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Verbs are what’s happening

Episode - 42

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June 19, 2012 QandA, Scriptnotes, Words on the page

This week’s episode finds Craig and John answering questions about agent etiquette, business cards and those troubling rewrites that unravel everything.

From there, John goes on a small tirade about weak verbs and Dungeons and Dragons-style scene description. Good writing: It’s not just for novelists.

There’s some language geekery as well, with a look at the hidden micro-classes of verbs that prevent a reasonable speaker from saying things like, “Whisper Tom the joke.”

All this and more in the 42nd installment of Scriptnotes.

LINKS:

  • Chicago Fire on NBC
  • Flight trailer
  • Buddha Jones trailer house
  • Th-Fronting
  • The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, by Steven Pinker
  • NYC Subway by Embark, the transit app for iOS
  • MacBook Pro with Retina Display
  • INTRO: Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels
  • OUTRO: Verb! That’s What’s Happening, a Schoolhouse Rock cover by Moby

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 6-21-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

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