Read the excerpt from Silent Spring.

It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.

In this excerpt, which phrase carries the most positive tone?

a spring without voices

the mornings that had once throbbed

the dawn chorus of robins

only silence lay over the fields

In speeches and texts, the term tone refers to the author has about the subject or theme the author is speaking or writing about, this tone is usually expressed by the choice of words the author makes to refer to a situation or topic. Because of this depending on the author and the topic he or she is addressing the tone is different.

In the excerpt presented which belongs to "Silent Spring" a book written by Rachel Carson that explores the negative effects of the pesticides on the environment, the author aims at explaining the way spring was full of sounds of different birds but those have disappeared leading to a negative spring. Considering the author attitude is negative towards the situation of the silent spring but positive towards the past the phrase with the most positive tone is "the dawn chorus of robins" as this phrase refers to the past in which the spring had a lot of voices including those of the robins, a type of bird, also, this is only phrase depicting a positive aspect rather than the silent spring the author seems as negative.

holesstanham holesstanham · Answer 2 · 2019-04-22T21:21:41+02:00

Answer:

the dawn chorus of robins.

Explanation:

This phrase is the most positive one in this excerpt. In this paragraph, the author describes how the birds that once filled the morning with their song are all gone. The way she describes these birds is by calling them "the dawn chorus of robins," a phrase which conveys a happy image, and therefore, contributes to developing a positive tone. However, the rest of the passage is much more negative.