Assess students' ability to analyze how an author's diction, imagery, and sentence structure create tone and mood in a short story or passage. Provide a 150–300 word excerpt and ask students to identify specific words/phrases that shape tone, cite examples of imagery that establish mood, explain how sentence length, punctuation, and syntax affect pacing and emotional impact, and write a brief evidence-based explanation linking these elements to the overall tone and mood. Suitable for grades 6–8; medium difficulty; short-answer responses.