Tone, Language, and Appeal

Learning Objectives

  • Explore strategies for connecting with an audience through effective tone, language, and rhetorical appeals

You can approach your audience’s needs and build common ground with your readers by using three basic rhetorical approaches in your writing: tone, language, and appeal.

Tone

Tone is how a writer uses language to communicate attitude. For example, a formal tone is common for college assignments aimed at teachers or classmates, while a conversational tone suits texts or emails to friends. Choosing the wrong tone can alienate your audience.

Example: Tone

Senior couple holding hands.

Figure 1. Taking into account the age group of your audience is one factor to consider when evaluating the tone of your essay.

Consider this student proposal for an infographic targeting senior citizens:

“Based on this senior citizen audience, simplicity and authenticity must be key characteristics of the infographic. Its message, presented mainly through visuals, must not only be clear and easy to understand, but it must also be genuine in nature. Caution must be taken to avoid seeming judgmental towards the audience members’ lack of digital skills and tendencies towards analog solutions.”

This tone aims to build goodwill, but phrases like “lack of digital skills” or “tendencies towards analog solutions” might offend tech-savvy seniors. Writers must ensure their tone respects the audience’s expertise and avoids sounding patronizing.

Think of a time when your tone didn’t match your audience’s expectations—did it cause offense? As you write, always consider how your tone will be received, even for hypothetical audiences. Tone can range from friendly to hostile. Your tone could also be helpful or instructive.

Example: Same Message, Different Tone

Look at these examples from managers addressing employees about powering down computers:

Manager 1:

“It has come to my attention that computers are not being turned off at the end of the workday. What are you thinking? This is a security breach and a waste of electricity. Failure to comply will NOT be tolerated. Ensure your computers are off before leaving, or there will be consequences.”

Manager 2:

“Hello, everyone! At Plants, Inc., we’re committed to energy efficiency. A few computers have been left on overnight, so I’d like to remind everyone to turn them off before leaving. Your cooperation helps us conserve electricity—thank you!”

Notice how Manager 1’s tone is aggressive and threatening, while Manager 2’s is polite and encouraging. If employees had already ignored several requests, Manager 1’s tone might be warranted. However, most people respond better to Manager 2’s polite approach.

Matching tone to audience expectations ensures your message is well-received.

Academic Language

When writing a research paper and other academic writing, or academic discourse, you will want to use what is called the academic voice. As a writer, you want to sound objective, authoritative, and reasonable. While a research paper will be based on your opinion on a topic, it will be an opinion based on evidence from your research. Your goal as a writer is to argue in a rational manner using formal language. In your writing assignments, you are revealing your thought process to your reader. Because you will be appealing to the audience’s sense of reason, you want to use the language of one person respecting the opinions of another person.

Tips for Appropriate Academic Language

1. Be clear.

Instead of: The utilization of teams as a way of optimizing our capacity to meet and prioritize our goals will impact the productivity of the company.

Write: Teams will execute the goals and enhance the company’s output.

Why: Don’t confuse your readers with complex phrases and overly complicated vocabulary.

2. When writing in an academic voice you usually avoids first-person pronouns.

Instead of: I think anyone who becomes a parent should have to take a parenting class.

Write: Parenting classes should be mandatory for any biological or adoptive parents.

Why: Check your assignment, and if you are unsure of whether you can use first-person pronouns (I think, I feel, etc.) ask your teacher.

3. Avoid using second-person pronouns.

Instead of: When you read “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” you will realize that King was writing to people besides the ministers who criticized him.

Write: Upon reading “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” readers will note that King was addressing a wider audience than the clergy who condemned his actions.

Why: It can be confusing who the “you” is referring to for readers.

4. Avoid contractions in more formal writing.

Instead of: It shouldn’t be difficult to record what we feel, but many of us just can’t get our feelings down on paper.

Write: It should not be difficult to record feelings, but many people are unable to do so.

Why: Contractions shorten words, and they can signify informal writing. If you like using them as a writer, you can always remove them as you revise.

5. Avoid informal language 

Instead of: It’s obvious that she’s a feminist because she makes a really big deal about girls who were way into the suffrage movement.

Write: Because of her positive review focus on the Suffragist Movement, one can assume the writer is a feminist.

Why: Most academic discourse is formal. If you are confused about your assignment, check with your teacher.

6. Abbreviations for common terms should not be used in academic writing

Instead of: Smith was declared the official winner at the P.O. last Mon. on Jan. 6th.

Write: Smith was declared the official winner at the post office last Monday, on January 6.

Why: You can use abbreviations, but you want to explain them for readers who may not know them.

7. Use gender-inclusive language and gender-neutral pronouns, when appropriate. So instead of “he or she” and “his or her,” use “they, them, or their.”

Instead of: Every student should turn his or her paper into the office before noon.

Write: Students should turn in their papers to the office before noon.

Why: You want to include as many people as you can with the consideration of your audience.

Although using the singular form of “they” was previously frowned upon in academic writing, it is now acceptable. For example, male pronouns were often used to refer to an unknown someone (“to each his own”), or just female pronouns (“to each her own”). We now consider this practice to have gender bias. Instead, “to each their own” is appropriate.

Instead of: “That driver needs to stay in his lane. He’s being so aggressive!”

Write: “That driver needs to stay in their lane. They’re being so aggressive!”

Why: You want to include as many people as you can with the consideration of your audience.

Try It

Language

Language is closely tied to tone, and using the wrong language for your audience can negatively affect your tone. For example, writing for a scientific journal requires technical language, while texting a friend calls for informal, conversational language.

The language we use depends on the rhetorical context and the discourse community we’re addressing. A discourse community is a group with shared knowledge, vocabulary, and expectations. For instance, workers in a car assembly plant have a specific vocabulary for their work, but that language might not translate directly to an airplane manufacturing plant, even though the processes are similar. Each workplace represents a different discourse community.

Discourse communities also exist in sports, parenting, or even this class. When you write, you engage with a discourse community, so it’s important to use language that meets their expectations and aligns with the context.

Rhetorical Appeals

Writers use tone and language to appeal to and connect with an audience. To be persuasive, they also use what is called rhetorical appeals.

Key Takeaway: Rhetorical appeals

A rhetorical appeal is a strategy used in writing or speaking to persuade an audience by appealing to their logic, emotions, or sense of credibility.

Recall that we talked earlier about using logos, pathos, and ethos to determine what kind of evidence might be most effective. When using them to make rhetorical appeals:

  • Logos is about appealing to your audience’s logical side. 
  • Pathos is about appealing to their emotions. 
  • Ethos is about using credibility or character to underscore the appeal to your audience.

Try It

What do rhetorical appeals have to do with connecting with your audience? The way you balance ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic) depends on who you’re addressing.

Example: rhetorical Appeals and Audience

Consider this scenario:

You’re a scientist studying climate change and polar bear populations. You’ve published a study linking the decline in polar bears to melting Arctic ice caps. Now, you need to present your findings to three very different audiences:

  • Scientists: This audience values your credibility (ethos) and logical facts (logos). They’ll focus on your methods, data, and accuracy. Emotional appeals (pathos) should be minimal, as they might distract from your message.
  • Kindergarteners: These kids care about big, fluffy polar bears! Here, emotional appeals (pathos) are key to engaging them, while your credibility (ethos) comes from being friendly and approachable. Logical facts matter, but they won’t question your methods.
  • Climate Change Deniers: This hostile audience may reject your credibility outright, so you’ll need to focus on undeniable facts (logos). Emotional appeals (pathos) are still useful but should be handled carefully to redirect their reactions into constructive engagement.

Tailoring your appeals helps you find common ground and deliver your message effectively.

Glossary

ethos: appealing to an audience through credibility or character

logos: appealing to an audience through logic

pathos: appealing to emotions

tone: tone is conveyed through word choice and style; in academic writing, we typically use formal language choices and a serious style to give authority and credibility to our writing; a more informal, conversation tone (and choice of words and style) would be appropriate in interactions with friends, for example