Guide to Watching Your Tone in Writing and Speaking

·         that?

You think you are reading with your eyes, but as you read, you also are hearing the words in your head — just as if the writer is speaking to you. The tone is what people hear when you speak and when they read what you have written. Tone creates an emotional response on the part of a reader or listener. It determines how positively — or negatively —they respond. Think about how many ways you can change the meaning of the word no just by changing the tone. The good news: You can control the tone of your writing.

Just as tone matters in music and the spoken word, it also matters for our writing. If you have read something and enjoyed the way it was written without really knowing why, it probably had to do with the tone of the writing.