Word: key
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...seems pretty obvious that in any discussion of the various methods-whereby the crafty student attempts to show the grader that he knows a lot more than he actually does, the vague generality is the key device. It is a vague statement that means nothing by itself, but when placed in an essay on a specific subject might mean something to a grader. The true master of the generality is the man who can write a ten-page essay which means nothing at all to him and have it mean a great deal to anyone who reads...
There is a third method of dealing with examination questions-that is by use of the overpowering assumption, an assumption so cosmic that it is sometimes accepted. For example, we wrote that it is pretty obvious that the vague generality is the key device in any discussion of examination writing. Why is it so obvious? As a matter of fact, it isn't so obvious, but rather just an arbitrary point from which to start. That is an example of an unwarranted assumption...
Carswell's further discussion of the O.A. is quite to the point-he himself realizes its superiority to any E., however A. His illustration includes one of the key "Wake Up the Grader" phrases- "It is absurd." What force! What gall! What fun! "Ridiculous," "hopeless," "nonsense," on the one hand: "doubtless," "obvious," "unquestionable," on the other, will have the same effect. A hint of nostalgic, anti-academic languor at this stage may well match the grader's own mood: "It seems more than obvious to one entangled in the petty quibbles of contemporary Medievalists-at times indeed, approaching the ludicrous...
...much as acknowledged the phenomenon in his Six Crises, and later went on to explode bitterly at the press following his 1962 California gubernatorial defeat. Barber even provides a scenario for a future situation brought on by Nixon's "crisis syndrome": the Administration is defeated on a key issue, Nixon losing face or power in the bargain; at a press conference, he is badgered about it and, lashing out, takes an exaggerated policy stand. It is, says Barber, the stuff of "tragic drama: the danger is that he might refuse to revise his course of action in the light...
...tried to find out what an elephant was like by feeling its trunk, legs and tail. The Government gathers some statistics in stupefying detail; many critics, for example, consider the myriad crop statistics published by the Agriculture Department to be a quixotic extravagance. On the other hand, some key figures that might disclose how much inflationary pressure remains in the economy are not collected at all; others are sketchy and still others unreliable. "We assume a lot of information is available that would aid forecasting," says Bill Roberts, director of the Institute of Business and Economic Research at the University...