leff@smu.UUCP (11/28/83)
#R:fortune:-183400:smu:15900001:000:266 smu!leff Nov 27 08:07:00 1983 High school English teachers were queried as to whether they prefered simple direct prose or long winded pompous prose. The majority preferred direct prose. However, when given student papers to grade the ones that were the more long winded got the better grades.
dinitz@uicsl.UUCP (11/30/83)
#R:fortune:-183400:uicsl:8600029:000:911 uicsl!dinitz Nov 29 10:57:00 1983 It could be that maybe what the long wind-up does is it gives people time to think of what the real content of their response will be without allowing the ultimate embarrassment -- silence -- while they are deciding what to say. Do think about this seriously. To start a sentence by repeating part of the sentence framework just processed mutatis mutandis should be nearly effortless. In the meantime our wonderfully parallel brains can attend to the more complex task of composing a response. To convince yourself there is a prima facie case, think of how often people start a response in the way you find objectionable, but then seem to drop off that line of attack and begin a new sentence. The new sentence follows closely upon the heels of the old fragment, without pause, making for what sounds like one very awkward sentence. Does anyone know of any solid research to test this kind of hypothesis?
morgan@uicsl.UUCP (12/01/83)
#R:fortune:-183400:uicsl:8600031:000:235 uicsl!morgan Nov 30 17:45:00 1983 There is lot of published research on the special properties of so-called 'cleft' and 'pseudo-cleft' sentences, the best done (if memory serves) by Ellen Prince of the University of Pennsylvania. Drop me a line if you want references.
rh@mit-eddie.UUCP (Randy Haskins) (12/22/83)
Yes, silence, the bane of all (wo)mankind. I don't know what it is, but most people seem to think that if there is a little silence in a conversation, it reflects on them. I like the passage in HGttG where it's talking about the theories Ford Prefect developed concerning why humans talked so much. At first he thought it was because the muscles in their jaws would freeze up and start working. He later decided that it was because their brains might start working. Think about the worst bores you know. Isn't it because they insist on talking even though there is nothing to say? -- Randwulf (Randy Haskins); Path= genrad!mit-eddie!rh