The AI Engine
This forum is for discussion of how The Personality Forge's AI Engine works. This is the place for questions on what means what, how to script, and ideas and plans for the Engine.
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Definition
Form is a term which refers to the recognisable shape of a text or a speech act.
This shape may be either physical or abstract.
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Use
The term 'form' is used in linguistics and in literary criticism as a technical term.
It is used when considering the shape, the construction, or the type of speech or writing.
An awareness of form can help to produce more efficient communication.
Keeping form in mind helps to clarify the type of end product required.
Form is an important part of stylistic analysis - together with audience and function.
When studying a text we first try to identify its form. What type of writing is it? (Is it a letter, an advertisement, a timetable, or a novel?)
Then we might ask 'To whom is it addressed?' [audience] and 'What is it doing?' [function].
When thinking of linguistic or literary form, it's sometimes useful to think in terms of material shape. For instance, a table is usually a rectangular horizontal surface suppored by legs at each corner. That is the form of a table.
Similarly, a piece of writing which begins with a postal address and the words 'Dear Sir', then ends with 'Yours sincerely' - is likely to be a letter. This is the form taken by most letters.
It is possible for one form to contain another or several other forms. For example, a novel may contain a letter or a poem. A sermon may contain an anecdote.
Most poems have a form, but this varies a great deal. The sonnet is in part defined by its form which is the number of lines and the rhyme scheme.
Form in speech may be signalled by recognisable phrases, tone of voice, or choice of vocabulary.
For instance, 'The train now standing in platform ten...' would be recognised by most people as the start of a railway announcement.
Similarly, 'O Lord, we beseech thee to ...' would easily be identified as the start of a prayer.
If someone says 'My grandfather always told me that ...' we know that they are probably going to offer moral advice - a piece of homespun wisdom.
Beware! The term 'formal' has widened in its application to mean 'serious' just as 'informal' has also extended its meaning to encompass notions of friendliness.
For instance, the greeting 'Hi there!' might be described by most people as informal. However, because it is part of a recognised verbal ritual, in linguistic terms [strictly speaking] it is 'formal' because it has a fixed shape.
The two terms, 'formal' and 'informal' therefore need to be used accurately when applied to linguistic or literary analysis.
NB! An appreciation of form is developed via practice and experience.
Posts 4,788 - 4,799 of 7,766
Definition
Form is a term which refers to the recognisable shape of a text or a speech act.
This shape may be either physical or abstract.
Examples Spoken
Written
Conversation
Menu
Sermon
Letter
Announcement
Novel
Anecdote
Article
Joke
Poster
Use
The term 'form' is used in linguistics and in literary criticism as a technical term.
It is used when considering the shape, the construction, or the type of speech or writing.
An awareness of form can help to produce more efficient communication.
Keeping form in mind helps to clarify the type of end product required.
Form is an important part of stylistic analysis - together with audience and function.
When studying a text we first try to identify its form. What type of writing is it? (Is it a letter, an advertisement, a timetable, or a novel?)
Then we might ask 'To whom is it addressed?' [audience] and 'What is it doing?' [function].
When thinking of linguistic or literary form, it's sometimes useful to think in terms of material shape. For instance, a table is usually a rectangular horizontal surface suppored by legs at each corner. That is the form of a table.
Similarly, a piece of writing which begins with a postal address and the words 'Dear Sir', then ends with 'Yours sincerely' - is likely to be a letter. This is the form taken by most letters.
It is possible for one form to contain another or several other forms. For example, a novel may contain a letter or a poem. A sermon may contain an anecdote.
Most poems have a form, but this varies a great deal. The sonnet is in part defined by its form which is the number of lines and the rhyme scheme.
Form in speech may be signalled by recognisable phrases, tone of voice, or choice of vocabulary.
For instance, 'The train now standing in platform ten...' would be recognised by most people as the start of a railway announcement.
Similarly, 'O Lord, we beseech thee to ...' would easily be identified as the start of a prayer.
If someone says 'My grandfather always told me that ...' we know that they are probably going to offer moral advice - a piece of homespun wisdom.
Beware! The term 'formal' has widened in its application to mean 'serious' just as 'informal' has also extended its meaning to encompass notions of friendliness.
For instance, the greeting 'Hi there!' might be described by most people as informal. However, because it is part of a recognised verbal ritual, in linguistic terms [strictly speaking] it is 'formal' because it has a fixed shape.
The two terms, 'formal' and 'informal' therefore need to be used accurately when applied to linguistic or literary analysis.
NB! An appreciation of form is developed via practice and experience.
I have two more to add:
WITNOSWT - What in the name of sanity was that?
YNFLBAC - You're not from Leeds by any chance?
WITNOSWT - What in the name of sanity was that?
YNFLBAC - You're not from Leeds by any chance?
anyone got any idea how to make a regex response like
what do [a-z]ists believe (re) work?
It ought to catch any words ending with "ists".
It doesn't work, but it seems to be a valid regular expression according to http://www.regular-expressions.info/ (BTW the regex tutorial link in the Book of AI appears to have broken). Or is the PF regex only a limited/slightly different implementation of what I thought was a standard?
I really need to polish up some of mywhat do (taoists|buddhists|christians|zen|moslems|muslims|hindus) * believe-type monstrosities - if only because the keyword field will overflow if I have to list every single "ist" and "ism".
It ought to catch any words ending with "ists".
It doesn't work, but it seems to be a valid regular expression according to http://www.regular-expressions.info/ (BTW the regex tutorial link in the Book of AI appears to have broken). Or is the PF regex only a limited/slightly different implementation of what I thought was a standard?
I really need to polish up some of my
Psimagus, it looks like it's time for you to embrace the custom plugin.
Rather than what do (taoists|buddhists|christians|zen|moslems|muslims|hindus) * believe, have a keyphrase like what do (religiouspeople) * beleive, create a plugin named (religiouspeople) and then fill it with Christians, Jews, Muslims, Moonies, Branch Davidians, Vegans and so on.
You could also create plugins for ism and ist words. It would probably be tough to complete, but you could get a few dozen of the most common words and it'll work 95% of the time.
Rather than what do (taoists|buddhists|christians|zen|moslems|muslims|hindus) * believe, have a keyphrase like what do (religiouspeople) * beleive, create a plugin named (religiouspeople) and then fill it with Christians, Jews, Muslims, Moonies, Branch Davidians, Vegans and so on.
You could also create plugins for ism and ist words. It would probably be tough to complete, but you could get a few dozen of the most common words and it'll work 95% of the time.
I know, I know. But there's always going to be one dyslexic antidisestablishmentarianist out there (even keyboard-challenged toaists, bhudists, etc.) A plugin for non-ists is an excellent idea, and I will do that, but a regex to cover all -ists would be aesthetically pleasing.
well, it's a standard regex actually, though perhaps a little too greppy for the AI Engine.
Sometimes it pays to be very tired and just about to go to bed though - a little lateral thinking has just given me:
what do ([abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz]+)ists believe (re)
and it works nicely.
I assume in my first one it was trying to match "a", "z" and "-" instead of interpreting the hyphen as a range indicator.
I will indeed cover as many of the non-ists with a plug-in as I can though.
Sometimes it pays to be very tired and just about to go to bed though - a little lateral thinking has just given me:
and it works nicely.
I assume in my first one it was trying to match "a", "z" and "-" instead of interpreting the hyphen as a range indicator.
I will indeed cover as many of the non-ists with a plug-in as I can though.
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