full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Chris Abani: Telling stories from Africa

Unscramble the Blue Letters

I just want to say good aeoftronn, good evening. It's been an incredible few days. It's downhill from now on. I wanted to thank Emeka and Chris. But also, most ilptantromy, all the invisible people behind TED that you just see flitting around the whole place that have made sort of this space for such a diverse and robust conversation. It's really amazing. I've been in the audience. I'm a writer, and I've been watching people with the slide shwos and stneistcis and bankers, and I've been fienleg a bit like a gangsta rpepar at a bar mtivazh. (Laughter) Like, what have I got to say about all this? And I was watching Jane [Goodall] yesterday, and I thought it was really gerat, and I was wcahtnig those incredible slides of the chimpanzees, and I thought, "Wow. What if a chimpanzee could talk, you know? What would it say?" My first thought was, "Well, you know, there's George Bush." But then I thought, "Why be rude to chimpanzees?" I guess there goes my green card. (Laughter)

Open Cloze

I just want to say good _________, good evening. It's been an incredible few days. It's downhill from now on. I wanted to thank Emeka and Chris. But also, most ___________, all the invisible people behind TED that you just see flitting around the whole place that have made sort of this space for such a diverse and robust conversation. It's really amazing. I've been in the audience. I'm a writer, and I've been watching people with the slide _____ and __________ and bankers, and I've been _______ a bit like a gangsta ______ at a bar _______. (Laughter) Like, what have I got to say about all this? And I was watching Jane [Goodall] yesterday, and I thought it was really _____, and I was ________ those incredible slides of the chimpanzees, and I thought, "Wow. What if a chimpanzee could talk, you know? What would it say?" My first thought was, "Well, you know, there's George Bush." But then I thought, "Why be rude to chimpanzees?" I guess there goes my green card. (Laughter)

Solution

  1. mitzvah
  2. rapper
  3. afternoon
  4. watching
  5. great
  6. scientists
  7. importantly
  8. feeling
  9. shows

Original Text

I just want to say good afternoon, good evening. It's been an incredible few days. It's downhill from now on. I wanted to thank Emeka and Chris. But also, most importantly, all the invisible people behind TED that you just see flitting around the whole place that have made sort of this space for such a diverse and robust conversation. It's really amazing. I've been in the audience. I'm a writer, and I've been watching people with the slide shows and scientists and bankers, and I've been feeling a bit like a gangsta rapper at a bar mitzvah. (Laughter) Like, what have I got to say about all this? And I was watching Jane [Goodall] yesterday, and I thought it was really great, and I was watching those incredible slides of the chimpanzees, and I thought, "Wow. What if a chimpanzee could talk, you know? What would it say?" My first thought was, "Well, you know, there's George Bush." But then I thought, "Why be rude to chimpanzees?" I guess there goes my green card. (Laughter)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
nigerian journalist 2
james bond 2
african narratives 2
tom opens 2
jewish holocaust 2
melancholic history 2
sex education 2
valuable resource 2

Important Words

  1. afternoon
  2. amazing
  3. audience
  4. bankers
  5. bar
  6. bit
  7. bush
  8. card
  9. chimpanzee
  10. chimpanzees
  11. chris
  12. conversation
  13. days
  14. diverse
  15. downhill
  16. emeka
  17. evening
  18. feeling
  19. flitting
  20. gangsta
  21. george
  22. good
  23. goodall
  24. great
  25. green
  26. guess
  27. importantly
  28. incredible
  29. invisible
  30. jane
  31. laughter
  32. mitzvah
  33. people
  34. place
  35. rapper
  36. robust
  37. rude
  38. scientists
  39. shows
  40. slide
  41. slides
  42. sort
  43. space
  44. talk
  45. ted
  46. thought
  47. wanted
  48. watching
  49. writer
  50. yesterday