Rhetorical Journal - Tone Vocabulary Assignment

THE TASK: Create a personal dictionary of tone words. One challenge you may confront on the AP exam (and other standardized tests used for college or graduate school) is that you may understand the question and what the answer should be, but the words used for the answers may be unfamiliar or only recognizable. On the AP English exams, questions relating to tone may often fall into this category. For instance, you might identify the tone as “happy,” but “happy” isn’t one of the choices.

Guiding Questions/Goals:

� What is tone? How does tone affect products – visual, writing, etc.

� What’s the difference between synonyms?

� GOAL: increase vocabulary

Directions:

Step 1: You will select twenty-five words you don’t know from the list below.

Example: John Smith 9/11/2014 Clark, Lang-5th Tone Words 1 Sarcastic (neg): bitterly satiric or ironic in order to cut or give pain (syn: mocking) Ex: “Way to go Einstein! It takes a genius to get 2+2 right!” Flippant (neg): with an inappropriate lack of seriousness (syn: glib) etc. Step 2: For each word, type the following:

Definition

Classify the tone word – positive? Negative? Neutral?

Find a synonym for the word

Copy or create an example of your own that demonstrates the tone identified by the term. Indicate your source if you do not create the example. NOTE: this does not mean to use the word in a sentence. Your sentence or sentences must DEMONSTRATE the tone (i.e. be in that tone).

Step 3: turn in the tone words in sets of five words with your list of 25 words. Check off the words you’ve already defined.

Step 4: You will submit a set five times throughout first semester.

Format:

Typed. Example above. You can use another format, talk to me first.

1 inch margins

Single-spaced with spaces between the definition and example, and spaces between each word entry

Continual numbering (words numbered 1-25 throughout the semester

(this can be pasted into your rhetorical journal when you get it back)

Includes all assignment elements

o proper heading and title

If applicable MLA citation for sources used

Acerbic Acrimonious Admonishing Aloof Amiable Apathetic Ardent Astute Audacious banal Bellicose Benevolent Bemused Cajoling Candid Capricious Caustic Choleric Circumspect Complacent Conciliatory Corrosive Coy Cynical Didactic	Diffident Disinterested Doleful Domineering Dubious Earnest Effusive Elegiac Enervated Equivocal Erudite Esoteric Euphoric Exuberant Facetious Fanciful Feckless Flippant Forthright Genial Hectoring Histrionic Idealistic Incisive Insightful	Insipid Insolent Invidious irrational Jingoistic Jubilant Laconic Laudatory Livid Lugubrious Macabre Maudlin meticulous Mock-heroic Mordant Morose Objective Obsequious Odious Passive Patronizing Palliative Pedantic Pensive Perturbed	Petulant Pretentious Querulous Quizzical Reverent Ribald Sanguine Sardonic Saturnine Scathing Scrupulous Self-indulgent Serene Simpering Strident Timorous Tranquil Trite Turgid Tyrannical Urbane Vitriolic Wistful Wry Zealous

adapted from Joyce Herr’s Tone Assignment