Mood or Feeling

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

A strong personal narrative conveys the specific mood or feeling associated with the event to your reader.

For example, if an author wrote about his dog dying, the mood or feeling of his writing would be sad or melancholy. The author would not write about the dog's life because this focus is too broad.

If the author were to write about the dog's entire life, there would be various moods or feelings, such as when he got the dog (happy), when the dog was chased by a skunk (excitement), or when the dog came out of surgery (relief).

This might be appropriate for a book, but the focus, mood, or feelings must be specific for a short personal narrative.

Authors communicate mood through careful word choice.

When recalling a happy personal event, such as winning an award, you might use the following words.

• excited
• proud
• pleased
• honored
• fulfilled

When recalling a scary personal event, such as hearing a strange noise in the middle of the night, you might use words or phrases like those below.

• frozen in fear
• shaking
• terrified
• heart-stopping

• Do you see how careful word choice can convey a mood or feeling to your reader?
• What are some words that might describe a sad event?

Contnue to the Got It? section to use your detective skills to determine the mood or feeling being communicated by an author.