Aggressive vs Friendly Tone

In your study of English language so far, you might have come across the word 'tone' as you've moved through different texts and topics. It's probably a word you've heard in conversation outside of an educational setting, or even used yourself too!

If you're into music or play an instrument, you're probably aware of the term 'tone' as well, meaning the quality or pitch (the frequency) of a sound. In English language, tone means something a bit different, but there is indeed some overlap.

We often think of 'tone' when we think about music.

There are many different tones that can be created when we write or speak, but the ones we're concerned with in this article are 'aggressive' and 'friendly'.

Aggressive Tone

Aggression is probably not an unfamiliar concept to you and is most likely a word you've heard or used at some point in your life. You might even have heard about or witnessed acts of aggression before, but to cover all our bases, let's delve a bit deeper into what 'aggressive' is before we apply it to tone.

Aggressive definition

'Aggressive' is an adjective, which means it's a word that describes a noun.

An aggressive tone therefore, would be one where the speaker is trying to come across as forceful or intimidating, or implies that they might cause harm to the listener.

An aggressive tone is not always indicative of physical aggression. Aggression can also come across verbally, such as if a speaker insults someone or threatens them.

In writing, an aggressive tone can signal that a conflict is going to arise in the story, and can also be used to generally ramp up the tension and pace of a story's development.

Aggression is an emotion that comes out in many different way when we speak in an aggressive tone.

Aggressive synonym

There are many synonyms you could use in place of the word 'aggressive'. Here is a small selection:

• hostile: to create a sense of opposition or dislike.

• antagonistic: feeling or acting in a way that conveys distaste, dislike, and lack of care towards someone.

• forceful: strong and assertive, powerful.

• combative: ready or eager to fight or argue.

As you can see, these words might have their own, slightly different meanings but they can be used in the same ways and contexts as 'aggressive'.

Ways to create an aggressive tone

An aggressive tone can be created by using a range of strategies. In writing, authors can create a sense of aggression by describing their characters' voices, behaviour, movements, and language using evocative (creating strong feelings) adjectives and powerful imagery. This could include:

• using metaphors and similes to liken characters to animals and other entities: 'All hints of humour drained from his face and he became as imposing as a bear.'

• using onomatopoeia: 'There was a bang! as his fist met the tabletop.'

• using other aspects of the scene to mirror the characters' emotions: 'A black cloud darkened the picnic.'

In spoken exchanges, an aggressive tone can be created by altering the pitch and volume of your speech. For instance:

• shouting or raising your voice can create a sense of aggression.
• lowering the pitch of your voice (speaking in a deeper voice) can make you sound more threatening and imposing which creates an aggressive tone.

The language we use also impacts whether our tone is aggressive or not. Insulting someone or using mean language will come across as aggressive.

Aggressive Tone Examples

When exploring any linguistic topic, it's helpful to have some examples to look at to help solidify our understanding. Here are some examples of aggression:

Aggressive Behavior

It's usually quite easy to identify aggressive behaviour. These are some typically aggressive acts:

• pushing or shoving someone

• shouting at someone

• invading someone's personal space in a threatening or intimidating manner

• behaving in any way that might make another person feel scared or nervous

Aggressive tone in writing examples

Whether it's a novel or a piece of written communication, the aggressive tone is easily conveyed through text. Here are some examples of the aggressive tone in text:

In this example, the aggressive tone is created not only by how the character's movement is described (the character pointing at the person he's talking to and shoving him) but also by the words he uses and how he says them (the exclamation mark in the first sentence suggests shouting or talking loudly). The threat evident in the second sentence ('..I'll make sure you never work in this city again') also adds another layer to the sense of aggression.

Now here's an example of how an aggressive tone might be created in written communication rather than in fictional writing. This exchange takes the form of a conversation via text message:

In this example, Person A is coming across as very aggressive towards Person B as they are using blaming language ('your fault'), and showing their distaste and lack of care for Person B ('I don't care what you say').

This conversation could also have happened verbally over the phone or if the two people were standing close to one another.

Friendly Tone

Moving on from the aggressive tone, we now have the friendly tone! This one is pretty self-explanatory and is a tone that you should be very familiar with from talking to friends and family (or even acquaintances and strangers!), as well as reading novels and other texts.

As we did with aggressive, let's look at the definition of friendly.

Friendly definition

Friendly is also an adjective, which means it is also a word that describes a noun.

A friendly tone is one where the speaker (or character, if we're looking at a piece of text) shows that they like or care about the listener or audience.

A friendly tone is one where there is no sense of danger or threat, and this generally creates an atmosphere of happiness and safety.

Being collaborative and working with others is an example of friendly behaviour.

Friendly synonym

Similarly to 'aggressive', there are also quite a few synonyms for 'friendly'. Here are a few to give you an idea:

• amiable: having or displaying a friendly or pleasant manner.
• benevolent: well-meaning and good-natured, looking to help others.
• genial: friendly or cheerful.
• gregarious: having a fondness for company, sociable.

This is only scratching the surface; there are loads more words you can use instead of 'friendly'!

Ways to create a friendly tone

As you'll most likely have used and heard a friendly tone before, you might already have an idea of how a friendly tone can be created. For extra clarity, we'll go over some strategies that can be used to create a friendly atmosphere.

In writing, a friendly tone can be created in many of the same ways that a writer would create an aggressive tone:

• using metaphors and similes to liken characters to other entities: 'She floated through the room like a butterfly, and people were drawn to her.'

• using other aspects of the scene to mirror or emphasise a character's emotions or impact: 'The sun seemed to burn brighter when she smiled at me, and her warmth washed over the room.'

A friendly tone can also be set by describing interactions between characters, the language they use, and the emotions that they feel as a result.

In spoken interactions, a friendly tone can be created by using language that is caring, happy, and collaborative, as well through altering our volume and pitch:

• lowering our volume can signal friendliness as it shows we are not trying to be assertive or intimidating, and speaking more loudly can also show friendliness in the context of excitement or delight.
• speaking at a higher pitch can demonstrate we are happy for someone else which is a sure way to create a friendly tone.

Friendly Tone Examples

As we did with the aggressive tone, it's now time to look at some friendly examples:

Friendly personality

How do we know someone is being friendly? We can usually tell if someone has a friendly personality by looking at their behaviour. You can tell someone is being friendly if they:

• smile a lot when they speak.

• ask questions that show they care about the other person in a social interaction.

• reach out to or approach people in a kind way.

• offer help and try to make people feel good about themselves.

Friendly Tone In Writing Examples

In novels and other written texts, a friendly tone is easy to create. We are also able to demonstrate our friendliness to others through the way we interact with them in face-to-face interactions.

In this example, the character of Michael notices that his friend is feeling down and tries something to make her feel happier. His effort shows he cares for her, as does the fact that he was worried about her in the first place and noticed her sadness. Overall, this creates a tone of friendliness in this passage.

In this example, the girl that approaches Olivia doesn't know her, but still engages with her. This shows that the girl has a friendly disposition (personality or demeanour). She is displaying outgoing and friendly behaviour. She also apologises to her which shows that she cares about Olivia's feelings. The nature of this exchange creates a general friendly tone.

A friendly tone can also be created when there is no speech or social interaction involved. For instance, let's say you are organising a surprise party for a friend:

In this example, you haven't spoken to your friend or directly interacted with them, however, the way you have used your knowledge about them to plan a party they'll like shows your care towards them and creates a friendly tone.