Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
You want a piece of this?

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                     

Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register. Please log in or create an account.

syntax highlighting for English

syntax highlighting for English
  (+6, -3)
(+6, -3)
  [vote for,
against]

Just like emacs can help you in reading code, we could have a system of coloring words / parts of sentences in English, to indicate how it should be parsed.

But here, users would need to do their own coloring, at least some of the time.

It's simpler than showing parse-trees by underlining.

It's more work, yes, but any text with a high ratio of readers to writers should use something like this.

If only those unclear philosophers had such a system... (I'm thinking of Kant (I think))

gustavolacerda, Mar 30 2005

maybe combine with this Rich_20Metric_20Textual_20Notation
[JesusHChrist, Mar 30 2005]

[link]






       Every programmer I know uses a completely different syntax highlighting scheme, which works fine because the text is computer rendered, but everyone would have to agree a common scheme for print, and I forsee difficulties there. This might engender a new poetry movement, where through cleverly chosen syntax, practitioners also produce a pleasing visual effect (or perhaps the opposite). I like the possibilities, so [+]
goldilox, Mar 30 2005
  

       As a barely litterate person IT would HELP ME a lot to HAVE just SUBJECT in BLUE, VERB in RED and OBJECT in GREEN so that I could scan through text SKIPping all the BULLSHIT that entangles my eye. Couldn't this be automatic?
JesusHChrist, Mar 30 2005
  

       Yeah - I think this could be do-able with a word-macro and a few dictionary files.   

       Does anyone know where I can get a comprehensive set of separate files containing verbs, nouns and 'describing words'?
zen_tom, Mar 30 2005
  

       Grammar, punctuation and spelling are more than most can handle.
I can imagine the the more pedantic: "cl:noun,red - it's so annoying when people don't colour properly"
Ling, Mar 30 2005
  

       UP with this I shall NOT put.
ConsulFlaminicus, Apr 03 2005
  

       Time flies like an arrow. But fruit flies like a banana.
Basepair, Apr 03 2005
  

       So now I need to stop writing every 20 seconds so I can color my words? No thanks, bub. I'm throwing you a bone.
disbomber, Apr 03 2005
  

       This would be good for making really tricky sentences (with lots of clauses) readable.
robinism, Apr 05 2005
  

       I'm not so sure [Bubba] It used to come up in my school computer science classes (though I don't know if they teach those anymore)
zen_tom, Apr 05 2005
  
      
[annotate]
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle