A professor I know said that Oliver Sacks was a spellbinding talker one-on-one or in small groups but was a terrible lecturer. Time disappeared when you were in a seminar with Sacks. But the magic went away when he entered an auditorium.
The professor was baffled and still is. The ability to give a good lecture is a mysterious thing, he said. Some people can do it and others simply cannot.
I have no insight but was reminded of the story when I heard someone say that prepositions are always important.
Sacks was good at talking with people, not to them. The difference in the prepositions is the difference between a conversation and a lecture.
No comments:
Post a Comment