DISCOVERING DISCOVERING VOICE:VOICE:Voice Lessons for Middle Voice Lessons for Middle and High Schooland High School

Adapted from Nancy DeanAdapted from Nancy Dean

DICTIONDICTIONrefers to the authors choice of words

A redheaded woman was there with Trout. Kate could see her rummaging throughout the cabin dumping drawers and knocking things from the shelves of cabinets

-Louis Sachar, Holes

1. What picture do you get in your mind when you read the second sentence?

2. How would the meaning of the sentence change if we changed some of the words? For example:Kate could see her searching through the cabin, emptying drawers and taking things off the shelves of cabinets.

3. Now write a sentence similar to the one above using strong verbs and descriptive details.

M.C. heard him scramble and strain his way up the slope of Sarah’s mountain.

-Virginia Hamilton, M.C. Higgins, the Great

1. What does it mean to scramble and strain up a mountain? Close your eyes and try to get a picture of someone scrambling and straining up a mountain.

2. How would it change your mental picture if we rewrote the sentence like this?M.C. heard him walk up the slope of Sarah’s mountain.

3. Write your own sentence modeled on Hamilton’s that describes an action and creates a scene for your reader.

For nearly a year, I sopped around the house, the Store, the school, and the church, like an old biscuit, dirty and inedible. Then I met, or rather got to know, the lady who threw me my first lifeline.

~Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

1. What is the dictionary definition of the verb sop? This word is not usually used to describe a person’s actions. What effect does this have on the reader?

2. What is a lifeline? How is Angelou’s use of the word different from its usual use? How does this diction affect your understanding of the sentence?

3. Find an appropriate but unusual verb to describe how you might move around the school on a particularly difficult or very exciting day, and use it in a similar sentence that offers the reader an explanation of why.

He spent hours in front of the mirror trying to herd his teeth into place with his thumb. He asked his mother if he could have braces, like Frankie Molina, her godson, but he asked at the wrong time.

-Gary Soto, “Broken Chain,” Baseball in April and Other Stories

1. What is Gary Soto implying about the narrator’s teeth when he uses the verb herd in the first sentence?

2. How would the meaning change if the sentence were written like this?He spent hours in front of the mirror trying to push his teeth into place with his thumb.

3. Fill in the blank below with a strong verb that creates a clear picture in the reader's mind like Soto's does. Avoid such obvious verbs as brush, comb, or fix. Be creative!She spent hours in front of the mirror trying to__________________ her hair in place for the party.

They scuttled for days and days and days till they came to a great forest, ‘sclsively full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy-batchy shadows, and there they hid: and after another long time what with standing half out of it, and what with the slippery-slidy shadows of the trees falling on them, the Giraffe grew blotchy, and the Zebra grew stripy, and Eland the Koodoo grew darker…

-Rudyard Kipling, “How the Leopard Got His Spots,” Just So Stories1. What is the dictionary definition of scuttled? How would your

mental picture change if the passage said, They trudged for days and days…?

2. Consider the hyphenated adjectives Kipling uses in this passage: patchy-batchy and slippery-slidy. How do these adjectives help the reader understand the scene?

3. Write two sentences about going on a long car trip. Your first sentence should contain a strong verb that creates a vivid picture for the reader. Your second sentence should use a hyphenated adjective that either rhymes (like patchy-blatchy) or has alliteration (like slippery-slidy). It's OK to make up part of the hyphenated adjective (like blatchy), but it must be understandable to the reader. Remember that the purpose of this kind of diction is to make an experience come alive for the reader.

DETAILDETAILwhat makes writing come alive

I used to like going to have my hair cut. I liked the mirrors in the room and all the smells of lotions and shampoos. I liked to sit there-young and fresh and pretty- and see what the women were having done, to make themselves look younger and prettier. I liked the way my mother’s hairdresser teased me about boyfriends and dances. Not anymore, though. Somebody held the door open so my mother could wheel me in, and a few people who had met me came around to say how sorry they were.

-Cynthia Voigt, Izzy, Willy Nilly1. Which details support the attitude that the narrator used to

like having her hair cut? Write those details and explain about their effectiveness.

2. Which detail changes the direction of the passage? Note that the narrator’s reason for not liking haircuts anymore is not explained. Nevertheless, you know what has happened. What effect does that have on you, the reader?

3. Write a paragraph using details to capture the reasons why you like a particular sport or activity. Don't explain why you like the sport. Instead, use details to show the reader what you like about the sport. If you want to experiment, try shifting the focus of your paragraph as Voigt does in her paragraph.

He was an old man. His black, heavily wrinkled face was surrounded by a halo of crinkly white hair and whiskers that seemed to separate his head from the layers of dirty coats piled on his smallish frame. His pants were bagged to the knee. Where they were met with rags that went down to the old shoes. The rags were held on with strings, and there was a rope around his middle.

-Walter Dean Myers, “The Treasure of Lemon Brown,” Face to Face: A collection of Stories by Celebrated Soviet and American Writers

1. List all the vivid details in the passage. How do details help you understand the focus on the passage?

2. There are several contrasting details in the passage, details that give two completely different pictures of the man. For example, the passage says the man is wearing layers of dirty coats, which makes him sound padded and heavy; but he is also described as having a smaller frame, which makes him seem frail. Identify other contrasting details in the passage, and discuss what these contrasts add to the overall effect of the description.

3. Using Walter Dean Myers' paragraph as a model, write a similar paragraph about an old cat. Use lots of vivid detail.

When he ran, he even loved the pain, the hurt of the running, the burning in his lungs and the spasms that sometimes gripped his calves. He loved it because he knew he could endure the pain and even go beyond it. He had never pushed himself to the limit but he felt all this reserve strength inside of him: more than strength actually- determination. And it sang in him as he ran, he heart pumped blood joyfully through his body.

-Robert Cormier, The Chocolate War1. What is the main idea (topic sentence) or focus of this

paragraph? State it as simply as you can. How do the details in this paragraph support the main idea?

2. The details in the first sentence describe the physical sensation of pain. The next three sentences, however, focus on another characteristic of pain. What is this other characteristic of pain? How do the details of the last three sentences help the reader understand the other characteristic of pain?

3. Write a simple topic sentence about something you love to do. Then list all of the details you can think of that would help someone else understand why you love what you do. Share your sentence and list with a partner. After your partner has read your sentence and list, have him/her explain to you why you love what you do. If your list is full of vivid details, your partner should be able to do this easily.

Meanwhile, Confucius pursued his studies. Whenever he had a chance, he visited the state capital, Qufu, a lively town thronged with people talking, laughing, and shouting; buying, selling and gambling; eating at food stalls in every street; and watching acrobats, jugglers, and magicians at the marketplace, where vendors hawked such delicacies as bears’ paws, the fins of sharks, the livers of peacocks and the bees fried in their own honey.

-Russell Freedman, Confucius: The Golden Rule1. What is the focus of the detail in this description of

the state capital, Qufu?2. How would the feeling and impact of this passage

change if Freedman had ended the second sentence right after people.

3. Describe a town you have visited. First decide on a focus: the people, the historic sites, the stores and restaurants, or the scenery. Now write a sentence similar to the one describing Qufu. Use lots of details to make your description come alive for the reader.

I loved the smell of fruits and vegetables and would savor everything, sniff at it, before I ate. We had a pear tree in the garden, and my mother would make a thick pear nectar from its fruit, in which the smell of pears seemed heightened. But the scent of pears, I had read, could be made artificially, too (as was done with “pear drops”), without using any pears. One had only to start with one of the alcohols-ethyl, methyl, amyl, whatever- and distill it with acetic acid to form the corresponding ester.

-Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood1.The first sentence of the passage is a broad

statement, stating the speaker’s love of the way fruits and vegetables smell in general. How does the rest of the passage enrich and strengthen the first sentence?

2.What is the speaker’s attitude toward science? What specific details reveal this attitude?

3.Write a paragraph which expresses a positive attitude toward playing a particular game. Start with a general sentence about games, and then use detail to capture the aspects of the game you like. Don't explain why you like the game. Instead, bring the reader into the experience of the game through carefully chosen detail.

METAPHOR, METAPHOR, SIMILE & SIMILE & PERSONIFICATIONPERSONIFICATIONFigurative Language

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

-Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have A Dream”

1. Identify two examples of figurative language in the passage. Are the figures of speech metaphors or simile? How do you know the language is figurative?

2. What does the figurative language add to the passage?

3. Rewrite the passage from Dr. King's speech without any figurative language. Contrast your sentence with the original. Talk about the differences with a partner.

Now only the night moved in the souls of the two men bent by their lonely fire in the wilderness; darkness pumped quietly in their veins and ticked silently in their temples and their wrists. -Ray Bradbury, “The Dragon,” The Golden Apples of the Sun and Other Stories

1. Is the word night literal or figurative? If it is literal, what does it literally mean? If it is figurative, explain why.

2. When Bradbury says, darkness pumped quietly in their veins and ticked silently in their temples and their wrist, what does he literally mean? This entire clause is a metaphor, which means there has to be a comparison between essentially unlike things. What is the comparison? What are the literal and figurative terms of the metaphor?

3. Write a sentence similar to Bradbury's about a group of very happy people. Use a metaphor to describe the people. The first thing you need to do is decide what you want to compare their happiness to. Then you can write your sentence. Remember that a metaphor is implied, not stated. Use Bradbury's sentence as a model.

I was seven, I lay in the carwatching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin. -Naomi Shihab Nye, “Making a Fist,” Words Under the Words: Selected Poems

1. What is the metaphor in this poem? What is the literal term? What is the figurative term? What does the metaphor mean?

2. How would the meaning and impact of these lines change if Nye said simply, My stomach really hurt?

3. Write a sentence like the one above describing a wonderful feeling. Use a metaphor to help create the feeling you are experiencing.

He gossips like my grandmother, this manwith my face, and I could standamused all afternoonin the Hon Kee Grocery,amid hanging meats hechops…

~Li-Young Lee, “The Cleaving,” The City in Which I Love You1. Look at the first line. Is “like my

grandmother” a simile? Explain.2. Is “this man/with my face”

figurative? If so, is it a metaphor or a simile? Explain.

3. Write a short poem using similes and metaphors. You can base your poem on the one above.

Frantic, Cole struggled to fly, but he couldn’t escape the nest. All he could do was open his beak wide and raise it upward toward the sky, the action a simple admission that he was powerless. There were no conditions, no vices, no lies, no deceit, no manipulation. Only submission and a simple desire to live. He wanted to live, but for that he needed help; otherwise his life would end in the nest.

-Ben Mikaelsen, Touching Spirit Bear

1. This paragraph from Touching Spirit Bear contains an extended metaphor, a metaphor that continues over several sentences and is developed in several ways. The literal term of this metaphor is Cole, the name of the boy who struggles to survive. What is the figurative term? How do you know? In other words, what evidence can you find in the paragraph that supports your understanding of the figurative term of the metaphor?

2. The figurative term of this metaphor is never directly stated. How would the impact of this paragraph change if Mikaelsen had written it like this?Frantic, Cole was like a little bird struggling to fly, but he couldn’t do it. Like a baby bird, he was powerless. There were no conditions, no vices, no lies, no deceit, no manipulation. Only submission and a simple desire to live. He wanted to live, but for that he needed help; otherwise life would end.

3. Write a paragraph using an implied metaphor describing walking through the halls of BHS for the first time.

HYPERBOLE, HYPERBOLE, SYMBOL & SYMBOL & IRONYIRONYFigurative Language

He could shoot a bumblebee in the eye at sixty paces, and he was a man who was not afraid to shake hands with lightening.

-Harold W. Felton, Pecos Bill and the Mustang

1. This is an example of a hyperbole, an exaggeration that is based on truth but carries the trust to such an extreme that it is no longer literally true. Of course, Pecos Bill couldn’t literally do these things. What, then, is the purpose of saying that he could?

2. Compare Felton’s sentence with this one:He could shoot very well, and he was not afraid of anything.Which sentence better helps the reader understand what Pecos Bill is like? Why?

3. Write a sentence about a great athlete, using hyperbole. Model your sentence after Felton's sentence.

“… The grass you are standing on, my dear little ones, is made of a new kind of soft minty sugar that I’ve just invented! I call it swudge! Try a blade! Please do! It’s delectable!”… “Isn’t it wonderful!” whispered Charlie. “Hasn’t it got a wonderful taste, Grandpa?” “I could eat the whole field!” said Grandpa Joe, grinning with delight. “I could go around on all fours like a cow and eat every blade of grass in the field!” -Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

1. Write down the example of a hyperbole in this passage. Remember that hyperbole is figurative, not literal. What is the literal meaning of the hyperbole?

2. The character, Grandpa Joe, first states the he could eat a whole field. Then he extends or continues this hyperbole by saying he could go around on all fours like a cow and eat every blade of grass in the field. How does this extended hyperbole help you understand Grandpa Joe’s experience of the swudge?

3. Now you try it:Write a sentence with dialogue that includes hyperboles. Your character should be a teenager. Give your character a name, and have your character say something about being very tired. Use hyperbole to capture just how tired your character is. Dahl's passage can serve as your model.

There was enough artillery in Beekman’s toy department to wipe out Red China and the Mau-Mau tribe of Africa, and I personally think some of the toy manufactures could use a good course in prevention psychiatry.

-Paul Zindel, The Pigman1. Write down the hyperboles in this

sentence.2. What is the speaker’s attitude towards toy

guns? How does the hyperbole in this sentence reveal this attitude?

3. Now you try it: Write a sentence using a hyperbole to express a negative attitude toward the super-sized portions in a fast-food restaurant. Use Zindel's sentence as a model.

Flowers and other things have been laid against the wall. There are little flags, an old teddy bear, and letters, weighted with stones so they wont blow away. Someone has left a rose with a droopy head.

-Eve Bunting, The Wall1. This passage is from a book about the Vietnam War

Memorial in Washington, D.C. There are several symbols in the passage. Identify the symbols and explain what they mean.

2. Look at the last sentence about the rose. Remember that it is a rose, but it’s also a symbol of something else. What does the rose actually symbolize? Why does it have to have a droopy head here? What does the droopy head add to our understanding of the symbol and the feeling of the passage?

3. To the very end of the passage, add another symbolic item: “Someone has left a rose with a droopy head, and [your addition here]. Below this, explain the symbolism.

The one tree in Francine’s yard was neither a pine nor a hemlock. It had pointed leaves which grew along green switches which radiated from the bough and made a tree which looked like a lot of opened green umbrellas. Some people called it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed fell, it made a tree which struggled to reach the sky. It grew in boarded-up lots and out of neglected rubbish heaps and it was the only tree that grew out of cement. It grew lushly, but only in the tenement. -Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

1. Remember that a symbol is itself and something else. This paragraph is about a tree, but it’s also about something else. What is that something else? When you identify that something else, you have understood the symbol.

2. How would this passage be different if Smith had used a simile instead of symbolism, like this?Francie’s spirit was like a tree with pointed leaves which grew along green switches which radiated from the bough and made a tree which looked like a lot of opened green umbrellas. She always tried to rise above her troubles like a Tree of Heaven which struggles to reach the sky, no matter where its seed falls

3. Think of a plant that symbolizes your spirit. Write a paragraph which develops that plant as a symbol. Don't compare the plant to anything (Don't say, for example, “I am like a willow, flexible, graceful, and strong.”). Instead, talk about the plant in such a way that the reader understands you are also talking about your spirit. (Of course, it's hard!) Use Smith's paragraph as a model.

IMAGERYIMAGERYThe use of words to re-create a sensory experience.

The silence was delicate. Aunty Ifeoma was scraping a burnt pot in the kitchen, and the kroo-kroo-kroo of the metal spoon on the pot seemed intrusive. Amaka and Papa-Nnukwu spoke sometimes, their voices low, twining together. They understood each other, using the sparest words. Watching them, I felt a longing for something I knew I would never have. I wanted to get up and leave, but my legs did not belong to me, did not do what I wanted them to.

-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus

1. Imagery is the re-creation of sensory experiences through language. Which of the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) is most important here? Underline the particular words that create this sense experience for the reader?

2. The “kroo-kroo-kroo of the metal spoon on the pot” is described as intrusive. What does this mean? What image is contrasting with the sound of the metal spoon on the pot? What effect does this have on the passage?

3. Now you try it: Describe your school hallway between classes. Focus on the sounds that are important in the scene. Use two contrasting images and a made-up word which imitates a sound, as Adichie does in her passage

Backing out the drivewaythe car lights cast an eerie glowin the morning fog centeringon movement in the rain slick street

-Nikki Giovanni, “Possum Crossing,” Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea

1. Circle the images. What kind of imagery is used in these lines? What kind of feeling is created with these images?

2. Contrast the feeling created by Giovanni’s lines with these lines:Backing out the drivewaythe car lights cast a warm glowin the morning sunshine centeringon movement in the rain slick streetHow do the images create a different feeling?

3. Now you try it: Write four lines of poetry about trying to comfort a friend who is heartbroken. Create the feeling of sadness through sight imagery. Use Giovanni's poem as a model.

Well, after a long time I heard the clock away off in the town go boom-boom-boom-twelve licks; and all still again- stiller than ever. Pretty soon I heard a twig snap down in the dark amongst the trees- something was a-stirring. I sat still and listened.

-Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

1. What kind of imagery is used in this passage? How do these images affect the reader?

2. Twain uses imagery to set up a contrast between sounds and quiet. How does the use of “quiet” and “sound” images shape your understanding of the scene?

3. Now you try it: Write a paragraph describing the sounds you hear in your classroom right now. Use imagery that captures both the quiet of the room and the sounds of the room. Use Twain's paragraph as a model.

He had bathed regularly in the lake, but not with soap and he thought how wonderful it would be to wash his hair. Thick with grime and smoke dirt, frizzed with wind and sun, matted with fish and foolbird grease, his hair had grown and stuck and tangled and grown until it was a clumped mess on his head.

-Gary Paulsen, Hatchet

1.Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between figurative language (like metaphors and similes) and imagery. That’s because a lot of figurative language contains imagery. For example, we could describe someone’s hair as limp and stringy, like overcooked spaghetti. This is a visual image- it makes you “see” the hair. But it is also figurative (hair is compared to overcooked spaghetti). Read Paulsen’s paragraph again. Is the imagery figurative or not? Explain your answer.

2. What does the imagery in this passage reveal about the character’s attitude toward his dirty hair?

3. Now you try it: Write a paragraph describing a really messy room. Use lots of imagery in your paragraph, but don’t use any figurative language.

Something warm was running across the backs of her hands. She saw with mounting horror that it was mixed slime and blood running from the dog’s mouth.

-Stephen King, Cujo

1. What kind of imagery is used in this passage? Is the imagery also figurative?

2. How does the imagery in this passage help create the horror of the situation?

3. Now you try it: Pretend that your best friend just threw up. You are helping your friend and you accidentally touch the vomit. Think about what it feels like. Using King's sentences as a model, write at least two sentences describing the experience.

SYNTAXSYNTAXThe way words are arranged in sentences

He was a year older than I, skinny, brown as a chocolate bar, his hair orange, his hazel eyes full of mischief and laughter.

-Esmeralda Santiago, When I was Puerto Rican

1. Look carefully at the way this sentence is written. All of the words that follow the Word I are used to describe the he of the sentence. They are adjectives and adjective phrases. This is not the way words are usually ordered in English. (In English, adjectives are usually right before the nouns they modify, or at least right next to them.) What effect does this word have on the meaning of the sentence?

2. Placing all of the adjectives and adjective phrases one after the other is called layering. What effect does this layering have on the impact of the sentence?

3. Now you try it: Create a sentence similar to Santiago's sentence.

But once I spread my fingers in the dirt and couch over the Get on Your Mark, the dream goes and I am solid again and am telling myself, Squeaky you must win, you must win, you are the fastest thing in the world, you can even beat your father up Amsterdam if you really try. And then I feel my weight coming back just behind my knees then down to my feet then into the earth and the pistol shot explodes in my blood and I am off and weightless again, flying past the other runners, my arms pumping up and down and the whole world is quiet except for the crunch as I zoom over the gravel track.

-Toni Cade Bambara, Raymond’s Run (Creative Short Stories)1. The first sentence is made up of many short clauses in a row, each clause separated by a comma. Read the sentence aloud several times and think about it. A comma indicates a short pause, a little breath. How does the sentence structure emphasize the meaning of the sentence?

2. Both of these sentences start with conjunctions (but, and). What is the purpose of a conjunction? Why do you think the author has chosen to start these sentences with a conjunction?

3. Write a sentence describing getting a phone call you are really excited about. Try to capture your excitement through your sentence structure, as Bambara does, using short clauses connected by commas. Begin your sentence with a conjunction (and, but, or).

When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little- a very, very crevice in the lantern. So I opened it- your cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily-until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of a spider, s how from out the crevice and full upon the vulture eye.

-Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings

1. Look carefully at the sentence. There are several groups of words called phrases (very patiently, without hearing him lie down, a very, very little) that interrupt the flow of the sentence. Why do you think Poe wrote the sentence like this?

2. Look at the second sentence. What is the purpose of the dashes? How do these dashes, and the words they set off, involve the reader in the action of the passage?

3. Now you try it: Write a sentence about doing your homework. Try to imitate the way Poe uses phrases to slow down the way you read the sentence. Use at least one dash.

Grayson said, “Pitcher.” This word, unlike the others, was not worn at all, but fresh and robust. It startled Maniac. It declared: I am not what you see. I am a line-laying, pickup-driving, live-at-the-Y, bean-brained parkhand. I am not rickety, whiskered worm chow. I am a pitcher.

-Jerry Spinelli, Maniac Magee

1. Notice that the passage alternates long, layered sentences with short sentences. What is the purpose of the short sentences? What is the purpose of the longer sentences?

2. Why is the last sentence in italics? What effect does this sentence have on the impact of the passage?

3. Now you try it: Write a short sentence that follows and emphasizes the long sentence below. Although I’m not a great athlete, that day I was flying- running as if I’d been training for weeks- and I felt capable, for the very first time, of winning a race, of being a track star, of helping my team.

He found that he was often angry, now: irrationally angry at his groupmates, that they were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on.

-Lois Lowry, The Giver

1. What is the purpose of the colon in this sentence?2. How would it change the effectiveness of the sentence if he

rewrote it like this?He found that he was often irrationally angry at his groupmates because they were satisfied with their lives which had none of the vibrance his own was taking on.

3. Write a sentence which uses a colon to connect important ideas. The words which follow the colon should explain and emphasize the words that come before the colon. Use Lowry's sentence as a model.

TONETONEThe expression of the author’s attitude toward his/her audience and subject matter.

The Baudelaire orphans went to the bedroom and glumly packed their few belongings. Klaus looked distastefully at each ugly shirt Mrs. Poe had bought for him as he folded them and put them into a small suitcase. Violet looked around the cramped, smelly room in which they had been living. And Sunny crawled around solemnly biting each of Edgar and Albert’s shoes, leaving small teeth marks in each one so she would not be forgotten.

-Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning

1. What is the tone of this passage? Brainstorm tone words with your class and add new words to your Tone Words List.

2. How do you know the tone of this passage? Create evidence of what you identify as the tone of this passage.

3. Write a paragraph about packing for a trip. In your paragraph create an enthusiastic tone.

Rachel/Rachelle and some other twit about the movie date before Mr. Stetman starts class. I wasn’t to puke. Rachel/Rachelle is just “Andythis” and “Andythat.” Could she be more obvious? I close my ears to her stupid asthmatic laugh and work on the homework that was due yesterday.

-Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak

1.What is the attitude of the narrator toward Rachel/Rachelle? Circle and discuss the diction, details, and imagery that reveal this attitude.

2.What is the tone of the passage? How do you know? Look at your list of tone words and decide which words best describe the tone of this passage. If you think of new words, add them to the list.

3.Write a short paragraph about a particularly awful cafeteria lunch. Your tone should be disrespectful and mocking. Don't come right out and say that you disrespect and mock cafeteria food. Instead, use diction, detail, imagery, and syntax to create your disrespectful, mocking tone.

MIRANDA: O, wonder!How many goodly creatures are there here!How beauteous mankind is! O brave new worldThat has such people in’t!

-William Shakespeare, The Tempest

1. What is the tone of this passage? How do you know?2. How would the tone of the passage change if we simply

changed the punctuation like this?MIRANDA: O, wonder… How many goodly creatures are there here?How beauteous mankind is. O brave new worldThat has such people in’t.

3. Write a similar passage in praise of your favorite singer or athlete. Your tone should be admiring.Use your own, natural language. Focus on the use of punctuation to create the tone.

The haunted house was half in the shadows of the clump of elms in which it stood. The elms were almost bare now, and the ground around the house was yellow with damp leaves. The late afternoon light had a greenish cast which the blank windows reflected in a sinister way. An unhinged shutter thumped. Something else creaked.

-Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

1. What is the tone of the passage? How does L’Engle use diction, detail, and imagery to create the tone?

2. Would the tone of the passage change if we deleted the words haunted and sinister? Explain.

3. Rewrite L'Engle's paragraph with a different tone. Describe a lovely, warm house in summer. Use diction, detail, and imagery to create your tone.

The Navy guy and I told each other we were glad to’ve met each other. Which always kills me. I’m always saying “Glad to’ve met you” to somebody I’m not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive you have to say that stuff, though.

-J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

1. What is the narrator’s attitude toward people in general? How do you know? Explain how the element of voice help you to identify that narrator’s attitude towards the diction, syntax and hyperbole’s in this passage.

2. How would the tone of the passage change if Salinger had written in like this?John and I told each other we were glad to’ve met each other. I’m not sure I really meant it. I’m always saying “Glad to’ve met you” to somebody I’m not sure I’m glad I met.

3. Write a short paragraph about meeting someone famous. Your paragraph should have an admiring and approving tone. Express your tone through diction, syntax, and figurative language.

It is my observation that dogs feel certain basic emotions like affection, fear, confusion, and joy. I’m not sure they’re capable of feeling sadness or jealousy or if they can get their feelings hurt. But I believe a dog can get embarrassed! Take the Sunbeam clippers to a long-haired dog and see if he doesn’t slink off behind the barn.

-Baxter Black, “Dog Emotions,” Cactus Tracks & Cowboy Philosophy

1. Does the narrator like of dislike dogs? How do you know.2. What is the tone of the passage? How do the detail and

diction of the last sentence affect the tone of the passage?3. Write a paragraph or two that uses a lighthearted and

playful tone to characterize a friend you really like who has some funny habits. Use a similar structure to Black's: a simple explanation followed by a funny example.

At the gate he heard his mother’s voice raised in a storm of anger. She had discovered the shotgun where he had leaned it against the smoke-house wall. She had discovered Flag. She had discovered, too, that the yearling had made the most of the early hours and had fed, not only across the sprouting corn, but across a wide section of the cow-peas. He went helplessly to her to meet her wrath. He stood with his head down while she flailed him with her tongue.

-Marjorie Kinnan Ralings, The Yearling1.In the passage, the he of the story is a boy who has raised a

fawn, Flag. What is the boy’s attitude toward the Flag? What is his mother’s attitude toward the Flag?

2.How did you figure out the characters attitude?3.Think of something you love that your parent or teacher

disapproves of (video games, TV programs, cell phones). Write a paragraph that captures your attitude and contrasts it with your parent or teacher's attitude. Don't explain the conflict; instead, capture the conflict through tone. First decide the two sides of the conflict. Then express the conflict through detail, diction, imagery, and figurative language.

The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore: When you let him in, then he wants to be out;He’s always on the wrong side of every door,And as soon as he’s at home, then he’d like to get about.He likes to lie in the bureau drawer,But he makes such a fuss if he can’t get out.Yes the Rum Tug Tugger is a curious cat-

And it isn’t any use for you to doubt it:For he will doAs he will do

And there’s no doing anything about it!- T.S. Eliot, “The Rum Tug Tugger,” Old possum’s Book of Practical

Cats

1. What is the author’s attitude toward cats? How do you know? What is the tone of the passage? How it the tone related to attitude?

2. How would the tone change if we changed the last four lines like this?That old cat is spoiled and useless-can you doubt it?

For he will do as he will doAnd I might have to do something about it.

1. Think about a pet you or a friend has had. List as many of the pet's irritating habits as you can think of. Now think of a way to describe the irritating habits in a loving and accepting way. Discuss this with a partner.

VarietyNow that you have learned all the elements of voice we will

combine them.

"I have lived in this tree, in this same hollow," the owl said, "for more years than anyone can remember. But now, when the wind blows hard in winter and rocks the forest, I sit here in the dark, and from deep down in the bole, down near the roots, I hear a new sound. It is the sound of strands of wood creaking in the cold and snapping one by one. The limbs are falling; the tree is old, and it is dying. Yet I cannot bring myself, after so many years, to leave, to find a new home and move into it, perhaps to fight for it. I, too, have grown old. One of these days, one of these years, the tree will fall, and when it does, if I am still alive. I will fall with it.“

Robert C. O'Brien, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH 1. What is the owl's attitude toward the tree? What is his attitude toward himself?

2. What is the tone of the passage? How does O'Brien use diction, imagery, detail, and syntax to create the tone'? Remember that attitude helps create tone but is not necessarily the same thing as tone.

3. Write a paragraph about a place that means a lot to you. Your paragraph should express a sad tone. Be certain to use diction, imagery, detail, and syntax to create the tone, as O'Brien does in the passage above.

“Yes ma'am. That's right. Now, I have to tell you, I was a little-miss-know-it-all. I was a miss-smarty-pants with my library full of books. Oh, yes ma'am, I thought I knew the answers to everything. Well, one hot Thursday. I was sitting in my library with all the doors and windows open and tiny nose stuck in a book, when a shadow crossed the desk. And without looking up, yes ma'am, without even looking up, I said, ‘Is there a book I can help you find?’”

~Kate DiCamillo. Because of Winn-Dixie

1. What is the speaker's attitude toward herself? What is the author's attitude toward the speaker? How do you know'?

2. What is the tone of the passage'? The speaker repeats the phrase yes ma’am three times in this passage. How does this help create the tone'?

3. Rewrite the first part of this passage (“Yes ma'am. That's right. Now, I have to tell you, I was a little-miss-know-it-all. I was a miss- smarty-pants with my library full of books. Oh, yes ma'am, I thought I knew the answers to everything.”) to create a critical, biting tone. In your paragraph use the third person (she) instead of first person (I).

It is my belief that no writer can improve his work until he discards the dulcet notion that the reader is feebleminded, for writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar...a writer who questions the capacity of the person at thee other end of the line is not a writer at all, merely a schemer.

E.B. White, "Calculating Machine," Poems and Sketches of E.B. White

1. What is E.B. White's attitude toward the people who read his writing How does his diction reveal and reinforce this attitude?

2. What is the tone of the passage? How do you know? 3. Now you try it: Write a few sentences that express your views

about the relationship between the writer and the reader.