UKLO 2011

Wrong sense of a word

Hint'light' can describe a lamp or a lunch — the program picked the lamp.

The whyMany words have more than one sense: 'light' is 'not heavy' or 'not dark', 'bank' is a river edge or a place for money. Choosing the wrong sense produces a sentence that is grammatical but odd. Setters build puzzles where a text has been mangled this way and ask you to restore it: read for meaning, find the word that does not fit its neighbours, and ask which other sense of a nearby synonym would fit.

word classes

HintThe label a dictionary prints in italics after the headword.

The whyThe same spelling can serve as different word classes: 'run' (verb) / 'a run' (noun), 'fast' (adjective) / 'to fast' (verb). A wrong-sense substitution often crosses classes too — a noun replaced by a verb — which is your best clue: if the grammar of a sentence has broken, the mistaken word may be masquerading as the wrong class.

A homonym

Hint'Bat' — now think of a completely different bat.

The whyHomonyms share spelling and sound but not meaning ('bat', 'bank', 'match'); homophones share only sound ('their' / 'there'). Both are traps for machines and for hasty readers. When a word in a passage makes no sense, ask which other meaning the intended word has, and whether the intruder is a synonym of that meaning — 'bright' has slipped in for the wrong sense of 'light'.

syllabary

HintJapanese kana and Cherokee use one.

The whyAlphabets give one sign per sound; a syllabary gives one sign per syllable, so 'kata' needs two signs, not four. Japanese kana and the Cherokee script work this way, and a puzzle in one is solved by treating each sign as a consonant-plus-vowel package.

Count signs against syllables

HintLength — but measured in the right unit for that kind of script.

The whyMatch by length first: a two-sign word can only be a two-syllable pronunciation. Then look for a sign shared by two words whose pronunciations share a syllable — that fixes its value, and the rest unravels.

tense

HintCompare the same verb in two sentences that differ only in WHEN.

The whyTense is time shown in the verb. English uses '-ed' and helper words; many languages use a suffix for each tense, so a whole column of past-tense verbs will share one ending. Isolate it by lining up the present and past forms of the same verb and cutting off what they share.

Reduplication

HintSay the word, then say part of it a second time.

The whyReduplication copies a syllable or a whole word: Hawaiian 'wiki' (quick) doubles to 'wikiwiki' (very quick), and many languages double part of a verb for 'keeps on doing' or to agree with a plural subject. In a puzzle, when a longer form contains the shorter one plus an echo of some of its own letters, you are looking at reduplication — and the rule is about WHICH letters are copied and WHERE the copy goes.

affix

HintNeither 'prefix' nor 'suffix' — the word that covers both.

The whyAffix is the umbrella term: a prefix goes before the stem and a suffix after, and other placements exist too. Puzzle solutions are usually written as 'stem + affix' recipes, so name the parts precisely: which affix, and where it sits.

An infix

HintNeither pre- nor suf- — think about where it is placed.

The whyAn infix is inserted into the middle of a word. English only does it for fun ('abso-blooming-lutely'), but some languages regularly slot a possessive or a plural marker in after the first syllable. If a word grows in the middle rather than at either end, cut it into three: the opening syllable, the inserted piece, the rest.

Whether 'you' are included

HintThink who you would leave out when you say 'we're off now' to a friend staying behind.

The whyMany languages split 'we' into inclusive (me and you, maybe others) and exclusive (me and others, not you). Others add a dual: 'we two' as opposed to 'we all'. English hides all of these under one word, so the translation lines will spell them out — read the brackets carefully, because they are the setter telling you which pronoun is which.

The one with a unique feature

HintLook for the odd one out on each side.

The whyStart where the data is least ambiguous: the only negative, the only sentence with a personal name, the only question. Each secure match gives you words you can then find in the others. The same works on the puzzle side: a word appearing in exactly the sentences whose English contains 'not' is your negative.

person; number; gender

HintThree things a verb or adjective can copy from its partner word.

The whyAgreement is a copying rule. English keeps only a scrap ('she runs' / 'they run'), but many languages make the verb change for singular and plural subjects, and the adjective change to match its noun. In a puzzle, when two forms of one word differ only by their partner word, agreement is the explanation.