Register and Tone for Audience and Purpose: Question 1
Syllabus W3, W4
Read the following extract from a student's diary.
"I still don't quite know how I feel about not making the team. Walking home in the rain, I kept replaying the tryout in my head, wondering what I could have done differently."
Which option best describes the TONE of this extract? [1]
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Worked solution
Assessment focus
This question tests whether a candidate can identify tone, the writer’s attitude or mood, and distinguish it from register, which is the level of formality of the language rather than the feeling behind it. A diary entry can be informal in register while still carrying a very specific tone, and this question isolates that second judgement.
Why B is correct
The extract shows the writer turning an event over in their mind after it has happened (“kept replaying the tryout in my head, wondering what I could have done differently”). There is no attempt to persuade anyone, no anger directed at another person, and no looming deadline, only quiet, thoughtful processing of feelings. This is the definition of a reflective tone.
Why the distractors are wrong
- A (urgent) is wrong because nothing in the extract points to time pressure or an approaching deadline; the writer is looking back, not racing against a clock.
- C (persuasive) is wrong because the writer is not trying to change anyone’s mind or argue a case. There is no reader being addressed or convinced.
- D (indignant) is wrong because indignation requires a sense of unfair treatment or injustice; the writer questions their own performance (“what I could have done differently”) rather than blaming the coach, the selectors, or anyone else.
Mark scheme
- 1 mark for selecting B.
- 0 marks for any other option. No partial credit, since this is a discrete single-answer selection question.