Identifying Tone worksheet for students to analyze and describe the tone of various sentences.

Let’s go step by step to match each sentence with the correct word that describes the tone of the first sentence.

We have three words to choose from:
- cynical → means doubting or distrustful, expecting the worst
- apologetic → means saying sorry or showing regret
- pessimistic → means expecting bad things to happen, negative outlook

And three more:
- righteous → means morally right or justified (often angry about injustice)
- dejected → means sad and disappointed
- vindictive → means wanting revenge or to hurt someone back

Now let’s look at each sentence:

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1. “I really don’t know what I think about this.”
→ The speaker is unsure, confused, maybe skeptical. Not clearly sad or angry. But “cynical” fits best here because it shows doubt and distrust — like they don’t believe anything will make sense.
✔ Match: cynical

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2. “I feel awful about it. I would really love it if you could make it up to me.”
→ This person is sorry (“feel awful”) and asking for something to fix it. That’s apologetic.
✔ Match: apologetic

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3. “I know that someone else will get the award instead of me, but I will be here for the rest of my life.”
→ Sounds resigned, sad, defeated. They expect to lose and are okay with it — not angry, just down. That’s dejected.
✔ Match: dejected

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4. “Of course! He examined his machine from every angle, he started to feel really confident, and he was waiting for a response. He really didn’t feel comfortable going.”
Wait — this one seems messy. Let’s read again:
“Of course! He examined his machine from every angle, he started to feel really confident, and he was waiting for a response. He really didn’t feel comfortable going.”

Actually, looking closer — this might be a typo in the original. The last part says “He really didn’t feel comfortable going” — which contradicts the earlier confidence. But if we focus on the first part: “Of course!” + “examined from every angle” + “felt confident” — that sounds like he believes he’s right or justified. Maybe righteous? But “righteous” usually implies moral anger or self-righteousness. Hmm.

Wait — actually, re-reading the whole worksheet, perhaps sentence 4 is meant to show someone who is sure they’re right — so righteous fits best here.
✔ Match: righteous

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5. “She slipped on the designer dress and smacked it over her face. She studied herself in the mirror, turning her head, and then she looked away. She didn’t want anyone to see her reflection in it.”
→ She’s embarrassed, ashamed, doesn’t want to be seen. That’s dejected? But we already used dejected for #3. Wait — maybe I made a mistake.

Hold on — let’s list all sentences again with our current matches:

1. cynical
2. apologetic
3. dejected
4. righteous
5. ???
6. ???

We still have pessimistic and vindictive left.

Sentence 5: She’s hiding, embarrassed, avoiding reflection — that’s more dejected than anything else. But we already assigned dejected to #3.

Wait — maybe #3 isn’t dejected? Let’s recheck #3:

> “I know that someone else will get the award instead of me, but I will be here for the rest of my life.”

That’s more pessimistic — expecting to lose, accepting defeat, negative outlook. Yes! So #3 should be pessimistic, not dejected.

Then #5: She’s ashamed, hiding — that’s dejected.

So revise:

✔ #3 → pessimistic
✔ #5 → dejected

Now #6:

> “As the car’s tires squealed, we raced up and down the hill and drove over and over again, popping close to the road like a roller coaster ride.”

This sounds exciting, fun, maybe even reckless — but none of our words fit perfectly. Wait — the remaining word is vindictive. Does that fit? No — vindictive means wanting revenge. This sentence has no revenge element.

Wait — did we miss a word? Let’s check the original list again.

Original words given:

Top row: cynical, apologetic, pessimistic
Bottom row: righteous, dejected, vindictive

We’ve used:
1. cynical
2. apologetic
3. pessimistic
4. righteous
5. dejected
6. ??? → only vindictive left

But sentence 6 doesn’t sound vindictive at all. It sounds joyful or thrilling.

Wait — perhaps there’s a mistake in the worksheet or our interpretation.

Let me re-read sentence 6 carefully:

> “As the car’s tires squealed, we raced up and down the hill and drove over and over again, popping close to the road like a roller coaster ride.”

No anger, no revenge — just excitement. But since “vindictive” is the only word left, and it doesn’t fit, maybe we misassigned earlier.

Alternative idea: Maybe sentence 4 is not “righteous”. Let’s look again at sentence 4:

> “Of course! He examined his machine from every angle, he started to feel really confident, and he was waiting for a response. He really didn’t feel comfortable going.”

The last part — “He really didn’t feel comfortable going” — suggests anxiety or fear. But the beginning is confident. This is confusing.

Perhaps the intended meaning is that he’s trying to prove himself — so vindictive? No, that doesn’t fit.

Wait — maybe sentence 6 is meant to be vindictive because “popping close to the road” could imply danger or recklessness as a form of rebellion? That’s a stretch.

Alternatively, perhaps the worksheet has an error — but since we must match, and only “vindictive” is left, we’ll assign it to #6, even though it’s not a perfect fit.

But let’s double-check all matches:

Final proposed matches:

1. “I really don’t know what I think about this.” → cynical (doubtful)
2. “I feel awful about it...” → apologetic (sorry)
3. “I know that someone else will get the award...” → pessimistic (expects bad outcome)
4. “Of course! He examined his machine...” → righteous (feels justified/confident)
5. “She slipped on the designer dress...” → dejected (ashamed, sad)
6. “As the car’s tires squealed...” → vindictive (only word left — though weak fit)

Actually, upon second thought, sentence 6 might be describing a thrill-seeking behavior that could be seen as rebellious or defiant — which can sometimes overlap with vindictive if it’s against rules or authority. But it’s a stretch.

Given the constraints, we’ll go with this.

Final Answer:

1. cynical
2. apologetic
3. pessimistic
4. righteous
5. dejected
6. vindictive