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In this lesson we'll subject you to some verbs and predicates. Each one is a necessary part of a complete breakfas—er...sentence.
Choosing words carefully is important. You may end up vexing the assemblage of citizens you're conversing with...or you might even just plain bore...
ELA 4: Tone 592 Views
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Description:
Today, we're covering tones. No, note the sounds your phone makes when somebody calls you. We're talking about the emotional feel of a piece of writing. The language that can make you happy, scared, nervous, or in the case of Shmoop reading the fifth Harry Potter book, curled up in a ball sobbing.
Transcript
- 00:04
[Coop and Dino singing]
- 00:13
We know that every good story has a bunch of parts. [Girl reading a book]
- 00:16
Plot, setting, theme, point of view…
- 00:18
…the list goes on and on and on and… well, you get the picture.
- 00:21
But today, we're going to talk about tone.
Full Transcript
- 00:23
But today, we're going to talk about tone! [Cheerleaders dancing]
- 00:25
…See what we did there?
- 00:26
Tone refers to the emotional feel of a piece of writing. [Coop explaining tone]
- 00:29
For example, if your BFF passes you a note in class and it makes you snort, the tone
- 00:34
was probably pretty funny. [Girl snorts after reading a note]
- 00:35
Or, if your teacher writes a note to your parents about how you tend to snort in class
- 00:39
instead of pay attention, her tone might be pretty stern.
- 00:42
Tone depends on what's happening in the story: the setting, the events, and how the characters
- 00:46
interact all play a part. [Dino discussing tone]
- 00:47
It can be happy, sad, mysterious… whatever emotion the story provokes in the reader!
- 00:52
Even boredom, though hopefully that doesn’t happen. [Man reading book and falls to the floor]
- 00:54
What's more, the tone is generally connected to what the main character is feeling.
- 00:58
As a reader, we're meant to identify with the main character, so whatever they're feeling [Love hearts floating above girls head]
- 01:01
is a pretty good hint of what the story’s tone.
- 01:04
And since the tone is connected to what's happening in the story, it can change over
- 01:07
the course of the story.
- 01:08
It's rare to read a story where everyone's happy all the time, so we wouldn't necessarily
- 01:13
expect a story to have a happy tone from start to finish. [Man gives thumbs up stood next to burning car]
- 01:16
Because, yes, even too much happiness can be a little boring. That’s why we stop
- 01:20
watching Barney the Dinosaur as we get older.
- 01:22
Well, some of us do… [Man watching Barney on TV]
- 01:24
So let's think about the first few chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
- 01:27
When the book starts, Harry isn't the darling of the wizarding world.
- 01:31
He's a lonely kid living under a staircase with the Dursleys, a family that doesn't treat [Harry Potter under a staircase and Dursley family appears]
- 01:34
him very well. Naturally, Harry's pretty sad.
- 01:37
The tone is pretty straightforward here. Harry's the main character, so the tone ends up being
- 01:41
what he's feeling, aka sadness. [Harry in a rainy street]
- 01:43
Things start to change as the story gets going, though. As Harry's about to turn eleven, owls
- 01:48
start bringing letters addressed to him, which his uncle tries to destroy. [Owl flying and letter burns]
- 01:51
With all this excitement, Harry's sadness gives way to a new curiosity, which – you
- 01:56
guessed it – is the tone of this part of the story.
- 01:58
After a while, despite Uncle Vernon's best efforts, the Dursley house gets a visit from [Hagrid appears at the front door]
- 02:02
Hagrid, a half-giant wizard, who whisks Harry away in order to get him ready for wizarding school.
- 02:07
As Harry finds himself plunged into the world of wizards, he becomes extremely excited, [A floating feather]
- 02:12
and so do we. And, yup…so does the tone.
- 02:15
All that's to say, that tone is pretty important in a story. It’s the story’s emotional
- 02:19
heart and soul. It’s what makes us care, laugh, and cry.
- 02:23
Now if you'd excuse us, we're going to re-read Harry Potter for the hundredth time! [Woman reading Harry Potter]
- 02:26
Did our tone sound excited?
- 02:28
Bingo! That's 'cause we are!
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In this lesson we'll subject you to some verbs and predicates. Each one is a necessary part of a complete breakfas—er...sentence.
Choosing words carefully is important. You may end up vexing the assemblage of citizens you're conversing with...or you might even just plain bore...