TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Nadia Kalman: Three anti-social skills to improve your writing

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Dialogue gives a story color, makes it exciting and moves it forward. Romeo: O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied? Juliet: What satisfaction casnt thou have tonight? Romeo: The exchange of thy love's faithful vows for mine. Without dialogue: (cricket sdnous) So what goes into writing effective dialogue? Well, there are soical skills: mnaikg friends, solving conflicts, being psnaleat and polite. We won't be using any of those taody. Instead, we'll be working on — let's call them "anti-social slklis." If you're a writer, you may already have a few of these. The first is eavesdropping. If you're riding a bus and hear an interesting conversation, you could write it all down. Of course, when you write fcotiin, you're not describing real pploee, you're making up characters. But sometimes the words you overhear can give you ideas. "I did not," says one person. "I saw you," the other rpelies. Who might be saying those words? Maybe it's two kids in a class, and the boy thinks the girl pushed him. Maybe it's a couple, but one of them is a vampire, and the woman vampire saw the man frtilnig with a zombie. Or maybe not. Maybe the characters are a teenager and his mother, and they're supposed to be vegetarians, but the motehr saw him eating a burger. So let's say you've decided on some characters. This is anti-social skill number two: start prntdineeg they're real. What are they like? Where are they from? What music do they listen to? sepnd some time with them. If you're on a bus, think about what they might be doing if they were there too. Would they talk on the phone, listen to music, draw pictures, sleep? What we say depends on who we are. An odler person might speak differently than a younger person. Someone from the stouh might speak differently than someone from the north. Once you know your characters, you can figure out how they talk. At this stage, it's helpful to use anti-social skill nebumr three: muttering to yourself. When you speak your character's words, you can hear whether they sunod natural, and fix them if necessary. Remember, most people are usually pretty ionrfaml when they speak. They use simple lnaguage and contractions. So, "Do not attempt to lie to me" sounds more natural as "Don't try to lie to me." Also keep it short. People tend to speak in short bursts, not lengthy speeches. And let the dialogue do the work. Ask yourself: do I really need that adverb? For instance, "'Your mneoy or your life,' she said trlegeaithnny." Here, "threateningly" is redundant, so you can get rid of it. But if the words and the actions don't match, an adervb can be helpful. "'Your money or your life,' she said lovingly." So, to recap: First, eavesdrop. Next, pretend imaginary people are real. Finally, mettur to yourself, and write it all down. You already have everything you need. This is fictional dialogue, or "How to Hear voeics in Your Head."

Open Cloze

Dialogue gives a story color, makes it exciting and moves it forward. Romeo: O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied? Juliet: What satisfaction _____ thou have tonight? Romeo: The exchange of thy love's faithful vows for mine. Without dialogue: (cricket ______) So what goes into writing effective dialogue? Well, there are ______ skills: ______ friends, solving conflicts, being ________ and polite. We won't be using any of those _____. Instead, we'll be working on — let's call them "anti-social ______." If you're a writer, you may already have a few of these. The first is eavesdropping. If you're riding a bus and hear an interesting conversation, you could write it all down. Of course, when you write _______, you're not describing real ______, you're making up characters. But sometimes the words you overhear can give you ideas. "I did not," says one person. "I saw you," the other _______. Who might be saying those words? Maybe it's two kids in a class, and the boy thinks the girl pushed him. Maybe it's a couple, but one of them is a vampire, and the woman vampire saw the man ________ with a zombie. Or maybe not. Maybe the characters are a teenager and his mother, and they're supposed to be vegetarians, but the ______ saw him eating a burger. So let's say you've decided on some characters. This is anti-social skill number two: start __________ they're real. What are they like? Where are they from? What music do they listen to? _____ some time with them. If you're on a bus, think about what they might be doing if they were there too. Would they talk on the phone, listen to music, draw pictures, sleep? What we say depends on who we are. An _____ person might speak differently than a younger person. Someone from the _____ might speak differently than someone from the north. Once you know your characters, you can figure out how they talk. At this stage, it's helpful to use anti-social skill ______ three: muttering to yourself. When you speak your character's words, you can hear whether they _____ natural, and fix them if necessary. Remember, most people are usually pretty ________ when they speak. They use simple ________ and contractions. So, "Do not attempt to lie to me" sounds more natural as "Don't try to lie to me." Also keep it short. People tend to speak in short bursts, not lengthy speeches. And let the dialogue do the work. Ask yourself: do I really need that adverb? For instance, "'Your _____ or your life,' she said _____________." Here, "threateningly" is redundant, so you can get rid of it. But if the words and the actions don't match, an ______ can be helpful. "'Your money or your life,' she said lovingly." So, to recap: First, eavesdrop. Next, pretend imaginary people are real. Finally, ______ to yourself, and write it all down. You already have everything you need. This is fictional dialogue, or "How to Hear ______ in Your Head."

Solution

sounds
people
pleasant
threateningly
language
number
adverb
making
social
pretending
mother
informal
voices
today
replies
fiction
south
canst
flirting
sound
money
older
skills
spend
mutter

Original Text

Dialogue gives a story color, makes it exciting and moves it forward. Romeo: O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied? Juliet: What satisfaction canst thou have tonight? Romeo: The exchange of thy love's faithful vows for mine. Without dialogue: (cricket sounds) So what goes into writing effective dialogue? Well, there are social skills: making friends, solving conflicts, being pleasant and polite. We won't be using any of those today. Instead, we'll be working on — let's call them "anti-social skills." If you're a writer, you may already have a few of these. The first is eavesdropping. If you're riding a bus and hear an interesting conversation, you could write it all down. Of course, when you write fiction, you're not describing real people, you're making up characters. But sometimes the words you overhear can give you ideas. "I did not," says one person. "I saw you," the other replies. Who might be saying those words? Maybe it's two kids in a class, and the boy thinks the girl pushed him. Maybe it's a couple, but one of them is a vampire, and the woman vampire saw the man flirting with a zombie. Or maybe not. Maybe the characters are a teenager and his mother, and they're supposed to be vegetarians, but the mother saw him eating a burger. So let's say you've decided on some characters. This is anti-social skill number two: start pretending they're real. What are they like? Where are they from? What music do they listen to? Spend some time with them. If you're on a bus, think about what they might be doing if they were there too. Would they talk on the phone, listen to music, draw pictures, sleep? What we say depends on who we are. An older person might speak differently than a younger person. Someone from the south might speak differently than someone from the north. Once you know your characters, you can figure out how they talk. At this stage, it's helpful to use anti-social skill number three: muttering to yourself. When you speak your character's words, you can hear whether they sound natural, and fix them if necessary. Remember, most people are usually pretty informal when they speak. They use simple language and contractions. So, "Do not attempt to lie to me" sounds more natural as "Don't try to lie to me." Also keep it short. People tend to speak in short bursts, not lengthy speeches. And let the dialogue do the work. Ask yourself: do I really need that adverb? For instance, "'Your money or your life,' she said threateningly." Here, "threateningly" is redundant, so you can get rid of it. But if the words and the actions don't match, an adverb can be helpful. "'Your money or your life,' she said lovingly." So, to recap: First, eavesdrop. Next, pretend imaginary people are real. Finally, mutter to yourself, and write it all down. You already have everything you need. This is fictional dialogue, or "How to Hear Voices in Your Head."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
skill number	2
speak differently	2

Important Words

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thou
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words
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zombie