17.13. New tokens

We have now made good use of square-bracketed tokens, such as "[something]", in a variety of "Understand..." sentences. It is sometimes convenient to create new tokens of our own, to match whatever grammar we choose: this enables complicated knots of grammar to be used in many different "Understand..." sentences without having to write it all out each time.

For instance, here are new tokens: one for each of two groups of alternative prepositions.

Again, note that the slash indicates a choice between words only, not between entire phrases. For instance, if we write:

then the two alternative forms are "red bird" and "red robin", not "red bird" and "robin". By contrast,

will understand either "red bird" or "robin" but not "red robin". If we want to capture all three forms, we might define

310

ExampleLies
Commands to allow the player to lie down in three different ways.

To set the scene, and make new actions to provide for two of these ways:

"Lies"

The Laundry is a room. "An old Limehouse haunt, the Chinese laundry used by the down-trodden wives of the Tong of the Black Scorpion." The vast marble sink is here. "There is nothing obviously oriental about the vast marble sink, which is large enough to lie down inside. A wooden-rack floor, equipped for easy drainage, turns out also to be equipped for snagging the shoes of passers-by." The sink is an enterable container, fixed in place.

Lying down is an action applying to nothing. Report lying down: say "You lie down for a while in the middle of the Laundry, wondering about the point of existence, then get up again."

Lying near is an action applying to one thing. Report lying near: say "You lie down next to [the noun] for a while, mumbling to yourself."

Instead of lying near the sink, say "Lying down close to the cool butcher's marble slabs of the sink, your attention is caught by the sight of coolie shoes through a floor-level grille for ventilation. The game is afoot!"

So far, so good. Now for the grammar, where we create two new tokens: one for each of two groups of alternative prepositions.

Understand "beneath/under/by/near/beside/alongside/against" or "next to" or "in front of" as "[beside]".

Understand "on/in/inside" or "on top of" as "[within]".

Understand "lie down" as lying down.

Understand "lie down [within] [something]" as entering.

Understand "lie [beside] [something]" or "lie down [beside] [something]" as lying near.

Test me with "lie down / lie down on top of the sink / get out / lie down inside the sink / get out / lie down in front of the sink".

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