TSI Reading: What's the Tone of this Passage?
Stephen Mitchell suffered from allergies. A thirty-five-year-old professor at Syracuse University, he found sanctuary in the temperature-controlled environment of the school's computer center, where he surprised many people by showing how computers could be used to advance work in the humanities.
Each year, the Modern Language Association compiled a bibliography of every book, article, and review published during the year prior. Mitchell thought he could automate the process, and MLA agreed to let him try. He spent weeks translating the names of editors, translators, and authors into punch cards and writing the program to interpret the data. Then it was all over in twenty-three minutes. That's how long it took the computer to compile and print the index, which ran to 18,001 entries.
The author of this passage writes with a tone that is mostly
(A)serious
(B)sarcastic
(C)admiring
(D)critical
| Author's Use of Language | Tone |
| Product Type | TSI |
| Reading Assessment | Tone |
| TSI | Reading Assessment TSI Reading |
| TSI Reading | Author's Use of Language |
| Test Prep | TSI |
Transcript
center rise many people showing how come you two use
advanced We're going humanity's each of the m l a
complaining a baby our favorite book publishing your prior mission
Okay go ahead and keep reading so what's the tone
Well think about this The excerpt uses several words and
phrases such as surprised and then it was all over
in twenty three minutes You gotta wonder what they're talking
about their toe emphasize mitchell's accomplishment Yeah though this is
an informational passage this computer whiz earns a tone of
approval even admiration from the author so that's it it's
admiring it see and often the informational pastures we come
across are serious but this writer goes out of his
or her way to express approval of the subject sarcastic
and critical or negative words that don't apply to a
passage celebrating mitchell's accomplishment here So that's it it's admiring
and we're admiring the passage and that's it we're shmoop