What is the attitude of the author? The spoken word can convey the speakers attitude, imparting meaning through tone of voice. With written work, it is tone that extends its meaning beyond the literal. If the author were to read the passage out loud, describe the likely tone of voice he/shes would use. Tone is whatever clarifies the authors attitude towards the subject. What emotion pervades the piece? How does the diction (choice of words) point to tone? How do the authors imagery, language, and sentence structure (syntax) convey feeling?