Tone and mood

Tone is the writer's attitude towards the subject: angry, enthusiastic, sympathetic, humorous. Mood is the feeling a text creates in the reader: calm, joyful, tense, sad. Both are built by the writer's choice of words.

Key facts

  • Mood comes from the setting, the senses and the pace: ⟦Rain dripped from the grey sky⟧ feels sad; ⟦Sunlight danced on the waves⟧ feels joyful.
  • Short sentences, sharp verbs and darkness build tension: ⟦A door creaked. Silence. Then footsteps.⟧
  • Soft sounds, slow verbs and gentle adjectives build calm: ⟦A gentle breeze drifted over the still lake.⟧
  • Tone shows in the writer's word choice: ⟦It is outrageous that…⟧ (angry), ⟦What a fantastic idea!⟧ (enthusiastic), ⟦It must be so hard for…⟧ (sympathetic).
  • To describe tone or mood, name it with a precise adjective and quote the words that create it.

Worked examples

Example 1

What is the mood? ⟦The house was silent. A shadow moved behind the curtain.⟧

  1. ⟦silent⟧ and ⟦a shadow moved⟧ make us nervous.
  2. The mood is tense.

Answer: tense

Example 2

What is the tone? ⟦This is simply unacceptable: the buses are late every single day.⟧

  1. ⟦simply unacceptable⟧ and ⟦every single day⟧ are strong, critical words.
  2. The tone is angry.

Answer: angry

Example 3

Which word makes the sentence calmer? ⟦The waves ___ onto the sand.⟧ (⟦lapped⟧ / ⟦smashed⟧)

  1. ⟦lapped⟧ is soft and gentle.
  2. ⟦smashed⟧ is violent.

Answer: ⟦lapped⟧