When do I not prompt?

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Ike
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When do I not prompt?

Post by Ike »

Let's have a talk about when to prompt. For last year's ICT, I wrote a bonus that began like so:
Don Backer discovered PSR B1937+21 ["P S R B 1937 plus twenty-one"], the first known example of these objects. For 10 points each--

A. Identify these compact objects whose name refers to their high rotation speeds, which can reach about twenty percent of the speed of light at their equators.

answer: _millisecond pulsar_s (do not accept or prompt on "pulsars")
After the tournament was played, someone complained to me about how this didn't prompt on pulsars. In this case, I think the question shouldn't prompt on pulsars because the bonus leadin does not apply to pulsars - since the first pulsar was discovered by Jocelyn Bell much earlier, and the name of pulsars does not refer to their high rotation speeds, rather that they are periodic. At no point if you insert the word "pulsars" into the phrase [these objects] (and remove the imperative mood) does the question have any factual accuracy.

But if I had written the question like I did below, I need to prompt:
Don Backer discovered PSR B1937+21 ["P S R B 1937 plus twenty-one"], an example of these objects. For 10 points each--

A. Identify these {compact objects} with high {rotation speeds}, which can reach about twenty percent of the {speed of light} at their equators.

answer: _millisecond pulsar_s (prompt on "pulsars")
Because PSR B1937+21 is an example of a pulsar, and some pulsars have high rotation speeds.

My point here is that regardless of your position on the prompt debate, if you have any sensibility on how English works, you'll agree with the "do not accept or prompt on" in part one, and that when you're writing questions for nationals, regionals, or really any tournament, your writing will substantially improve if you keep this in mind and aim for what I did in part A, rather than part B. Obviously there are reasons for prompting, since achieving a clean use in part A is sometimes rather impossible, but at the very least, all writers should be try to think about it when they're writing.

Ike
Ike
UIUC 13
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