dictionaries, editors, research, English, zeitgeist, apple, Renaissance, Alphabetically, Greek, Fren

Short stories can be created using dictionary sample sentences.

dictionaries, editors, research, English, zeitgeist, apple, Renaissance, Alphabetically, Greek, Fren

You might think that all of the sample sentences in the dictionary are random, but you'd be wrong. The phrases are purposefully chosen to place the word in a clear context with other words with which it is frequently associated and are ideally so boring that you don't even think about them. Jez Burrows, an illustrator, has turned these random sentences from the New Oxford American Dictionary into short stories. "Often, I'll find at least one [word] that makes a good jumping-off point, and I'll start fleshing out some sort of vague narrative, then work backward to imagine what kind of words might give rise to the sentences I'm looking for," Burrows said of his method.

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