Please DO take that (formal) tone with me!

Did your parents ever say to you, “Don’t you dare take that tone with me, young man (or lady)”? Yes? I must confess, me too. Chances are it’s not what you said but how you said it that prompted this parental warning. That is, in fact, the very definition of tone. I’m guessing that the tone of sarcasm probably played a role in the scenario above. Gee, I've heard tell that teenagers can sometimes be sarcastic... Just as in spoken language, you can also take a tone in writing. For example, many readers interpret emails written in ALL CAPS as projecting an angry tone akin to shouting.

Here’s another way to use tone -- to mean the opposite of what you say. If I’m walking down the hallway at school and one of my students greets me with, “Um, nice haircut, Mr. Dial” [insert eye roll here], I can tell from the student’s tone whether he or she really thinks I have a good haircut or not. In this example, the student’s words state “nice haircut” but the meaning is the exact opposite -- not a nice haircut. It’s bad -- very, very bad. One literary masterpiece that uses a more sophisticated form of this technique is Jonathan Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal.” Swift invents a fictional narrator with a satiric persona whose (not at all modest) proposal is diametrically opposed to Swift’s own beliefs about the subject of poverty in Ireland. Read this classic essay and you’ll see what I mean.

For student writers in college, the principal question about tone concerns formality. In a college paper, you definitely want to maintain a formal tone. Occasionally, students will inadvertently slip into an informal tone while writing a formal paper, but you should endeavor to avoid doing this. Do not use slang words or jargon. One example I see frequently is the phrase “back in the day,” which I've learned can mean anytime from yesterday to the dawn of recorded civilization. Indeed, this informal phrase violates more than one principle of language use. Not only is it informal, but it’s vague and is fast becoming a cliché as well. Instead of writing “back in the day,” identify the specific time period you are referring to.

Of course, we all engage in both formal and informal modes of communication. There's even a term for it: code switching. The key is to realize when informal communication is acceptable (an email to a friend, a conversation in a dorm room) and when formal communication is required. Just remember, writing your college paper is always a formal event.

© 2014 Bob Dial.  All rights reserved.