Q: For question 3(a), is it enough context to say "Sentence (1) could be uttered in response toto perform a commissive speech act" or do we need to provide a full scenario?
A. You need to provide a full enough scenario. If yourto which an utterance of sentence (1) responds provides a full enough scenario, that's all you need. Otherwise, spill a little more ink.
It always bugs me to get this do-however-much-you-need non-answer. And as you may recall, I respond to disagreeable prompts in unpredictable ways. Spill some ink, eh? I could have some fun with that. It was time to do something silly. The responses I wrote follow.
Prediction:
Ben squinted at the map and took a long, bubbling pull at the dregs of his root beer. Neglected, his double-double began to slowly congeal beside him. He began to speak. “What I don’t understand, dude,” he carefully began, “is how you managed to get this far off course. I mean, we’re in Westwood. Why didn’t you just stay on the five?” The stranger merely shrugged and grunted something about a gas station. Ben shook his head. “So, San Diego, huh?” Grunt. Ben began again. “Well just take a right out of the parking lot, and then left at the third light. Take that all the way until you see the onramp. Just be sure to get on the southbound this time man.” Another grunt. “How long? Well it’s what, quarter past? Yeah. You will be home by midnight.”
Command:
Anyone could make his voice carry an edge. When he wanted to, Jack could make his carry a claymore. He reached out and laid a pawlike hand on his daughter’s shoulder, his muscles slithering into terrible new geometries with tectonic menace. He knew he had to do this. Nicole had been looking forward to the dance for weeks. Months maybe. Christ. He shot a quick sideways glance at the skinny kid. Forgot his name already. Standing there in a rented tux, hair dyed blond at the tips. Clip-on bow tie. Punk. Jack was pleased to see he was sweating. He gently squeezed Nicole. Look her in the eye. His voice began with the low rumble of distant thunder, quietly, but with the silent strength of mountains. Still just loud enough for skinny to hear. “You will be home by midnight.”
Promise:
Ashley ran. She knew if she stopped, if she let herself cast one backward look or even allowed one thought to reach back and touch him… Don’t think about him. That would be the end of it, because once you think about him you’ll stop and turn around and go back and throw away everything that is or could be just to spend a few more minutes with him. And for every second you were there, you’d swear it was worth it. But fairy magic was cruel. Ashley couldn’t stop, couldn’t look, couldn’t think. So she ran. She sprinted past the valet, bare feet now splashing through puddles in the street. She’d left the slippers, abandoned them. Had to run. The driver was ahead, holding the door. Ashley dove in, and before she could say a word he was up front and behind the wheel, looking like he’d always been there. Seatbelt fastened. They were bastards, but you had to admit they had style. The engine let out a circus lion roar, protesting its controlled ferocity. “Don’t worry miss,” he said with a fey twinkle in his eye. “You will be home by midnight.”
I think the second one turned out best. Who esle gets to say, "muscles slithered into terrible new geometries with tectonic menace" or "with the silent strength of mountains" on a formal linguistics final? In the end, though the third was more fun to write. As soon as I realized I'd be making "You'll be home by midnight" into a promise, I knew it had to be a Cinderella story. I'm definitely doing way too much in that passage - dropping hints that this is a retelling fo the fairy tale while I'm busy trying to re-imagine it, and trying to maintain some manic tension throughout the exposition. It never would have worked. But it was great.
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