Tone and mood might sound exactly the same to you. But when you’re writing, they accomplish different things.

What’s the difference between tone and mood?

Tone is something you’re likely to think about every day, but you may not have to worry about mood unless you read or write a lot of fiction or creative non-fiction. So, while they may seem like similar concepts, their purposes are quite different. Here’s an explanation of each one:

What is tone in writing?

There are different types of tone, but because we’re talking about mood, we’ll stick to tone in writing, not tone of voice.

As we’ve covered in several other posts, tone in writing consists of the attitude that’s conveyed by your words, punctuation, sentence structure, and other nuances. Every sentence you read and write has its own tone.

Putting a period at the end of a sentence in an informal text chain with your friend may have them wondering if you’re mad at them. Exclamation points may help convey excitement or alarm. Shorter sentences may convey annoyance, while longer ones may convey anxiety or lack of confidence. See More . . .