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        riddles >> suggestions, help, and FAQ >> Grammar / Spelling
        
(Message started by: KT on Sep 12^th, 2002, 1:25am)

Title: Grammar / Spelling
Post by KT on Sep 12^th, 2002, 1:25am

Is there a way to have the puzzles checked for spelling and grammar errors? I have found myself confused occasionally by how a riddle is phrased. I also note that you have to go back and correct previous postings due to unclear writing. This problem also makes some of the forum threads difficult to follow.
IE: "Scientists have proven a correlation....etc. Why?"
By paragraph structure this asks 'Why did the scientist prove this?'. It would be more accurate to phrase the question as 'What is the cause they discovered?' or something similar.

Title: Re: Grammar / Spelling
Post by william wu on Sep 13^th, 2002, 8:03am

Sorry about the unclear wording. Yes I agree, many of the problems are poorly worded. This can be very bothersome; it reminds of me of when I get poorly worded homework assignments. I have reworded the riddle as follows:

Quote:

scientific studies have shown that there is a direct, positive correlation between foot size and performance in spelling bees / spelling tests. how can you explain this correlation?

if you have more rephrasing suggestions, either for this problem or other problems, i am very willing to hear them.

admittedly i have already received some rephrasing suggestions for various problems via e-mail, but i haven't incorporated them all. some of the mailers argue that a problem is ill-defined as currently phrased, and then i have to contemplate whether it really is ill-defined, and that requires a long contiguous block of spare time which i rarely have.

as for the threads being difficult to follow because of this, i apologize; i guess the best solution is to phrase problems clearly first before putting them on the site, and i'll try harder to do this.