TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Anna Post: How to set the table

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Have you ever helped set a table and found yourself wondering where to place the forks? Or sat down to eat a rnearstuat and wondered which utensils to use? Well, here's some simple, traditional etiquette tips on how to set a table. What would happen if you set a table like this? It doesn't look good, and you have to clean up the mess before you can even start. Let's try another way. To start, use a placemat or tablecloth, but not both, so the dishes aren't directly on the table. This is more about looks than etiquette, but it's rare to see nothing under a plate unless you're eating at a piincc table. Set out any flowers, ckilntseadcs, or other dnretoaoics you like. Candles are usually only lit at ngiht. Start with utensils for the main course, putting your dinner fork on the left and your dinenr knife on the right-hand side since these are the hands we use them with. Here's a helpful tip: You always eat outside-in, so to set for salad, we'll put the salad fork to the outside of the dinner fork and the salad knife to the outside of the dinner knife. We'll have salad first, then our main course. ncoite, too, that the knife blades are both petiond toward the patle. This is an old tradition from a time when dinner knives were quite shrap, and it was a sign of polteisens and nonaggression to keep them pointed away from other diners. We might have some soup, and since soup usually comes first, the soup sopon goes outside the knives since we use our right hand to hold it. Here's another tip: Only set the table with what you'll need. If you're not entiag soup, don't set a soup spoon. Now, for dsreest, we'll have ice cream so we'll palce the dessert up top since we don't need it for a little while. Notice that the bowl of the spool is pointing to the left. This way, when it's time to eat, you just sldie it down and it's in the right spot. If you were having cake, you'd set a fork and flip it 180 dreeegs so it would be right side-up on the left instead. Next we'll anchor our siettng with the plate. You can also sreve from the kiechtn then bring them to the table. The bread plate goes up and to the left of the setting, and the butter knife goes on the plate at an aglne, again, with the blade pointing in. There's only one spot left, and that's for the dirkns. Set the wine glass to the upper right, and then place the water glass to the left of it at an angle. If you're like me and can never remember which goes where, think water, wine, w-a, w-i; a, i; they go left to right in alphabetical order. Another tip: To remember left and right with the bread and the drinks, think B-M-W like the car. B, your bread plate, is on the left; M, your meal, is in the middle, and W, your water, is on the right. Lastly, the napkin traditionally goes to the left of the fokrs, though it's okay to put it underneath them, too. For a fancier meal like this one that takes up a lot of space, we'll put it in the mldide. Now we're ready to eat. Hopefully these tips will be helpful the next time you're asked to help set the tlbae or sit down at a fancy meal. Enjoy!

Open Cloze

Have you ever helped set a table and found yourself wondering where to place the forks? Or sat down to eat a __________ and wondered which utensils to use? Well, here's some simple, traditional etiquette tips on how to set a table. What would happen if you set a table like this? It doesn't look good, and you have to clean up the mess before you can even start. Let's try another way. To start, use a placemat or tablecloth, but not both, so the dishes aren't directly on the table. This is more about looks than etiquette, but it's rare to see nothing under a plate unless you're eating at a ______ table. Set out any flowers, ____________, or other ___________ you like. Candles are usually only lit at _____. Start with utensils for the main course, putting your dinner fork on the left and your ______ knife on the right-hand side since these are the hands we use them with. Here's a helpful tip: You always eat outside-in, so to set for salad, we'll put the salad fork to the outside of the dinner fork and the salad knife to the outside of the dinner knife. We'll have salad first, then our main course. ______, too, that the knife blades are both _______ toward the _____. This is an old tradition from a time when dinner knives were quite _____, and it was a sign of __________ and nonaggression to keep them pointed away from other diners. We might have some soup, and since soup usually comes first, the soup _____ goes outside the knives since we use our right hand to hold it. Here's another tip: Only set the table with what you'll need. If you're not ______ soup, don't set a soup spoon. Now, for _______, we'll have ice cream so we'll _____ the dessert up top since we don't need it for a little while. Notice that the bowl of the spool is pointing to the left. This way, when it's time to eat, you just _____ it down and it's in the right spot. If you were having cake, you'd set a fork and flip it 180 _______ so it would be right side-up on the left instead. Next we'll anchor our _______ with the plate. You can also _____ from the _______ then bring them to the table. The bread plate goes up and to the left of the setting, and the butter knife goes on the plate at an _____, again, with the blade pointing in. There's only one spot left, and that's for the ______. Set the wine glass to the upper right, and then place the water glass to the left of it at an angle. If you're like me and can never remember which goes where, think water, wine, w-a, w-i; a, i; they go left to right in alphabetical order. Another tip: To remember left and right with the bread and the drinks, think B-M-W like the car. B, your bread plate, is on the left; M, your meal, is in the middle, and W, your water, is on the right. Lastly, the napkin traditionally goes to the left of the _____, though it's okay to put it underneath them, too. For a fancier meal like this one that takes up a lot of space, we'll put it in the ______. Now we're ready to eat. Hopefully these tips will be helpful the next time you're asked to help set the _____ or sit down at a fancy meal. Enjoy!

Solution

eating
sharp
notice
candlesticks
middle
angle
restaurant
dinner
degrees
spoon
forks
table
plate
setting
pointed
night
slide
decorations
place
serve
kitchen
dessert
drinks
picnic
politeness

Original Text

Have you ever helped set a table and found yourself wondering where to place the forks? Or sat down to eat a restaurant and wondered which utensils to use? Well, here's some simple, traditional etiquette tips on how to set a table. What would happen if you set a table like this? It doesn't look good, and you have to clean up the mess before you can even start. Let's try another way. To start, use a placemat or tablecloth, but not both, so the dishes aren't directly on the table. This is more about looks than etiquette, but it's rare to see nothing under a plate unless you're eating at a picnic table. Set out any flowers, candlesticks, or other decorations you like. Candles are usually only lit at night. Start with utensils for the main course, putting your dinner fork on the left and your dinner knife on the right-hand side since these are the hands we use them with. Here's a helpful tip: You always eat outside-in, so to set for salad, we'll put the salad fork to the outside of the dinner fork and the salad knife to the outside of the dinner knife. We'll have salad first, then our main course. Notice, too, that the knife blades are both pointed toward the plate. This is an old tradition from a time when dinner knives were quite sharp, and it was a sign of politeness and nonaggression to keep them pointed away from other diners. We might have some soup, and since soup usually comes first, the soup spoon goes outside the knives since we use our right hand to hold it. Here's another tip: Only set the table with what you'll need. If you're not eating soup, don't set a soup spoon. Now, for dessert, we'll have ice cream so we'll place the dessert up top since we don't need it for a little while. Notice that the bowl of the spool is pointing to the left. This way, when it's time to eat, you just slide it down and it's in the right spot. If you were having cake, you'd set a fork and flip it 180 degrees so it would be right side-up on the left instead. Next we'll anchor our setting with the plate. You can also serve from the kitchen then bring them to the table. The bread plate goes up and to the left of the setting, and the butter knife goes on the plate at an angle, again, with the blade pointing in. There's only one spot left, and that's for the drinks. Set the wine glass to the upper right, and then place the water glass to the left of it at an angle. If you're like me and can never remember which goes where, think water, wine, w-a, w-i; a, i; they go left to right in alphabetical order. Another tip: To remember left and right with the bread and the drinks, think B-M-W like the car. B, your bread plate, is on the left; M, your meal, is in the middle, and W, your water, is on the right. Lastly, the napkin traditionally goes to the left of the forks, though it's okay to put it underneath them, too. For a fancier meal like this one that takes up a lot of space, we'll put it in the middle. Now we're ready to eat. Hopefully these tips will be helpful the next time you're asked to help set the table or sit down at a fancy meal. Enjoy!

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
dinner fork	2
dinner knife	2
soup spoon	2

Important Words

alphabetical
anchor
angle
asked
blade
blades
bowl
bread
bring
butter
cake
candles
candlesticks
car
clean
cream
decorations
degrees
dessert
diners
dinner
dishes
drinks
eat
eating
etiquette
fancier
fancy
flip
flowers
fork
forks
glass
good
hand
hands
happen
helped
helpful
hold
ice
kitchen
knife
knives
lastly
left
lit
lot
main
meal
mess
middle
napkin
night
nonaggression
notice
order
picnic
place
placemat
plate
pointed
pointing
politeness
put
putting
rare
ready
remember
restaurant
salad
sat
serve
set
setting
sharp
side
sign
simple
sit
slide
soup
space
spool
spoon
spot
start
table
tablecloth
takes
time
tips
top
tradition
traditional
traditionally
upper
utensils
water
wine
wondered
wondering