IXL | Compare passages for tone | 11th grade language arts

Select the passage that has a more critical tone.

The solitary house stood in a sadly neglected garden. It was uninhabited, but had, within the last year or two, been cheaply repaired to render it habitable.

The little house seemed almost like a tent pitched against the sunshine. It had the crispness of a freshly starched summer gown, and the geraniums on the veranda bloomed like flowers in a bonnet.

Adapted from Charles Dickens, "The Haunted House" and Edith Wharton, The Touchstone

ref_doc_title.

Learn with an example

question

Select the passage that has a more agitated tone.

I told the doctor that I had a peculiar feeling in my chest. In five minutes he was pounding my midriff in. And the questions that man asked! He began with my grandparents, roamed through my childhood and youth, dissected my teenage years, and finally came down to coffee and what I ate for breakfast.

The doctor was sitting in an easy chair and swinging his hat, which he held in both hands, and he was thinking. Except for him, there was not a soul in the room. The sun had set, and the shades of evening began settling in the corners under the furniture.

Adapted from Lloyd Osbourne, "Jones" and Anton Chekhov, "The Doctor"

key idea

Tone is the attitude that is expressed in a text. A writer's tone can communicate a range of feelings, such as excitement, humor, skepticism, or respect.

Tone is revealed through the language that a writer uses in a text. For example, is the information presented through direct statements or through figurative language? Is the topic described through positive words and phrases or through negative ones? These types of text features can help express different tones.

The city's oppressive heat drove us from shop to shop in search of relief.
Words like "oppressive" and "drove" create an intense, negative tone.

With a population of over thirteen million, the bustling city of London is active day and night.
Words like "bustling" and "active" create a positive and upbeat tone.

solution

The first passage is more agitated in tone. It uses exclamations (And the questions that man asked!) and hyperbole (pounding my midriff in) to show that the character is unsettled. The other passage establishes a more somber tone with phrases such as not a soul in the room and shades of evening.

Looking for more? Try this:

$Confetti$

Excellent!

Now entering the Challenge Zone—are you ready?

Questions
answeredQuestions

Time
elapsedTime

hr	min	sec
00	00	06

SmartScore
out of 100
IXL's SmartScore is a dynamic measure of progress towards mastery, rather than a percentage grade. It tracks your skill level as you tackle progressively more difficult questions. Consistently answer questions correctly to reach excellence (90), or conquer the Challenge Zone to achieve mastery (100)! Learn more

Teacher tools

Work it out

Not feeling ready yet? These can help:

T.2Choose the word whose connotation and denotation best match the sentence

B.2Compare passages for subjective and objective tone

C.3Compare passages for tone

Excellent! You got that right!

Jumping to level 1 of 1

Excellent!