What’s the big deal? People are dying. But the average
person doesn’t think twice about it until it affects them. Or someone they
know."
Tone: insane, nervous, and guilty
“It was A LOW, DULL, QUICK SOUND --
MUCH SUCH A SOUND AS A WATCH MAKES WHEN ENVELOPED IN COTTON. I gasped for
breath, and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly, more
vehemently but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles,
in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily
increased. Why WOULD they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy
strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men, but the noise
steadily increased. O God! What COULD I do? I foamed -- I raved -- I swore! I
swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards,
but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder --
louder -- louder!”
-Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale
Heart”,
Tone: calm, peaceful
“It was very late and everyone had left the cafe except an
old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric
light. In the day time the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the
dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it
was quiet and he felt the difference.”
–Ernest Hemingway “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”
posted by MrGarland at 9:52 AM
