Don't Take That Tone With Me!

Tone is the writer's attitude that shows up in their writing. 

Some possible tones are fun, serious, solemn, sarcastic, objective, enthusiastic, humorous, hostile, disapproving, personal, impersonal.  

Tone in Your Essay

In your writing, try to maintain one tone by choosing words and examples that support your main idea's tone.  For example, if you're writing about how bad the animal abuse problem is, you would probably want a solemn (serious) tone.  In that case, you should probably leave out the funny examples about your dog.  Try instead to keep the same solemn tone by telling a solemn story about the animal that you saw being abused.

Match Your Figurative Language to Your Overall Tone

Remember that your choice of figurative language should also 'match' your tone.  In the example above, you wouldn't want to compare the way the girl was hitting the dog to the way you beat cake batter, because beating a dog is serious, while beating cake batter is fun and light.