| Au revoir. | Good bye. |
| Au revoir, à bientôt. Good bye, until later. |
| Summary: | A. | Bonjour (Monsieur). |
| B. | Bonjour (Mademoiselle). Comment allez-vous? | |
| A. | (Très bien), merci. Et vous? | |
| B. | (Ça va bien), merci. | |
| A. | Au revoir. | |
| B. | Au revoir, à bientôt. |
Comments on Example 1
The sentences are of suitable length. The subject matter is appropriate for most groups, and the sentences are all idiomatic. As shown in the summary, ( ) can be filled in various ways so as to make several different conversations.
Example 1 however departs from the format of a classical Cummings device in three ways: (1) It is actually a composite of three such devices, whose basic utterances are respectively (a) Bonjour, (monsieur) (b) Comment allez-vous?, and (c) Au revoir. (2) All of the rejoinders to Comment allez-vous? are practically synonymous with one another, (3) There is only one rejoinder to the last basic utterance. Meaningful choice, and hence communication, are thus impossible in two-thirds of this particular device.
Example 2 (English)
| Basic utterance: | What is your name? |
| Potential rejoinders: | My name is Bill Williams. |
| My name is Clyde Bonney. | |
| My name is Ethel Redd. | |
| My name is Carol Singer. | |
| My name is Fletcher Arrowsmith. |
316
