Pot of Petunias
Example 325
★Suppose we have an object that makes a dramatic entrance on the scene, like so:
"Pot of Petunias"
Wide Open Field is a room. "A big field under a big sky. The clouds are puffy, the trees are handsome."
Some clouds and some trees are scenery in Wide Open Field. The description of the clouds is "That one looks like Yoda's head." The description of the trees is "You've never been much good at botany, so it's anyone's guess what kind they are."
A rock is in Wide Open Field. The description of the rock is "It looks like it's been here from the dawn of time."
The broken flower pot is a thing. The description of the broken flower pot is "It contains the remains of some abused petunias."
At 9:01 am:
move the broken flower pot to the location;
say "Quite unexpectedly, a flower pot falls from the sky and breaks open on the ground. Good thing you weren't standing six inches to the left.";
set pronouns from the broken flower pot.
Test me with "x it / x it / x it".
Test me with "x it / x it / x it".
Wide Open Field
A big field under a big sky. The clouds are puffy, the trees are handsome.
You can see a rock here.
>(Testing.)
>[1] x it
It looks like it's been here from the dawn of time.
>[2] x it
It looks like it's been here from the dawn of time.
Quite unexpectedly, a flower pot falls from the sky and breaks open on the ground. Good thing you weren't standing six inches to the left.
>[3] x it
It contains the remains of some abused petunias.
A big field under a big sky. The clouds are puffy, the trees are handsome.
You can see a rock here.
>(Testing.)
>[1] x it
It looks like it's been here from the dawn of time.
>[2] x it
It looks like it's been here from the dawn of time.
Quite unexpectedly, a flower pot falls from the sky and breaks open on the ground. Good thing you weren't standing six inches to the left.
>[3] x it
It contains the remains of some abused petunias.
If we leave out the "set pronouns…" line here, we'll wind up with the following very unsatisfactory end to our test transcript:
Quite unexpectedly, a flower pot falls from the sky and breaks open on the ground. Good thing you weren't standing six inches to the left.
>[3] x it
It looks like it's been here from the dawn of time.