I've read a text aboat early friendship effect on relationship with siblings. This text is in the book 'Vocabulary for IELTS'.
In a sentence it says:
And children who as preschoolers were able to coordinate play with a friend, manage conflicts and keep an interaction positive in tone were most likely as teenagers to avoid the negative sibling interaction that can sometimes launch children on a path of antisocial behavior.
I couldn't find 'in tone' anywhere on the Internet!! What that means here?!
Best Answer
"Positive in [its] tone" means "in a positive tone"
The phrase "keep an interaction positive in tone" is just a slightly awkward/literary way of saying ensure that the tone [general character] of any interaction is positive [optimistic, helpful, hopeful].
For example, 'The discussions were positive in tone' = 'The tone of the discussions was positive' (ie they were conducted civilly / probably had a positive outcome).