Standard Grade Close Reading Support Sheet

Standard Grade Close Reading Support Sheet Exam. Question Types:

Questions on tone may appear difficult but that is normally because we don’t fully understand what we are being asked for.

Tone does not directly relate to meaning but rather the way in which something is said. It refers to a particular attitude or feeling conveyed by the writer.

For example, consider a question like, “Where have you been?”

These words could be spoken in various situations:

 By someone talking to a friend who has recently been on holiday  By someone talking to a friend who has not been seen for a long time  By a parent to a teenage son/daughter who arrives home after 4am

Exactly the same words might be used but they would be said in quite different ways. This is what is meant by TONE.

In pairs, try reading the questions to your partner. As you do this, try to convey a particular emotion by varying the TONE of your voice.

Your partner should guess what tone of voice you are adopting.

You might try to express anger, sarcasm, surprise, mockery, resentment etc.

In speech, the tone of voice used helps to make the speaker’s feelings clear. In writing, however, you must look at the word choice to find clues to the feelings or attitude of the author. Now have a look at an example of a tone question from an actual past paper.

General 1996

Question 22

The passage is about outdoor swimming pools and their rarity now in Scottish seaside resorts.

Think about the passage as a whole

22 (a) What unusual idea does the writer use at the beginning and end of the passage?

22 (b) What effect does this have?

Two seagulls hang in the blue sky overhead. For a moment or two they are motionless beneath the white whisps of cloud. One turns its head and screams something to its mate, some seagull joke about the sanity of those humans in the water perhaps…

…Within the next few years the area occupied by the open-air pool may be returned to its natural state of rocks and sea. The gulls will have a different landscape to discuss. Only rocks and sea remain forever, but the old landscape will undoubtedly linger in the memory of all those whose guts filled with seawater on a chilly Scottish summer’s day.

Question part (a) tells us that there is a common idea in both the opening and the concluding paragraph. Therefore, you must look for the common denominator in the 2 paragraphs.

Then, in order to answer part (b) you must think about the writer’s feelings throughout the passage and how he expects you, the reader, to feel.

Sample answer

(a) The writer’s unusual idea, both in the opening and final paragraph, is that he is talking about the seagulls.

(b) The effect this creates is a humorous tone. Now have a go at the following examples. Don’t worry if you find them difficult, just refer to the previous speech bubble mind-map.

Credit 1997

This passage deals with the ancient pagan religion of witchcraft, or “Wicca”.

Question 8

Look at Paragraphs 8 and 9

What is the difference in tone between the last sentence of Paragraph 9 and the rest of these two paragraphs?

It is possible that the Wiccan creed goes back to the dawn of religious belief, when cave dwellers peered out and saw wonder in the rhythm of the changing seasons. Early cave drawings from across Europe – and elsewhere – show remarkable similarities, particularly in their description of a horned god.

Early witchcraft was probably no more than a primitive attempt to make sense of the unknown. It is likely that the Wiccan horned god was an earlier version of the Greek god Pan. So how come this religion became associated with hubble bubble, toil and trouble?

General 2003

This passage is about the writer’s family holiday to Bucharest where she visited Hotel Castel Dracula amongst other tourist attractions.

Question 21

(C) “Dracula will be turning in his grave.”

Why does the writer finish off the final sentence in this way? Local opinion is divided. On the one hand, there is the desire for tourist money and on the other the realization that the theme park will change the character of the town forever. If the cobbled streets are lined with fast food chains offering “stakeburgers” and garlic bread – Dracula will be turning in his grave.

General 2004

This passage is about Humming birds in Arizona and their mating habits.

Question 22

Think about the passage as a whole.

From the passage write down an example of the writer’s use of humour.

Explain why it is effective.

There’s a rather embarrassing tradition in wildlife circles in certain parts of Arizona. Visiting naturalists are encouraged to try to “kiss” a wild hummingbird.

This is more of a challenge for men than it is for women – mainly because it involves wearing lots of red lipstick. A dress and high heels are optional, but the redder and thicker the lipstick the better. Hummingbirds drink nectar from flowers that are often bright red and have learned to associate this particular colour with food. They mistake your mouth for one of their favourite plants – at least, that’s the theory.

It’s impossible to list every variance of tone that a writer may use, as there are so many. But they can be broadly grouped together. Firstly, however, consider whether the writer is being serious or light-hearted about his subject.

Irony is the name given to the figure of speech where an author says the opposite A flippant tone is of what he really means. This could be for where the writer is humorous effect, but there is often a more showing a mocking serious point to be made. attitude to his topic and isn’t taking it too seriously.

A lighthearted tone may be more informal and conversational, whereas a serious, respectful tone will An enthusiastic effusive use more formal words. tone might be used in advertising to persuade someone to buy a product.

The word conversational can The tone may be describe a tone, humorous in a particularly a chatty, straightforward way, friendly tone, as if where the writer finds the the writer is subject funny and hopes confiding in the that you will too! reader or directly addressing them.

A satirical tone is an extreme A tongue-in-cheek tone is a form form of irony. Here a writer is of irony: the writer will sound funny in a more savage way: he serious but there will be a sense of holds a subject to ridicule in order ridicule behind this. Euphemism to attack it. is a common feature of this tone. An example of this may be the expression, “tired and emotional” to mean “drunk”!

A serious tone is obviously used for a serious purpose, on solemn occasions: a funeral speech for example. Words such as formal, ponderous or even pompous might be applied.