Tools and Insights – Page 8

Cracking the Code

Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:15:11-05:00

Cracking the Code The recent movie, The Imitation Game, revealed how a team of British mathematicians and linguists collaborated to break the German Enigma code during World War II. They began with the premise that any code is made up of patterns. The trick was to translate the code into a pattern the team already understood: English. Understanding the words, however, wasn’t enough to break the code. The team also had to translate the Germans’ patterns of social behavior, culture, and, of course, human error. These are the same tools we use to decode language every day. Many English speakers are [...]

Cracking the CodeStephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:15:11-05:00

Finding a Room of One’s Own

Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:16:18-05:00

Finding a Room of One’s Own At almost every reading I’ve ever been to, the first question asked of the author is, “What is your writing process?” Often, the author will describe a disciplined, solitary, almost Spartan life that begins at 4:30 a.m. each day at a small desk, rain or shine, in sickness and in health. This is the point in the Q & A when I sink into despair. Then I decide that half of these writers are embellishing; that the blissful early morning desk is fiction itself. Perhaps the perpetuation of this ideal comes from a desire to [...]

Finding a Room of One’s OwnStephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:16:18-05:00

Splitsville

Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:17:03-05:00

Splitsville One of the great controversies of English grammar is whether a full infinitive – to eat, to sleep, to play – can be split by an adverb or other interloper. Beginning in the nineteenth century, many grammarians, reinforced, in time, by innumerable teachers, condemned this practice, asserting, as Henry Alford did in 1864, that "we ever regard the to of the infinitive as inseparable from its verb." Thus, Alford deprecated "to scientifically illustrate" when "scientifically to illustrate" and "to illustrate scientifically" would do. What should have been treated as a matter of taste became a litmus test of quality. As [...]

SplitsvilleStephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:17:03-05:00

Writing at Its Best

Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:18:05-05:00

Writing at Its Best by Thomas Garcia This is the second installment in our series of reflections on the nature of "good writing." For Thomas Garcia '16, Princeton Writes' Social Media Coordinator, writing at its best inspires, vexes, connects, and destabilizes – the four horsemen of the written word. Good writing inspires. When I picked up a tattered copy of The Sea-Wolf in the 7th grade, I did not expect the one-hundred-year-old words to give me chills. An abiding spirit was imbued in the sentence flow, the foundation of the plot, and the characters’ intricacies. This spirit epitomizes the immortal nature [...]

Writing at Its BestStephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:18:05-05:00

Ammon Shea on Books

Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:18:37-05:00

Ammon Shea on Books Reading any dictionary from cover to cover, let alone the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, is not for the faint of heart, but, as Ammon Shea attests in Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, the feat can be accomplished, and not without delight. In addition to sharing some of his discoveries – from abluvion to zyxt – he reflects on his experience and the love of words and books that underpins it. Here is an excerpt: "One of the questions I hear most often regarding my plan to read the OED from cover to cover [...]

Ammon Shea on BooksStephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:18:37-05:00

Are You Sure?

Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:20:19-05:00

Are You Sure? It is paradoxical that three words meaning "to make secure or certain," to quote The American Heritage Dictionary, create confusion in the minds of writers. Assure, ensure, and insure are kissing cousins, but they are not triplets and should not be used interchangeably regardless of context. In American English – British waters are muddier – it may be simplest to assign this trio three distinct roles: Assure should be used when eliminating doubt or instilling confidence in someone, as in, "Alicia assured her mother that students at Princeton get enough sleep." Ensure should be used when making certain [...]

Are You Sure?Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:20:19-05:00

Writing at Its Best

Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:21:47-05:00

Writing at Its Best by Emily Reardon This is the first in a series of reflections on the nature of "good writing," a phrase more often invoked than defined. While each of us may have a different take on what constitutes such writing, there is much to be gleaned from others' definitions. For Emily Reardon '16, Princeton Writes' Undergraduate Fellow, good writing has the power to change our perspective – sometimes dramatically. When I think of writing at its best, I think of a trick I once played on my sister in the summer. While she was out fighting the ocean current [...]

Writing at Its BestStephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:21:47-05:00

The Whole or the Parts?

Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:23:31-05:00

The Whole or the Parts? Our daily discourse is sprinkled with collective nouns – words such as faculty, team, committee, and family that are singular in form but plural in implication. This creates a dilemma for careful writers. Is the board opposed to the admission of ten-year-olds or are the board against it? Is the class producing good work or are the class excelling? The answer depends on whether we choose to focus on the group as a whole or on its constituent parts. Context matters. If the family went their separate ways after the funeral, then it makes no sense [...]

The Whole or the Parts?Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:23:31-05:00

One Word; Many Meanings

Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:24:23-05:00

One Word; Many Meanings In It's All in a Word, British linguist Vivian Cook reminds us that the true measure of our vocabulary is not so much our command of words as our command of their innumerable meanings. Take "mean" itself, which, among other things, can refer to signification (I don't know what you mean by that remark), intent (I mean to have dinner tonight), a consequence (This means trouble), unkindness (The children were mean to one another), avarice (Ebenezer Scrooge was mean with his money), lowliness (From mean beginnings, she rose high in her profession), excellence (He was a mean [...]

One Word; Many MeaningsStephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:24:23-05:00

You Are a Writer

Stephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:25:45-05:00

You Are a Writer by Kathy Taylor This month, Princeton Writes announced an essay contest designed to encourage members of Princeton's staff to exercise their gifts as writers and to recognize those who express themselves in a particularly clear, creative, and compelling way. Some may hesitate to take advantage of this opportunity on the grounds that they are not "writers," reserving this title for novelists and journalists or other professional wordsmiths. But as Kathy Taylor, a member of the selection committee that will award the Princeton Writes Prize, points out in this guest post, anyone who conscientiously embraces the challenge of [...]

You Are a WriterStephanie Whetstone2020-01-14T14:25:45-05:00

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