Choose one of the following tone words to describe the excerpt below:

“the seriousness of play is shown in the standard of effort and achievement that it holds up. the strictest schoolmaster of the old nose-to-the-grindstone school never secured the whole-hearted effort that is seen on the ball field every afternoon. a small boy throws a ball so as to curve in a way which a few years ago was thought to be impossible, another hits it with a round stick, while a third urchin in the distance runs as fast as he can and catches it. when you consider how little of the course of the ball the third boy saw before he started to run, and take into account – or better still experience – the other difficulties involved in the whole performance, you will realize that such feats, though seen every day on every ball field, are somewhat remarkable. at least things equally difficult done by boys in their arithmetic lessons would be considered so.”

tone words:
affectionate
agitated
ambivalent
anxious
apathetic
apologetic
appreciative
apprehensive
authoritative
arrogant
bewildered
bitter
blunt
bossy
brusque
candid
casual
choleric
coarse
compassionate
conciliatory
condescending
confident
consoling
contentious
cynical
dejected
delightful
depressed derisive
derogatory
desperate
diabolic
disappointed
ecstatic
effusive
empathetic
encouraging
enthusiastic
expectant
facetious
fatalistic
foreboding
frantic
frightened
frustrated
gleeful
gloomy
grave
greedy
harsh
haughty
hilarious
hollow
hopeless
humble
humorous
incisive incredulous
indignant
introspective
instructive
ironic
jocund
joyful
lethargic
lighthearted
loud
manipulative
melancholy
mirthful
miserable
mocking
mournful
nervous
nostalgic
paranoid
passive
persuasive
pleading
proud
questioning
relaxed
reticent
romantic
sarcastic
sardonic scared
scornful
seductive
serene
serious
sinister
skeptical
solemn
soothing
stressful
surprised
suspicious
sympathetic
tearful
tender
terse
thoughtful
timorous
uncaring
uneasy
uninterested
unhappy
unsympathetic
vibrant
whimsical
wistful
zealous