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Acute Tone
1. A temporary shift in tone level.
Examples:
Giselle’s chronic tone is mild interest. She generally feels pretty good in life and can make progress toward getting things done in life. She lives in New York City, and when the September 11 attacks occurred, she was overwhelmed by the destruction. Afterwards, she experienced an acute tone of grief, and sometimes apathy. As the city recovered, Giselle did too. She eventually reverted to her normal tone of mild interest.
Hugh’s chronic tone is boredom. But when he found a hundred dollar bill on the sidewalk, he shot up to an acute tone of enthusiasm. He spent the money on video games and excitedly shared the news with his friends. By the next day, he fell back into his normal tone of boredom.
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