Tone Week 4

Determine the speaker's tone of the following excerpt.

Bursting through the door, the flustered mother screamed uncontrollably at the innocent teacher who gave her child an F.

• furious

• restrained

• despairing

• contented

• serene.

Determine the speaker's tone of the following excerpt.

He furtively glanced behind him, for hear of his imagined pursuers, then hurriedly walked on, jumping at the slightest sound even of a leaf crackling under his own foot.

• incredulous

• apprehensive

• caustic

• amorous

• ecstatic

Determine the speaker's tone of the following excerpt.

The girls were playing in the pond, splashing each other and trying to catch fish with their hands. They were having fun, but kept looking over their shoulders at the looming forest. The long grass of the field kept moving and they sort of felt like they were being watched… About a half hour passed and still the girls kept checking the field for movements. It seemed like a pair of dark eyes was on them. They even considered going back inside, but that would mean homework time. So they continued splashing, but with caution now. Their eyes hardly left the field.

• whimsical

• sullen

• foreboding

• sanguine

• soothing

Determine the speaker's tone of the following excerpt.

Finally, one of the girls pointed to the grass and giggled. "Meow!" A cat sat on the edge of the field and licked its paw. They did indeed have company. The girls ran over to the cat and pet his belly. They laughed and the cat sauntered back to the field.

• outraged

• informative

• insulting

• elated

• tragic

Determine the speaker's tone of the following passage.

A Gift in His Shoes

Donovan and Larry were early for baseball practice. They decided to run up and down the bleachers to exercise before the rest of the team arrived.

Larry was first to the top. He whispered to Donovan, “Look over there.” He pointed to a man sleeping on the highest, narrow bench of the bleachers. His pants and shirt were faded, worn, and too large for his thin frame. One big toe stuck out of a huge hole in his sock. His scraped-up shoes sat a few feet away.

Donovan whispered, “We should help him out. Let’s hide something good in his shoes. Then, when he wakes up, he will have a nice surprise.”

• detached

• formal

• compassionate

• tender

• exuberant

Determine the speaker's tone of the following excerpt.

Barren branches pierce the sky, Chattering in the shivering breeze. The clouds hold captive Rays of the gloomy sunshine. Blades of grass brown and tattered From frost’s sharp fingernails. Winter squeezes the last breath Out of all that once thrived.

• joyful

• irritated

• serious

• haughty

• flippant

Determine the speaker's tone of the following passage.

Long sleek branches Sway to the music of the wind. A game of hide and seek The clouds and sun do play. Blades of grass sleep Under a sparkly blanket of frost. Winter’s beauty transforms Landscapes into wonderlands.

• polite

• informative

• persuasive

• solemn

• sanguine

Determine the speaker's tone of the following poem.

Loneliness

by Katherine Mansfield

Now it is Loneliness who comes at night

Instead of Sleep, to sit beside my bed.

Like a tired child I lie and wait her tread,

I watch her softly blowing out the light.

Motionless sitting, neither left or right

She turns, and weary, weary droops her head.

She, too, is old; she, too, has fought the fight.

So, with the laurel she is garlanded.

Through the sad dark the slowly ebbing tide

Breaks on a barren shore, unsatisfied.

A strange wind flows... then silence. I am fain

To turn to Loneliness, to take her hand,

Cling to her, waiting, till the barren land

Fills with the dreadful monotone of rain.

• inspired

• somber

• optimistic

• frustrated

• matter-of-fact

Determine the speaker's tone of the following poem.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er* vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly* dance.

• insolent

• pompous

• ridiculing

• spiritual

• amused

Determine the speaker's tone of the following sentence.

If stem cells can save lives, then every citizen is responsible for supporting this scientific work.

• reflective

• rational

• disdainful

• jubilant

• threatening