This and That

About

This and That is an interactive story builder to help you understand a series of important English words that have a wide array of meanings. You will construct a unique story as you choose between uses of a given word, and the emoji icon changes to reflect the emotional state of the main character.

This project grew out of a fascination we both share with language and communication. Our research started with linguistic relativity, semiotics, and exploring the function of emoji as valuable context enhancers; ultimately we were looking at how context influences meaning. Based on the research of I. A. Richards, we identified a number of highly important English words. The words are important because they cover the ideas we can least avoid using, and they are words we are forced to use in explaining other words (because it is in terms of the ideas they cover that the meanings of other words must be given).

In this project we present the curiosity of these words' diverse uses with a co-important function as a teaching tool for intermediate-level English learners.These words in almost all cases can be very ambiguous alone; their meaning is contingent on the context they are used in. We believe that a strong understanding of these core words is paramount in communicating effectively in the English language, and due their crucial role, these words were chosen to be implemented as our primary arsenal of vocabulary for this project.

Matt Duncan
Raphael Wenger

The End. Keep Exploring!

certain

adjective

Definite or particular, but not named or specified.

adjective

Free from doubt or reservation.