Mastering Author's Tone and Attitude in LSAT Reading Comprehension
Author's Tone and Attitude questions are a crucial component of the LSAT Reading Comprehension section. They test your ability to discern the author's feelings, opinions, and biases towards the subject matter. Understanding these nuances is key to accurately interpreting passages and answering questions correctly.
What is Author's Tone and Attitude?
The author's tone refers to the author's attitude toward the subject or audience, conveyed through word choice, sentence structure, and overall style. Attitude is closely related and often used interchangeably, referring to the author's disposition or feeling about the topic being discussed. It's not just what the author says, but how they say it.
Identifying Tone and Attitude: Key Strategies
To effectively answer tone and attitude questions, employ these strategies:
- Read Actively: Don't just skim. Engage with the text, highlighting words or phrases that seem to carry emotional weight or express a strong opinion.
- Focus on Diction: The specific words an author chooses are the most direct indicators of tone. Look for loaded language, emotionally charged terms, and precise adjectives and adverbs.
- Consider the Overall Impression: After reading, step back and ask yourself: How does this passage make me feel? What is the author's general attitude towards the subject? Is it sympathetic, critical, dismissive, enthusiastic, or something else?
- Analyze Sentence Structure and Punctuation: Sometimes, the way a sentence is constructed or the punctuation used can reveal tone. For example, a series of short, choppy sentences might convey urgency or anger, while long, complex sentences could suggest a more formal or contemplative tone.
Diction (word choice) and syntax (sentence structure).
Common Tone and Attitude Descriptors
Familiarize yourself with a range of tone words. Here are some common categories and examples:
| Category | Positive Tones | Negative Tones | Neutral/Objective Tones |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Admiring, Appreciative, Enthusiastic | Critical, Disapproving, Cynical | Objective, Informative, Factual |
| Emotional | Joyful, Hopeful, Optimistic | Angry, Pessimistic, Sarcastic | Detached, Indifferent |
| Intellectual | Analytical, Insightful, Thoughtful | Skeptical, Dismissive, Condescending | Formal, Scholarly |
Be wary of answer choices that are too extreme or not supported by the text. The correct answer will accurately reflect the author's nuanced attitude.
Distinguishing Between Similar Tones
Often, LSAT questions will present answer choices with very similar tones. The key to differentiating them lies in the subtle shades of meaning and the specific evidence in the passage. For example, 'critical' and 'cynical' both imply negativity, but 'cynical' suggests a belief that people are motivated by selfishness, while 'critical' is a broader term for finding fault.
Visualizing tone involves mapping the author's word choices and sentence structures onto a spectrum of emotional and intellectual stances. Imagine a radar chart where each axis represents a different aspect of tone (e.g., positivity, formality, skepticism). The author's language would plot points on this chart, creating a unique profile of their attitude. For instance, a highly positive and informal tone would have high scores on the 'positive' and 'informal' axes, while a neutral and formal tone would score high on 'neutral' and 'formal' axes. The specific words used act as the data points that determine the shape of this profile.
Text-based content
Library pages focus on text content
Practice Makes Perfect
The best way to master author's tone and attitude questions is through consistent practice with official LSAT materials. Analyze why certain answer choices are correct and why others are incorrect, always referring back to the passage for textual evidence.
Learning Resources
This blog post from PowerScore offers a detailed breakdown of how to identify author's tone and attitude in LSAT passages, including common pitfalls and strategies.
Manhattan Prep provides insights into recognizing tone and attitude, focusing on the nuances of word choice and how they influence the reader's perception.
Kaplan's guide to tone and attitude questions, explaining how to interpret the author's feelings and biases through their writing.
This resource offers a practical approach to tackling tone and attitude questions, with examples and tips for identifying subtle authorial intent.
While not specific to tone, the official LSAC website provides general guidance on LSAT Reading Comprehension, which indirectly covers understanding authorial intent.
A video tutorial that visually explains how to identify author's tone and attitude, offering practical examples and strategies for LSAT preparation.
This video breaks down tone and attitude questions with clear explanations and actionable advice for LSAT test-takers.
Beat the LSAT offers a comprehensive look at tone and attitude questions, emphasizing the importance of precise language analysis.
This blog post delves into the common types of tone and attitude questions encountered on the LSAT and provides methods for approaching them.
7Sage provides a detailed explanation of how to identify author's tone and attitude, with a focus on understanding the subtle cues within passages.