7.1. Tone and Style http://www.ck12.org
- Diagnose the sentences below and identify their characters and actions. Then rewrite them and replace the
underlined nouns with the corresponding verbs from the above table:
The mayor’sanalysis of the issue did not convince journalists.
Character(s):
Action(s):
Bob’sexplanation of why he was late frustrated his wife.
Character(s):
Action(s):
The documentary’sdescription of the accident shocked viewers.
Character(s):
Action(s):
Theconclusion the scientists reached was that the problem had no solution.
Character(s):
Action(s):
Points to Consider
a. When sentences emphasize clear characters and actions, what difference does it make to readers?
b. How can you tell if the characters and actions in your sentences have been properly emphasized?Old-before-New
TheOld-before-Newprinciple guides how writers should sequenceinformationin a sentence. Acccording to this
principle, they should use theinformation readers already knowto introduceinformation they do not know yet.
This principle helps direct readersfrom familiar or old information to new information.Analyze this first set of
examples.
Example 1- The science teacher spoke about environmental challenges yesterday, and she mentioned five big
environmental problems the United States will face in the upcoming decade.Carbon-dioxideconcentrationlevels
intheatmosphereareincreasingrapidly (new information), andthiswasthefirstproblemshedescribed (old
information).
Example 2- The science teacher spoke about environmental challenges yesterday, and she mentioned five big
environmental problems the United States will face in the upcoming decade.Shefirsttalkedabout (old information)
theincreasingconcentrationlevelsofcarbondioxideintheatmosphere (new information).
The sentence in Example 2 gradually guides the writer from old to new information. Since information is logically
displayed in the sentence, readers are not only able to understand it better, but they will also remember it more