Difference between revisions of "Swerve"

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A [[swerve]] is related to a [[hose]], in that the question punishes players who buzz in with knowledge of the answer. Unlike with hoses, the player is not the victim of blatantly wrong information (or information that "uniquely" identifies multiple answers); rather, the question "swerves" to a new direction by asking something tangentially related to the rest of the question.
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<onlyinclude>A [[swerve]] is related to a [[hose]], in that the question punishes players who buzz in early with a reasonable answer. Unlike with hoses, the player is not the victim of blatantly wrong information (or information that "uniquely" identifies multiple answers); rather, the question "swerves" in a new direction by asking something tangentially related to the rest of the question.  
  
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Swerves and hoses are considered anathema to [[good quizbowl]] because they specifically inhibit players with knowledge from buzzing.
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Swerves are considered anathema to [[good quizbowl]] because they specifically inhibit players with knowledge from buzzing and/or punish players for not waiting until the end of the question.</onlyinclude>
  
 
==Types of Swerves==
 
==Types of Swerves==
 
===Left Turn===
 
===Left Turn===
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The '''left turn''' is the classic type of swerve, in which the question literally "turns" from one subject to another in the middle of the tossup. This is often caused by failure to correctly use pronouns. For example:
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The '''left turn''' is the classic type of swerve in which the question literally "turns" from one subject to another in the middle of the tossup. This is often caused by failure to correctly use or a misleading use  of [[pronouns]]. For example:
  
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...He gained fame for starting the Kulturkampf as well as a war with France. (*) Otto van Bismarck lends his name to the capital of which U.S. state?<br>
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{{qq|
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ANSWER: '''<u>North Dakota</u>'''
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One man gained fame for starting the Kulturkampf as well as a war with France. (*) Otto van Bismarck lends his name to the capital of which U.S. state?
  
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A player may buzz in at or before the (*) mark with "Bismarck", since the pronoun "he" seems to be talking about a man, and certainly not a state. 
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ANSWER: '''<u>North Dakota</u>'''}}
  
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===Irrelevant Information Swerve===
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A player may buzz in at or before the (*) mark with "Bismarck", since the question seems to be talking about a man and not a state. The net effect of these kinds of left turns is to confuse and punish players without educating them or rewarding anything more than luck and [[mind-reading]] skills.
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Many [[bad quizbowl]] formats have questions that start out talking about one topic without identifying what the question is asking and then suddenly "swerve" to a new topic. For example:
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===Unclear Answerline Swerve===
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This type of swerve makes it entirely unclear to the player as the question is being read what exactly is going to be asked for by the end of the question. Given that the player cannot see the whole question, the player may attempt to buzz in earlier and be ruled incorrect. For instance:
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{{qq|
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Tobacco is obtained from the leaves of the tobacco plant, which may be affected by a certain virus, (*) the Tobacco Mosaic Virus. From what plant is opium taken?
  
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...Looking both ways before you cross the street is a good idea. Looking both ways before you cross a railroad track is also a good way to exercise caution. Spell "caution."<br>
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ANSWER: '''<u>poppy</u>'''}}
  
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The first few sentences are utterly irrelevant to the question that is actually going to be asked until at the last moment the question "swerves" to a spelling question.
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A player buzzing in at the asterisk might well think that the question is going to ask for Tobacco Mosaic Virus, but instead the final sentence swerves to a different question.
  
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===NAQT Left Turn===
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===Irrelevant Information Swerve===
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The '''NAQT Left Turn''' is the least egregious kind of swerve, not least because it only occurs on [[bonuses]].  It is named after [[NAQT]] due to its prevalence in NAQT, but is not solely relegated to NAQT questions.
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This swerve type includes some kind of [[clever]] comment or irrelevant information before suddenly swerving to ask a question. For example:
  
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In the NAQT Left Turn, one or more bonus parts have absolutely nothing to do with the lead-in to the bonus. Thus, the question turns in an entirely new direction from where players think it is going. This occurs on the second or third part of the bonus, so that the lead-in is still validly referring to the first part.
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{{qq|
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...Looking both ways before you cross the street is a good idea. Looking both ways before you cross a railroad track is also a good way to exercise caution. Spell "caution."
  
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One exception to the above rule comes from the 2007 [[Matt Cvijanovich Memorial Novice Tournament]], in which a bonus asking about uses of the letter ''k'' in chemistry was converted to a bonus in which the answers were "law of mass action", "equilibrium constant", and "Gibbs free energy", with only the middle part mentioning the letter ''k''.  This would have been fine, except that the leadin remained "Answer each of the following about a certain letter for ten points", prompting many players to become confused and think that the answer to the first bonus part contained a specific letter.
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ANSWER: '''<u>C-A-U-T-I-O-N</u>'''}}
  
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Although NAQT Left Turns are generally frowned upon, they are occasionally used to turn one part of a difficult bonus into the "easy part", and are thus not always considered [[bad quizbowl]].
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The first few sentences are utterly irrelevant to the question that is actually going to be asked until at the last moment the question "swerves" to a [[spelling]] question (which is also usually not desired).
  
 
[[Category: Quizbowl lingo]] [[Category: Bad quizbowl]]
 
[[Category: Quizbowl lingo]] [[Category: Bad quizbowl]]
 
[[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]
 
[[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]
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{{c|Quizbowl concepts}}

Latest revision as of 09:51, 27 October 2021

A swerve is related to a hose, in that the question punishes players who buzz in early with a reasonable answer. Unlike with hoses, the player is not the victim of blatantly wrong information (or information that "uniquely" identifies multiple answers); rather, the question "swerves" in a new direction by asking something tangentially related to the rest of the question.

Swerves are considered anathema to good quizbowl because they specifically inhibit players with knowledge from buzzing and/or punish players for not waiting until the end of the question.

Types of Swerves

Left Turn

The left turn is the classic type of swerve in which the question literally "turns" from one subject to another in the middle of the tossup. This is often caused by failure to correctly use or a misleading use of pronouns. For example:

One man gained fame for starting the Kulturkampf as well as a war with France. (*) Otto van Bismarck lends his name to the capital of which U.S. state?

ANSWER: North Dakota

A player may buzz in at or before the (*) mark with "Bismarck", since the question seems to be talking about a man and not a state. The net effect of these kinds of left turns is to confuse and punish players without educating them or rewarding anything more than luck and mind-reading skills.

Unclear Answerline Swerve

This type of swerve makes it entirely unclear to the player as the question is being read what exactly is going to be asked for by the end of the question. Given that the player cannot see the whole question, the player may attempt to buzz in earlier and be ruled incorrect. For instance:

Tobacco is obtained from the leaves of the tobacco plant, which may be affected by a certain virus, (*) the Tobacco Mosaic Virus. From what plant is opium taken?

ANSWER: poppy

A player buzzing in at the asterisk might well think that the question is going to ask for Tobacco Mosaic Virus, but instead the final sentence swerves to a different question.

Irrelevant Information Swerve

This swerve type includes some kind of clever comment or irrelevant information before suddenly swerving to ask a question. For example:

...Looking both ways before you cross the street is a good idea. Looking both ways before you cross a railroad track is also a good way to exercise caution. Spell "caution."

ANSWER: C-A-U-T-I-O-N

The first few sentences are utterly irrelevant to the question that is actually going to be asked until at the last moment the question "swerves" to a spelling question (which is also usually not desired).

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