full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids

Unscramble the Blue Letters

I loved to write from the age of four, and when I was six, my mom bought me my own laptop equipped with mfirosoct Word. Thank you, Bill Gates, and thank you, Ma. I wrote over 300 short stories on that little laptop, and I wanted to get piblhsued. Instead of just scoffing at this hsreey that a kid wanted to get published, or saying wait until you're older, my parnets were really supportive. Many publishers were not quite so encouraging. One lgare children's publisher ironically said that they didn't work with children. Children's publisher not working with children? I don't know, you're kind of alienating a large client there.

Open Cloze

I loved to write from the age of four, and when I was six, my mom bought me my own laptop equipped with _________ Word. Thank you, Bill Gates, and thank you, Ma. I wrote over 300 short stories on that little laptop, and I wanted to get _________. Instead of just scoffing at this ______ that a kid wanted to get published, or saying wait until you're older, my _______ were really supportive. Many publishers were not quite so encouraging. One _____ children's publisher ironically said that they didn't work with children. Children's publisher not working with children? I don't know, you're kind of alienating a large client there.

Solution

  1. published
  2. heresy
  3. large
  4. microsoft
  5. parents

Original Text

I loved to write from the age of four, and when I was six, my mom bought me my own laptop equipped with Microsoft Word. Thank you, Bill Gates, and thank you, Ma. I wrote over 300 short stories on that little laptop, and I wanted to get published. Instead of just scoffing at this heresy that a kid wanted to get published, or saying wait until you're older, my parents were really supportive. Many publishers were not quite so encouraging. One large children's publisher ironically said that they didn't work with children. Children's publisher not working with children? I don't know, you're kind of alienating a large client there.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
called childish 2
irrational thinking 2

Important Words

  1. age
  2. alienating
  3. bill
  4. bought
  5. children
  6. client
  7. encouraging
  8. equipped
  9. gates
  10. heresy
  11. ironically
  12. kid
  13. kind
  14. laptop
  15. large
  16. loved
  17. ma
  18. microsoft
  19. mom
  20. older
  21. parents
  22. published
  23. publisher
  24. publishers
  25. scoffing
  26. short
  27. stories
  28. supportive
  29. wait
  30. wanted
  31. word
  32. work
  33. working
  34. write
  35. wrote