Difference Wiki

Tone vs. Mood

The main difference between the mood and the tone is that the tone is how the author feels about what he is writing and the mood of a literary work is how the author makes the reader feel.

Key Differences

The tone is mainly created by diction and detail on the other hand mood is created by setting, imagery, and diction.
The tone implies how the author feels towards the subject on the flip side mood directs the feeling of the surroundings and atmosphere the author is describing and making his readers feel.
The tone is revealed by the author’s choice of words and details on the other hand mood directs a prevailing feeling, or frame of mind, especially at the start of the story.
Aimie Carlson
Jul 27, 2019
The tone is the attitude of the author towards a subject whereas mood is the atmosphere or the emotional setting created by a piece of literary work.

Comparison Chart

.

The tone is the author feeling about what he is writing
The mood of a literary work is how the author makes the reader feel about a subject

Reflects

Atmosphere or the emotional setting
The attitude of the author
ADVERTISEMENT

Literary Device

Setting, imagery, and diction
Created by diction and detail

Purpose

Conveys author’s feelings towards a subject
Shape the reader's emotional response

Tone and Mood Definitions

Tone

A sound of distinct pitch, quality, and duration; a note.

Mood

A particular state of mind or emotion
News that put us in a good mood.

Tone

The interval of a major second in the diatonic scale; a whole step.

Mood

A pervading impression of an observer
The somber mood of the painting.
ADVERTISEMENT

Tone

A recitational melody in a Gregorian chant.

Mood

An instance or spell of sulking or angry behavior
A friend's visit lifted him out of his mood.

Tone

The quality or character of sound.

Mood

Inclination; disposition
I'm in the mood for ice cream.

Tone

The characteristic quality or timbre of a particular instrument or voice.

Mood

A property of verbs in which the speaker's attitude toward the factuality or likelihood of the action or condition expressed.
ADVERTISEMENT

Tone

The pitch of a word used to determine its meaning or to distinguish differences in meaning.

Mood

A category or set of verb forms or inflections used to indicate such an attitude. In English, the indicative mood is used to make factual statements, the subjunctive mood to indicate doubt or unlikelihood, and the imperative mood to express a command.

Tone

The particular or relative pitch of a word, phrase, or sentence.

Mood

(Logic) The arrangement of statement types in a syllogism.

Tone

Manner of expression in speech or writing
Took an angry tone with the reporters.

Mood

A mental or emotional state, composure.
I've been in a bad mood since I was dumped by my ex-boyfriend.

Tone

A general quality, effect, or atmosphere
A room with an elegant tone.

Mood

Emotional character (of a work of music, literature, or other art).

Tone

A color or shade of color
Light tones of blue.

Mood

A sullen, gloomy or angry mental state; a bad mood.
He's in a mood with me today.

Tone

Quality of color
The green wallpaper had a particularly somber tone.

Mood

A disposition to do something, a state of mind receptive or disposed to do something.
I'm not in the mood for running today.

Tone

The general effect in painting of light, color, and shade.

Mood

A prevalent atmosphere, attitude, or feeling.
A good politician senses the mood of the crowd.

Tone

The normal state of elastic tension or partial contraction in resting muscles.

Mood

(slang) A familiar, relatable feeling, experience, or thing.

Tone

Normal firmness of a tissue or an organ.

Mood

(grammar) A verb form that depends on how its containing clause relates to the speaker’s or writer’s wish, intent, or assertion about reality.
The mood most frequently encountered in English is the indicative, of which the mood in this sentence is an example.

Tone

To give a particular tone or inflection to.

Mood

(slang) Used to express that the speaker finds something very relatable.
⁠—I am feeling very exhausted today. ⁠—Mood.

Tone

To soften or change the color of (a painting or photographic negative, for example).

Mood

Manner; style; mode; logical form; musical style; manner of action or being. See Mode which is the preferable form).

Tone

To sound monotonously; intone.

Mood

Manner of conceiving and expressing action or being, as positive, possible, conditional, hypothetical, obligatory, imperitive, etc., without regard to other accidents, such as time, person, number, etc.; as, the indicative mood; the imperitive mood; the infinitive mood; the subjunctive mood. Same as Mode.

Tone

To make firmer or stronger. Often used with up
Exercises that tone up the body.

Mood

Temper of mind; temporary state of the mind in regard to passion or feeling; humor; as, a melancholy mood; a suppliant mood.
Till at the last aslaked was his mood.
Fortune is merry,And in this mood will give us anything.
The desperate recklessness of her mood.

Tone

To assume a particular color quality.

Mood

A characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling;
Whether he praised or cursed me depended on his temper at the time
He was in a bad humor

Tone

To harmonize in color.

Mood

The prevailing psychological state;
The climate of opinion
The national mood had changed radically since the last election

Tone

(music) A specific pitch.

Mood

Verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker

Tone

(music) (in the diatonic scale) An interval of a major second.

Tone

(music) (in a Gregorian chant) A recitational melody.

Tone

The character of a sound, especially the timbre of an instrument or voice.

Tone

(linguistics) The pitch of a word that distinguishes a difference in meaning, for example in Chinese.

Tone

(dated) A whining style of speaking; a kind of mournful or artificial strain of voice; an affected speaking with a measured rhythm and a regular rise and fall of the voice.
Children often read with a tone.

Tone

(literature) The manner in which speech or writing is expressed.

Tone

(obsolete) State of mind; temper; mood.

Tone

The shade or quality of a colour.

Tone

The favourable effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, or of colours.
This picture has tone.

Tone

The definition and firmness of a muscle or organ; see also: tonus.

Tone

(biology) The state of a living body or of any of its organs or parts in which the functions are healthy and performed with due vigor.

Tone

(biology) Normal tension or responsiveness to stimuli.

Tone

A gun

Tone

(figuratively)

Tone

The general character, atmosphere, mood, or vibe (of a situation, place, etc.).
Her rousing speech gave an upbeat tone to the rest of the evening.

Tone

(Chiefly in the form lower/raise the tone of something) The quality of being respectable or admirable.

Tone

(transitive) to give a particular tone to

Tone

(transitive) to change the colour of

Tone

(transitive) to make (something) firmer

Tone

(transitive) to utter with an affected tone.

Tone

The one (of two)

Tone

Sound, or the character of a sound, or a sound considered as of this or that character; as, a low, high, loud, grave, acute, sweet, or harsh tone.
[Harmony divine] smooths her charming tones.
Tones that with seraph hymns might blend.

Tone

Accent, or inflection or modulation of the voice, as adapted to express emotion or passion.
Eager his tone, and ardent were his eyes.

Tone

A whining style of speaking; a kind of mournful or artificial strain of voice; an affected speaking with a measured rhythm ahd a regular rise and fall of the voice; as, children often read with a tone.

Tone

A sound considered as to pitch; as, the seven tones of the octave; she has good high tones.

Tone

That state of a body, or of any of its organs or parts, in which the animal functions are healthy and performed with due vigor.

Tone

Tonicity; as, arterial tone.

Tone

State of mind; temper; mood.
The strange situation I am in and the melancholy state of public affairs, . . . drag the mind down . . . from a philosophical tone or temper, to the drudgery of private and public business.
Their tone was dissatisfied, almost menacing.

Tone

Tenor; character; spirit; drift; as, the tone of his remarks was commendatory.

Tone

General or prevailing character or style, as of morals, manners, or sentiment, in reference to a scale of high and low; as, a low tone of morals; a tone of elevated sentiment; a courtly tone of manners.

Tone

The general effect of a picture produced by the combination of light and shade, together with color in the case of a painting; - commonly used in a favorable sense; as, this picture has tone.

Tone

Quality, with respect to attendant feeling; the more or less variable complex of emotion accompanying and characterizing a sensation or a conceptual state; as, feeling tone; color tone.

Tone

Color quality proper; - called also hue. Also, a gradation of color, either a hue, or a tint or shade.
She was dressed in a soft cloth of a gray tone.

Tone

The condition of normal balance of a healthy plant in its relations to light, heat, and moisture.

Tone

To utter with an affected tone.

Tone

To bring, as a print, to a certain required shade of color, as by chemical treatment.
Its thousand hues toned down harmoniusly.
The best method for the purpose in hand was to employ some one of a character and position suited to get possession of their confidence, and then use it to tone down their religious strictures.

Tone

The quality of a person's voice;
He began in a conversational tone
He spoke in a nervous tone of voice

Tone

(linguistics) a pitch or change in pitch of the voice that serves to distinguish words in tonal languages;
The Beijing dialect uses four tones

Tone

(music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound);
The timbre of her soprano was rich and lovely
The muffled tones of the broken bell summoned them to meet

Tone

The general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people;
The feel of the city excited him
A clergyman improved the tone of the meeting
It had the smell of treason

Tone

A quality of a given color that differs slightly from a primary color;
After several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted

Tone

A notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound;
The singer held the note too long

Tone

A steady sound without overtones;
They tested his hearing with pure tones of different frequencies

Tone

The elastic tension of living muscles, arteries, etc. that facilitate response to stimuli;
The doctor tested my tonicity

Tone

A musical interval of two semitones

Tone

The quality of something (an act or a piece of writing) that reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author;
The general tone of articles appearing in the newspapers is that the government should withdraw
From the tone of her behavior I gathered that I had outstayed my welcome

Tone

Utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically;
The students chanted the same slogan over and over again

Tone

Of one's speech, varying the pitch

Tone

Change the color or tone of;
Tone a negative

Tone

Change to a color image;
Tone a photographic image

Tone

Give a healthy elasticity to;
Let's tone our muscles

Tone vs. Mood

The tone is the author’s feelings or attitude about the subject matter and characters of the piece of literature. The mood is the feeling a reader gets when he is reading a piece of literature. It is synonymous with the ambiance and atmosphere. The tone is a feeling or manner that the author has meant to set in the story. The mood is the underlying feeling or atmosphere which is perceived by the reader. The tone is the attitude or feelings of the writer towards a subject. The mood is the emotions you feel while reading any written work by any writer. The tone is revealed by the author’s choice of words and details. An author can use a negative or positive tone in his work. The mood directs a prevailing feeling, or frame of mind, especially at the start of the story. Tone may be straightforward, sarcastic, pessimistic, optimistic, etc. Some possible adjectives to define the tone, are seriousness, joyful, straightforward, amusing, angry, suspicious, ironic, and many more. Mood depends on all the choices for setting, images, objects, and details. It emerges a sense of expectation to readers of what is to follow. The tone is the author’s overall attitude toward a subject and is conveyed through his word choice, phrasing and sentence structures. The mood is the emotion evoked by the author. Tone refers to the author’s own feeling about a piece of writing, and he is conveying the same to his readers. Mood refers to the feeling of the atmosphere the author is describing and making you feel sad, happy or angry.

What is Tone?

Tone refers to the feelings of the author about a piece of writing, and he is conveying the same to his readers. The tone in a piece of writing is conveyed through the author’s word choice, phrasing and sentence structures. The feeling, manner, or atmosphere that the author has meant to set in the story is tone. It can be revealed by the author’s or writer’s choice of words and details. A tone can either be a negative tone or positive tone. It emerges a sense of expectation to readers of what is to follow. The tone may be straightforward, sarcastic, pessimistic, optimistic, etc. Some possible adjectives to define the tone, are seriousness, joyful, straightforward, humorous, amusing, angry, suspicious, ironic, and many more. You will come to know what the author’s tone is implying by the words he uses. Tone basically tone reflects the feelings of the writer. All the writings, even official and technical documents convey a tone. Official documents and scientific writings are mostly written in an objective and formal tone. In literature, writers and authors use a variety of tones which are, formal, intimate, playful, serious, solemn, somber, ironic, satirical, condescending, bitter, etc. Authors use different literary devices such as diction, imagery, syntax, details, etc. to convey a particular tone.

Examples

  • “I prefer staying here and wait than going into that gloomy room.” The tone of this sentence imposes that the person is scared.
  • “I called my friend at his house; his brother said he is not home, but I heard his voice come on the line.” The tone of this sentence reflects that the person is suspicious.

What is Mood?

The mood is the emotions you feel while reading any written work by any writer. In a literary work, the feeling or atmosphere that the writer creates for the reader is called the mood. The mood directs a prevailing feeling, or frame of mind, especially at the start of the story. It depends on all the choices for setting, images, objects, and details. The mood of a writing piece can make a reader feel sad, happy or angry. It is synonymous with the ambiance and atmosphere. It is known as the emotional setting or the atmosphere created by a piece of literary work. The mood is established to affect the reader emotionally and psychologically. This establishment of the mood helps to provide a feeling for the narrative. The mood is created by various literary elements such as the setting, the tone of the narrator, and the choice of language. It is intended to shape the reader’s emotional response.

Examples

  • “The evening was dark and stormy.” This sentence gives you a scary ‘mood.’
  • “The man kicked and threw the poor kitten out of his house.” The sentence creates a mood of anger towards the man or a mood of pity towards the cat.

Trending Comparisons

New Comparisons