<p><a href=“http://www.physorg.com/news85664210.html[/url]”>http://www.physorg.com/news85664210.html</a></p>
<p>the article states how neuroscientists discovered that reading Shakespeare books can excite brain activity and make it think in unusual ways, making learning and applying oneself more easier. my question is can this do anything at all in terms of your standardized test taking abilities? there’s a class being offered right now on Shakespeare at my college where they read several Shakespeare books. it’s been since junior year of high school since i’ve taken Shakespeare, and I’m sick of taking all my major-related classes. but i’d only be interested in taking it if it can do something for me like the scientists discover. what do you think?</p>
<p>Wouldn’t this apply to ANY novel which uses functional shift?</p>
<p>That would explain why people who keep up on their satire seem to, in general, be a bit above the median in terms of intellect - gotta keep up with the wordplay, like functional shift.</p>
<p>Pratchett (how I love his books!) makes use of the technique, too. It’s not uncommon in the world of wit - difference is how well executed it is.</p>
<p>So if that’s your only reason, well, maybe. If you have any interest in Shakespeare, though, why not?</p>
<p>I personally dislike his works, but hey, if it works for you…</p>
<p>hmm… I must be a complete genius then!</p>
<p>prescited, what is functional shift and how can it help you? I do have interest in Shakespeare, but it’s not grandeur or anything.</p>
<p>It might hurt you with standardized testing…I’ve noticed that with me. I’m tendentious to the more unstructured, stream of conciousness style of literature (not Shakespeare, but it’s different from “normal” literary style) and I find myself over-thinking and over-analyzing passages and questions on standardized testing because of it. I think I’m supposed to be doing deep analysis, but I’m <em>not</em>. Tricky tricky…</p>
<p>You can always read James Joyce for something a little more linguistically different. 
Ha.</p>
<p>baller4lyfe, functional shift is when a word is given a different syntatic use, such as in the sentence, “It platypussed him.” (Yeah, lame, but hey, it was the first thing to come to mind) - in this case, a noun is used as a verb.</p>
<p>It is often used in satire and wit because it’s a jolt to the brain, hearing or seeing a word used in such a fashion. I’d always known that much, but now, with the article you provided, I can tote scientific evidence when goading my friends into reading satire, so thank you. :)</p>
<p>I’m guessing that the emphasis on Shakespeare is simply due to his reputation, as a study on a book written by a relatively unknown author wouldn’t attract as much attention. I’d figure it would apply to any work using the style, as the article itself seems to imply.</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>I would have to agree with hemingwayisdead about the standardized testing… I do the same thing with overanalyzation.</p>