Make Your Point > Archived Issues > RECENCY

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explore the archives: You get so much mileage from turning a common adjective like "recent" into a graceful noun like "recency." Knowing different forms of a word provides flexibility as you write and speak. Could you recall these? The adjective for "ballet" is... The verb for "lucid" is... The noun for "fervent" is... make your point with... "RECENCY" Something recent happened (or showed up) only a short time ago. Recency is the quality of being recent: it's the quality of having happened (or having shown up) only a short time ago. Pronunciation: REE sun see Part of speech: Uncountable noun. (Like "milk," "rice," and "education," uncountable nouns are words for stuff that can’t be broken into exact units. You talk about "some milk," "the rice," and "a lot of education," but you don’t say "a milk," "three rices," or "many educations." Likewise, talk about "the recency," "such recency," "a lack of recency," and so on, but don’t say "recencies.") Other forms: Use "recentness" instead when you need to be informal. Spelling note: Like with "decent" and "decency," be sure to drop the "t" from "recent" when you write "recency." How to use it: Talk about the recency of changes, developments, events, publications, and so on. Or flip around the word order: a change's recency, the development's recency, this event's recency, these publications' recency. The recency bias, or the recency effect, is our tendency to remember something better if we encountered it more recently than other things. This bias comes into play when, for example, you're recalling items in a list you just heard, or when you're so focused on recent events that you're ignoring the big picture. Similarly, the recency error is giving too much consideration to people's most recent behavior when you're evaluating them. examples: When you're telling a funny anecdote, just leave out all those details about when it happened. We care about the story's substance, not its recency. Strong writers often capitalize on the recency effect by placing the most important word or phrase at the sentence's end. study it now: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "recency" means when you can explain it without saying "newness" or "condition of having popped up only lately." try it out: Think of something so new that you can't make a judgment about it yet. Fill in the blanks: "The recency of _____ prevents me from (knowing/predicting) _____." Example: "The recency of their album prevents us from predicting its full impact on fans and critics." before you review: Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first. This month, we’re playing with anagrams: rearrangements of the letters in a word to form new words. (For example, “care” has two anagrams: “acre” and “race.”) Looking for these makes you a stronger player in other word games. But more importantly, it helps you practice thinking flexibly and methodically. Plus you get to giggle at potential non-words and discover new real words. We’ll work our way from shorter to longer anagrams. And at any point if you wonder why I left out a word you wanted to list, or why I included a word you think isn’t a real one, hold your fire: our authority for this game is ScrabbleWordFinder.org, which draws from a highly inclusive dictionary. Let’s play! From yesterday: What are the 2 anagrams for THOSE? Answer: ETHOS and SHOTE. "Shote" is an old word meaning "the action of shooting a weapon" as well as "a quick motion." Try this one today: What is the 1 anagram for CURDS? review today's word: 1. The opposite of RECENCY is A. POPULARITY B. ENDURANCE C. PRIMACY 2. Given 100 applicants and only 10 interview spots to offer, you combat the recency bias by _____. A. coding applicants with numbers; this way, you won't be unwittingly influenced by surnames that reflect nationality or ethnicity B. establishing a ranking system, then implementing it consistently as you review each application C. offering the interviews to 5 men and 5 women Answers are below. a final word: To be a sponsor and send your own message to readers of this list, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. C 2. B