Uit: Language in Thought and Action, door S.I. Hayakawa.

Chapter 6  The Double task of Language

Applications
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II.  Bertand Russell, on a British Broadcasting Company program called the Brains Trust, gave the following "conjugation" of an "irregular verb":
  I am firm.

You are obstinate.

He is a pig-headed fool.

The New Statesman and Nation, quoting the above as a model, offered prizes to readers who sent in the best "irregular verbs" of this kind. Here are some of the published entries.
  I am sparkling. You are unusually talkative. He is drunk.

I am righteously indignant. You are annoyed. He is making a fuss about nothing.

I am fastidious. You are fussy. He is an old woman.

I am a creative writer. You have a joumalistic flair. He is a prosperous hack.

I am beautiful. You have quite good features. She isn't bad-Iooking, if you like that type.

I day dream. You are an escapist. He ought to see a psychiatrist.

I have about me something of the subtle, haunting, mysterious fragrance of the Orient. You rather overdo it, dear. She stinks.

Conjugate, in a similar way, the following statements:

1. I am slender.

2. I am a trifle overweight.

3. I don't dance very weU.

4. Naturally I use a little make-up.

5. I collect rare, old objects of art.

6. I don't like to play bridge with people who are too serions ab out it.

7. I don't claim to know aU the answers.

8. I believe in old-fashioned, laissez-faire liberalism.

9. I need plenty of sleep.

10. I'm just an old-fashioned girt.

11. I don't care much about theories; I'm the practica! type.

12. 1 believe in being frank.

13. I rarely find time to read books.
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