IXL | Compare passages for tone | 7th grade language arts

Select the passage that has a more admiring tone.

Mr. Wickham's appearance was greatly in his favor. He had all the best parts of beauty—a fine presence, a good figure, and a very pleasing manner about him. The introduction was followed on his side by a happy readiness of conversation.

No mortal could support that horror. A mummy animated once more could not be so hideous as that wretch. I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints were capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have dreamed.

Adapted from Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus

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question

Select the passage that has a more frightened tone.

There came again the large voice, and it was answered by a second voice. And the speech was slow, and it rose up out of the hollow, sounding brutish and hoarse. And I wish that I could make you hear it and be shaken with that utter horror that I felt.

The song was delivered with the full force and brilliance of her magnificent voice, and was prolonged until the thrill produced in the listener became almost painful in its intensity. Again I ask, why did this world-famous singer perform this passage always in the same way?

Adapted from William Hope Hodgson, The Night Land and W. E. Haslam, Style in Singing

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, doubt, 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.

I shivered as I watched the bitter wind whip through the gray, sickly trees outside.
Words like "bitter," "gray," and "sickly" create a mournful, depressed tone.

With a triumphant fist in the air, the runner dashed across the finish line to victory.
Words like "triumphant," "dashed," and "victory" create an upbeat, energetic tone.

solution

The first passage is more frightened in tone. It uses words like hollow, brutish and hoarse, shaken, and utter horror, which suggest intense fear. The other passage uses words like brilliance and magnificence, which suggest admiration.

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Y.2Positive and negative connotation

Y.1Describe the difference between related words

C.2Which sentence is more formal?

C.3Compare passages for tone

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