Understanding the Differences Between Tone and Mood in Writing

What Is Tone?

In the simplest terms, tone in writing is the attitude a writer holds about their subject matter. This outlook is revealed to the reader by decisions the writer makes: their word choice, their punctuation, and the way they structure their sentences.

Tone in writing is something readers are often asked to analyze in literature, but it might be easier to understand how tone functions by considering everyday written communication.

For example, a business email that begins, “I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to inform you…” strikes a formal, professional tone. Meanwhile, a text message to a friend that communicates the same thing by saying, “Hey, hope things are good. Just wanted to let you know…” comes off as more casual or colloquial in tone. Were these messages sent between people whom you know nothing about it, you would be able to understand something about the relationship between the correspondents through the tone that’s conveyed in the writing.

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Words Used to Describe Tone

Knowing how to describe a piece of writing’s tone can help deepen your understanding of how it functions. Since there are so many ways that a person can feel toward something, there are likewise virtually limitless ways to describe tone in writing. To start, though, here are some common ways that tone may be described, paired with their opposites.

• humble, modest or confident, assertive
• sincere, honest, earnest or sarcastic, mocking, ironic
• casual, colloquial, informal or professional, serious, formal
• impartial, objective or biased, subjective
• joyful, cheerful, light-hearted or solemn, grave, sober

What Is Mood?

Whereas tone refers to the writer’s attitude to their writing, mood refers to the feelings a piece of writing evokes in the reader. So, while mood can be affected by an author’s tone, it is a distinct concept. That is, mood isn’t just created by word choice and punctuation but also by the general focus of a piece of writing. For instance, where a story takes place and specific details that the author chooses to call attention to will influence the feelings you have about the piece as a reader.

Consider, for example, the famous (or infamous) opening lines from Paul Clifford by Edward Bulwer-Lytton:

“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”

While the author’s tone here might be described as serious, the aspect of darkness, suspense, and foreboding that the novel creates with its setting and choice of detail might lead a reader—if they can take the writing seriously—to feel a mood or sense an atmosphere that could be described as gloomy, spooky, or ominous.

The Importance of Understanding Tone and Mood

Understanding how mood functions isn’t just important to being a more critical reader. It can also influence the way you write: If you’re able to recognize how an author creates a certain mood, you can utilize those same techniques in your own writing to help create a desired effect in your audience.

Improving your understanding of tone can have a similar effect. Whether you’re writing creatively, casually, or professionally, in a new novel, a text to your best friend, or an email to your boss, being able to gauge your own attitude towards your subject, as well as how your words, punctuation, and sentence structure convey that subject to a reader, can help you ensure that you’re coming across the way you want in any context.

Of course, even as you improve your understanding of how tone works, it can still sometimes be a challenge to employ that knowledge in your own writing, whether that means using the appropriate tone for a certain context or remaining consistent in tone throughout a piece of writing. Using a digital writing assistant like Microsoft Editor or Grammarly, which offer tone detection features to flag inconsistencies and spot things like uncommon jargon, can help with that.