GED Language Arts (RLA) : Tone, Opinion, and Purpose
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Example Question #11 : Tone, Opinion, And Purpose
1 That punctual servant of all work, the sun, had just risen, and begun to strike a light on the morning of the thirteenth of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, when Mr. Samuel Pickwick burst like another sun from his slumbers, threw open his chamber window, and looked out upon the world beneath. 2 Goswell Street was at his feet, Goswell Street was on his right hand—as far as the eye could reach, Goswell Street extended on his left; and the opposite side of Goswell Street was over the way. 3 'Such,' thought Mr. Pickwick, 'are the narrow views of those philosophers who, content with examining the things that lie before them, look not to the truths which are hidden beyond. 4 As well might I be content to gaze on Goswell Street for ever, without one effort to penetrate to the hidden countries which on every side surround it.' 5 And having given vent to this beautiful reflection, Mr. Pickwick proceeded to put himself into his clothes, and his clothes into his portmanteau. 6 Great men are seldom over scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire; the operation of shaving, dressing, and coffee-imbibing was soon performed; and, in another hour, Mr. Pickwick, with his portmanteau in his hand, his telescope in his greatcoat pocket, and his note-book in his waistcoat, ready for the reception of any discoveries worthy of being noted down, had arrived at the coach-stand in St. Martin's-le-Grand.
7 'Cab!' said Mr. Pickwick.
8 'Here you are, sir,' shouted a strange specimen of the human race, in a sackcloth coat, and apron of the same, who, with a brass label and number round his neck, looked as if he were catalogued in some collection of rarities. 9 This was the waterman.
What is the tone of Sentences 3-4?
Droll
Dire
Dour
Duplicitous
Devious
Droll
Droll, or dryly humorous, best describes the tone here. In Mr. Pickwick’s dialogue, we see that he is exaggerating the importance of his trip outside. He won’t literally be exploring other countries; he’ll just be leaving his neighborhood, and the effect of this exaggeration is intended to be comical.
Passage adapted from Charles Dickens’ The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837)
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