The Play of Tone

 Well, there are multiple tones a piece can be written in. Formal, vernacular, humorous, etc. But, there are some tones that really stand out and are distinguishing. Well, an example of those tones can be seen in many places, especially below.

Original Text

Excerpt from Alan Brinkley's "American History" (Fifteenth Edition) book; page 125

Tone -1 (Informal)

In Boston, General Thomas Gage was leadin the British garrison and knew the kind of stuff colonists were planning, but Gage's army was not a lot in size back then. He tried to ignore the uncareful officials, who were tryin to convince Gage to attack the colonists and mess them up. Those uncareful officers were probably thinking that Americans weren't strong enough to fight and British could easily blow them up. One of thos officials was Major John Pitcairn. He planned to burn american towns and thinking that colonists would learn their lesson and not dare to oppose British afterwards.

Tone - 2 (Formal)

In Boston, General Thomas Gage was the commander of British Forces. He was very conscious of the military preparations in the countryside. Even after his awareness, General Gage did not attack because his army was too small for the potent militia of the colonists. He tried to avoid the advice of other officers who were negligent about the issue. The other officers believed that the colonists would not decide to oppose the British and retreat before any indication of British presence. Among those incautious officers was Major John Pitcairn who insisted on igniting the colonial towns. He believed that the burning would aggrandize the colonial fear from the British and prevent them from resisting again.

As seen above, a single piece of text can be written in many different styles and tones. The tone is one of the important tool used by writers to convey their mood and message. Many such tones are occupants of many different writing pieces.