Tone Word Bank List By Ms. Gretchen Polnac
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Tone Word Bank
Tone is an author's attitude toward his or her audience and characters. It is an integral part of an author’s
style.
Like the tone of a speaker’s voice, the tone of an author’s words expresses the writer’s feelings. The
difficult aspect of determining tone through mere words is not hearing those cues that we have been
accustomed to in speech that suggest a particular attitude, whether it is anger, joy, or sarcasm. In other
words, there is no voice inflection to obscure or carry meaning.
Good authors rarely use only one tone in their writings. Complex attitudes might include a changing
attitude (tone shift) or one attitude toward the reader and another attitude toward the subject (split
tone).
To misread tone is to misinterpret meaning.
If one misses irony or sarcasm, one may misread the meaning of an entire passage.
DIDLS
Use the acronym DIDLS to help you remember
Diction—the connotation of the word
those elements of tone that you should consider
choice
when evaluating prose or poetry. Diction, imagery,
Imagery—vivid appeals to
details, language, and sentence structure all help to
understanding through the senses
create the author’s or speaker’s attitude toward the
Details—specific facts that are included
subject and the audience.
or omitted
Familiarize yourself with the denotations and
Language—overall choice of language
connotations of the following tone words. Some are not
(formal, informal, jargon, etc.)
interchangeable! Be sure you can use both adjective
Syntax—sentence structure and order
and adverb forms of each word.
THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE LIST! ADD TO IT AS YOU LEARN MORE.
Positive
amiable
compassionate
enthusiastic
joyful
relaxed
amused
complimentary
excited
jubilant
reverent
appreciative
confident
exuberant
lighthearted
romantic
authoritative
consoling
fanciful
optimistic
soothing
benevolent
content
friendly
passionate
surprised
brave
dreamy
happy
peaceful
sweet
calm
ecstatic
hopeful
playful
sympathetic
cheerful
encouraging
impassioned
pleasant
vibrant
cheery
energetic
jovial
proud
whimsical
Negative
accusing
boring
critical
hurtful
shameful
admonitory
brash
desperate
indignant
snooty
agitated
callous
disappointed
inflammatory
superficial
angry
childish
disgruntled
insulting
surly
apathetic
choleric
disgusted
irritated
testy
arrogant
coarse
facetious
manipulative
threatening
artificial
cold
furious
obnoxious
tired
audacious
condemnatory
harsh
outraged
uninterested
belligerent
condescending
haughty
passive
wrathful
bitter
contradictory
hateful
quarrelsome
This handout has been developed from resources available from The College Board’s The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English and the personal handouts of
Ms. Gretchen Polnac from Austin, Texas.
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