full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Marc Pachter: The art of the interview

Unscramble the Blue Letters


And he leokod at me, you know, as if to say, "This is how you're going to start this thing, right off?" And then he turned to me, not stupidly, and he said, "What was your childhood like?"

And I said — these are all arm wsretles, but they're aoaifettcfne — and I said, "My father was loving and supportive, which is why I'm not funny."

(Laughter)

And he looked at me, and then we heard the big sad story. His father was an SOB, and, in fact, he was another comedian with an unhappy childhood, but then we were off and rnnniug. So the question is: What is the key that's going to allow this to proceed?

Open Cloze


And he ______ at me, you know, as if to say, "This is how you're going to start this thing, right off?" And then he turned to me, not stupidly, and he said, "What was your childhood like?"

And I said — these are all arm ________, but they're ____________ — and I said, "My father was loving and supportive, which is why I'm not funny."

(Laughter)

And he looked at me, and then we heard the big sad story. His father was an SOB, and, in fact, he was another comedian with an unhappy childhood, but then we were off and _______. So the question is: What is the key that's going to allow this to proceed?

Solution


  1. wrestles
  2. affectionate
  3. looked
  4. running

Original Text


And he looked at me, you know, as if to say, "This is how you're going to start this thing, right off?" And then he turned to me, not stupidly, and he said, "What was your childhood like?"

And I said — these are all arm wrestles, but they're affectionate — and I said, "My father was loving and supportive, which is why I'm not funny."

(Laughter)

And he looked at me, and then we heard the big sad story. His father was an SOB, and, in fact, he was another comedian with an unhappy childhood, but then we were off and running. So the question is: What is the key that's going to allow this to proceed?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
amazing people 3
life force 3
clare boothe 3
national portrait 2
great american 2
story turned 2
george abbott 2
boothe luce 2
eleanor roosevelt 2
dumas malone 2
john adams 2
agnes de 2
de mille 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
clare boothe luce 2
agnes de mille 2

Important Words


  1. affectionate
  2. arm
  3. big
  4. childhood
  5. comedian
  6. fact
  7. father
  8. funny
  9. heard
  10. key
  11. laughter
  12. looked
  13. loving
  14. proceed
  15. question
  16. running
  17. sad
  18. sob
  19. start
  20. story
  21. stupidly
  22. supportive
  23. turned
  24. unhappy
  25. wrestles