Division of Oriental Mindoro – Nabuslot NationaL High School – English Department

English 9
Quarter 3 – Week 3
Most Essential Learning Competency
 Determine the relevance and the truthfulness of the ideas presented in
the material viewed
 Identifying tone and mood

Lesson
Identifying Tone and Mood
1

What I Know

To start off, let’s find out how much you know about this lesson. Try to answer the exercise
below.
1. "Afterwards we will be as one animal of the forest and be so close that neither
one can tell that one of us is one and not the other. Can you not feel my heart
be your heart?" whispered Nick. (Excerpt from For Whom the Bell Tolls,
Hemingway) What tone does Hemingway's main character, Nick, take towards
his girlfriend?
A. romantic/sentimental
B. friendly/playful
C. scornful/ contemptuous

2. Young Man: Didn’t know somebody was bowled over by those pretty lamps of
yours, did you, honeysuckle? Girl: Whoever you are, you must remember that
I am a lady. I will excuse the remark you just made because the mistake was,
doubtless, not unnatural one – in your circle. I asked you to sit down; if the
invitation must constitute me your honeysuckle, consider it withdrawn. 2.
What mood is evoked in you by the dialogue?
A. inspired
B. offended
C. scared

What’s In

Read the excerpt from the first chapter of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
below. Then, answer the questions that follow.

When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but
the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat
country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the
plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was
not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same
gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun
blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and
gray as everything else.

The cyclone had set the house down in the midst of a country of marvelous
beauty. There were lovely patches of greensward all about, with stately trees bearing rich
and luscious fruits. Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare
and brilliant feathers sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes. A little way off was a
small brook, rushing and sparkling along between green banks, and murmuring in a
voice very grateful to a little girl who had lived so long on the dry, gray prairies.

Source: https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2086007/PDFs/Teaching-Resources/6-Point-
of-View/rpskills-intermediate-worksheet-6c-recognizing-mood-and-tone-lesson-1.pdf

Comprehension Questions:
1. How was the setting described in the first stanza?
2. What feeling / emotion did the setting evoke in you? What words made the feel that
way?
3. Were there changes in the second paragraph? Cite those changes.
4. How did you feel after reading the second paragraph

What New

TONE refers to the attitude of the author or narrator towards the subject. MOOD is the
emotion created on the readers by a piece of writing. It is what the reader feels while
reading a piece of writing. Both tone and mood deal with the emotion of a piece of
writing. They have similarities and differences as shown in the Venn diagram below.

What Is It
Read the following passages carefully then answer the question that follows each
number.

James approached the task with sheer determination. He had studied his plans
carefully, spent hours preparing and was sure of his approach. The hours he spent
practicing were tiring and exhausting but he was ready. This was the year he would win
the pie eating contest at school.

1. The underlined words/ phrase show authors descriptions. Which from the
words inside the parentheses DOESN’T describe its tone? (serious, intense,
playful, focused)

You are alone in the middle of nowhere. The night was dark and stormy. Lightning
flashes and thunder roars. There was no signal so communication and help is
impossible.

2. The passage creates a (scary, happy, excited , romantic) mood or feeling as

suggested by the underlined words/expressions.

We received your request for replacement of the shoes you ordered for your kid. Please
accept our sincere apologies that the product did not meet your expectations as the product was
advertised. We will send you the new one in a timely manner as possible. In the meantime, please
ask us if we can help you in other way.

3. The following words describe the tone of the passage except one. Which is it?
(professional, sincere, arrogant, apologetic)

While the merchant was crying up his fruit, a poor, old, ragged, hungry-looking priest
stopped to just in front of his barrow and very humbly begged him to give him one of the pears. But
the merchant refused to give him.

4. What mood is evoked in you after reading the paragraph? (jealous, sympathetic,
romantic, enlightened)

As Raiko got up from bed he immediately knelt down and said a prayer thanking God he is
still alive. He also felt grateful for all the blessings he has been receiving from above, for the
wonderful family and friends that surround him. Before he finished his prayer he did not forget to
appeal for the needy ones.

5. What is the tone of the passage? (accusatory and critical, grateful and optimistic,
solemn and remorseful)

What’s More

Activity 1: TONE me up!

Guided by the underlined words/lines, identify the tone of the following passages.

1. My annoying brother likes to drive me crazy.

There is no other who is that lazy.
He whines to Mom and Dad night and day
Until he eventually gets his way.
 What is a sister to do
When he screams ‘til he’s blue?
There is no way to win,
For he gets under your skin.
He does his best to kill all joy.
Oh how my brother does annoy!

A. compassionate
B. annoyed
C. bewildered
D. cheerful

2. I called my friend at their house, her brother said she’s not home, but I heard her voice
come over the line.

A. suspicious
B. excited
C. sincere
D. solemn

3. We’re contacting you today to let you know about the Special Olympics annual fund drive.
You’ve been kind enough to support us generously in the past and we’d like to ask for your
help again as we send our athletes with special needs to compete at the national level.
Please fill out the form below and return it in the enclosed envelope with your donation. It
will make a child’s day if you do.

A. informal/sarcastic
B. formal /polite
C. accusatory / critical
D. intimate /solemn

4. Lala sat on the old, lumpy couch crying. She could let it out all here, alone in mother’s
small, quiet apartment in the village. The familiar walls were covered in rose pink wallpaper.
Goldie, her mother’s eleventh fish, seemed to stare sympathetically at Lala through the
fishbowl sitting on the counter. The smell of her mother’s vanilla candles comforted her
aching heart.

A. happy
B. contented
C. inspired
D. sad

5. There is no one
That can be better
Because you are brilliant.
There is nothing that you cannot do
Because you are unbeatable.
There is no place that you cannot go
Because you are always welcomed
There is no person that can hold you back
Because you are unstoppable.

A. mournful
B. outraged
C. inspired
D. cheerful
Activity 2: Check your MOOD
 Determine the mood best described in the following paragraphs as hinted by the
italicized words/lines.

1. She found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps
hanging from the roof. There were doors all ’round the hall, but they were all
locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other,
trying every door, she walked down the middle, wondering how she was ever to
get out again. (from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)
A. excited
B. funny
C. mysterious
D. ridiculous
2. The front door, which had neither bell nor knocker, was blistered and stained.
Passersby snuck into the recess and struck matches on the panels. Children
kept shop upon the steps. More than one schoolboy had scratched his initials
on the 9 moldings. For close on a generation, no one had appeared to drive
away these random visitors or to repair their damages. (From The Strange Case
of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson)
A. welcoming and appealing
B. gloomy and decaying
C. protective and guarded
D. calm and restful
3. Saturday morning has come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh
and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart, and if the heart was
young, the music issued at the lips. (From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by
Mark Twain)
A. doubtful
B. graceful
C. powerful
D. cheerful
4. There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering,
indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mr.
Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had
brought with it clouds so somber, and a rain so penetrating, that further
outdoor exercise was now out of the question. (From Jane Eyre by Charlotte
Bronte)
A. disappointed
B. satisfied
C. agreeable
D. questionable
5. She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were
all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air.
In the street below a peddler was carrying his wares. The notes of a distant
song, which someone was singing, reached her faintly, and countless sparrows
were twittering in the eaves. (From The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
A. pleasant
B. serious
C. cautious
D. amusing

What I Have Learned

Tone simply refers to how the author feels towards the subject, or towards something.
You will know what the author’s tone is implying by the words he uses.

Some Important Tone Words

• Accusatory: charging of wrong doing
• Bitter: exhibiting strong animosity as a result of pain or grief
• Critical: finding fault
• Earnest: intense, a sincere state of mind
• Intimate: very familiar
• Matter-of-fact: accepting of conditions; not fanciful or emotional
• Optimistic: hopeful, cheerful
• Pessimistic: showing lack of hope, expecting bad to happen
• Reverent: treating a subject with honor and respect
• Reflective: illustrating innermost thoughts and emotions
• Sarcastic: sneering, caustic
• Sincere: without deceit or pretense; genuine
• Solemn: deeply earnest, tending toward sad reflection
• Remorseful: feeling guilty or sorry for doing something bad or wrong
• Romantic: involving love or romance

While ‘mood’, refers to the feeling of the atmosphere the author is describing. It is what
the author makes you feel when you read his writings. You can read a sentence, and feel
sad, happy or angry. • Writers use many devices to create mood, including images,
dialogue, setting, and plot.

Some Important Mood Words

• Suspense Lonely
• Happy Angry
• Anxious Tensed
• Suspicious Excited
• Depressed Scared
• Disgusted Sympathetic
• Grateful Passionate/Romantic
• Enlightened Jealous

Name: ______________________________________________________ Section: _________

*Submit only Assessment 1 on the scheduled day of retrieval of your Self-Learning
Modules. The SLM’s will be your guide for your quarterly examination.
English 9 Quarter 3 Week 4

Directions: Read each excerpt

carefully and answer the
questions that follow.

For no. 1: "Look at what he did.

Throwin’ up his First
Communion breakfast. Throwin’
up the body and blood of Jesus. I
have God in me backyard. What
am I goin' to do? I'll take him to
the Jesuits for they know the
sins of the Pope himself." She
dragged me through the streets
of Limerick. She told the
neighbors and passing strangers
about God in her backyard. "In
the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost. Bless me,
Father, for I have sinned. It's
been a day since me last
confessions." "A day? And what
sins have you committed in a
day, my child?" "I overslept. I
nearly missed my First
Communion. My grandmother
said I have standing up, North of
Ireland, Presbyterian hair. I
threw up my First Communion
breakfast. Now Grandma says
she has God in her backyard and what should she do."

1. The speaker’s tone as he looks back on and describes this childhood memory is
_____________

A. repentant/embarrassed
B. proud/arrogant
C. amused/entertained

For no. 2: Farewell, thou child of my right hand and joy; My sin was too much hope of
thee, loved boy Seven years thou went lent to me, and I thee pay, Exacted by fate, on the
just day.

2. What mood is evoked in you while reading excerpt of the poem?

A. happy
B. mournful
C. excited

For no. 3 and 4: Juliet: I’m so excited! Romeo is going to be with me tonight! We’re
married now, but the only people who know are Father Lawrence and my Nurse. Here
she is now.
(The nurse enters)
Nurse: Juliet, my dear, something has happened. He’s dead, he’s dead!
Juliet: Who’s dead? Not Romeo? Not my husband?

3. What dominant mood can we infer from Juliet’s first dialogue?

A. afraid
B. excited
C. disappointed

4. Was there a sudden change in the mood on Juliet’s second line? What mood is evoked in the
second line?
A. anxious
B. apprehensive
C. frightened

For no. 5: How do I love thee? --- I love thee with the breath Smiles, tears of all my life! And if
God choose, I shall love thee better after death.

5. What is the dominant mood of the poem?

A. lonely
B. romantic
C. depressed

For no. 6: You will send your child, will you, into a room where the table is loaded with
sweet wine and fruit-some poisoned, some not?- you will say to him, "Choose freely, my
little child! It is so good for you to have freedom of choice; it forms your character-your
individuality! If you take the wrong cup or the wrong berry, you will die before the day is
over, but you will have acquired the dignity of a free child."

6. What is the speaker’s tone in this passage (consider his apparent feelings about
young children having freedom)?
A. sincere/honest
B. sarcastic/mocking
C. joyful/rejoicing

For no. 5: The kind of nuclear reaction that happens inside a nuclear reactor is called
nuclear fission. The fuel is uranium or plutonium, two very heavy elements which have
many protons and neutrons in their nuclei. Fission starts when a fast moving neutron
strikes a nucleus. The nucleus cannot take in the extra neutron, and the whole nucleus
breaks apart into two smaller nuclei.

7. What is Macaulay’s tone in this passage?

A. uncertain/confused
B. scared/apprehensive
C. factual/unbiased

For no. 8: "I am not mad," [the monster] cried energetically, "the sun and the heavens,
who have viewed my operations, can bear witness of my truth. I am the assassin of those
most innocent victims; they died by my machinations. A thousand times would I have
shed my own blood, drop by drop, to have saved their lives; but I could not, my father,
indeed I could not sacrifice the whole human race."

8. The speaker in this passage is the monster. What is the speaker’s tone?
A. sorry/remorseful
B. angry/vindictive
 C. humorous/happy

For no. 9: You never found out why these men spend so much time shaking hands [in
beer commercials]. Maybe shaking hands is just their simple straightforward burly
masculine American patriotic way of saying to each other: "Floyd, I am truly sorry I
drank all that beer last night and went to the bathroom in your glove compartment."

9. What is the speaker’s tone in explaining the relationships between men as they
are portrayed in beer commercials?
A. serious
B. humorous
C. angry

For no. 10: Freedom calls you! Quick, be ready

Rouse ye in the name of God,
Onward, onward, strong and steady,
Dash to earth the oppressor's rod.
Freedom calls, ye brave!
Rise and spurn the name of slave.

10. What is the speaker’s tone in this poem? How does the speaker feel about going
to war?
A. eager/motivated
B. bitter /resentful
C. fearful/reluctant

II. Directions: Complete the statements below.

1. In this module, I learned that ______________________________________.

2. Having known bias and prejudice, I realized that ______________________.

3. I can use these learnings through __________________________________.

4. It is important to know and understand tone and mood because

________________________________________.

5. During COVID-19 pandemic, we can see tone and mood in

_____________________________________________.