DIDLS: The Tone Acronym

When establishing or determining the tone of a piece of writing. readers and writers should consider five key elements.

Diction - the connotations, or associations, of word choices

Different words for the same thing often suggest different attitudes toward that thing.  For example, what is the difference between happy and content?  How about happy and ecstatic?

Imagery - vivid appeals to understanding through the five senses

The images a speaker/writer chooses to present suggest her attitude toward her subject.  For example, if a narrator visiting a farm describes the awful smells rather than the beautiful countryside, her description would tell us something about her attitude.

Details - specifics that are included or omitted

Details are most commonly the facts given my the author or speaker as support for the attitude or tone.  The speaker's perspective shapes what details are given.  For example, how might child's report of details from a car accident differ from that of a parent or a police officer?

Language - 1) the overall use of language such as formal, colloquial, clinical, or casual, etc., or the use of dialect or jargon

An ambassador speaks differently than a teenager who speaks differently than a farmer who speaks differently than a soldier from the Civil War.  The type of overall language contributes to the tone.

Language - 2) figures of speech such as metaphor, simile, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, etc.

A figure of speech names on thing in terms of another.  The way in which a speaker compares something to something else can tell us something about the speaker's attitude.  For example, if I compare her black hair to soot or to onyx, the connotation would be very different.

Syntax - sentence structure and the use of punctuation

Long, flowing sentences give the reader a different feeling than short, choppy sentences.  If the narrator uses awkward sentence structures or grammatical errors, we might think that he is uneducated.  The use of dashes, italics, run on sentences, short sentences, capital letters, etc., all contribute to how we read and process the information in a passage.

Essay of Argument

Click here for the product descriptor and rubric for the argumentative essay.
This essay is due on turnitin.com by 11:59 pm on Friday, February 13th.

Midterm Study Guide

Here is a study guide for the midterm.

Sample Rhetorical Analysis

Here is a sample rhetorical analysis for the passage on pages 63-64 of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

Glossing Sheets

If you lose your glossing sheets, here are extra copies:  

Glossing Sheets

Practice Questions: Reading Analysis

These questions will help you prepare for the reading and rhetorical analysis next week.  They apply to the last paragraph on pg. 63/first paragraph on 64 in FD.

On the bottom of pg. 63, what does Douglass compares himself to
a. a den of hungry lions
b. an unarmed mariner
c. a pirate
d. a friendly man-of-war

The primary feeling in this passage is one of
a. isolation
b. anger
c. contempt
d. ebullience

In the middle of the passage, when Douglass uses the motto, "Trust no man!", he is making use of which rhetorical device?
a. antithesis
b. chiasmus
c. aphorism
d. anaphora

Identify an example of antithesis in this passage.  Explain its impact.



Identify an example of anaphora.  Explain its impact.



Identify one example of a simile or a metaphor and explain the purpose/impact of the comparison.



Identify a choice Douglass makes regarding punctuation and explain its impact.



Explain how Douglass uses one of the following in this passage: ethos, logos, pathos.

Read the following passage, and then explain which rhetorical device is primarily being used. How do you know that that particular rhetorical device is being used? (choose ONE device only)

“My mistress was, as I have said, a kind and tender-hearted woman; and in the simplicity of her soul she commenced, when I first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed one human being ought to treat another… Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness.

How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis

Use the following link for detailed instructions on how to write a rhetorical analysis.