Word: syntax
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Studying fiction at Harvard has several prerequisites: a love of reading; a love of writing; a love of deep, introspective conversations about context and syntax over a steaming latte; and, of course, a love of frenzied highlighting of key passages in the wee hours of the night. Here’s a rundown of the fiction concentrations—see how well you match...
...clunky syntax and odd phrasing provided strong clues that the usually eloquent pol (currently both Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice) wasn't quite himself. This didn't stop a number of recipients from ringing Straw's office to ask if his predicament had been solved. Their calls were met with bafflement. Straw has not recently visited Lagos. Moreover, says his special adviser via text message, when he last did so "to the best of my knowledge he never lost his wallet!" (See a story about the Alicia Keys MySpace phishing controversy...
...Jakartan intellectual caught up in the Japanese occupation. The conquerors use Bahasa Indonesia, the archipelago's lingua franca, as an administrative tongue in their polyglot territory. Hidayat - drawing on Alisjahbana's actual wartime employment in occupied Indonesia's language office - is put in charge of formalizing its grammar and syntax. In the novel (as it was in life), the office is a meeting place for nationalists who seize on Japan's defeat in 1945 to declare independence and adopt Bahasa Indonesia as the new nation's official tongue...
Previous studies have shown that wealthier, educated parents talk to their young children more, using more complex vocabulary and syntax, than parents of lesser means. And these differences may help explain why richer kids start school with richer vocabularies. But what goes on before children can talk, during that phase - familiar to any parent - when communication takes the form of pointing, waving, grabbing and other kinds of baby sign language? Do well-off parents also gesture more to their kids...
...more to a debate than what is verbally communicated. Physical communication and eloquence, are also very important. Obama spoke with a water-faucet flow, flashing his gleaming smile intermittently. McCain’s speech had the flow of a traffic jam in a snow storm, as he confused syntax and became short of breath. This stuff matters. McCain argued like he was down in the polls. On the other hand, you could almost see Obama thinking the line that made Reagan famous: “There you go again.” Running for the American presidency is unlike...