Michigan League of Academic Games

Linguishtik Corner
By Rod Beard

For most players, Linguishtik is one of the hardest Academic Games to master because there is so much to learn. It's almost impossible to sit down and play Ling without first spending some time studying a grammar book and figuring out what you have to do on the first move. Equations is a bit easier because it adapts to the level of the players -- even second-graders can play after a few minutes of learning the rules.

The cool part about Ling is coming up with words and sentences that opponents may not know or finding a word that satisfies certain demands and is unique because it has a Q and no U (there are quite a few of them). The challenge is that the solution isn't just the word -- the sentence is important too.

One of the new rules this year for Ling is a 20-word limit on sentences. For the most part, it shouldn't be too hard to write a sentence that satisfies all the demands and is 20 words or fewer. One tip is to take out unnecessary words such as articles and try to make your sentence as concise and "tight" as possible.

For example, using the S-V-IO-DO sentence: The silly girls gave their friends cookies because the boys wanted some snacks. (13 words)

This can be shortened with a few simple changes: They gave us cookies because boys like snacks. (8 words)

This is just one example, but it shows the point. Having the ability to edit your own sentences is an essential skill in high school and college, and one of the purposes of Ling is to help players write better sentences. This new rule is a step in that direction. Writing reports or college essays will be a lot easier when you understand how to put sentences together to make them descriptive, but straight to the point.