Stating writer’s tone

Stating writer’s tone

Tone is an important element in literary and informational texts. It tells you what the author thinks and helps to create atmosphere. Being able to identify the writer's tone means that texts can be understood on a deeper level and the craft of writing explored.  

Tone indicates the writer’s attitude. Often an author's tone is described by adjectives, such as: cynical , depressed , sympathetic , cheerful , outraged , positive , angry , sarcastic , prayerful , ironic , solemn , vindictive , intense , excited, ominious, disgruntled, nonchalant.

Tone is a manner of speaking or writing that shows a certain attitude. It is one result of the intent, attitude, and bias of the writer. The writer combines the devices already mentioned in other chapters to reach the readers and to shape your attitudes. This combination of devices gives writing a tone. It may be ironic (when one thing is said but another is meant, such as saying “Great job!” when someone spills the food being served). It may be satirical (when ridicule or sarcasm are used to expose or attack someone or something). Tone, then, is meant to influence you by giving flavor and feeling to the author’s writing. To become a critical, flexible reader, you need to understand what tone is and how it is meant to affect you. 

เรื่อง How to help the employee

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คำชี้แจง  Read the following passage and do the exercises.

Nutritional Foods is rapidly growing among a group of working people because the believe that nutritional foods can help them healthy by curing some diseases.

       Nutritional Foods Co. has a lot of sale representatives who need to meet customers face-to-face in order to present the product qualities. Also their role is like a company presenter. Therefore, they need to keep their health strong all the time.

       Luckana has been working as a sale representative for this company almost since the beginning. She loves her job and can get good benefits from the company. Unfortunately, she got Allergy which could not be cured and it is becoming more serious. She knows well that she cannot continue hiding her sickness to the company.

       One day John Pauly, the sales manager asked her to see him personally. He told her that some executives have already known about her sickness and they wanted him to decide for her job because it would impact the image of the company products. John believes that Luckana will very suffer because she has to take care of 3 children by herself. He has the vague feeling that he had some moral choices to make.  Does he have an ethical dilemma? What's the right thing to do?  

Choose the best answer for each item.

1.     What is the tone of the writer?

       a.    ironic 

       b.    sympathize

       c.    outraged

       d.    careless

2.     Which sentence is an opinion?  

       a.    She loves her job. 

       b.    She has to take care of 3 children by herself.

       c.    Nutritional Foods is rapidly growing among a group of working people.  

       d.   Luckana has been working as a sale representative for this company almost since the beginning.

3.     What will happen if Luckana has been quit her job?  

       a.    She probably will get a better job.

       b.    She probably will get in trouble about money.

       c.    She probably will be promoted the new position.

       d.    The company will have a new employee.

4.     What does the passage mainly discuss?

       a.    The health of sales representatives

       b.    Ways to solve the problem

       c.    The company policies

       d.    The frustrated feeling of the persons

5.     Do you think what the best way to solve this problem?

       a.    Let her quit the job to keep reliability of the product.

       b.    Let her suspend from job and work again if she recovers or if not, let her  make self-consideration.

       c.    Change her position which is suit her health and provide her appropriate welfare.

       d.    Ask her to buy the company product to show customers the product quality.

Reading Activity

The Case of the Performance Appraisal

      

Frank became chief financial officer and a member of the Executive Committee of a medium-sized and moderately successful family-owned contracting business six months ago.

       The first nonfamily member to hold such a position and to be included in the Executive Committee, he took the job despite a lunch-time remark by the company's CEO that some members of the family were concerned about Frank's "fit with the company culture." But the CEO (who is married to the daughter of the founder of the company) said he was willing to "take a chance" on Frank.

Soon after Frank started, the company decided for the first time to "right-size" (a euphemism for downsize) to respond to rapid changes in its business. Frank, who had been through this before when he was a senior manager in his previous company, agreed this was good for the long-term health of the 20-year-old company.

      

       He decided not to worry that family members seemed more concerned about their own short-term financial interests.

       Besides, the CEO was relying on Frank to help him determine how to downsize in an ethical manner; the CEO said he trusted Frank more on this than he did the head of his personnel department, who had "been around a little too long."

       On Frank's recommendation, the company decided to make its lay-off decisions based on the annual performance appraisal scores of the employees. Each department manager would submit a list of employees ranked by the average score of their last three appraisals.

The average score of their last three appraisals
Name	1ST Appraisal	2nd Appraisal	3rd Appraisal
Erin	77	86	92
Lisa	71	79	83
Molly	80	82	90
Joseph	76	84	93
Brian	82	90	95
Jane	81	88	84

      

       If the employee had been with the company less than three years, if the score for two employees was identical, or if there was some extraordinary circumstance, the manager would note it and make a decision about where to rank the person. At some point, Frank and the Executive Committee would draw a line, and those below the line would be laid off.

       As Frank was reviewing the evaluations, he was puzzled to find three departments in which the employee at the bottom of the list had "N/A" where the evaluation score should have been written.

When he asked the managers to explain, they told him these employees had been with the company almost since the beginning. When performance appraisals had been instituted six years earlier, the CEO agreed to the longtime employees' request that they keep receiving informal evaluations "as they always had."

    

       The managers told Frank they'd questioned this decision, and the CEO had told them it wasn't their problem.

       When Frank raised this issue with the CEO, he responded, "Oh, I know. I haven't really evaluated them in a long time, but it's time for them to retire anyway. They just aren't performing the way they used to. The company's been very good to them. They've got plenty of retirement stored away, not to mention the severance you've convinced me to offer. They're making pretty good money, so cutting them should let us lower the line a little and save jobs for some of the younger people--you know, young kids with families just starting out. And don't worry about a lawsuit. No way they'd do that."

       "Do they know they're not performing well?" Frank asked.

       "I don't know," the CEO responded. "They should. Everybody else in the company does." 

As they walked to the door, the CEO put his arm around Frank's shoulder. "By the way," he said, "you should know that you've won over the Executive Committee. They think you are a terrific fit with this company. I'm glad you talked with me today about these three employees.

       You got it right: This is a company that cares for its employees--as long as it can and as long as they're producing. Always has, always will." Frank left the CEO's office with the vague feeling that he had some moral choices to make.

This case was written by Thomas Shanks, S.J., Executive Director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

Post-reading Activity

a)     Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage, write Pin the box if the statement is true, false and not mentioned.

Statements	true	false	not mentioned
1. Frank is a member of the family who a member of the Executive Committee.
2. Frank seems to be hard-working.
3. Most of the Executive Committee of this company are the family member.
4. Frank had an experience about “lay-off” before working in this company.
5. “Lay-off would be made by performance appraisals of the employees.

b)     Choose the best answer for each item.

1.     It can be inferred from the passage that some CEOs ………….

       a.    agree with Frank’s idea.

       b.    want to lay-off the employees.

       c.    oppose with Frank’s idea.

       d.    not understand Frank’s idea.

2.     The main idea of the first paragraph……..

       a.    Frank was successful in his work because of his qualifications.

       b.    Frank is only one nonfamily who became an executive.

       c.    Some executives do not like Frank.

       d.    Frank is not suite with the position.

3.     What does the passage mainly discuss?

       a.    The process of “lay-off”

       b.    The ethics towards employees

       c.    The arguments of the executives

       d.    The rights of the employees

4.     How would the author probably feel about Frank’s decision?

       a.    neutral

       b.    respectful

       c.    angry

       d.    worried

5.     The best resolution of the situation is ………

       a.    Frank confirms his lay-off decision.

       b.    The employees get strike.

       c.    The employees get a chance to improve their proficiency.

       d.    Frank changes the lay-off process.

c)     Discuss in group about the following questions

1.     What is the process of performance appraisal ?

2.     What did the problem occur when Frank do lay-off decisions?

3.     What do the other CEOs think about Frank’s idea?

4.     What do you think about the advantages and disadvantages of “lay-off”?