What term refers to the emotional or expressive quality conveyed in written text?

• A. Tone
• B. Style
• C. Mood
• D. Attitude

Answer: (A)

Tone is the term that captures the emotional or expressive quality conveyed in written text. It reflects the writer’s attitude toward the subject or audience as revealed through word choice, sentence structure, and stylistic choices—whether the writing feels formal, playful, serious, ironic, or sympathetic. Mood, by contrast, is the atmosphere or emotional effect the text creates in the reader, not the author’s stance. Style refers to the overall manner of expression, including diction and syntax, but it is broader than the specific emotional quality. Attitude can overlap with tone, but tone is the standard term used to name the writer’s visible emotional stance in the writing.