📖LearnModule 13 · Lesson 28 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, first halfUnit 6 · Leer el pensamiento ajeno
Detectar el tono
Module 13 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C2, first half), lesson 28 of 30: Before you decide what a text says, decide how it is saying it. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
detectar
to spot
deh-tehk-TAR
neutro en el tono
neutral in tone
NEHW-troh ehn ehl TOH-noh
polémico
polemical
poh-LEH-mee-koh
la pregunta retórica
the rhetorical question
lah preh-GOON-tah rreh-TOH-ree-kah
la densidad
the density
lah dehn-see-DAHD
el tono del texto
the tone of the text
ehl TOH-noh dehl TEHKS-toh
demasiado formal
over-formal
deh-mah-SYAH-doh fohr-MAHL
el indicio
the clue
ehl een-DEE-syoh
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Before you decide what a text says, decide how it is saying it. Four tones cover most of what you will read: neutro, comprometido, polémico, irónico.
Y también · And also
The tells are small. Adjective density signals commitment; rhetorical questions signal polemic; an over-formal compliment signals irony. Read the first and last paragraph for tone before you read the middle for content.
Ojo · Watch out
Four tones: neutro, comprometido, polémico, irónico. Adjective density signals commitment; rhetorical questions signal polemic; an over-formal compliment signals irony. el indicio is a clue, not an index.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with detectar.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 28 in Module 13 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.