Interlude: Speaking, Only, and Evolving Words

For the past few months, I've had the honor of being a writing coach for speakers for the upcoming TEDxNewEngland (formerly TEDxCambridge) event. It's been a tremendous opportunity and a lot of fun to help researchers transform their exciting research into compelling stories and "ideas worth spreading."

Throughout the process, I've been reminded of a few common themes between writing and speaking:

• Whether you're writing or speaking, you are telling a story and taking your audience on a journey from where they are to where you want them to go. This means that you need to consider how you want your audience to think, feel, and act at every step of the story.

• Writing and speaking are both forms of teaching. You are sharing information with your audience and walking them through concepts in a logical, engaging, and persuasive way.

• The words you choose in a particular context affect not only the meaning but also the tone and formality of your message. Choose your words intentionally.

What common themes do you notice between writing and speaking? Hit reply and let me know.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

How to Use “Only” Accurately in Your Scientific Writing​
The word “only” is commonly used in scientific and medical writing. And where you place this modifier in a sentence can change the meaning of that sentence.

👓 Reading

AI is complicating plagiarism. How should scientists respond?​
"But such tools complicate an already fraught debate around the improper use of others’ work. LLMs [large language models] are trained to generate text by digesting vast amounts of previously published writing. As a result, their use could result in something akin to plagiarism — if a researcher passes off the work of a machine as their own, for instance, or if a machine generates text that is very close to a person’s work without attributing the source."

🎧 Listening

Decoding Gen-Z slang and grammar pet peeves with linguist Anne Curzan​
As a "wordie," I love learning about the origins of words and how they have evolved. In this podcast episode, Anne Curzan, the author of Says Who?, shares why "island" has a silent "s" and how the definition of "unique" has evolved. She also shares her thoughts on the evolution of "impactful," the impending death of "whom," and the use of the singular "data" and "they." I highly recommend listening to this episode.

🖥️ Watching

Me, Myself, and I​
Do you often wonder whether to use "and me" or "and I"? In this Reel, @englishenjoyed shares a helpful strategy to know when to use which word. (And if you listen to the podcast episode with Anne, you'll also learn her thoughts on the future of this debate.)

✅ Action

The next time you work on a writing project, add the question "How do I want my reader to think, feel, and act?" in the Header. Then you will see this question at the top of every page as a reminder to consider your reader as you write.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal