Tone Passages

First Passage: Tone-Loving

       I stared at her from across the room. I saw her eyes, so bright and blue, and her hair, so blonde and curvy, and her skin, so pale and perfect. I couldn't look away.
      I turned to my friend. "Wow," I said to him. "Do you see that girl over there? She's so... beautiful."
      I turned away and looked back towards her. For a moment, the only thing I could see was her. She was the greatest thing I had ever seen.
      I looked at her for a little longer, and then I finally got the guts to go over and talk to her.


Second Passage: Tone-Disgusted

       I stared at her from across the room, but only for a second. What I did see was her eyes, so large and gray, and her hair, so brown and uneven, and her skin, so burnt and warty.
       I turned to my friend. "Wow," I said to him. "Do you see that girl over there? She's so... gross."
       I kept looking at my friend so I didn't have to look back at her. But I couldn't get her out of my head. She was the worst thing I had ever seen.
       I tried not to think about her, but her face kept popping in my mind, so I finally walked out of the room so I didn't have to see her anymore.

2006 AP Excerpt Distillation

Describing how people tend to torture nature in the passage from an eighteenth-century novel, the narrator utilizes an agitated tone to condemn what these people are doing. The narrator adds words with negative diction and connotation, such as "cruel nastiness" and "stupid curiosity," to characterize the narrator's disgust towards hurting nature like these people do sometimes. Through the use of these strong and hurtful words, the narrator hopes to make readers who do hurt nature think differently about their actions and possibly help preserve the world they were hurting before. This passage helps people see the horrible actions done to nature, and it shows how people need to create a better society where nature is conserved and respected.