Chapter 1
Information and Ideas
Course: Sat Prep
Subject: Reading And Writing
Chapter: Craft And Structure 5879 11902
This lesson explains how authors express attitudes, viewpoints, and perspectives through their writing. You will learn to identify tone, distinguish perspective from bias, and analyze how an author's choices shape meaning. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Identify an author's tone.
- Distinguish tone, perspective, point of view, and bias.
- Recognize how word choice shapes meaning.
- Evaluate the author's viewpoint objectively.
Where Tone Comes From
Tone is produced by four kinds of choice. Each operates independently, and a text's overall attitude is the combined effect of all four.
Diction
Word choice is the most direct source of tone. Words carry evaluations along with their definitions, and a writer selecting among near-synonyms selects an attitude at the same time. A group that gathered is described neutrally; a group that assembled is described formally; a group that massed is described as a potential threat. The event is the same in all three.