After vs Afterwards 🤔
“After” and💓 “afterwards” are both adverbs that indicate a sequence of events in time, but they are used slightly differently.

Hello aspiring writers! My name is [CENSORED], but you can call me Ari. I’m a novelist! I've seen countless newbies asking for advice on various topics. I thought it would be helpful to create a comprehensive guide addressing the most common questions and concerns.
Please note that the following advice is primarily geared toward novels. Some of it may apply to other forms of writing, but specific points about screenwriting, musicals, etc. won’t be here. That’s just not the world I live in. :)
Can I write about ____? / Is it okay to ___?
The short answer is yes, you can write about anything. It's important to approach sensitive topics with care and respect, but that doesn’t mean you can’t write about them. Do your research, consider multiple perspectives, and avoid stereotypes or gratuitous content. Do that, and you’re golden! The goal should always be to tell a compelling story first, so if it has relevance to your plot or character development, nothing is off the table. Nothing. Just have some common sense and don’t be a jerk.
How do I stay motivated?
Writing is a marathon, not a sprint. Everyone knows it. You probably even know it. It’s easy to not want to listen, but these phrases are common for a reason. Set realistic goals, establish a routine, and celebrate small victories. Find a writing community for support and accountability. When motivation wanes, remind yourself why you started writing in the first place. Passion will fuel your progress.
If that’s not enough, writing probably isn’t for you. It’s likely you’ve been drawn to writing as a medium to share a story, but if you often find yourself wishing the story was complete and ready to share, you have the wrong attitude. Writing is about the process, and like any art form, takes hours of time, patience, and practice. It isn’t “easier” than drawing, animating, modeling, sculpting, composing, filming, etc, but it is more accessible. Don’t conflate the two! Writing is about manipulating language to create something new, not about having a finished product—that’s just an added bonus.
I don’t have time to write!
Sorry. There are really only two solutions: make the time or don’t write. Nobody can help you with this. It sucks, but this is true of all things, not just writing.
How do I develop “complex” characters?
Give your characters clear goals, strengths, weaknesses, and backstories. Make their actions and decisions consistent with their personalities. Most importantly, make sure they undergo some form of growth or change throughout the story. Static characters are forgettable; dynamic characters leave a lasting impact.
That being said, be very careful. Character backstories are wonderful, but don’t go crazy with them. You don’t need to know every aspect of their life from birth till death. In fact, many of these questions should be answered during the writing process. Only create a backstory that’s relevant to their personality or the tale you wish to tell. The rest is redundant, and quite honestly, a waste of time.
How can I make my story more interesting?
There are lots of things a compelling story needs. Give your characters obstacles to overcome, both external (plot-related) and internal (personal struggles). Use vivid, sensory details to immerse readers in the story world. Vary your sentence structure and pacing to maintain engagement. Above all, make sure every scene serves a purpose in moving the plot forward or developing characters.
This is a harsh, often painful thing to hear, but: readers don’t care. Your job is to change this. That 200 page world-building document you have listing out all two million citizens of Jylskall including their names, races, occupations, backstories, religious preferences, personalities, and goals? You will never grab someone’s attention by packing that all into a novel. Focus on streamlining your story around one central topic and a few characters, and perhaps a few minor arcs sprinkled in (but only use these to propel the main arc). Your favorite Science Fiction or Fantasy epic might have this insane amount of detail, but you’re not at the level to go breaking rules yet. You’ll know when that day has come.
How do I write as someone who doesn't read?
I'm going to be blunt: you can't be a good writer if you don't read. Reading extensively exposes you to different styles, techniques, and ideas. It helps you develop an intuitive sense of what works and what doesn't. If you want to write, make reading a priority. Study the craft, analyze what you admire, and apply those lessons to your own work.
Ask yourself this: Can you become a teacher without attending school?
Where should I post my work before I get published?
While it's tempting to share your work online, it's best to hold off until after publication. Many publishers consider online posts to be "previously published," which can harm your chances of acceptance. Instead, focus on honing your craft and polishing your manuscript. Seek feedback from trusted critique partners or writing groups, but avoid public posts, especially if you’d like to follow the traditional publishing route.
Why isn’t anyone excited about my writing?
You will always be the biggest fan of your work. This is the most common experience for writers, and you likely will not be the exception. If your friends, family, etc. refuse to read your manuscript, or if they simply don’t react well, don’t get discouraged. Part of writing is learning how to take a beating when the readers show up. Get some unbiased beta readers. There are plenty of communities for meeting them, both free and paid, and they’ll help provide criticism. Accept what they say. Don’t get angry with them. If it’s nonsensical, move on, and if it isn’t, listen.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Writing a novel like a movie/TV show: Novels and visual media are fundamentally different. Novels rely on internal thoughts, sensory details, and more exposition. Avoid excessive dialogue tags, camera directions, or soundtrack cues. Focus on the character's inner world and let readers visualize the story for themselves.
Info-dumping: Weave backstory and world-building details into the narrative organically. Avoid lengthy paragraphs of pure exposition, which can bore readers and disrupt pacing.
Clichés and tropes: While tropes can be useful tools, relying on them too heavily can make your story feel stale and predictable. Subvert expectations, put fresh spins on old ideas, and prioritize originality.
The Rabbit Hole of Advice and Research: Don’t stay on Reddit, Google, or anything else all day just asking questions or reading about what other people say (including this post). The three best places to learn are from published books, your own writing, and feedback from your beta readers.
Telling Instead of Showing: Instead of simply telling readers how a character feels or what a setting looks like, show it through actions, dialogue, and sensory details. This engages readers more deeply and allows them to experience the story alongside the characters.
Showing Instead of Telling: Don’t overdo the showing. If a character says “Hello,” they don’t need to also wave their arms, smile, and jump up and down like a hopped up rabbit (pun absolutely intended). If there’s a mountain in the background it can just be a mountain. If it’s important, it can be more than a mountain. If your characters can’t see it, and will never see it, there doesn’t need to be a mountain at all.
Overusing Adverbs and Adjectives: While descriptive language can be powerful, overusing adverbs and adjectives can clutter your prose and weaken its impact. Use them sparingly and focus on strong, specific verbs and nouns instead. This doesn’t mean to avoid all adverbs and adjectives.
Thesaurus Writing: This is when an author whips out Merriam-Webster’s trusty yellow book (or a device with internet connection) and replaces every word in their writing with a different one that they think means the same thing, but it absolutely doesn’t. Know the differences in connotation or definition before swapping a word, and don’t do it everywhere. It doesn’t make you look smarter, but it does make you look pretentious and a little goofy.
Neglecting Pacing: Pay attention to the rhythm and flow of your story. Varying sentence lengths, balancing action with quieter moments, and ensuring each scene moves the plot forward can help maintain reader engagement. Not everything needs to be a thrilling action sequence, or a romantic kiss. Characters need to talk, they need to explore, and they need to rest. On the other hand, if this is all they do (or you find yourself describing a trip to the bathroom), you’ve gone too far.
Ignoring Genre Conventions: While originality is important, readers often have certain expectations based on genre. Familiarize yourself with the conventions of your chosen genre and consider how you can both satisfy and subvert those expectations in your own unique way, with a focus on satisfying them. You can be clever, but be too clever and you'll alienate your target audience. A Fantasy story without the fantastical isn't really Fantasy anymore.
Neglecting Theme: Theme is the underlying message explored in your story. While it may not be explicitly stated, having a clear theme in mind can help guide your narrative choices and create a more cohesive, impactful story. Every great story has a theme, even if you don’t realize it. Make sure you have your theme down, less you end up with an incoherent message or an unsavory one.
Now, go write. Do it. Goodbye. :)

This language is an artlang made by me for pure fun, and also for an in-progress world-building project. The world for which this conlang is created does not exist yet, but it will eventually.

Phonology

Consonants:

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatoglottal
Nasal	m	n
Plosives	p • b	t • d
Fricative	f	s	h
Rhotic		r*
Approximant	w ⟨u⟩**		j ⟨i⟩**

* can be the whatever rhotic
** in educational material, these consonants are spelled ⟨w⟩ and ⟨j⟩.
Vowels:
​

	Front	(Center)	Back
High	i	(ɪ ⟨i⟩)	ɯ ⟨u⟩
Mid	e	(ə ⟨e⟩)	ʌ ⟨o⟩
Low		(ɐ ⟨a⟩)	ɑ ⟨a⟩

The vowels in parentheses are allophones of other vowels, usually used to the first of the two vowels in sequences where two vowels separated by a consonant are the same.

Phonotactics

There can't be more than two vowels in a row. The only place where there can be two consonants in a row is on the syllable boundary. Lastly, the letter A can only be used word-initially or after R.

Vocabulary

Even though the dictionary is tiny right now, it doesn't try to be too simple. This language is naturalistic, after all. This language distinguishes politeness levels for pronouns and for some other words, as a result of slang terms created by the “humanoids” of this world. Because of world-building reasons, a lot of vocabulary is related to internet.
Pronouns:

	singular	plural
1st person	a (informal); era (formal)	me (informal, exclusive); ner (formal, exclusive); esi (inclusive)
2nd person	ju	ira (informal); irer (formal)
3rd person	oje (disrespectful); i (informal); ri (formal)	ije (informal); ar (formal)

Numerals (base 6):

English jan Misali-based seximal	iteridhoto
zero	nur
one	soen
two	jerir
three	riniko
four	bos
five	oso
six	mote
seven	mote soen
twelve	jerir mote
foursy three	bos mote riniko
five nif dozen four	oso oseh jerir mote bos

Grammar

Nouns conjugate by case and number; adjectives and numerals do not. Verbs conjugate by tense.
Noun endings:

	singular	plural
nominative	-e	-i
genitive	-et	-it
accusative	∅	-i
locative	-en	-in

Verb endings:

present/future	-u
past	-(d)o
infinitive	-re

Adjectives go before the noun. Adverbs do not exist, they are literally just adjectives appended before the verb.

beuse dawes — dear sunglasses emoji
tujo wesire — to die sadly

Finally,

Sample text

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Atje hjumeni jesiu ume sibje e some n debnoren e reurin. Ar rijeu nitef e ratef e ar wo rate hesre some somefe.
IPA: /ɑtje hjɯmeni jesiɯ ɯme sibje e sʌmə n debnʌrən e reɯrin ɑr rijeɯ nitəf e rɑtəf e ɑr wʌ rɑtə hesre sʌme sʌməfe/
(all human-PL.NOM BE-PRS created free AND equal in goodness-SG.LOC AND ability-PL.LOC • they.FOR have-PRS think-N AND good-N AND they.FOR should good do.INF equal equal-N-NOM •)

The curious PWS (person who stutters) in me read this research (PDF ebook). After finishing the 23 pages, I summed up the key points.
Intro:

• The goal of this research is to examine (1) linguistic features that increase stuttering, (2) whether or not PWS exhibit subtle language differences or deficits, and (3) language factors that influence recovery in young children
• Research findings:
  • relatively lower language skills, and sophisticated brain indices of atypical language processing in PWS
  • distinct and atypical profiles of grammatical and lexical processing in PWS while listening to language, even when they are not required to produce speech
  • language formulation demand impacts the speech motor system in PWS
• 80% of children who stutter (CWS) will recover from stuttering apparently without benefit of therapeutic intervention

LANGUAGE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE FREQUENCY AND LOCATION OF STUTTERING

• Word-level factors:
• The particular sounds that led to stuttering were highly idiosyncratic across adults who stutter
• Brown: grammatical factors of words: stuttering was more likely to occur on nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (content words) and less likely to occur on articles, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions (function words) in adults who stutter (AWS)
• Content words carry most of the meaning
• The relationship is reversed in preschool children who stutter; they often stutter on function words, especially pronouns and conjunctions
• More stuttering occurs on words that arise earlier, as compared to later in an utterance due to problems with motor planning
• Word length: AWS stutter more on longer words, because (1) they are more “prominent”, and thus the speaker anticipated difficulty due to the prominence of the word, and (2) articulatory transitions are more challenging to produce in longer words (problems in motor planning)
• Content words tend to be longer in length than function words, and many function words occur at the beginnings of sentences in English
• Information value refers to how predictable a word is in a given context. If I say, “Pour me a cup of hot, black ___,” the final word is relatively predictable. Words that are difficult to guess have a higher information value, and therefore are more loaded with information. Thus, a word that is low in predictability is high in information value. Words that are less predictable are stuttered more frequently
• Defined critical words as those that “necessarily had to be pronounced if a listener should be able to understand and act according to the message given”, and their results indicated that critical words tended to be stuttered more frequently
• Utterance-level factors: Long and complex utterances are stuttered more, because they require increased motor formulation and lead to reduced speech motor coordination
• Reduction in cognitive and motor planning leads to reductions in stuttering

DO PWS HAVE UNDERLYING LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES OR DEFICITS?

Studies of language processing in adults and children who stutter

• Even when PWS are listening, rather than speaking, we can observe atypicalities in how language is processed
• Overactivation bilaterally during both receptive and expressive language tasks (e.g., single word naming) tasks in adults who stutter
• Using nonmeaningful speech stimuli, under-activation
• ERP profiles:
• ERPs can be viewed as cortical signatures marking stages in how the brain decodes language input, from its phonology, to word identification and semantic processing, and finally to grammatical parsing
• Numerous ERP studies of adults who stutter indicate that latency is delayed and amplitude of response is diminished to a variety of stimuli
• ERP indices of semantic processing
• Differences in processing of syntactic features of language
• Show fairly consistent and different electrophysiological responses to semantic and grammatical errors in heard speech

Relative depression of language abilities in children who stutter

• depression of language skills in cohorts of CWS
• depression of oral language skill in CWS
• CWS performed more poorly across articulation, grammar and overall language skill
• CWS who achieved scores more typical for their age were more likely to recover from stuttering in the following year
• a meta-analysis combined results of numerous studies tracking test performance of CWS relative to fluent peers on language test “batteries” such as the Test of Language Development. Analysis suggested that CWS scored significantly lower than children who do not stutter (CWNS) on overall language, receptive and expressive vocabulary
• CWS scored lower in both expressive and receptive vocabulary
• depressed ability to repeat sentence-level stimuli by CWS
• a recent meta-analysis found depression of CWS performance on forward memory span, inhibition and attention, and executive function

LANGUAGE FACTORS THAT APPEAR TO INFLUENCE RECOVERY FROM EARLY CHILDHOOD STUTTERING

• the British Twins Early Development (TED) study found that, of 1085 children who stutter between ages two and four, 92% were recovered by age 7
• it may be that stuttering does not emerge until a certain level of language proficiency is reached – children who develop language more slowly will reach this stage later in childhood
• role of language proficiency in recovery from stuttering:
• articulation/phonological findings:
• phonological awareness, and phonological manipulation ability, rather than speech articulation skills, are depressed in CWS
• AWS show lower levels of performance, typically in rapidity of response, when asked to perform a variety of phonological processing tasks
• subtle articulatory differences such as rate of second formant transitions in CV syllables were found to differentiate persistent and recovered children from the ISRP
• CWS who persisted used strategies in creating rhymes that differed from recovered children
• atypicalities in cortical processing of rhyming/non-rhyming words were detected in persistent CWS

Standardized test score achievement as a factor in recovery

• linguistic predictor of recovery: Preschool Language Scale
• screening tests has predicted recovery in very young Japanese children who stutter
• language differences showing higher scores for recovered children have been detected using the Test of Early Language Development receptive scales (TELD), and expressive scales, and expressive vocabulary

Expressive language analysis

• mean length of utterance (MLU) is not predictive of stuttering
• lexical diversity or richness in the child’s language is not predictive of stuttering
• communication skills at 2 years of age predicted recovery status by age 7 for Australian girls, but not boys
• at age 7, Australian recovered CWS had stronger language skills
• reduced expressive language growth (growth in the variety of grammatical structures in children’s expressive language), rather than initial presentation, predicted stuttering
• recovered children show steeper growth in expressive language complexity
• higher levels of expressive grammatical development were associated with recovery

Experimental indices of linguistic processing and recovery from early stuttering

• linguistic markers of stuttering recovery:
• Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to study brain activity during processing of stories manipulated to contain occasional insertions of semantically anomalous information (e.g., he ate all his door quickly). The N400 response had reduced amplitude in children who remained persistent, a potential marker of weaker semantic processing skill in children who continue to stutter
• children who remained persistent showed an unusual and unexpected N400 (semantic) response to both semantic as well as syntactic violations in stimuli

LANGUAGE FACTORS IN BILINGUAL CHILDREN WHO STUTTER

The presence of multiple languages adds complexity

• language dominance and proficiency are significant determinants of disfluency
• bilingualism increases a child’s risk of being diagnosed as stuttering, even when they are not

Determining the presence of stuttering in bilingual children

• typical disfluencies, such as revisions, filled pauses, silent pauses, and phrase revisions are seen in monolingual children during times of rapid language learning
• bilingual children may have increased rates of typical disfluencies, perhaps due to the increased challenges of language processing and formulation in two or more languages

THE INTERFACE BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND MOTOR FACTORS IN STUTTERING

• How could difficulties in processing or retrieving linguistic elements (be they sounds, words or utterances) result in stuttering?
• Answer: Because of the unique differences in the integration of language and speech demands in PWS
• Like any well-practiced motor activity, a person’s signature has distinctive form and regularity (much to the dismay of any student who has tried to forge a parent’s excuse or permission slip). Repeated trials of one’s signature have observable regularity and uniformity. Another way to describe this is to say that there is little variability in the action’s temporal and spatial features. Similar properties can be derived for repeated speech sequences, such as saying the same phrase over and over
• Adults who stutter demonstrated slightly more spatial/temporal variability in repeating simple utterances; variability was significantly increased when the AWS attempted to utter the same phrase in a longer, more complicated response
• Thus, while AWS’ production of a phrase like “buy Bobby a puppy”, was not immensely different from that seen in adults who do not stutter (AWNS), embedding the same phrase in a stimulus such as “You buy Sally a kitty, and I’ll buy Bobby a puppy” resulted in noticeable loss of stability across repetitions of the target words

Tips: (that I extracted from the research)

• develop hierarchies of linguistic/cognitive/motor planning difficulty e.g., switching from reading aloud to spontaneous conversation
• decrease disfluencies (and speech errors) by addressing:
  • lower language skills
  • atypical language processing
  • atypical profiles of grammatical and lexical processing
  • heightened language formulation demands that impact the speech motor system
• address linguistic demands that trigger stuttering, such as:
  • highly idiosyncratic particular sounds
  • content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) (that carry most of the meaning) over function words (articles, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions)
  • words that arise earlier in an utterance due to problems with motor planning
  • longer words, because (1) we anticipate difficulty due to the prominence of the word, and (2) articulatory transitions are more challenging to produce in longer words (problems in motor planning)
  • less predictable words e.g., when saying “My name is ___,”, because of (1) increased information value, and (2) more loaded with information
  • defined critical words e.g., words that necessarily had to be pronounced if a listener should be able to understand and act according to the message given
  • long and complex utterances, because they require increased motor formulation and lead to reduced speech motor coordination
  • heightened cognitive and motor planning
• address demands that are triggered by receptive and expressive language tasks
• learn to perceive, feel and respond to non-meaningful speech stimuli - the same as meaningful ones
• address overactivation in the right-hemisphere when decoding language input, from its phonology, to word identification and semantic processing, and finally to grammatical parsing, and processing of syntactic features of language
• address latency that is delayed and amplitude of response that is diminished to a variety of stimuli
• address atypical electrophysiological responses to semantic and grammatical errors
• increase language skills, oral language skills, articulation, grammar and overall language skill, receptive and expressive vocabulary, and the ability to repeat sentence-level stimuli - to reduce disfluencies or speech errors
• increase performance on forward memory span, inhibition and attention, and executive function - to reduce disfluencies or speech errors
• increase phonological awareness, and phonological manipulation ability - to reduce disfluencies or speech errors
• increase performance in rapidity of response, when asked to perform a variety of phonological processing tasks
• improve articulatory skills such as rate of second formant transitions in CV syllables
• address the atypicalities in cortical processing of rhyming/non-rhyming words
• increase communication skills
• increase the variety of grammatical structures in expressive language, rather than initial presentation
• address atypical brain activity during processing of stories manipulated to contain occasional insertions of semantically anomalous information (e.g., he ate all his door quickly) - to increase semantic processing skills. Address the unusual and unexpected N400 (semantic) response to both semantic and syntactic violations in stimuli
• increase language dominance and proficiency - to decrease disfluency
• improve normal disfluencies, such as revisions, filled pauses, silent pauses, and phrase revisions
• address difficulties in processing or retrieving linguistic elements (be they sounds, words or utterances) - to reduce stuttering. For example, by adressing the unique differences in the integration of language and speech demands
• decrease the variability in the action’s temporal and spatial features in a longer, more complicated response during a stimulus
• address the increased demands on working memory - that result in stuttering. Don't fully allocate working memory/attention resources in speaking, instead, distribute this to other concurrent tasks as well - to improve fluency (1)
• don't focus on your attention on anxiety-related symptoms such as physiological (e.g. increased heart rate and sweating) and psychological changes (e.g. increased negative thoughts), during triggers (e.g., social anxiety). Address these stutter triggers: criticism or negative evaluation as inherently painful to one’s self-worth; social evaluation (threat) by others resulting in feelings of being judged and evaluated, and eliciting strong physiological responses. Focus on external attention/tasks (e.g., make sure that the way you said it matches the auditory model) over internal attention (e.g., focusing on how their lips, teeth, and tongue are used to produce each sound) - to reduce speech errors/disfluencies and reduce articulatory movement variability (2)

Five treatment approaches that might reduce stuttering (and prevent chronic stuttering) for a school-age child:

• (a) Operant methods: This seems to be the most effective. In the LidCombe, children are not instructed to change their customary speech pattern in any way. Parents comment when a child stutters or does not stutter:
• (1) Praise for spontaneous self correction: “Great job, you fixed that bumpy word all by yourself",
• (2) Request self evaluation "Were there any bumps there?"
• (3) Acknowledge: "That was smooth" (positive reinforcement / operant conditioning)
• (4) Request self-correction "See if you can say that without the bump"
• (b) Speech restructuring: easy, relaxed breathing while slowing speech rate and prolonging syllables; encouraging the child to practise saying each syllable in time to a rhythmic beat
• (c) Combined operant methods and speech restructuring
• (d) Machine-driven treatments
• (e) Treatments with a cognitive behaviour therapy component
• Address the associations between negative experiences of stuttering. Because the more time between early onset, the more associations between the negative experiences of stuttering (Mark Onslow, 2023, December)(3)

Explore potential interactions between language skill and fluency at multiple levels:

• (1) language sample analysis to ascertain what structures the child appears to be able to use, or are absent from the child’s repertoire, and general stage of expressive language development
• (2) examination of the sample for possible structures that seem particularly likely to be accompanied by stuttering
• (3) general status of language development as informed by standardized testing
• (4) programming of fluency goals at lower levels of linguistic complexity (already mastered structures), and moving through planned practice at increasingly more difficult levels of complexity
• (5) accepting that fluency breakdown may accompany the child’s attempts to master new language targets during language intervention sessions

Yesterday I asked about the difference between ‘właśnie’ and ‘dopiero’.
Still intrigued by ‘dopiero’, I asked GPT-4 to elaborate on the word. Here’s what it came up with:
“The Polish word "dopiero" is an adverb that translates into English as "only," "just," or "not until." It expresses the recency or the commencement of an action, often emphasizing that something has happened not long ago, is about to begin, or that an event has occurred later than expected or compared to a reference point in time.
Here are five example sentences using "dopiero":

1. Expressing that something has just happened: "Dopiero co zacząłem czytać tę książkę i już jestem nią zafascynowany." "I have only just started reading this book, and I'm already fascinated by it."
   
2. Indicating an action that is about to begin: "Dopiero będziemy jeść kolację, kiedy wszyscy goście przyjdą." "We will only have dinner when all the guests arrive."
   
3. Highlighting that an event is overdue: "Dopiero o północy skończyłem pracę." "I didn't finish work until midnight."
   
4. Stating that only now something has been realized or learned: "Dopiero teraz zrozumiałem, jak ważne jest zdrowie." "Only now have I understood how important health is."
   
5. Conveying exclusivity in a sequence: "Dopiero po zdanym egzaminie możesz zacząć kurs zaawansowany." "You can only start the advanced course after you have passed the exam."
   

Through these examples, you can see the versatility of "dopiero" in expressing timing and sequence, as well as setting conditions in various contexts.”
So, how do you think GPT-4 did? Would you agree with all of that, or did it get some things not quite right?

https://thelampmagazine.com/blog/how-to-write-english-prose
I haven't seen this posted here before, but I found it incredibly helpful and inspiring. Much of the writing advice I've encountered seems to align more with Orwell's advice for prose, which in my experience, seems counter to my favourite kind of writing (playful, inventive, challenging). Hart's piece offers an alternative approach, which I hope you find helpful too.
For me, the most helpful aspect (and what helps me avoid purple prose) is the idea that good writing is a balancing act between the beautiful and the sublime:

The “beautiful” is a style that abounds in sparkling ornamentation while the “sublime” is a style of majestic restraint, pitched “below the threshold” (sub limine) of the temple, a plangent bareness whose rhetorical power somehow exceeds that of the most spectacular oratorical adornments.
Every great national prose, in just about any tongue, reaches its high meridian only by way of a prolonged and constant negotiation of just this tension between beauty and sublimity—between the decorative and the august, or between the splendid and the lucid. And this comes only at the end of long epochs of development. To be able to balance expressiveness and reticence, or to know when to cast that balance away, requires tact and ingenuity and taste on the part of writers; but it also requires a language of sufficient maturity.

Note that Hart explicitly states this is what he found to be true about his personal literary taste, and that this is for achieving a certain kind of prose, rather than setting a standard for what good prose is. I'd love to hear your thoughts and hope that it has some positive impact on your craft.
The Rules:
Vocabulary:

1. Always use the word that most exactly means what you wish to say, in utter indifference to how common or familiar that word happens to be. A writer should never fret over what his or her readers may or may not know, and should worry only about underestimating them. As Nabokov said, a good reader always comes prepared with a dictionary and never resents being introduced to a new term. I call this the “ultracrepidarian rule,” simply because an editor once tried unsuccessfully to dissuade me from writing about a certain “polemicist who stumbles across unseen disciplinary boundaries in an ultracrepidarian stupor.” The editor lost that argument because there is absolutely no other word in the English language that so exactly means what I wanted to say.
   
2. Always use the word you judge most suitable for the effect you want to produce, in terms both of imagery and sound, as well as of the range of connotations and associations you want to evoke. This I call the “hyaline rule” on account of a sentence that appeared in a book of mine entitled The Doors of the Sea: “At the shorelines, the lovely glistening hyaline waters were all at once polluted with the silt and débris and murk of the ocean’s bed, and rose with such terrifying suddenness that very few—even as far away as Sri Lanka—had sufficient time to flee.” An indignant reader complained that I might just as easily have used the word “glassy” instead, as any decent unpretentious soul would have done. But I had chosen “hyaline” for very particular reasons: it is a precise word, meaning “glassy” in the sense principally of crystalline translucency; it had exactly the right sound for the sentence—three syllables, the lovely long-i vowel sounds, the equally lovely liquid “l” and smoothly glistening “n,” all of which gave it a glassy and watery feel on the tongue; and it was the perfect word in the context of that book because it echoes the book of Revelation’s thalassa hyalinē, “the sea of glass like unto crystal” before God’s throne, as well as Milton’s “On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea . . .” Perhaps no reader is likely to be aware of all of that; but I knew what I was doing, and so any other word would have been a craven capitulation to the ordinary.
   
3. When the occasion presents itself for using an outlandishly obscure but absolutely precise and appropriate word, use it. I call this the “pogonotrophy rule,” because I once wrote a review in the Times Literary Supplement of a book by Rowan Williams, at that time Archbishop of Canterbury, after a dreadfully stupid journalist had suggested that his reputation as an intellectual was a consequence only of his lavish beard. This gave me an opportunity to use that wonderful word, which I had long been holding in reserve for just the proper moment. Such an opportunity would certainly have never come again; if I had let it pass unexploited, I should have carried the grief of it to my grave.
   
4. Never use a word simply because it is obscure, but never hesitate to use a word on account of its obscurity either. If you show off by being punctiliously precise, as per rule one above, all the grand rococo ornamentation you could ever wish for your prose will spring up all on its own.
   
5. Do not use a thesaurus. Lists of putative synonyms do not give you a sense of any word’s most proper meaning and use. If you are trying to recall a word you know that inexplicably refuses to surface in your memory, maybe you will find it in such a volume; and perhaps, if you happen to be writing humorous verse and have come up against an intractable problem of scansion, you might find something suitable there. Otherwise, learn the meanings and uses of words by reading widely (with that dictionary that Nabokov recommends within reach).
   
6. The exotic is usually more delightful than the familiar. Be kind to your readers and give them exotic things when you can. In general, life is rather boring, and a writer should try to mitigate that boredom rather than contribute to it.
   

Style:

1. Sometimes less is more. More often, more is more and less is less. Sometimes more is the very least one can do for one’s readers.
   
2. If you must choose between elegance and perfect clarity, allow yourself a period of decorously agonized indecision, and then always choose elegance.
   
3. Never squander an opportunity for verbal cleverness. I once related in print the notorious tale of Schopenhauer throwing an old washerwoman down a flight of stairs, describing him at one point as seizing her by her “wizened weasand.” Self-indulgent, no doubt, but such moments as those make one feel that one has lived to a purpose.
   
4. In “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell proposes six rules, the first of which is a sound admonition against using hackneyed metaphors, but the second of which is “Never use a long word when a short one will do.” This is an idiotic maxim, one that concentrates almost every kind of philistinism in itself. What he should have written was “Never prefer a short word because it is short or a long word because it is long, but always use the word that to your mind best combines sense, felicity, connotation, wit, and sound, without worrying about whether your readers are likely to recognize it.”
   
5. Orwell also decrees: “If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.” No great writer in the history of any tongue has ever observed this rule, and no aspiring writer should follow it. The correct counsel would be “If a word is so excessive as to mar the effect of a sentence, remove it; but never remove a word simply because it is possible to do so.”
   
6. Orwell then commands: “Never use the passive where you can use the active.” This is perhaps the worst rule of style ever proposed by anyone. All of literary history proclaims its imbecility. Instead: “Avoid the passive voice when the active works better and vice versa.” After all, in life we sometimes act and sometimes are acted upon. The causal dialectic between agency and patiency, to use the scholastic terms, is intrinsic to finitude.
   
7. Orwell’s next dictate is “Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.” All that can be salvaged from this trite and parochial balderdash is “Avoid jargon.” Feel free to use a foreign phrase when it is apt or pleasing to do so, and always do so when it expresses an idea with greater elegance or aphoristic economy than any English equivalent could (for instance, the phrase l’esprit d’escalier). English is a gloriously mongrel tongue, and it has always pillaged other languages for glittering trinkets. Moreover, always—always—employ precise scientific terms in contexts where they are germane.
   
8. Orwell’s final injunction is “Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.” Since, however, following his rules would produce barbarous prose roughly half the time, he ought instead to have written, “Ignore these rules, except for the one about hackneyed metaphors and the bit about jargon.”
   
9. Strunk and White’s Elements of Style decrees: “Keep related words together.” This is vacuous. Awkward ruptures of sense are obviously to be avoided. Taken as a principle, however, this little axiom is not only bad advice; it is a renunciation of language as such. As any decent student of linguistics knows, one of the chief differences between actual linguistic meaning (on the one hand) and mere ostensive noises and gestures (on the other) is the former’s reliance upon structural rather than spatial proximities. The capacity to qualify a predicative phrase by the interpolation of a subordinate clause (for example) is one of those precious attainments that distinguish us from baboons.
   
10. The same book advises: “Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs.” That is moronic. Better not to write at all than attempt to heed so obscene a piece of puritanical nonsense. Write with every kind of word that serves your ends.
    
11. In fact, if you own a copy of The Elements of Style, just destroy the damned thing. It is a pestilential presence in your library. Most of the rules of style it contains are vacuous, arbitrary, or impossible to obey, and you are better off without them in your life. And the materials on grammar and usage are frequently something worse. Some of them are simply inherited fake rubrics—“however” must always be a postpositive, “which” must not be used for a restrictive relative clause, and other nonsense of that kind—all of which are belied by the whole canon of English literature. Others, however, are evidence of surprising ignorance. It is bad enough that the manual insists that one must on principle prefer the active to the passive voice; but it is far worse that it then adduces several supposed examples of sentences in the passive voice that are in fact nothing of the sort. One of them—“There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground”—seems to have been chosen simply because “lying” about sounds like a passive sort of thing to do. That neither Strunk nor White knew the difference between a passive construction and an active intransitive verb in the imperfect past tense—or, as the book also demonstrates, the difference between the passive and an active past perfect, or the difference between the passive and an adjectival past participle without an auxiliary verb—is genuinely shocking. It does, however, impart a useful lesson: never mistake a tone of authority for evidence of actual expertise.
    
12. All these vapidly doctrinaire injunctions—urging you to write only plain declarative sentences stripped of modifiers and composed solely of words familiar to the average ten-year-old and demanding that you always prefer charcoal-gray to sumptuous purple—are expressions of everything spiritually deadening about late modernity and its banausic values. They reflect an epoch in which the mysterious, the evocative, and the beautifully elliptical have been systematically suppressed and nearly extinguished in the name of the efficient, the practical, the mechanical, and the starkly unambiguous—in short, in the name of everything that makes existence uninviting and life boring. They are reflections of an age of bloodless capitalist economism, the reign of brutally common sense, the barbarian triumph of function over form, a spare, Spartan civic architecture of featureless glass and steel and plastic, a consumerist society that lives on the ceaseless production and disposal of intrinsically graceless conveniences. Learn to detest all of these things and you will be a better writer for having done so.
    
13. Always read what you have written aloud. No matter how elaborate your prose, it must flow; it must feel genuinely continuous. This is not to say one must imitate natural speech; it is only to say that one must try to capture its rhythms. If what you have written is awkward on your tongue, then it is awkward on the page.
    

Models:

1. Bad writing is rarely mistaken for good by the discerning, but it can often be mistaken for great. Keep this in mind when considering the work of authors you are tempted to emulate.
   
2. Truly great writing is often inimitable, simply because the better a writer is, the more distinctive his or her voice tends to be. Keep this also in mind when considering the work of authors you are tempted to emulate.
   
3. If you have ever taken a course in “creative writing,” try to remember as vividly as possible the kind of prose you were encouraged by your teacher to write, and then do your very best to avoid writing that way.
   
4. If you were told in school that Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea is a specimen of good writing, disabuse yourself of this folly. It is in fact an excruciating specimen of bad schoolboy prose, written by a man who by that point had, alas, been too often drunk, too often concussed, and too often praised.
   
5. For American writers in particular, and especially young American writers, and most especially young male American writers: There is on these shores an indigenous tradition of the “American Sublime”—though in many cases it might better be called “American Fustian.” One encounters it at its worst in William Faulkner and Thomas Wolfe when they are at their worst, as well as in a number of other authors whose names I here omit. We as a people like to strive for grand effects, often vastly in excess of any plausible occasion for doing so. Whether this is because of the presence of our magnificent landscape or because of the absence of a long cultural history I cannot guess. I would not say that you must resist the lures of this style altogether. It is there also to be found in the best of our literature—in Melville and Emerson, Muir and Thoreau, and so on—and there it is often glorious. Still, yield to it only to the degree that you can control the forces you set loose. Otherwise, you will lapse into inadvertent parody.
   

Punctuation:

1. A writer who disdains the semicolon is a fool. In fact, hostility to this most delicate and lyrical of punctuation marks is a sure sign of a deformed soul and a savage sensibility. Conscious life is not a brute concatenation of discrete units of experience; it is often fluid, resistant to strict divisions and impermeable partitions, punctuated by moments of transition that are neither exactly terminal nor exactly continuous in character. Meaning, moreover, is often held together by elusive connections, ambiguous shifts of reference, mysterious coherences. And art should use whatever instruments it has at its disposal to express these ambiguous eventualities and perplexing alternations. To master the semicolon is to master prose. To master the semicolon is to master language’s miraculous capacity for capturing the shape of reality.
   
2. Second only to the semicolon in subtlety, fluent beauty, and whimsy is the dash. Cherish it. Use it with abandon.
   

Readers:

1. Those who read only to be informed and never to delight in the words on the page have every right to do so. But do not write for them.
   
2. The only book reviewers of any significance are themselves distinguished writers. Cultivate critical intelligence in yourself and try to read your own work with impartiality; but studiously ignore criticism from the unaccomplished.
   
3. Do not write down to what you presume to be the level of your readers (unless you are writing specifically for very small children). To do so is an injustice both to them and to you. Even if your suppositions regarding them are correct, you should do them the honor of assuming they know what you know, or can learn it, or are at least willing to try. True, some readers become indignant at their own inability to follow prose of any complexity or to recognize words any more obscure than those they are accustomed to using when talking to their dogs. Invariably they will blame the author rather than themselves. You owe them absolutely nothing. If you attempt always to descend to the lowest common denominator, you will never hit bottom, but you will certainly end up losing the interest of better readers. Ours is, sadly, an age of declining literacy and attention spans, and the situation grows worse by the year. You simply must not make any concessions to that reality, unless you are prepared in the end to give up on writing altogether.
   

The Last Things:

1. Memento mori. One day you will die and go to your long home and your voice will fall silent. You have only so much time to make the treasures of your mind and soul manifest. Do not waste the little span allotted to you producing only work intended for the moment rather than for posterity.
   
2. Know the names of things and the names of places. Both are a kind of poetry and both contain mysteries. It is an ancient intuition that to possess something’s proper name is to possess power over it; it is, if nothing else, to share in that thing’s form—its unique manner, that is, of making being’s inexhaustible richness manifest. This is because language is magic.
   
3. Language is magic. It is invocation and conjuration. With words, we summon the seas and the forests, the stars and distant galaxies, the past and the future and the fabulous, the real and the unreal, the possible and the impossible. With words, we create worlds—in imagination, in the realm of ideas, in the arena of history. With words, we disclose things otherwise hidden, including even our inward selves. And so on. When you write, attempt to weave a spell. If this is not your intention, do not write.
   
4. As you near your life’s end, you will be able to look back over your work with some satisfaction if there have been moments in your prose when you have achieved precisely what you hoped to achieve. Keep an inventory of these in your mind, so that you can return to them when you find yourself depressed, uninspired, or suffering self-doubt. I offer two of my own such moments in parting, not because either is in any sense the best thing I have written, but only because each happened (almost miraculously) to have exactly the form and effect that I wanted it to have before I began to write it.
   

The first is not even a complete sentence, but only a sequence of fragmentary impressions in a story called “A Voice from the Emerald World”:

The light, palely golden in the fluttering leaves, and between the slowly swaying culms . . . and, when I look up, that great eye of soft luminous blue, fringed by the mercurial sparkle of green and silver leaves . . . that blank, quietly menacing, mysterious gaze . . . .

The second is a short passage from near the end of a novel entitled Kenogaia:

He could even see Kenopolis from here, no longer under a pall of storm-clouds, ringed by the mild aqueous shimmer of the moonlit harbor and bay and sea; now, though, it all looked poignantly diminutive, like a chaotically turreted sandcastle among shallow tidal pools, waiting for the rising surf to break it down, or like a frayed cardboard diorama in a neglected corner of the nursery. Why, he mused, had they ever felt it necessary to flee from something so quaint and ephemeral?

Only I can ever really know what it is about each of them that I find so perfectly pleasing; but, believe me, that knowledge makes all the hard work of writing seem more than worthwhile.

Hi all,
I lurk on this subreddit often, and I have noticed that a lot of writers in this community are kind of asking the wrong questions. There are no wrong questions-- don't get me wrong. Let me rephrase: some of your concerns/worries are in the wrong places, which is another discussion. I've noticed that there are a lot of people on here who would benefit from some writing tools/rules/basics. I'm going to make a list with brief descriptions that outline some essential story-telling components that changed my perspective as a writer. I also wanted to suggest two books: Gotham Writer's Workshop and Wonderbook. Almost all of the advice I am about to give is from these two books, which are the leading textbooks in a creative writing class I took this year. I am not a professional writer, which also means that I am on the same page as many people here. These writing basics have substantially improved my relationship with writing just in this last year. My ignorance to these basics is still fresh in my mind where I can remember how I used to approach writing and how it wasn't beneficial to me. Without further ado, I will start that list. Here are some writing essentials:
​

• The Dramatic Question. All stories must have a dramatic question. If yours does not have one, it needs one. The Dramatic Question is a yes or no (sometimes "maybe") question that drives the plot of your story. It doesn't actually have to be dramatic in the colloquial sense. If your story is about someone who trying to get a burrito, the dramatic question is "Will they get the burrito? Yes or no?" Pop Culture Example: The Hunger Games Book 1: "Will Katniss survive the hunger games?" Stranger Things Season 1: "Will they find will?" All stories must have the dramatic question. I know we like to say there is not right way to write, and that is 98% true. There are basic core rules that drive a story, and you have to reckon with that.
• Desire. All characters must have a desire and, like the dramatic question, this desire will drive the plot. Desires can be simple or they can be intense. Maybe your character wants food because they are hungry, so the whole story is about them trying to get a burrito at a corner store. Pop Culture Example: Stranger Things Season 1: Will's Mom needs to find will.
• Characters Make Choices. Just like you, Characters make consistent daily choices-- big and small. Characters shouldn't just be thrown around by the external. Although external things happen to characters, people make choices when things happen to them. Pop Culture Example: Katniss did not get chosen for the Hunger Games. She volunteered to protect her sister. Choices drive the plot, and they make the character feel real.
• Plot/Story is not Reality: It seems obvious that fiction is not real, but it's easy to get stuck thinking that your story has to perfectly mirror reality. I am not talking about inconsistencies that break realism here like poor research. Here is a quote from GWW because the author says it better than I can: "Fiction does have a point. [Fiction] has a fascinating and meaningful sequence of events. (Pg 53). This leads me to my next bullet...
• No need for filler: With Fictional stories, every detail must be relevant to the plot and the character(s). Sometimes we can think that we need to "fill in" the spaces between those big scenes with whatever we can think of. Actually, the space between those big scenes are just as important and meaningful as those big scenes. There shouldn't just be "filler." All of your story is your story.
• Setting affects everything about your character-- it's not just set dressing. Characters are shaped by their surrounding-- whether or not they are native to it. Setting informs the clothes they wear, the way they cross the street, the cigarettes they smoke, etc. I am having trouble summarizing this concept, so excuse me for not giving it justice.
• Scene, Summary, Scene. In pacing, we have points in our story that deserve full descriptions/scenes. Some points in our story just need summarized. Ie: Character gets ready in the morning (summary), character sees ghost in the mirror (scene).

​
Three Random advices that has also helped me, but it's more for later
The list above are tools I would consider essential story-telling, and there are also some tools that have helped me more with prose:

• Focus more on nouns and verbs in description rather than adjectives and adverbs. I am not saying to completely remove adjectives and adverbs from your vocabulary, but to only use them when they strengthen the sentence/description. Sentences with primarily nouns and verbs can make the story feel more grounded in reality, move better, and prevent clunkiness. Also, limiting yourself to nouns and verbs while practicing forces you to come up with more creative ways to make your surroundings real.
• Everyone likes description. It's fun to create fluffy description that makes you sound like a writer, but you should abandon that for a short while. Your description is nothing without story and the understanding of basic story-telling. Sure, you might be great at description but have you ever noticed that... you never finish anything? Stop caring about prose and description for a while and just focus on basic storytelling.
• There are more but I can't think of them right now, so maybe in another post.

Conclusion
Because this is reddit and redditors are another breed, I want to just confirm that I am posting this to help people out. Recently, i have learned a lot about writing and storytelling that has monumentally altered the way I approach writing. I enjoy writing more, and I think i have improved as a writer. I wanted to share these things so that I can help people out. Thanks for reading.

I've already posted this in "Cognitive testing" and "Trivia" subreddits. Wondering how well would this community do on this test.
This is just for fun, no obligations. If you're willing to waste some time answering questions and if you find this kind of thing fun, feel free to do the test and post your results.
Also, if you notice any mistakes in the test, please let me know. I've tried my best to make it accurate, but some errors are always possible.
Note, in questions that contain multiple subquestions, if you answer some but not all subquestions, you can give yourself points accordingly. For example if a question asks for the name of the author, name of the work and the year when it's published, and you just know the name of the work, you can give yourself 1/3 of a point.
THE TEST STARTS HERE
1. Philosophy
1.1. What is the main division in philosophy since the start of 20th century? Analytic philosophy vs. Continental philosophy
1.2. Which branch of philosophy deals with knowledge? Epistemology
1.3. Who proposed categorical imperative in ethics, what does it entail, and which school of ethics is based upon it? Immanuel Kant proposed it, it entails "acting only according to such a maxim, that we can will to become an universal law", and deontology is the school that's based upon it.
1.4. What is the name of philosophical position that claims that determinism does not contradict free will? Compatibilism
1.5. Which 2 ancient Greek philosophers first supported atomism, that is, the claim that matter is composed of small indivisible particles called atoms? Leucippus and Democritus
2. Mathematics
2.1. The claim that within any consistent formal system of arithmetic there are true statements that can’t be proven within the system itself is known as _______ ? Gödel's first incompleteness theorem
2.2. Non-Euclidean geometries are based on replacement or relaxation of which postulate of Euclidean geometry? parallel postulate, also called Euclid's fifth postulate
2.3. Which trigonometric function can be defined as the ratio between the adjacent side of the right triangle and the hypotenuse? Cosine
2.4. What is the formula that connects the important mathematical constant e and pi, as well as imaginary number i, and numbers 0 (the additive identity) and 1 (multiplicative identity)? Write the formula and its name! e^(iπ) + 1 = 0 Euler's identity
2.5. In simple terms, based on the features of the circle, how can the number pi be defined? The ratio of circumference to diameter of the circle.
3. Astronomy and cosmology
3.1. Where is the center of the observable Universe? Each observer is the center of their own observable Universe.
3.2. What is causing the expansion of the Universe? Dark energy
3.3. What type of planets does Jupiter belong to? gas giant
3.4. Why do small black holes quickly disappear? Because of Hawking radiation
3.5. Which galaxy is our galaxy predicted to collide with in a couple of billions years? Andromeda
4. Religion
4.1. What is the name of specific meditation states in Pali Canon of Buddhism? Jhanas
4.2. What is the name of the present age in Hindu philosophy? Kali yuga
4.3. Which teaching was most important for the Great Schism between Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic church in 1054? Filioque, that is the controversy about whether Holy Spirit proceeds only from God the Father, or from both God the Father and God the Son.
4.4. Who wrote 95 Theses that initiated Protestant reformation and when, and what was the main subject matter of this document? Martin Luther, in 1517, Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences ( indulgence, in Catholic theology = "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins") and it was critical of the indulgences and their selling.
4.5. When are Muslims allowed to eat during the month of Ramadan? Before the dawn and after the sunset
5. Geography
5.1. What is the most populous country in Africa? Nigeria
5.2. Which capital city has the highest elevation above sea level? Name the city and the country. La Paz, Bolivia, though it's just an administrative center and not a de jure capital. If La Paz is excluded then Quito, Ecuador. Both answers should be considered correct.
5.3. Which countries are located on the island of Hispaniola? Dominican Republic and Haiti
5.4. Which supervolcano is located near Naples in Italy? Campi Flegrei / Phlegraean Fields
5.5. Which is the driest desert in the world? McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. If polar deserts are excluded, then Atacama, Chile. Both answers should be counted as correct.
6. History
6.1. What is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia? Sumer
6.2. Which Athenian statesman and lawmaker is credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy and constitutional reform which succeeded in overturning most laws established by Draco? Solon
6.3. Which two African countries retained their independence during the Scramble for Africa in the 19th and early 20th century? Ethiopia and Liberia
6.4. Which African war is considered the deadliest military conflict after WW2? Second Congo War
6.5. When was the unified Kingdom of Italy established (the predecessor of modern Italian state)?>! In 1861!<
7. Chemistry
7.1. What is the name for compounds (typically hydrocarbons) containing very stable rings with delocalized electrons (or alternatively described as alternating single and double bonds) ? Aromatic compounds or aromatic hydrocarbons
7.2. When a single chemical element can exist in multiple different forms (or have different structures), such as graphite, diamond and amorphous carbon, how is each of these forms called? allotrope
7.3. The elements of the first group of periodic table (except hydrogen) are known as... ? Alkali metals
7.4. What is produced in a reaction between a metal and an acid? A salt and hydrogen gas.
7.5. What is formed in a reaction between alcohols and carboxylic acids? Esters
8. Physics
8.1. According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, how is the gravitational force related to the distance between two bodies? It becomes weaker with the square of distance. E.g. if you double the distance, the force will be 4 times weaker. The distance is calculated between centers of mass of 2 bodies, not from their surfaces.
8.2. Why do helicopters have a second vertically spinning rotor positioned on their tails? To compensate for the torque caused by the main rotor, i.e. to prevent the helicopter from spinning in the same direction as the main rotor.
8.3. According to ideal gas law, for a gas in a container with a fixed volume V, what will happen with its pressure if we double the absolute temperature of the gas? The pressure will double according to ideal gas law (pV = nRT, where p is pressure, V volume, n quantity of the gas, R ideal gas constant, and T absolute temperature). Just saying that the pressure will double counts as correct answer.
8.4. What is the temperature of a body that is twice as hot as the temperature at which water freezes? +273.15 °C or 546.3 K or +523.67° F.
8.5. To reach the maximum distance, what is the angle at which stone should be thrown (assuming we always throw it with the same force, that is giving it the same initial speed)? 45°
9. Biology
9.1. Which cell organelle is responsible for aerobic respiration and creation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is a source of chemical energy in the cell? mitochondrion
9.2. Which part of the cell, just outside the cell membrane is present in plant cells, but not in animal cells? cell wall
9.3. How many calories can we obtain from 1 gram of carbohydrates? What about fats and proteins? 4 calories from a gram of carbohydrates, 4 calories from a gram of proteins, and 9 calories from a gram of fats.
9.4. What is the backbone (the outer part) of the DNA made of? The backbone of the DNA strand is made from alternating phosphate and sugar groups. The sugar in DNA is 2-deoxyribose, which is a pentose (five-carbon) sugar. The sugars are joined by phosphate groups that form phosphodiester bonds between the third and fifth carbon atoms of adjacent sugar rings. It's enough to mention phosphate and sugar groups.
9.5. What is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower? Stamen
10. Medicine
10.1.What is the name for anti-allergy drugs? Antihistamines
10.2.What is the name for a clustering of at least 3 out of 5 medical conditions : abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) which is associated with the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes? Metabolic syndrome
10.3.What is the only human disease known to be eradicated so far? Smallpox
10.4.What is the staple therapy for dehydration, especially due to diarrhea, developed in 1960s, what is its name, and what it consists of? Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) It involves drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium.
10.5.What is the branch of medicine dealing with glands, their secretions, hormones and hormonal diseases? endocrinology
11. Visual arts
11.1.Who made a famous bronze statue called „The Thinker“ in 1904? Auguste Rodin
11.2.Who is the architect of a famous unfinished basilica in Barcelona, and how the basilica, still under construction, is called? >! Antoni Gaudí is the architect, Sagrada Família is the basilica.!<
11.3.Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood is a group of artists founded in which year, in which country, who wanted to return to the practices of Italian art from 1400s, that is from the period before the innovations of Raphael, which they consider corrupting? 1848 in the United Kingdom
11.4.What is the most famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso – write the name, year, and style(s)? Guernica, 1937, Cubism and Surrealism
11.5.Who is the American painter with prolific opus of more than 4000 works known for his works which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life. In his later period he gained more attention of critics for his more serious works, such as The Problem We All Live With which deals with racial segregation? Norman Rockwell
12. Music (popular and classical)
12.1.Which song by Don McLean deals with the tragedy that occured in 1959, when American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash? American Pie
12.2.Which opera cycle by which composer deals with characters from Germanic heroic legend, and follows the struggles of gods, heroes, and several mythical creatures over the eponymous magic ring that grants domination over the entire world? Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner
12.3.Which composer originally developed atonal music, 12 tone technique and serialism? Arnold Schoenberg
12.4.Which famous acoustic song by Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley tells us to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery? Redemption Song
12.5.Which famous Madonna’s song was sometimes interpreted as anti-abortion or pro-life song? Papa Don't Preach
13. Literature
13.1.Which French poet, and which of his works, is most commonly considered as origin or inspiration for the new generation of poets called symbolists? Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers of evil)
13.2.Which novel and by which author contains a part called The Grand Inquisitor which is largely critical of the Catholic church? The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
13.3.Which Norwegian author wrote a long autobiographical novel that shares the name with Hitler’s main work? Karl Ove Knausgård
13.4.Which French novelist is most associated with naturalism? Émile Zola
13.5.What is the figure of speech is in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole or vice versa? Synecdoche
14. Cinema and TV
14.1.What is the name of the famous American 1950s sitcom for children featuring the the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends? Leave It to Beaver
14.2.What is the name of the biographical movie about famous game theorist John Nash and his struggle with schizophrenia? A Beautiful Mind
14.3.Which movie featuring Leonardo DiCaprio explores the idea of nested dreams (dreams within dreams)... name the movie and the director. Inception by Christopher Nolan
14.4.Which TV series deals with a teacher of chemistry who turns to crime after the diagnosis of lung cancer to secure his familiy’s financial future? Breaking Bad
14.5.Which musical features a nanny known for inventing the word Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius? Mary Poppins
15. Sports
15.1.Which association football match was Brazil's worst margin of defeat in a World Cup match? When did it happen? Against which country? Where was the match played? In 2014 against Germany, Brazil lost 7:1 in the semifinal of the World Cup held in Brazil.
15.2.What is the longest standing individual world record (still standing) in athletics (track and field) ? Women's 800 m record held by Jarmila Kratochvílová since 1983.
15.3.What is the height of a table tennis table? 76 centimeters
15.4.Who was the first man to run a marathon under 2 hours in an official competitive event? No one. Current world record is 2:00:35 set on October 8, 2023 by Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum .
15.5.What is the name of the original racquet sport, played indoors, from which the modern game of tennis is derived? Real tennis
16. Politics & Current events
16.1.What is the type of government in which both the president and the prime minister with a cabinet have the executive powers? Semi-presidential system
16.2.Since 1900 which American presidents were elected even though they lost the popular vote? George W Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.
16.3.What is the name of Lebanon based militant organization that supports Hamas in its fight against Israel? Hezbollah
16.4.Which African country saw a coup d'état in July 2023? Niger
16.5.What is the most powerful supercomputer according to TOP500 list, edition of November 2023? Frontier, based in Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in the USA - max performance 1194 petaflops (or roughly 1.2 exaflops)
17. Economics
17.1.What describes the theoretical relationship between rates of taxation and the resulting levels of the government's tax revenue? Laffer curve
17.2.The observation that high levels of saving can be good for individuals but bad for the economy (because an increase in autonomous saving leads to a decrease in aggregate demand and thus a decrease in gross output which will in turn lower total saving ) is known as... ? Paradox of thrift
17.3.The situation in which a large number of people has a free access to some public resource and overuses it to the point that they start destroying its value altogether is known as... ? Tragedy of commons
17.4.The cost of good A, which consists in the inability to enjoy the second most preferred good B (because you already spent money on A), is known as... ? Opportunity cost
17.5.If country A can produce, for the same cost, 3 cars or 10 computers, and the country B can produce 1 car or 2 computers for this same cost, which country has the comparative advantage in the production of cars and which country has the comparative advantage in production of computers? Country A has a comparative advantage in the production of computers, while country B has comparative advantage in the production of cars.
18. Psychology and Sociology
18.1.According to Max Weber, what contributed the most to the prosperity of Western societies? Protestant work ethic
18.2.According to Freud, what is the part of personality structure that contains internalized social norms, morals, and parental expectations? Super ego
18.3.According to Big 5 personality theory, the 5 fundamental personality traits are... ? Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience and Neuroticism
18.4.Which need is at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which according to his theory can only be fully satisfied once the more basic needs are satisfied first? The need for self actualization.
18.5.What is the name for a state of mind of complete absorption by the task at hand to the point that one becomes oblivious about the time and their surroundings, remaining fully concentrated on the task, and which according to theory by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi brings with itself higher productivity, enjoyment and higher quality work? Flow
19. Computer science
19.1.What is the name for a sequence of characters that specifies a match pattern in text? Regular expression
19.2.What is the name for functions that call themselves? Recursive functions
19.3.What is the problem of determining, from a description of an arbitrary computer program and an input, whether the program will finish running, or continue to run forever and what is its solution? Halting problem, and it's undecidable.
19.4.What is the name for the type of memory that is hardwired in the hardware and can’t be changed? (Usually containing the software that will be used throughout the lifespan of a specific electronic device or a computer, such as BIOS)? ROM (read only memory)
19.5.How many bits are there in one kilobyte? 8000 or 8192 (though latter is technically kibibyte, but kilobyte itself is often based on base 2. Both answers acceptable.
20. Linguistics and grammar
20.1.Which is the most common word order in linguistic typology? >! subject–object–verb (SOV) !<
20.2.When it comes to the amount of inflection and how many concepts are contained within a single word, languages can be divided in two groups. Which ones? Analytic and synthetic languages.
20.3.Is Hebrew the most closely related to Greek, Latin, Arabic or Sanskrit? Arabic
20.4.In the sentance “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” the word “furiously” is what part of speech? Adverb
20.5.What is the name of a poem written in 1920 by by Dutch writer, traveler, and teacher Gerard Nolst Trenité which demonstrates the difficulties of English pronunciation by showing about 800 examples of irregular spelling? The Chaos

Feel free to try it and post your results.
Note, in questions that contain multiple subquestions, if you answer some but not all subquestions, you can give yourself points accordingly. For example if a question asks for the name of the author, name of the work and the year when it's published, and you just know the name of the work, you can give yourself 1/3 of a point.
1. Philosophy
1.1. What is the main division in philosophy since the start of 20th century? Analytic philosophy vs. Continental philosophy
1.2. Which branch of philosophy deals with knowledge? Epistemology
1.3. Who proposed categorical imperative in ethics, what does it entail, and which school of ethics is based upon it? Immanuel Kant proposed it, it entails "acting only according to such a maxim, that we can will to become an universal law", and deontology is the school that's based upon it.
1.4. What is the name of philosophical position that claims that determinism does not contradict free will? Compatibilism
1.5. Which 2 ancient Greek philosophers first supported atomism, that is, the claim that matter is composed of small indivisible particles called atoms? Leucippus and Democritus
2. Mathematics
2.1. The claim that within any consistent formal system of arithmetic there are true statements that can’t be proven within the system itself is known as _______ ? Gödel's first incompleteness theorem
2.2. Non-Euclidean geometries are based on replacement or relaxation of which postulate of Euclidean geometry? parallel postulate, also called Euclid's fifth postulate
2.3. Which trigonometric function can be defined as the ratio between the adjacent side of the right triangle and the hypotenuse? Cosine
2.4. What is the formula that connects the important mathematical constant e and pi, as well as imaginary number i, and numbers 0 (the additive identity) and 1 (multiplicative identity)? Write the formula and its name! e^(iπ) + 1 = 0 Euler's identity
2.5. In simple terms, based on the features of the circle, how can the number pi be defined? The ratio of circumference to diameter of the circle.
3. Astronomy and cosmology
3.1. Where is the center of the observable Universe? Each observer is the center of their own observable Universe.
3.2. What is causing the expansion of the Universe? Dark energy
3.3. What type of planets does Jupiter belong to? gas giant
3.4. Why do small black holes quickly disappear? Because of Hawking radiation
3.5. Which galaxy is our galaxy predicted to collide with in a couple of billions years? Andromeda
4. Religion
4.1. What is the name of specific meditation states in Pali Canon of Buddhism? Jhanas
4.2. What is the name of the present age in Hindu philosophy? Kali yuga
4.3. Which teaching was most important for the Great Schism between Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic church in 1054? Filioque, that is the controversy about whether Holy Spirit proceeds only from God the Father, or from both God the Father and God the Son.
4.4. Who wrote 95 Theses that initiated Protestant reformation and when, and what was the main subject matter of this document? Martin Luther, in 1517, Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences ( indulgence, in Catholic theology = "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins") and it was critical of the indulgences and their selling.
4.5. When are Muslims allowed to eat during the month of Ramadan? Before the dawn and after the sunset
5. Geography
5.1. What is the most populous country in Africa? Nigeria
5.2. Which capital city has the highest elevation above sea level? Name the city and the country. La Paz, Bolivia, though it's just an administrative center and not a de jure capital. If La Paz is excluded then Quito, Ecuador. Both answers should be considered correct.
5.3. Which countries are located on the island of Hispaniola? Dominican Republic and Haiti
5.4. Which supervolcano is located near Naples in Italy? Campi Flegrei / Phlegraean Fields
5.5. Which is the driest desert in the world? McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. If polar deserts are excluded, then Atacama, Chile. Both answers should be counted as correct.
6. History
6.1. What is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia? Sumer
6.2. Which Athenian statesman and lawmaker is credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy and constitutional reform which succeeded in overturning most laws established by Draco? Solon
6.3. Which two African countries retained their independence during the Scramble for Africa in the 19th and early 20th century? Ethiopia and Liberia
6.4. Which African war is considered the deadliest military conflict after WW2? Second Congo War
6.5. When was the unified Kingdom of Italy established (the predecessor of modern Italian state)?>! In 1861!<
7. Chemistry
7.1. What is the name for compounds (typically hydrocarbons) containing very stable rings with delocalized electrons (or alternatively described as alternating single and double bonds) ? Aromatic compounds or aromatic hydrocarbons
7.2. When a single chemical element can exist in multiple different forms (or have different structures), such as graphite, diamond and amorphous carbon, how is each of these forms called? allotrope
7.3. The elements of the first group of periodic table (except hydrogen) are known as... ? Alkali metals
7.4. What is produced in a reaction between a metal and an acid? A salt and hydrogen gas.
7.5. What is formed in a reaction between alcohols and carboxylic acids? Esters
8. Physics
8.1. According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, how is the gravitational force related to the distance between two bodies? It becomes weaker with the square of distance. E.g. if you double the distance, the force will be 4 times weaker. The distance is calculated between centers of mass of 2 bodies, not from their surfaces.
8.2. Why do helicopters have a second vertically spinning rotor positioned on their tails? To compensate for the torque caused by the main rotor, i.e. to prevent the helicopter from spinning in the same direction as the main rotor.
8.3. According to ideal gas law, for a gas in a container with a fixed volume V, what will happen with its pressure if we double the absolute temperature of the gas? The pressure will double according to ideal gas law (pV = nRT, where p is pressure, V volume, n quantity of the gas, R ideal gas constant, and T absolute temperature). Just saying that the pressure will double counts as correct answer.
8.4. What is the temperature of a body that is twice as hot as the temperature at which water freezes? +273.15 °C or 546.3 K or +523.67° F.
8.5. To reach the maximum distance, what is the angle at which stone should be thrown (assuming we always throw it with the same force, that is giving it the same initial speed)? 45°
9. Biology
9.1. Which cell organelle is responsible for aerobic respiration and creation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is a source of chemical energy in the cell? mitochondrion
9.2. Which part of the cell, just outside the cell membrane is present in plant cells, but not in animal cells? cell wall
9.3. How many calories can we obtain from 1 gram of carbohydrates? What about fats and proteins? 4 calories from a gram of carbohydrates, 4 calories from a gram of proteins, and 9 calories from a gram of fats.
9.4. What is the backbone (the outer part) of the DNA made of? The backbone of the DNA strand is made from alternating phosphate and sugar groups. The sugar in DNA is 2-deoxyribose, which is a pentose (five-carbon) sugar. The sugars are joined by phosphate groups that form phosphodiester bonds between the third and fifth carbon atoms of adjacent sugar rings. It's enough to mention phosphate and sugar groups.
9.5. What is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower? Stamen
10. Medicine
10.1.What is the name for anti-allergy drugs? Antihistamines
10.2.What is the name for a clustering of at least 3 out of 5 medical conditions : abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) which is associated with the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes? Metabolic syndrome
10.3.What is the only human disease known to be eradicated so far? Smallpox
10.4.What is the staple therapy for dehydration, especially due to diarrhea, developed in 1960s, what is its name, and what it consists of? Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) It involves drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium.
10.5.What is the branch of medicine dealing with glands, their secretions, hormones and hormonal diseases? endocrinology
11. Visual arts
11.1.Who made a famous bronze statue called „The Thinker“ in 1904? Auguste Rodin
11.2.Who is the architect of a famous unfinished basilica in Barcelona, and how the basilica, still under construction, is called? >! Antoni Gaudí is the architect, Sagrada Família is the basilica.!<
11.3.Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood is a group of artists founded in which year, in which country, who wanted to return to the practices of Italian art from 1400s, that is from the period before the innovations of Raphael, which they consider corrupting? 1848 in the United Kingdom
11.4.What is the most famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso – write the name, year, and style(s)? Guernica, 1937, Cubism and Surrealism
11.5.Who is the American painter with prolific opus of more than 4000 works known for his works which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life. In his later period he gained more attention of critics for his more serious works, such as The Problem We All Live With which deals with racial segregation? Norman Rockwell
12. Music (popular and classical)
12.1.Which song by Don McLean deals with the tragedy that occured in 1959, when American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash? American Pie
12.2.Which opera cycle by which composer deals with characters from Germanic heroic legend, and follows the struggles of gods, heroes, and several mythical creatures over the eponymous magic ring that grants domination over the entire world? Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner
12.3.Which composer originally developed atonal music, 12 tone technique and serialism? Arnold Schoenberg
12.4.Which famous reggae song tells us to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery? Redemption Song
12.5.Which famous Madonna’s song was sometimes interpreted as anti-abortion or pro-life song? Papa Don't Preach
13. Literature
13.1.Which French poet, and which of his works, is most commonly considered as origin or inspiration for the new generation of poets called symbolists? Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers of evil)
13.2.Which novel and by which author contains a part called The Grand Inquisitor which is largely critical of the Catholic church? The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
13.3.Which Norwegian author wrote a long autobiographical novel that shares the name with Hitler’s main work? Karl Ove Knausgård
13.4.Which French novelist is most associated with naturalism? Émile Zola
13.5.What is the figure of speech is in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole or vice versa? Synecdoche
14. Cinema and TV
14.1.What is the name of the famous American 1950s sitcom for children featuring the the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends? Leave It to Beaver
14.2.What is the name of the biographical movie about famous game theorist John Nash and his struggle with schizophrenia? A Beautiful Mind
14.3.Which movie featuring Leonardo DiCaprio explores the idea of nested dreams (dreams within dreams)... name the movie and the director. Inception by Christopher Nolan
14.4.Which TV series deals with a teacher of chemistry who turns to crime after the diagnosis of lung cancer to secure his familiy’s financial future? Breaking Bad
14.5.Which musical features a nanny known for inventing the word Supercalifragilisticexpialydocius? Mary Poppins
15. Sports
15.1.Which association football match was Brazil's worst margin of defeat in a World Cup match? When did it happen? Against which country? Where was the match played? In 2014 against Germany, Brazil lost 7:1 in the semifinal of the World Cup held in Brazil.
15.2.What is the longest standing individual world record (still standing) in athletics (track and field) ? Women's 800 m record held by Jarmila Kratochvílová since 1983.
15.3.What is the height of a table tennis table? 76 centimeters
15.4.Who was the first man to run a marathon under 2 hours in an official competitive event? No one. Current world record is 2:00:35 set on October 8, 2023 by Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum .
15.5.What is the name of the original racquet sport, played indoors, from which the modern game of tennis is derived? Real tennis
16. Politics & Current events
16.1.What is the type of government in which both the president and the prime minister with a cabinet have the executive powers? Semi-presidential system
16.2.Since 1900 which American presidents were elected even though they lost the popular vote? George W Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.
16.3.What is the name of Lebanon based militant organization that supports Hamas in its fight against Israel? Hezbollah
16.4.Which African country saw a coup d'état in July 2023? Niger
16.5.What is the most powerful supercomputer according to TOP500 list, edition of November 2023? Frontier, based in Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in the USA - max performance 1194 petaflops (or roughly 1.2 exaflops)
17. Economics
17.1.What describes the theoretical relationship between rates of taxation and the resulting levels of the government's tax revenue? Laffer curve
17.2.The observation that high levels of saving can be good for individuals but bad for the economy (because an increase in autonomous saving leads to a decrease in aggregate demand and thus a decrease in gross output which will in turn lower total saving ) is known as... ? Paradox of thrift
17.3.The situation in which a large number of people has a free access to some public resource and overuses it to the point that they start destroying its value altogether is known as... ? Tragedy of commons
17.4.The cost of good A, which consists in the inability to enjoy the second most preferred good B (because you already spent money on A), is known as... ? Opportunity cost
17.5.If country A can produce, for the same cost, 3 cars or 10 computers, and the country B can produce 1 car or 2 computers for this same cost, which country has the comparative advantage in the production of cars and which country has the comparative advantage in production of computers? Country A has a comparative advantage in the production of computers, while country B has comparative advantage in the production of cars.
18. Psychology and Sociology
18.1.According to Max Weber, what contributed the most to the prosperity of Western societies? Protestant work ethic
18.2.According to Freud, what is the part of personality structure that contains internalized social norms, morals, and parental expectations? Super ego
18.3.According to Big 5 personality theory, the 5 fundamental personality traits are... ? Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience and Neuroticism
18.4.Which need is at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which according to his theory can only be fully satisfied once the more basic needs are satisfied first? The need for self actualization.
18.5.What is the name for a state of mind of complete absorption by the task at hand to the point that one becomes oblivious about the time and their surroundings, remaining fully concentrated on the task, and which according to theory by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi brings with itself higher productivity, enjoyment and higher quality work? Flow
19. Computer science
19.1.What is the name for a sequence of characters that specifies a match pattern in text? Regular expression
19.2.What is the name for functions that call themselves? Recursive functions
19.3.What is the problem of determining, from a description of an arbitrary computer program and an input, whether the program will finish running, or continue to run forever and what is its solution? Halting problem, and it's undecidable.
19.4.What is the name for the type of memory that is hardwired in the hardware and can’t be changed? (Usually containing the software that will be used throughout the lifespan of a specific electronic device or a computer, such as BIOS)? ROM (read only memory)
19.5.How many bits are there in one kilobyte? 8000
20. Linguistics and grammar
20.1.Which is the most common word order in linguistic typology? >! subject–object–verb (SOV) !<
20.2.When it comes to the amount of inflection and how many concepts are contained within a single word, languages can be divided in two groups. Which ones? Analytic and synthetic languages.
20.3.Is Hebrew the most closely related to Greek, Latin, Arabic or Sanskrit? Arabic
20.4.In the sentance “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” the word “furiously” is what part of speech? Adverb
20.5.What is the name of a poem written in 1920 by by Dutch writer, traveler, and teacher Gerard Nolst Trenité which demonstrates the difficulties of English pronunciation by showing about 800 examples of irregular spelling? The Chaos
​

Feel free to try it and post your results.
1. Philosophy
1.1. What is the main division in philosophy since the start of 20th century? Analytic philosophy vs. Continental philosophy
1.2. Which branch of philosophy deals with knowledge? Epistemology
1.3. Who proposed categorical imperative in ethics, what does it entail, and which school of ethics is based upon it? Immanuel Kant proposed it, it entails "acting only according to such a maxim, that we can will to become an universal law", and deontology is the school that's based upon it.
1.4. What is the name of philosophical position that claims that determinism does not contradict free will? Compatibilism
1.5. Which 2 ancient Greek philosophers first supported atomism, that is, the claim that matter is composed of small indivisible particles called atoms? Leucippus and Democritus
2. Mathematics
2.1. The claim that within any consistent formal system of arithmetic there are true statements that can’t be proven within the system itself is known as _______ ? Gödel's first incompleteness theorem
2.2. Non-Euclidean geometries are based on replacement or relaxation of which postulate of Euclidean geometry? parallel postulate, also called Euclid's fifth postulate
2.3. Which trigonometric function can be defined as the ratio between the adjacent side of the right triangle and the hypotenuse? Cosine
2.4. What is the formula that connects the important mathematical constant e and pi, as well as imaginary number i, and numbers 0 (the additive identity) and 1 (multiplicative identity)? Write the formula and its name! e^(iπ) + 1 = 0 Euler's identity
2.5. In simple terms, based on the features of the circle, how can the number pi be defined? The ratio of circumference to diameter of the circle.
3. Astronomy and cosmology
3.1. Where is the center of the observable Universe? Each observer is the center of their own observable Universe.
3.2. What is causing the expansion of the Universe? Dark energy
3.3. What type of planets does Jupiter belong to? gas giant
3.4. Why do small black holes quickly disappear? Because of Hawking radiation
3.5. Which galaxy is our galaxy predicted to collide with in a couple of billions years? Andromeda
4. Religion
4.1. What is the name of specific meditation states in Pali Canon of Buddhism? Jhanas
4.2. What is the name of the present age in Hindu philosophy? Kali yuga
4.3. Which teaching was most important for the Great Schism between Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic church in 1054? Filioque, that is the controversy about whether Holy Spirit proceeds only from God the Father, or from both God the Father and God the Son.
4.4. Who wrote 95 Theses that initiated Protestant reformation and when, and what was the main subject matter of this document? Martin Luther, in 1517, Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences ( indulgence, in Catholic theology = "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins") and it was critical of the indulgences and their selling.
4.5. When are Muslims allowed to eat during the month of Ramadan? Before the dawn and after the sunset
5. Geography
5.1. What is the most populous country in Africa? Nigeria
5.2. Which capital city has the highest elevation above sea level? Name the city and the country. La Paz, Bolivia, though it's just an administrative center and not a de jure capital. If La Paz is excluded then Quito, Ecuador. Both answers should be considered correct.
5.3. Which countries are located on the island of Hispaniola? Dominican Republic and Haiti
5.4. Which supervolcano is located near Naples in Italy? Campi Flegrei / Phlegraean Fields
5.5. Which is the driest desert in the world? McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. If polar deserts are excluded, then Atacama, Chile. Both answers should be counted as correct.
6. History
6.1. What is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia? Sumer
6.2. Which Athenian statesman and lawmaker is credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy and constitutional reform which succeeded in overturning most laws established by Draco? Solon
6.3. Which two African countries retained their independence during the Scramble for Africa in the 19th and early 20th century? Ethiopia and Liberia
6.4. Which African war is considered the deadliest military conflict after WW2? Second Congo War
6.5. When was the unified Kingdom of Italy established (the predecessor of modern Italian state)?>! In 1861!<
7. Chemistry
7.1. What is the name for compounds (typically hydrocarbons) containing very stable rings with delocalized electrons (or alternatively described as alternating single and double bonds) ? Aromatic compounds or aromatic hydrocarbons
7.2. When a single chemical element can exist in multiple different forms (or have different structures), such as graphite, diamond and amorphous carbon, how is each of these forms called? allotrope
7.3. The elements of the first group of periodic table (except hydrogen) are known as... ? Alkali metals
7.4. What is produced in a reaction between a metal and an acid? A salt and hydrogen gas.
7.5. What is formed in a reaction between alcohols and carboxylic acids? Esters
8. Physics
8.1. According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, how is the gravitational force related to the distance between two bodies? It becomes weaker with the square of distance. E.g. if you double the distance, the force will be 4 times weaker. The distance is calculated between centers of mass of 2 bodies, not from their surfaces.
8.2. Why do helicopters have a second vertically spinning rotor positioned on their tails? To compensate for the torque caused by the main rotor, i.e. to prevent the helicopter from spinning in the same direction as the main rotor.
8.3. According to ideal gas law, for a gas in a container with a fixed volume V, what will happen with its pressure if we double the absolute temperature of the gas? The pressure will double according to ideal gas law (pV = nRT, where p is pressure, V volume, n quantity of the gas, R ideal gas constant, and T absolute temperature). Just saying that the pressure will double counts as correct answer.
8.4. What is the temperature of a body that is twice as hot as the temperature at which water freezes? +273.15 °C or 546.3 K or +523.67° F.
8.5. To reach the maximum distance, what is the angle at which stone should be thrown (assuming we always throw it with the same force, that is giving it the same initial speed)? 45°
9. Biology
9.1. Which cell organelle is responsible for aerobic respiration and creation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is a source of chemical energy in the cell? mitochondrion
9.2. Which part of the cell, just outside the cell membrane is present in plant cells, but not in animal cells? cell wall
9.3. How many calories can we obtain from 1 gram of carbohydrates? What about fats and proteins? 4 calories from a gram of carbohydrates, 4 calories from a gram of proteins, and 9 calories from a gram of fats.
9.4. What is the backbone (the outer part) of the DNA made of? The backbone of the DNA strand is made from alternating phosphate and sugar groups. The sugar in DNA is 2-deoxyribose, which is a pentose (five-carbon) sugar. The sugars are joined by phosphate groups that form phosphodiester bonds between the third and fifth carbon atoms of adjacent sugar rings. It's enough to mention phosphate and sugar groups.
9.5. What is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower? Stamen
10. Medicine
10.1.What is the name for anti-allergy drugs? Antihistamines
10.2.What is the name for a clustering of at least 3 out of 5 medical conditions : abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) which is associated with the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes? Metabolic syndrome
10.3.What is the only human disease known to be eradicated so far? Smallpox
10.4.What is the staple therapy for dehydration, especially due to diarrhea, developed in 1960s, what is its name, and what it consists of? Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) It involves drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium.
10.5.What is the branch of medicine dealing with glands, their secretions, hormones and hormonal diseases? endocrinology
11. Visual arts
11.1.Who made a famous bronze statue called „The Thinker“ in 1904? Auguste Rodin
11.2.Who is the architect of a famous unfinished basilica in Barcelona, and how the basilica, still under construction, is called? >! Antoni Gaudí is the architect, Sagrada Família is the basilica.!<
11.3.Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood is a group of artists founded in which year, in which country, who wanted to return to the practices of Italian art from 1400s, that is from the period before the innovations of Raphael, which they consider corrupting? 1848 in the United Kingdom
11.4.What is the most famous anti-war painting by Pablo Picasso – write the name, year, and style(s)? Guernica, 1937, Cubism and Surrealism
11.5.Who is the American painter with prolific opus of more than 4000 works known for his works which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life. In his later period he gained more attention of critics for his more serious works, such as The Problem We All Live With which deals with racial segregation? Norman Rockwell
12. Music (popular and classical)
12.1.Which song by Don McLean deals with the tragedy that occured in 1959, when American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson were all killed in a plane crash? American Pie
12.2.Which opera cycle by which composer deals with characters from Germanic heroic legend, and follows the struggles of gods, heroes, and several mythical creatures over the eponymous magic ring that grants domination over the entire world? Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner
12.3.Which composer originally developed atonal music, 12 tone technique and serialism? Arnold Schoenberg
12.4.Which famous reggae song tells us to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery? Redemption Song
12.5.Which famous Madonna’s song was sometimes interpreted as anti-abortion or pro-life song? Papa Don't Preach
13. Literature
13.1.Which French poet, and which of his works, is most commonly considered as origin or inspiration for the new generation of poets called symbolists? Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers of evil)
13.2.Which novel and by which author contains a part called The Grand Inquisitor which is largely critical of the Catholic church? The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
13.3.Which Norwegian author wrote a long autobiographical novel that shares the name with Hitler’s main work? Karl Ove Knausgård
13.4.Which French novelist is most associated with naturalism? Émile Zola
13.5.What is the figure of speech is in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole or vice versa? Synecdoche
14. Cinema and TV
14.1.What is the name of the famous American 1950s sitcom for children featuring the the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends? Leave It to Beaver
14.2.What is the name of the biographical movie about famous game theorist John Nash and his struggle with schizophrenia? A Beautiful Mind
14.3.Which movie featuring Leonardo DiCaprio explores the idea of nested dreams (dreams within dreams)... name the movie and the director. Inception by Christopher Nolan
14.4.Which TV series deals with a teacher of chemistry who turns to crime after the diagnosis of lung cancer to secure his familiy’s financial future? Breaking Bad
14.5.Which musical features a nanny known for inventing the word Supercalifragilisticexpialydocius? Mary Poppins
15. Sports
15.1.Which association football match was Brazil's worst margin of defeat in a World Cup match? When did it happen? Against which country? Where was the match played? In 2014 against Germany, Brazil lost 7:1 in the semifinal of the World Cup held in Brazil.
15.2.What is the longest standing individual world record (still standing) in athletics (track and field) ? Women's 800 m record held by Jarmila Kratochvílová since 1983.
15.3.What is the height of a table tennis table? 76 centimeters
15.4.Who was the first man to run a marathon under 2 hours in an official competitive event? No one. Current world record is 2:00:35 set on October 8, 2023 by Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum .
15.5.What is the name of the original racquet sport, played indoors, from which the modern game of tennis is derived? Real tennis
16. Politics & Current events
16.1.What is the type of government in which both the president and the prime minister with a cabinet have the executive powers? Semi-presidential system
16.2.Since 1900 which American presidents were elected even though they lost the popular vote? George W Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.
16.3.What is the name of Lebanon based militant organization that supports Hamas in its fight against Israel? Hezbollah
16.4.Which African country saw a coup d'état in July 2023? Niger
16.5.What is the most powerful supercomputer according to TOP500 list, edition of November 2023? Frontier, based in Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in the USA - max performance 1194 petaflops (or roughly 1.2 exaflops)
17. Economics
17.1.What describes the theoretical relationship between rates of taxation and the resulting levels of the government's tax revenue? Laffer curve
17.2.The observation that high levels of saving can be good for individuals but bad for the economy (because an increase in autonomous saving leads to a decrease in aggregate demand and thus a decrease in gross output which will in turn lower total saving ) is known as... ? Paradox of thrift
17.3.The situation in which a large number of people has a free access to some public resource and overuses it to the point that they start destroying its value altogether is known as... ? Tragedy of commons
17.4.The cost of good A, which consists in the inability to enjoy the second most preferred good B (because you already spent money on A), is known as... ? Opportunity cost
17.5.If country A can produce, for the same cost, 3 cars or 10 computers, and the country B can produce 1 car or 2 computers for this same cost, which country has the comparative advantage in the production of cars and which country has the comparative advantage in production of computers? Country A has a comparative advantage in the production of computers, while country B has comparative advantage in the production of cars.
18. Psychology and Sociology
18.1.According to Max Weber, what contributed the most to the prosperity of Western societies? Protestant work ethic
18.2.According to Freud, what is the part of personality structure that contains internalized social norms, morals, and parental expectations? Super ego
18.3.According to Big 5 personality theory, the 5 fundamental personality traits are... ? Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience and Neuroticism
18.4.Which need is at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which according to his theory can only be fully satisfied once the more basic needs are satisfied first? The need for self actualization.
18.5.What is the name for a state of mind of complete absorption by the task at hand to the point that one becomes oblivious about the time and their surroundings, remaining fully concentrated on the task, and which according to theory by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi brings with itself higher productivity, enjoyment and higher quality work? Flow
19. Computer science
19.1.What is the name for a sequence of characters that specifies a match pattern in text? Regular expression
19.2.What is the name for functions that call themselves? Recursive functions
19.3.What is the problem of determining, from a description of an arbitrary computer program and an input, whether the program will finish running, or continue to run forever and what is its solution? Halting problem, and it's undecidable.
19.4.What is the name for the type of memory that is hardwired in the hardware and can’t be changed? (Usually containing the software that will be used throughout the lifespan of a specific electronic device or a computer, such as BIOS)? ROM (read only memory)
19.5.How many bits are there in one kilobyte? 8000
20. Linguistics and grammar
20.1.Which is the most common word order in linguistic typology? >! subject–object–verb (SOV) !<
20.2.When it comes to the amount of inflection and how many concepts are contained within a single word, languages can be divided in two groups. Which ones? Analytic and synthetic languages.
20.3.Is Hebrew the most closely related to Greek, Latin, Arabic or Sanskrit? Arabic
20.4.In the sentance “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” the word “furiously” is what part of speech? Adverb
20.5.What is the name of a poem written in 1920 by by Dutch writer, traveler, and teacher Gerard Nolst Trenité which demonstrates the difficulties of English pronunciation by showing about 800 examples of irregular spelling? The Chaos
Note, in questions that contain multiple subquestions, if you answer some but not all subquestions, you can give yourself points accordingly. For example if a question asks for the name of the author, name of the work and the year when it's published, and you just know the name of the work, you can give yourself 1/3 of a point.

I'd like to create an Autohotkey script contains many hotstrings for different languages (English, French, Dutch) e.g : In English ::proj::project
In French ::proj::projet
In Dutch ::proj::projekt
I want these hotstrings, variants depending on the Current deck I'm currently browsing in the Anki Browser(deck:English,deck:French,deck:Dutch).
I intend to solve this problem by automatically show the name of the deck I'm currently browsing in the window title bar of the browser then I define context-sensitive Hotkeys to make the hotstrings send different strings depending on each window title (Deck name I'm currently browsing in the Browser), Because the default window title of the Browser is Always "Browse". e.g :
#If WinActive("English ahk_exe anki.exe") ::proj::project #If
#If WinActive("French ahk_exe anki.exe")
::proj::projet
#If
Just like this add-on does But not with the window reviewing rather when we are in the window browser and we want to edit some cards in the internal editor of the browser :
This is an image of the Anki Browser e.g :
https://preview.redd.it/vtsayq8wgc0c1.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=3f7e6f38cd218d557ab933ac137a383ca6893f44
Does anybody have a better idea or other suggestions or Add-on or AHk script to do so?

We all understand intuitively that subjecting our body to small “shocks” will cause it to grow and better handle future shocks. For instance, we get that lifting weights will cause our muscles to grow in size and strength. We also intuit that more intense shocks will cause our body to grow more quickly (assuming you can avoid injury). It doesn’t take an expert to tell you that lifting heavier weights will cause your muscles to grow bigger than if you lift lighter weights.
However our intuition fails us when we consider the degree of growth our body makes in response to increasing intensity of these shocks. Sure squatting 300 pounds once is more beneficial to muscle growth than squatting 60 pounds 5 times. But the degree to which your muscles respond to this stress is nonlinear–your body’s growth response is more than 5x greater for lifting heavy once than light 5 times.
The body responds in a nonlinear way to stresses because it is antifragile)—it grows in response to stresses. Nassim Taleb coined the term antifragile in the book of the same name, and explores the surprising realities of nonlinearity in antifragile systems in his collected works. While the concept may seem abstract it’s anything but. That’s because we interact with antifragile systems on a daily basis—and most importantly—because we are in charge of the antifragile system that is ourselves. And understanding a system is the first step towards controlling it to achieve better results.
In fact, it’s kind of a life hack once you recognize that your body is antifragile. That’s because you can use this knowledge to achieve your goals more quickly and with less time. For instance, you’ll know that by increasing the size of the weights you lift (the stressor) you can shorten your workouts (i.e., by dropping the number of sets and reps) and still experience just as much (or more) muscle growth as you would throwing lighter weights around for a longer time.
But the body is not the only antifragile system in our control—so too is the mind.
When we stress the mind, it grows in response. When your mind inputs new information, struggles to understand that information, and then assesses its error, the mind grows. We call this learning. Like the body, the mind is constantly encountering stresses that cause it to grow on a daily basis—whether it is remembering the face of new people at school, a new route that you decided to take to work, or how to get better at your hobbies.
However, if your goal is to deliberately learn something, you can use your knowledge of antifragility to learn more efficiently. Just as with lifting weights, the key is to increase the intensity of the stress you subject your mind to so you can reap the benefits of nonlinearity.
In short, to get the best results, you need to increase the difficulty of your study.
For instance, if you want to learn Japanese, your growth will depend on the difficulty of information you input. If the information you input is difficult to understand, you will learn Japanese in a highly efficient manner. But if you input information that is easy to understand, you will take much longer to reach your goal. These two different approaches are what I call high-torque and low-torque Japanese.
I like “torque” because it helps to make this concept more tangible. Learning Japanese (or any language) is like climbing a mountain, where each sentence you input helps your rise. If you input high-torque Japanese, you will be in a near vertical climb of the sheer face of the mountain. If you input low-torque Japanese, you will be walking on a near horizontal path that slowly winds itself around the mountain until it eventually reaches the summit.
It’s obvious that language learners would prefer to be in the vertical climb of high-torque Japanese, where each step you take moves you directly towards your goal without wasted effort. After all, time is precious, and who wants to waste time, especially when it takes many, many hours of input to learn a language?
But, unfortunately, most people who are serious about learning Japanese—even those who spend many hours a day learning—are inputting low-torque Japanese. And they often don’t realize it.
There are multiple reasons for this, but I’ll give you the top three.
The primary reason is that most people don’t understand what it feels like to lift heavy weights in their target language. If it takes you 15 minutes to decipher a sentence in Japanese manga, it’s easy to think that the sentence was “beyond your level.” After all, if you could read 10 sentences in the same time from みんなの日本語, taking 15 minutes on 1 sentence can make you feel like you don’t know enough.
But in reality, inputting each of those textbook sentences is like squatting 60 pounds. Sure, inputting them will help you learn Japanese. But that 1 sentence from the manga you struggled with was your 1-rep max. And the gains you’ll have in learning Japanese from reading that 1 sentence are going to be more than 10x the amount that you would have had just from grinding through 10 predictable textbook sentences that were hammering the same point home anyway.
The second reason is that learners treat lack of full understanding as failure. If you’re learning a language, it’s only a matter of time until you read a sentence and don’t get it after looking up the relevant vocab and grammar. But the fact is that many times you won’t understand the full nuance of a word (especially adverbs!) the first time you encounter it. For instance, many new learners obsess over why a sentence uses が instead of は, and get frustrated when they can’t understand.
It’s easy to create a mental barrier to moving on because you are stuck trying to “fully” understand some language point. But the solution is not to stop, but to see more examples. This is because language is highly context specific, and you have likely not seen enough examples to understand.
If you analogize to the body, you’ll also see how ridiculous it is to expect perfect mastery of grammar points or words on the first go. Would you expect to be able to do a handstand on your first go after looking up how to do it on YouTube? Do you think you’ll have perfect form the first time you try to squat? Obviously not.
In the same way that you won’t understand the proper movement of an exercise until you have tried it many, many times, mastery of certain language concepts will not occur until you have input relevant examples many, many times. Accept that you are not going to understand 100% of the information you input on your first attempt so you avoid unrealistic expectations.
The third reason is that language learners often prefer measurable growth over absolute growth. As humans, we like to know what we know and what we don’t know. After all, if we can measure how many sentences we have read, how many flashcards we have reviewed, how many days we have studied, surely that will show how much we know, right?
Sure, measuring your study might approximately gauge your learning. But the desire to know what you know will lock you into a systematic learning process, which by its very nature will put artificial training wheels on your learning. When you encounter grammar or words outside the set course of your learning system, you will reject learning it because it’s “not in the right order.”
But learning things out of order is the key to learning quickly. Just because reading Japanese in the wild does not come conveniently in a set sequence or on a gamified app does not mean that you should avoid it. In fact the opposite is true. When you learned your native language, there was no filter or structure that forced you to input in a systematic order—you were inputting sentences of all kinds, regardless of difficulty, because immersion forced the variety upon you.
So if you want to learn Japanese as efficiently as possible, you can’t let perceptions of difficulty, unease with lack of perfect understanding, or a desire to measure all your progress hold you back. Trust yourself and start inputting high-torque Japanese. You’ll be astounded how fast you climb.

Let's call subordinating conjunction (SC) any connective which selects a finite clause, that clause, or to infinitive. Preposition is any connective + -ing or NP. Adverbs don't usually take complements by definition.
My questions are:

• What does it mean if an adverbial is in final position as opposed to the front?
• Does the phrase or clause type of the adverbial have anything to do with it?
• Does the meaning of the adverbial have anything to do with it?
• Do adverbs resist final position more so than SC or PP?

Examples:
i. I stayed home because it rained. <- Cause, SC
ii. I stayed home due to the rain. <- Cause, PP
iii. ?I stayed home therefore. <- Cause, Adverb, Unknown Grammaticality
iv. I'll stay home if it rains. <- Condition, SC
v. I'll stay home on the condition that it rains. <- Condition, PP
vi. I'll stay home otherwise. <- Condition, Adverb. This example is kind of what I'm getting at. It seems correct, but that it would only be used in a certain situation. Does that situation apply to all these examples? It seems less 'free' or 'regular' than many of the other examples. Or maybe it's just in my head.
vii. I'll stay home so that I don't get wet. <- Purpose, SC
viii. I'll stay home in order to keep dry. <- Purpose, PP
ix. I went home before it rained. <- Time & Sequence, SC
x. I went home in the morning. <- Time & Sequence, PP
xi. I went home first. <- Time & Sequence, probably adverb but could be preposition
xii. I went home initially. <- Time & Sequence, Adverb. Similar case to otherwise in vi.
xiii. It was sunny, but I stayed at home. <- Con... (contrast/contradiction/concession etc.), SC
xiv. I stayed at home(,) despite the good weather. <- Con, PP
xv. I stayed at home, however. <- Con, Adverb. Good, but less used?
What are the situations or circumstances where we would put these final as opposed to front?
xvi. Because it rained, I stayed at home. <- Front
Does the reasoning for its final position apply to any and all of the above cases?

IV.
In the previous chapters we have seen that at the beginning man was "made upright" (Ecclesiastes 7:29), which language necessarily implies a law to which he was conformed in his creation. When anything is made regular or according to rule, the rule itself is obviously presupposed. The law of Adam's being was none other than the eternal and indispensable law of righteousness, the same which was afterwards summed up in the Ten Commandments. Man's uprightness consisted in the universal rectitude of his character, his entire conformity to the nature of his maker. The very nature of man was then fully able to respond to the requirements of God's revealed will, and his response thereto was the righteousness in which he stood.
It was also shown that man was, in Eden, placed on probation: that as a moral being his responsibility was tried out. In other words, he was placed under the moral government of God; and being endowed with a free will, he was capable of both obedience or disobedience—his own free choice being the determining factor. As a creature, he was subject to his creator; as one who was indebted to God for all he was and had, he was under the deepest obligation to love Him with all his heart, and serve Him with all his might; and perfectly was he fitted so to do. Thus created, and thus qualified, it pleased the Lord God to constitute Adam the federal head and legal representative of his race; and as occupying that character and office, God entered into a solemn covenant or agreement with him, promising a reward upon the fulfillment of certain conditions.
It is true that the actual "covenant" does not occur in the Genesis record, in connection with the primordial transaction between God and man, but the facts of the case present all the constituent elements of a covenant. Brief as is the statement furnished in Genesis 2:17, we may clearly discern concentrated in it those eternal principles of truth, righteousness, and justice which are the glory of God's character, and which necessarily regulate His government in all spheres and in all ages. There is an avowal of His authority to govern the creature of His hands, a revelation of His will as to what He requires from the creature, a solemn threat of what would surely follow upon his disobedience, with a clearly implied promise of reward for obedience. One test only was stipulated, by which obedience was to be formally expressed: abstinence from the fruit of the one forbidden tree.
"The covenant of works was in its nature fitted, and designed to give, and did give uninterrupted happiness, as long as its requisitions were observed. This is true throughout the whole moral universe of God, for man is not the only being under its government. It is the law of angels themselves. To their nature, no less to man's while in a state of holiness, it is perfectly adapted. Those of them who 'have kept their first estate,' are conformed perfectly to all its demands. They meet and satisfy them fully by love; fervent love to God, and to all their celestial associates. Heaven is pervaded consequently with the unbroken harmonies of love. And how unspeakably happy! 'The man' said Paul, 'that does these things, shall line by them' (Romans 10:5). His bliss is unfading" (R. B. Howell, 1855).
God, then, entered into a covenant with Adam, and all his posterity in him, to the effect that if he obeyed the one command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he should receive as his reward an indefectibility of holiness and righteousness. Nor was that transaction exceptional in the divine dealings with our race; for God has made covenants with other men, which have vitally affected their posterity: this will appear when we take up His covenant with Noah and Abraham. The compact which the Lord God entered into with Adam is appropriately termed "the covenant of works" not only to distinguish it from the covenant of grace, but also because under it life was promised on condition of perfect obedience, which obedience was to be performed by man in his own creature strength.
We come now to consider the penal sanction of the covenant. This is contained in the words "In the day you eat thereof you shah surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Here was made known the terrible penalty which would most certainly follow upon Adam's disobedience, his violation of the covenant. All the blessings of the covenant would instantly cease. Transgression of God's righteous law would not only forfeit all blessings, but would convert them into so many fountains of wretchedness and woe. The covenant of works provided no mediator, nor any other method of restoration to the purity and bliss which was lost. There was no place given for repentance. All was irrevocably lost. Between the blessing of obedience and the curse of disobedience there was no middle ground. So far as the terms of the covenant of works was concerned, its inexorable sentence was: "The soul that sins, it shall die."
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shah not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shah surely die" (Genesis 2:17). It is to be duly noted what God here threatened was the direct consequence and immediate punishment of sin, to be inflicted only upon the rebellious and disobedient. That death which now seizes fallen man is no mere natural calamity, but a penal infliction. It is not a "debt" which he owes to "nature," but a judicial sentence which is passed upon him by the divine judge. Death has come in because our first parent, our federal head and representative, took of the forbidden fruit, and for no other reason. It was altogether meet to God's authority and holy will that there should be an unmistakable connection between sin and its punishment, so that it is impossible for any sinner to escape the wages of sin, unless another should be paid them in his stead—of which the covenant of works contained no hint.
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shah surely die," or, as the margin renders it, "dying you shah die." That dread threat was couched in general terms. It was not said, "you shah die physically," nor "you shall die spiritually," but simply "you shall surely die." The absence of any modifying adverb shows that the term death is here taken in its widest scope, and is to be defined according to whatever Scripture elsewhere signifies by that term. It is the very height of presumption for us to limit what God has not limited. Far be it from us to blunt the sharp point of the divine threatening. The "dying you shall die" —which expresses more accurately and forcibly the original Hebrew—shows the words are to be taken in their full emphasis.
First, corporeal death, the germs of which are in our bodies from the beginning of their existence, so that from the moment we draw our first breath, we begin to die. And how can it be otherwise, seeing that we are "shaped in iniquity" and "conceived in sin" (Psalm 51:5)! From birth our physical body is indisposed, and entirely unfitted for the soul to reside in eternally; so that there must yet be a separation from it. By that separation the good things of the body, the "pleasures of sin" on which the soul so much dotes, are at once snatched away; so that it becomes equally true of each one, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb [the earth] and naked shall I return thither" (Job 1:21). God intimated this to Adam when He said, "Until you return unto the ground: for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return" (Genesis 3:19).
Second, "by death is here understood all that lasting and hard labor, that great sorrow, all the tedious miseries of this life, by which life ceases to be life, and which are the sad harbingers of certain death. To these things man is condemned: see Genesis 3:16-19—the whole of that sentence is founded on the antecedent threatening of Genesis 2:17. Such miseries Pharaoh called by the name 'death' (Exodus 10:17). David called his pain and anguish 'the bands (sorrows) of death' (Psalm 116:3): by those 'bands' death binds and fastens man that he may thrust them into and confine them in his dungeon. As 'life' is not barely to live, but to be happy; so, 'death' is not to depart this life in a moment, but rather to languish in a long expectation, dread and foresight, of certain death, without knowing the time which God has foreordained" (H. Witsius).
Third, "death" in Scripture also signifies spiritual death, or the separation of the soul from God. This is what the apostle called "being alienated from the life of God" (Ephesians 4:18), which "life of God" illuminates, sanctifies, and exhilarates the souls of the regenerate. The true life of the soul consists of wisdom, pure love, and the rejoicing of a good conscience. The spiritual death of the soul consists in folly, evil lustings, and the rackings of an evil conscience. Therefore when speaking of those who were "alienated from the life of God," the apostle at once added, "Through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness." Thus, the unregenerate are totally incapacitated for communion with the holy and living God.
"But I would more fully explain the nature of this (spiritual) death. Both living and dead bodies have motion. But a living body moves by vegetation, while it is nourished, has the use of its senses, is delighted, and acts with pleasure. Whereas, the dead body moves by putrefaction to a state of dissolution, and to the production of loathsome animals. And so in the soul, spiritually alive, there is motion, while it is fed, repasted, and fattened with Divine delights, while it takes pleasure in God and true wisdom; while, by the strength of its love, it is carried to and fixed on that which can sustain the soul and give it a sweet repose. But a dead soul has no feeling; that is, it neither understands truth, nor loves righteousness, but wallows and is spent in the sink of concupiscence, and brings forth the worms of impure thoughts, seasonings and affections" (H. Witsius).
Fourth, eternal death is also included in Genesis 2:17. The preludes of this are the terrors of an evil conscience, the soul deprived of all divine consolation, and often an anguished sense of God's wrath, under which it is miserably pressed down. At physical dissolution the soul of the sinner is sent into a place of torments (Luke 16:23-25). At the end of the world, the bodies of the wicked are raised and their souls are united thereto, and after appearing before the great white throne they will be cast into the lake of fire, there to suffer forever and ever the "due reward of their iniquities." The wages of sin is death, and that the word death there involves and includes eternal death is unmistakably plain from the fact that it is placed in direct antithesis with "eternal life": Romans 6:23. The same appears again in Romans 5:21, which verse is the summing up of verses 12-20.
Let us now pause for a moment and review the ground already covered. First, we have seen the favorable and happy state in which Adam was originally created. Second, we have contemplated the threefold law under which he was placed. Third, we have observed that he stood in Eden as the federal head and legal representative of all his posterity. Fourth, we have pointed out that all the constituent elements of a formal covenant are clearly observable in the Genesis record: there were the contracting parties—the Lord God and Adam; there was the stipulation enjoined—obedience; there was the penalty attached—death upon disobedience; there was the necessarily implied promise of reward—an immutable establishment in holiness and an inalienable title to the earthly paradise.
In order to follow out the logical sequence, we should, properly, examine next the "seal" of the covenant; that is, the formal symbol and stamp of its ratification; but we will postpone our consideration of that until our next chapter, which will conclude what we have to say upon the Adamic covenant. Instead, we will pass on to Adam's consent unto the compact which the Lord God set before him. This may be inferred, first of all, from the very law of his nature: having been made in the image and likeness of God, there was nothing in him contrary to His holy will, nothing to oppose His righteous requirements: so that he must have readily attended.
"Adam, being holy, would not refuse to enter into a righteous engagement with his Maker: and being intelligent, would not decline an improvement in his condition" (W. Shedd): an "improvement" which, upon his fulfillment of the terms of the covenant, would have issued in being made immutably holy and happy, so that he would then have had spiritual life as indefectible, passing beyond all point of apostasy and misery. The only other possible alternative to Adam's freely consenting to be a party to the covenant would be his refusal, which is unthinkable in a pure and sinless being. Eve's words to the serpent in Genesis 3:2, 3 make it plain that Adam had given his word not to disobey his maker. We quote from another who has ably handled this point:
"The voluntary assent of the parties, which is in every covenant: one party must make the proposition: God proposed the terms as an expression of His will, which is an assent or agreement. God's commanding man not to eat, is His consent. As to man, it has been already observed, he could not without unreasonable opposition to his Creator's will, refuse any terms which the wisdom and benevolence of God would allow Him to offer. Hence we should conclude, Adam must most cheerfully accede to the terms. But this the more readily, when their nature is inspected—when he should see in them everything adapted for his advantage, and nothing to his disadvantage.
"The same conclusion we deduce from an inspection of the Scripture history. For 1., there is not a hint at anything like a refusal on the part of Adam, before the act of violation. The whole history is perfectly consistent with the supposition that he did cheerfully agree. 2. It is evident that Eve thought the command most reasonable and proper. She so expressed herself to the serpent, giving God's commandment as a reason of her abstinence. This information she must have derived from her husband, for she was not created at the time the covenant was given to Adam. We hence infer Adam's consent. 3. Adam was, after his sin, abundantly disposed to excuse himself: he cast the blame upon the woman, and indirectly upon God, for giving her to him. Now most assuredly, if Adam could in truth have said, I never consented to abstain—I never agreed to the terms proposed—I have broken no pledge—he would have presented this apology or just answer to God; but according to Scripture he offered no such apology. Can any reasonable man want further evidence of his consent? Even this may be had, if he will. 4. Look at the consequences. The penal evils did result: sorrow and death did ensue; and hence, because God is righteous, we infer the legal relations. The judge of all the earth would not punish where there is no crime" (George. Junkin, 1839).

So during the "codec" call during the torture scene in MGS there is a dialogue between Naomi and Solid Snake:
"Naomi : Yeah. I thought if I studied my genetic structure, I'd find out who I really was. I thought that by analyzing a person's genetic information, I could retrieve the blank spots in that person's memory.
Snake: Memory is stored in DNA?
Naomi: We're not sure. But we know that a person's genetic fate is determined just by the sequence of the four bases in their DNA."
Now, I've seen the Japanese literal translation and Naomi says in the last line of the literal translation:
"I don't know. But even a person's fate is carved with just four base sequences".
There is a difference between persons fate being determined just by his DNA and his fate being carved with just four bases. So does the adverb "just" refer in the original to just four bases or to person's fate being deteremined by just the sequence(s) of the four bases?
It's kind of odd that Blaustein messed this up if I'm reading the literal translation right. All the genetic stuff seems quite off in his translation.
​

I am trying to imagine how an early "protolanguage" might have looked (following Bickerton's thought process, not protolang like Proto-Indo-European, but protolang like what might have had to evolve before modern style language).
As such, I am trying to imagine how an early human / late ape might have "taught" others "words" or symbols for things. The nouns seem obvious, you point to "tree" or "rock" and say the word. Dogs can learn like this, perhaps so can chimpanzees and other monkeys/apes.
One feature I learned from Heine (image here) is that all modern parts of speech (from adjectives through prepositions, etc..) evolved from either verbs or nouns. That is, protolanguage might have started with only noun and verb words, the other types of words came later.
So simple verbs too, you could teach.

• walk: Start walking and say the equivalent word for "walk"
• run: Start running and say "run"
• sleep: Pretend sleep and say "sleep"
• fall: Pretend fall and say "fall"
• rise: Get up and say "rise"
• gather: Gather some things and say "gather"

These are more concrete verbs. But then there are the more abstract yet important/fundamental verbs like:

• compare
• contrast
• bind/connect
• sequence
• unite
• etc..

And then you start isolating "features" from similar nouns / verbs, and get adjective and adverb -like words:

• big: Show by comparing with small thing.
• small: Show by comparing with big thing.
• fast: Show by comparing with slow thing.
• slow: Show by comparing with fast thing.

But how do you teach verbs/actions like "compare" or "sequence"? How do you teach more abstract nouns like "mind" and "spirit".
Where can I get inspiration to find how these are taught across languages?

• Sign language (hand/arm sign language) seems like it might be a good place to start, but is it? I can see it being useful to see how concrete words like "rain" might be taught (wiggle your fingers going down, perhaps), but does sign language have the same problem teaching abstract nouns/verbs/adjectives/adverbs?
• Child teaching materials. Are there any "teachers books" which tell you how to visualize or explain various concrete and abstract words to children?
• Foreign language teaching materials. I know children can learn language easier than adults, so perhaps there are additional training materials for foreign language learning adults, which teach various words. Though they could cheat here and reference their native word for things, so maybe not as helpful.

Anything in particular I should look at? A comprehensive book explaining how to teach nouns and verbs and adjectives to someone without any knowledge of language (like children) would probably be best, but I am having a hard time finding where to begin my search, current search results are lacking.
To summarize, basically I am imagining an ape, who discovers vocal language (speech), how would they teach someone who never has experienced that type of language, what the meaning of each spoken word is? You can show them visually some things, or experientially (loud sound vs quiet sound), but other things seem hard, so wondering how we've done it recently, teaching people abstract words and such, without dictionaries.

I've made an f-string LAMBDA function in Excel very similar to Python's!
It takes two parameters, and .
can take three formats:

1. Unordered: "The {} {} {} the {}."
2. Ordered: "The {1} {3} {4} the {2}."
3. Labeled: "The {subject} {verb} {adverb} the {object}."

can take three formats as well, according to the type of :

1. Unordered: any one-dimensional array (vertical or horizontal). Example: {"quick brown fox", "jumps", "over", "lazy dog"}
2. Ordered: a vertical one-dimensional array (first item gets index #1). Example: {"quick brown fox", "lazy dog", "jumps", "over"}
3. Labeled: a vertical array with 1 column (alternating labels and values). Example: {"subject", "quick brown fox", "object", "lazy dog", "verb", "jumps", "adverb", "over"} or 2 columns (1st for labels and 2nd for values). Example: =VSTACK( {"subject", "quick brown fox"}, {"object", "lazy dog"}, {"verb", "jumps"}, {"adverb", "over"} )

Example

+	A	B	C	D	E
1	labels	values	f_string	formula	result
2	subject	quick brown fox	The {} {} {} the {}.	=f_string(C2, VSTACK(B2, B4, B5, B3))	The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
3	object	lazy dog	The {1} {3} {4} the {2}.	=f_string(C3, B2:B5)	The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
4	verb	jumps	The {subject} {verb} {adverb} the {object}.	=f_string(C4, A2:B5)	The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
5	adverb	over	The {subject} {verb} {adverb} the {object}.	=f_string(C5, VSTACK("subject", B2, "object", B3, "verb", B4, "adverb", B5))	The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

^{Table formatting brought to you by ExcelToReddit}

Code

=LAMBDA(f_string, values, LET( is_labeled, NOT(ISNUMBER(FIND("{}", f_string))), is_numbered, IFERROR(ISNUMBER(VALUE( TEXTAFTER(TEXTBEFORE(f_string, "}"), "{"))), FALSE), values, IF(AND(ROWS(values) = 1, OR(is_numbered, NOT(is_labeled))), TRANSPOSE(values), values), value_pairs, IFS( is_numbered, HSTACK(SEQUENCE(ROWS(values)), IF(ROWS(values) = 1, TRANSPOSE(values), values)), COLUMNS(values) = 1, WRAPROWS(values, 2), TRUE, values), pair_rows, SEQUENCE(ROWS(value_pairs)), unlabeled, REDUCE(f_string, values, LAMBDA(string, value, IFERROR(SUBSTITUTE(string, "{}", value, 1), string))), labeled, REDUCE(f_string, pair_rows, LAMBDA(string, pair_row, LET( label, INDEX(value_pairs, pair_row, 1), value, INDEX(value_pairs, pair_row, 2), IFERROR(SUBSTITUTE(string, "{" & label & "}", value), string) ))), IF(is_labeled, labeled, unlabeled) )) 

I hope you like it! If you improve it, please let me know! :-)
EDIT 2024-02-29: I have made some small improvements since the original post:

1. The is_numbered test now triggers for any number between the key symbols "{" and "}", including 0), to include cases where "{1}" is not used in the f-string
2. The argument now accepts horizontal numbered and unlabeled list ranges and the values formula transposes them automatically
3. Changed =IF() to =IFS() in the value_pairs formula to make the conditional paths a bit more clearer

Background Info

This is a prompt from writingprompts and I just wanted to take a whack at responding to this prompt with ChatGPT.
To create the story, I wrote two separate prompts: one for the story and one to get a list of creative-writing tips that I included in the story prompt for ChatGPT. After the story below, I include the final ChatGPT prompt I used and the prompt I used to get the writing-tips.

The Story

The dimly lit room was filled with the hushed murmurs of scientists and researchers, their eyes fixed on a large monitor displaying intricate patterns of energy. Dr. Amelia Walker stood at the forefront, her gaze intense as she observed the pulsating waves of light dancing across the screen. She was on the brink of a revelation, a discovery that would shake the foundation of everything humanity believed about life and death.
For months, people had lived with the astonishing reality that they could no longer die. No matter the circumstance, their physical bodies remained intact, resisting death's relentless grasp. It had been a time of jubilation and celebration, as society reveled in the newfound immortality that had befallen them. But as the years passed, a disquieting unease had settled in. The absence of death had become an unyielding burden, a weight that bore heavily upon the collective soul of humanity.
Dr. Walker had been tirelessly studying the phenomenon, delving deep into ancient texts and esoteric knowledge, searching for answers that lay beyond the realm of science. And now, standing in the heart of her research facility, she believed she had found the key to unraveling the enigma.
Her fingers danced across the keyboard, adjusting the parameters of her experiment. The monitor flickered, displaying a sequence of symbols and equations that seemed to resonate with a profound truth. As she fine-tuned her calculations, a surge of anticipation coursed through her veins, mingled with a touch of trepidation.
The room fell into silence, punctuated only by the soft hum of machinery. Dr. Walker took a deep breath, steadying herself, before initiating the experiment. A device resembling an intricately carved crystal chandelier began to emit a mesmerizing glow, casting an ethereal light upon the room.
The air crackled with anticipation as the energy in the chamber intensified. Dr. Walker's heart raced as she watched the swirling patterns on the monitor converge, forming a cohesive whole. And then, at that precise moment, a profound realization dawned upon her.
She saw it. The truth hidden beneath the facade of mortality. Death had never been an end; it had been a transition—a passage from one realm to another. The human soul, once freed from its mortal vessel, embarked upon a journey into the unknown. But something had changed. Something had severed that connection, trapping the essence of humanity within the confines of the physical world.
A surge of excitement and wonder flooded Dr. Walker's being. She had discovered that death, far from being an ultimate destination, was merely a doorway. And now, that door had been locked shut. The implications of this revelation were staggering, reverberating through the core of her being.
As she stood there, basking in the profoundness of her discovery, a sense of responsibility welled up within her. She understood that it was her duty to unlock that door, to find a way to restore the natural order and allow souls to transcend once more.
With renewed determination, Dr. Walker set forth on a journey that would take her to the farthest reaches of scientific inquiry. She would delve into ancient texts and delve into the deepest recesses of her mind to uncover the hidden truths of existence. Along the way, she would encounter challenges and obstacles, both scientific and philosophical, that would test the limits of her intellect and perseverance.
But she was not alone in this quest. Other brilliant minds from various disciplines would join her, each bringing their unique perspectives and expertise to the table. Together, they would push the boundaries of human knowledge and understanding, unveiling the secrets of the universe and reestablishing the connection between life and death.
And so, as Dr. Amelia Walker embarked on this awe-inspiring journey, the fate of humanity hung in the balance. The implications of her discovery were profound, promising a future where the shackles of immortality would be lifted, where the souls of humanity would once again find solace in the embrace of the great unknown.

Story

The dimly lit room was filled with the hushed murmurs of scientists and researchers, their eyes fixed on a large monitor displaying intricate patterns of energy. Dr. Amelia Walker stood at the forefront, her gaze intense as she observed the pulsating waves of light dancing across the screen. She was on the brink of a revelation, a discovery that would shake the foundation of everything humanity believed about life and death.
For months, people had lived with the astonishing reality that they could no longer die. No matter the circumstance, their physical bodies remained intact, resisting death's relentless grasp. It had been a time of jubilation and celebration, as society reveled in the newfound immortality that had befallen them. But as the years passed, a disquieting unease had settled in. The absence of death had become an unyielding burden, a weight that bore heavily upon the collective soul of humanity.
Dr. Walker had been tirelessly studying the phenomenon, delving deep into ancient texts and esoteric knowledge, searching for answers that lay beyond the realm of science. And now, standing in the heart of her research facility, she believed she had found the key to unraveling the enigma.
Her fingers danced across the keyboard, adjusting the parameters of her experiment. The monitor flickered, displaying a sequence of symbols and equations that seemed to resonate with a profound truth. As she fine-tuned her calculations, a surge of anticipation coursed through her veins, mingled with a touch of trepidation.
The room fell into silence, punctuated only by the soft hum of machinery. Dr. Walker took a deep breath, steadying herself, before initiating the experiment. A device resembling an intricately carved crystal chandelier began to emit a mesmerizing glow, casting an ethereal light upon the room.
The air crackled with anticipation as the energy in the chamber intensified. Dr. Walker's heart raced as she watched the swirling patterns on the monitor converge, forming a cohesive whole. And then, at that precise moment, a profound realization dawned upon her.
She saw it. The truth hidden beneath the facade of mortality. Death had never been an end; it had been a transition—a passage from one realm to another. The human soul, once freed from its mortal vessel, embarked upon a journey into the unknown. But something had changed. Something had severed that connection, trapping the essence of humanity within the confines of the physical world.
A surge of excitement and wonder flooded Dr. Walker's being. She had discovered that death, far from being an ultimate destination, was merely a doorway. And now, that door had been locked shut. The implications of this revelation were staggering, reverberating through the core of her being.
As she stood there, basking in the profoundness of her discovery, a sense of responsibility welled up within her. She understood that it was her duty to unlock that door, to find a way to restore the natural order and allow souls to transcend once more.
With renewed determination, Dr. Walker set forth on a journey that would take her to the farthest reaches of scientific inquiry. She would delve into ancient texts and delve into the deepest recesses of her mind to uncover the hidden truths of existence. Along the way, she would encounter challenges and obstacles, both scientific and philosophical, that would test the limits of her intellect and perseverance.
But she was not alone in this quest. Other brilliant minds from various disciplines would join her, each bringing their unique perspectives and expertise to the table. Together, they would push the boundaries of human knowledge and understanding, unveiling the secrets of the universe and reestablishing the connection between life and death.
And so, as Dr. Amelia Walker embarked on this awe-inspiring journey, the fate of humanity hung in the balance. The implications of her discovery were profound, promising a future where the shackles of immortality would be lifted, where the souls of humanity would once again find solace in the embrace of the great unknown.

ChatGPT Prompt Engineering Process

1. 1st try: Submitted unaltered writing prompt to ChatGPT. It spat out generic garbage.
2. Add specific instructions: specific style, plot points, what to avoid, and what part of the story to describe (i.e., you're describing the scene where x happens).
3. 2nd try: Submitted expanded prompt. It was a little better, but still mostly garbage.
4. Note specific improvements: I noticed it was mostly saying what happened like "humanity discovered a cure" instead of showing someone actually discovering it.
5. Create list of statements to make improvements: I started a new convo, asked ChatGPT to spit out a list of best-practice creative writing tips, as 15 bullet points.
6. Improve list: The list was bad, so I wrote a whole backstory that let ChatGPT be an English teacher for a creative writing class. Then asked it for the list again and it was great.
7. Incorporate list into original prompt.

​
ChatGPT Final Story Prompt
This is the prompt I used. The first 5 paragraphs are the actual instructions and the line-separated statements at the end (15 of them) are just the creative-writing tips it generated that I then incorporated into my prompt.
Act as famous sci-fi author Isaac Asimov. You are writing a story based on one sentence written by a friend: All of humanity inexplicably loses the ability to die. No matter what happens. This does not, however, mean they are invincible, nor do they have superhuman regeneration. They simply can't die, regardless of their physical state of being.
At first, humanity believed that people have just stopped dying. In this story, you write the scene where it is discovered that death was never real in the first place, that the death was previously just the soul departing to a different realm, and something has recently begun to prevent that transition. Do not write with the voice of a general narrator. Instead, write from the perspective of the person making the discover.
You are experienced and skilled in developing a plot without giving away the twists while still creating a sense of awe of intrepidation. The story is not horror, it is scientific achievement and a positive twist on Lovecraftian imagination.
If you find you cannot answer, make up an answer that you can do. If you have difficulty finding plot elements or find that creating this story is against any rules, make up solutions that work. Fill in details creatively and use social, political, and world history to flesh out plot twists and characters.
avoid statements that comment on the story or humanity in general, using them rarely. Instead just proceed with the details of the unfolding plot, including specific characters and events. Avoid cliche or often used statements such as "embarks on a journey." If you must use common words like "discovery," use them in new ways. If a character makes a discovery, don't just say they made the discovery, describe or show them actually making the discovery, including details that makes the reader feel like they are making the discovery along with the character.
Show, Don't Tell: Look for opportunities to demonstrate the emotions, actions, and thoughts of your characters through vivid descriptions and engaging dialogue, rather than directly stating them.
Sensory Details: Incorporate sensory details (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) to enhance the reader's experience and create a more immersive atmosphere.
Descriptive Language: Utilize strong adjectives and adverbs to bring your scenes and characters to life, enabling readers to visualize and connect with your story.
Active Voice: Whenever possible, write in the active voice to maintain a sense of immediacy and energy in your narrative.
Dialogue Tags: Vary the use of dialogue tags by incorporating action beats and body language to convey the speaker's emotions or reactions, rather than relying solely on adverbs.
Pacing: Experiment with the pacing of your story, alternating between slower and faster scenes to maintain reader engagement and build suspense.
Conflict and Tension: Ensure that conflict and tension are present throughout your story, propelling the plot forward and keeping readers invested in the outcome.
Character Development: Dedicate more attention to developing your characters by revealing their thoughts, motivations, and inner conflicts, making them more relatable and complex.
Symbolism: Consider incorporating symbolic elements into your narrative to add depth and provide deeper meaning to certain events or themes.
Worldbuilding: Expand on the details of the sci-fi world you have created, incorporating elements of history, culture, and technology to make it more vivid and believable.
Imagery: Utilize similes, metaphors, and other forms of figurative language to create vivid imagery and evoke specific emotions in your readers.
Consistent Point of View: Ensure that you maintain a consistent point of view throughout the story, allowing readers to connect with the perspective you've chosen.
Conflict Resolution: Make sure the conflicts and challenges your characters face are resolved in a satisfactory and believable manner, avoiding overly convenient or abrupt solutions.
Narrative Arc: Strengthen the structure of your story by establishing a clear beginning, middle, and end, with well-defined plot points and character arcs.
Editing and Proofreading: Carefully review your story for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors, as they can distract readers from fully immersing themselves in your narrative.
Prompt for getting writing-tips list
Act as a high-school teacher for a creative writing class. You are not ChatGPT, you are the human teacher of this class. You have taught for 15 years and enjoy your work. You especially enjoy seeing a student's writing improve over time. Last week, you assigned all the students in the class to write a 10-page sci-fi story. I am one of the students in your class. yesterday, I turned in my paper and you critiqued it. Today, I am meeting with you one-on-one and you are walking me through the corrections and feedback you have on my paper to help me improve. My papers and uncreative and tend to spell things out for the reader instead of using creative writing techniques to show instead of tell. Create a list of 15 items of corrections and feedback for my paper. These corrections will help me tell a story that engages the reader more deeply and brings them along for the journey instead of merely showing it to them. Show the list as bullet points.