full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Derek Paravicini and Adam Ockelford: In the key of genius

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Adam Ockelford: I promise there won't be too much of me tlnaikg, and a lot of Derek paliyng, but I thought it would just be nice to recap on how Derek got to where he is today.

It's amazing now, because he's so much bigger than me, but when Derek was born, he could have fitted on the palm of your hand. He was born three and a half months premature, and really it was a fntstiaac fight for him to survive. He had to have a lot of oxygen, and that affected your eyes, dreek, and also the way you understand language and the way you understand the world. But that was the end of the bad news, because when Derek came home from the hospital, his family deciedd to employ the raetlbbudoe nanny who was going to look after you, Derek, really for the rest of your childhood. And Nanny's great insight, really, was to think, here's a child who can't see. Music must be the thing for Derek. And sure enough, she sang, or as Derek called it, warbled, to him for his first few yeras of life. And I think it was that excitement with hiraneg her voice hour after hour every day that made him think maybe, you know, in his brain something was stirring, some sort of musical gift. Here's a little picture of Derek going up now, when you were with your nnnay.

Open Cloze


Adam Ockelford: I promise there won't be too much of me _______, and a lot of Derek _______, but I thought it would just be nice to recap on how Derek got to where he is today.

It's amazing now, because he's so much bigger than me, but when Derek was born, he could have fitted on the palm of your hand. He was born three and a half months premature, and really it was a _________ fight for him to survive. He had to have a lot of oxygen, and that affected your eyes, _____, and also the way you understand language and the way you understand the world. But that was the end of the bad news, because when Derek came home from the hospital, his family _______ to employ the ___________ nanny who was going to look after you, Derek, really for the rest of your childhood. And Nanny's great insight, really, was to think, here's a child who can't see. Music must be the thing for Derek. And sure enough, she sang, or as Derek called it, warbled, to him for his first few _____ of life. And I think it was that excitement with _______ her voice hour after hour every day that made him think maybe, you know, in his brain something was stirring, some sort of musical gift. Here's a little picture of Derek going up now, when you were with your _____.

Solution


  1. playing
  2. talking
  3. redoubtable
  4. derek
  5. decided
  6. years
  7. fantastic
  8. hearing
  9. nanny

Original Text


Adam Ockelford: I promise there won't be too much of me talking, and a lot of Derek playing, but I thought it would just be nice to recap on how Derek got to where he is today.

It's amazing now, because he's so much bigger than me, but when Derek was born, he could have fitted on the palm of your hand. He was born three and a half months premature, and really it was a fantastic fight for him to survive. He had to have a lot of oxygen, and that affected your eyes, Derek, and also the way you understand language and the way you understand the world. But that was the end of the bad news, because when Derek came home from the hospital, his family decided to employ the redoubtable nanny who was going to look after you, Derek, really for the rest of your childhood. And Nanny's great insight, really, was to think, here's a child who can't see. Music must be the thing for Derek. And sure enough, she sang, or as Derek called it, warbled, to him for his first few years of life. And I think it was that excitement with hearing her voice hour after hour every day that made him think maybe, you know, in his brain something was stirring, some sort of musical gift. Here's a little picture of Derek going up now, when you were with your nanny.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
art tatum 3


Important Words


  1. adam
  2. affected
  3. amazing
  4. bad
  5. bigger
  6. born
  7. brain
  8. called
  9. child
  10. childhood
  11. day
  12. decided
  13. derek
  14. employ
  15. excitement
  16. eyes
  17. family
  18. fantastic
  19. fight
  20. fitted
  21. gift
  22. great
  23. hand
  24. hearing
  25. home
  26. hospital
  27. hour
  28. insight
  29. language
  30. life
  31. lot
  32. months
  33. music
  34. musical
  35. nanny
  36. news
  37. nice
  38. oxygen
  39. palm
  40. picture
  41. playing
  42. premature
  43. promise
  44. recap
  45. redoubtable
  46. rest
  47. sang
  48. sort
  49. stirring
  50. survive
  51. talking
  52. thought
  53. today
  54. understand
  55. voice
  56. warbled
  57. world
  58. years