Definition:
A writer's attitude toward the subject and audience. Tone is primarily conveyed through diction, point of view, syntax, and level of formality. See also:
Etymology:
From the Latin, "string, a stretching"Observations:
- "Robert Frost believed sentence tones (which he called 'sound of sense') are 'already there--living in the cave of the mouth.' He considered them 'real cave things: they were before words were' (Thompson 191). To write a 'vital sentence,' he believed, 'we must write with the ear on the speaking voice' (Thompson 159). 'The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader. Eye readers miss the best part. The sentence sound often says more than the words' (Thompson 113). According to Frost:
Only when we are making sentences so shaped [by spoken sentence tones] are we truly writing. A sentence must convey a meaning by tone of voice and it must be the particular meaning the writer intended. The reader must have no choice in the matter. The tone of voice and its meaning must be in black and white on the page.
"In writing, we can't indicate body language, but we can control how sentences are heard. And it is through our arrangement of words into sentences, one after another, that we can approximate some of the intonation in speech that tells our readers not only information about the world but also how we feel about it, who we are in relationship to it, and who we think our readers are in relationship to us and the message we want to deliver."
(Thompson 204)
(Dona Hickey, Developing a Written Voice, Mayfield, 1993) - "The quietness of his tone italicized the malice of his reply."
(Truman Capote) - "We are not won by arguments that we can analyze but by the tone and temper, by the manner which is the man himself."
(Samuel Butler)
