Compare passages for subjective and objective tone

Key Notes :

🔍 What is Tone in a Passage?

  • Tone is the author’s attitude or feeling toward the subject or audience.
  • It is conveyed through word choice, sentence structure, and details.

🧠 What is Subjective Tone?

  • Subjective tone includes personal opinions, feelings, or judgments.
  • Often uses emotional or opinionated language.
  • Common in:
    • Personal essays
    • Editorials
    • Reviews
    • Opinion articles

đź“ť Examples of Subjective Tone:

  • “This movie is a waste of time.”
  • “I believe this law is unfair.”

🧊 What is Objective Tone?

  • Objective tone is neutral, factual, and unbiased.
  • Avoids personal feelings and focuses on evidence and facts.
  • Common in:
    • News reports
    • Research papers
    • Textbooks
    • Scientific writing

đź“ť Examples of Objective Tone:

  • “The movie was released in July 2022.”
  • “The law was passed by parliament in March.”

🔄 How to Compare Passages for Tone

  1. Identify the author’s purpose: Is it to inform or to express a personal viewpoint?
  2. Look at word choices: Are there strong adjectives or emotionally charged words?
  3. Check for personal pronouns: Words like “I”, “we”, or “my” usually signal subjectivity.
  4. Assess evidence: Are claims supported by facts or feelings?

🧪 Sample Comparison Activity:

Passage A (Subjective):
“I think electric cars are the best option because they’re cool and eco-friendly.”

Passage B (Objective):
“Electric cars produce zero tailpipe emissions and help reduce air pollution.”

Learn with an example

👉 Select the text that has a more objective tone.

There had never been dust storms like these in prior droughts. In the worst years of the 1930s on as many as a quarter of the days dust reduced visibility to less than a mile. More soil was lost by wind erosion than the Mississippi carried to the sea.

Dust clouds boiled up, ten thousand feet or more in the sky, and rolled like moving mountains—a force of their own. When the dust fell, it penetrated everything: hair, nose, throat, kitchen, bedroom, well. . . . The eeriest thing was the darkness.

From ‘Did Dust Storms Make the Dust Bowl Drought Worse?’ copyright 2011 by Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and from Timothy Egan, ‘The Worst Hard Time’, copyright 2006 by Mariner Books

The first text has a more objective tone. The other passage uses subjective language, such as rolling like moving mountains—a force of their own, and the eeriest thing was the darkness.

👉 Select the text that has a more objective tone.

I do not get along terribly well with clutter—and I frankly have no interest in improving our relationship. I believe shelves, closets, and drawers were invented for a reason—so they can remain completely empty.

Tiered cabinet organizers also make it easier to see and reach the items at the back of a shelf. In deeper drawers and cabinets, you can use vertical organizers to ‘file’ things like cutting boards and trays.

From Jeffrey Kluger, ‘Ground Zero in the Clutter Wars: My House’, copyright 2015 by Time, and from ‘7 Steps to Organising Clutter’, copyright 2011 by Health Media Ventures

The second text has a more objective tone. The other passage presents information from a personal perspective, saying I believe and I frankly have no interest.

👉 Select the text that has a more objective tone.

Americans have become increasingly likely to see all levels of government as wasting the money they spend . . . It is not clear whether Americans believe government wastes money because it spends on programs they believe are not needed, or because it does not spend money efficiently on programs.

Even as tens of millions of American families find themselves suffering through the worst economic downturn in modern history, the US government continues to spend money on some of the craziest and most frivolous things imaginable. Every single year articles are written . . . about the horrific government waste that is taking place and yet every single year it just keeps getting worse.

From Jeffrey M. Jones, ‘Americans Say Federal Gov’t Wastes Over Half of Every Dollar’, copyright 2011 by Gallup and from Michael Snyder, ‘The 20 Craziest Things the US Government Wastes Money On’, copyright 2010 by Business Insider

The first text has a more objective tone. It discusses the opinions of others. The other passage shows the writer’s own perspective through the use of subjective language, such as the craziest and most frivolous things imaginable, horrific and it just keeps getting worse.

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