5 ms·

I wonder if there is a tool like this: 1. You enter a sentence 2. It gives out 5 different ways to say the exact same thing. Such a tool not only would help

by aytekin 10y ago

I wonder if there is a tool like this: 1. You enter a sentence 2. It gives out 5 different ways to say the exact same thing. Such a tool not only would help ESL people but also it would help native speakers find more relaxed or formal versions of a sentence.

matt4077 10y ago
It's a pretty hard problem to solve in for the general case. It's actually quite rare for sentences to not be unique. Example: https://www.google.de/search?rls=en&q=%22It+gives+out+5+different+ways+to+say+the+exact+same+thing.%22 https://www.google.de/search?rls=en&q=%22It+gives+out+5+diff...
- twa927 10y ago
  Yet both "It gives out" and "different ways to say the exact same thing" give many thousands of results. So "5" should be recognized as a template variable or the meaning should be combined from popular fragments.
infinitone 10y ago
We're building a tool that does something similar but for email. Currently we're targeting cold sales emails- the idea is, you enter a recipient's email and we aggregate data about them and surface relevant, personable sentences that you can use in the email. You'll also be able to change the tone of these sentences (funny, professional, casual, etc.) Learn more: http://emailfox.co http://emailfox.co
- richardwhiuk 10y ago
  That's ... disgustingly creepy on first glance.
  - rexpop 10y ago
    How do you mean? A tool to help you relate to the folks you're cold-emailing? It seems like a way to find common ground. Maybe I am misreading you, but perhaps you think the effect is a dishonest one? That because the language EmailFox helps you find isn't the phrasing you improvised at first blush, it's not your copy? If the UX is strong, think of the wonders this could do for non-fiction writing!
- taneq 10y ago
  Something like this will only work if your clients don't screw it up by spamming the same targets over and over. If you can somehow get it through to your clients that they should only ever spam one target once, then hell, I'm for it.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - infinitone 10y ago
    Yup, agreed. I think overtime we'll also try to compensate for this by build a ML model from all the emails being sent to provide more 'fuzziness' to it.
- cgio 10y ago
  don't want to sound harsh, but the copy of your website does not inspire much confidence for a tool that i am supposed to use for writing.
  - infinitone 10y ago
    You're not harsh at all- i'd appreciate feedback, what parts do you think we should improve? I'll admit we kind of rushed the sign up page as we've been busy building the product.
kwhitefoot 10y ago
Perhaps one way to make such a tool would be to try replacing each word with one of its synonyms but that wouldn't change the form of the sentence. I thought at first that it might be worth using Google Translate (or Bing, etc.) to translate a sentence from English into a language and back again. I was surprised to find that most of the results are grammatically incorrect and at least one, while almost grammatically correct, has a quite different meaning (Eng. -> Latin -> Eng.). And unfortunately there wasn't much variation to be seen either. It seems that the verb to be is easily mangled and that some languages seem to require a definite article where the original English does not. Original English: It's actually quite rare for sentences to not be unique. Spanish: En realidad es bastante raro para frases para no ser único. Back to English: It's actually quite rare for phrases not to be unique. German: Es ist eigentlich ziemlich selten für Sätze nicht einzigartig sein. Back to English: It's actually quite rare for phrases not to be unique. Japanese: 文章は一意ではないことは実際には非常にまれです。 Back to English: Sentence is very rare in practice is not unique. French: Il est en fait assez rare pour les phrases à ne pas être unique. Back to English: It is actually quite rare for phrases not to be unique. Polish: To rzeczywiście dość rzadko zdania nie być unikalna. Back to English: It's actually quite rare sentence not be unique. Hebrew: זה בעצם די נדיר משפטים לא להיות ייחודיים. Back to English: It's actually quite rare sentences not be unique. Italian: In realtà è abbastanza raro per le frasi di non essere unico. Back to English: It's actually quite rare for the sentences not to be unique. Latin (but which era?): Suus 'vere non esse unica sententia admodum rarum. Back to English: It's really not very rare, is a single sentence. Romanian (which some say is similar to Latin!): Este de fapt destul de rar pentru fraze să nu fie unic. Back to English: It's actually quite rare for phrases is not unique.

by aytekin 10y ago

matt4077 10y ago

It's a pretty hard problem to solve in for the general case. It's actually quite rare for sentences to not be unique. Example: https://www.google.de/search?rls=en&q=%22It+gives+out+5+different+ways+to+say+the+exact+same+thing.%22 https://www.google.de/search?rls=en&q=%22It+gives+out+5+diff...

twa927 10y ago
Yet both "It gives out" and "different ways to say the exact same thing" give many thousands of results. So "5" should be recognized as a template variable or the meaning should be combined from popular fragments.

infinitone 10y ago

We're building a tool that does something similar but for email. Currently we're targeting cold sales emails- the idea is, you enter a recipient's email and we aggregate data about them and surface relevant, personable sentences that you can use in the email. You'll also be able to change the tone of these sentences (funny, professional, casual, etc.) Learn more: http://emailfox.co http://emailfox.co

richardwhiuk 10y ago
That's ... disgustingly creepy on first glance.
- rexpop 10y ago
  How do you mean? A tool to help you relate to the folks you're cold-emailing? It seems like a way to find common ground. Maybe I am misreading you, but perhaps you think the effect is a dishonest one? That because the language EmailFox helps you find isn't the phrasing you improvised at first blush, it's not your copy? If the UX is strong, think of the wonders this could do for non-fiction writing!
taneq 10y ago
Something like this will only work if your clients don't screw it up by spamming the same targets over and over. If you can somehow get it through to your clients that they should only ever spam one target once, then hell, I'm for it.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- infinitone 10y ago
  Yup, agreed. I think overtime we'll also try to compensate for this by build a ML model from all the emails being sent to provide more 'fuzziness' to it.
cgio 10y ago
don't want to sound harsh, but the copy of your website does not inspire much confidence for a tool that i am supposed to use for writing.
- infinitone 10y ago
  You're not harsh at all- i'd appreciate feedback, what parts do you think we should improve? I'll admit we kind of rushed the sign up page as we've been busy building the product.

kwhitefoot 10y ago

Perhaps one way to make such a tool would be to try replacing each word with one of its synonyms but that wouldn't change the form of the sentence. I thought at first that it might be worth using Google Translate (or Bing, etc.) to translate a sentence from English into a language and back again. I was surprised to find that most of the results are grammatically incorrect and at least one, while almost grammatically correct, has a quite different meaning (Eng. -> Latin -> Eng.). And unfortunately there wasn't much variation to be seen either. It seems that the verb to be is easily mangled and that some languages seem to require a definite article where the original English does not. Original English: It's actually quite rare for sentences to not be unique. Spanish: En realidad es bastante raro para frases para no ser único. Back to English: It's actually quite rare for phrases not to be unique. German: Es ist eigentlich ziemlich selten für Sätze nicht einzigartig sein. Back to English: It's actually quite rare for phrases not to be unique. Japanese: 文章は一意ではないことは実際には非常にまれです。 Back to English: Sentence is very rare in practice is not unique. French: Il est en fait assez rare pour les phrases à ne pas être unique. Back to English: It is actually quite rare for phrases not to be unique. Polish: To rzeczywiście dość rzadko zdania nie być unikalna. Back to English: It's actually quite rare sentence not be unique. Hebrew: זה בעצם די נדיר משפטים לא להיות ייחודיים. Back to English: It's actually quite rare sentences not be unique. Italian: In realtà è abbastanza raro per le frasi di non essere unico. Back to English: It's actually quite rare for the sentences not to be unique. Latin (but which era?): Suus 'vere non esse unica sententia admodum rarum. Back to English: It's really not very rare, is a single sentence. Romanian (which some say is similar to Latin!): Este de fapt destul de rar pentru fraze să nu fie unic. Back to English: It's actually quite rare for phrases is not unique.