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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 2 of 13

Tone & Mood

How writing feels and sounds

What your child practices

Telling the writer's attitude (tone) apart from the reader's feeling (mood), and seeing how word choice and connotation shape both.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 7.1.8.2; 7.2.3.2 · how word choice sets tone, and keeping voice and tone consistent

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Tone is the writer’s attitude toward the subject: enthusiastic, nostalgic, objective, sarcastic.
  2. Mood is the feeling the reader gets: tense, peaceful, gloomy, cheerful.
  3. Look at word choice and connotation. Words like creaked and shadows build a tense mood.

Example: “I still remember those summer evenings at the lake. Those were the best days.” What is the tone? The writer is looking back fondly at the past. Warm longing for the past is nostalgia. Answer: Nostalgic

Tone & Mood in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 2 of 13 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Literary Devices and before Persuasive Power.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which description of the same person sounds the most admiring?

    • Lena is pushy about her ideas.
    • Lena is determined and never gives up on an idea.
    • Lena is stubborn and never lets go of an idea.
    • Lena is obsessed with her own ideas.

  2. Question 2

    Which word best describes the writer's tone?

    Please read this carefully. If you see a fallen power line, stay at least ten meters away and call 911 right away.

    • Nostalgic
    • Sarcastic
    • Urgent
    • Playful

  3. Question 3

    Sort the words by connotation. Does each word sound positive or negative?

    Sort into: 👍 Positive · 👎 Negative

    • 🌱youthful
    • 🐂stubborn
    • 🍼childish
    • 🔒stingy
    • 🔍curious
    • 😌relaxed

  4. Question 4

    Which sentence has the most formal tone?

    • We respectfully request that the meeting be moved to Thursday.
    • Can we move the meeting? Thursday's way better.
    • Thursday, yeah? Let's just do that.
    • Ugh, fine, Thursday works, I guess.

  5. Question 5

    Which word best describes the writer's tone?

    My little brother's idea of “helping” in the kitchen is eating the chocolate chips before they reach the bowl. So far, he has helped with zero cookies and about four hundred chocolate chips.

    • Humorous
    • Formal
    • Tragic
    • Furious

  6. Question 6

    Which word has the most negative connotation?

    • stingy
    • economical
    • frugal
    • thrifty

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