Scansion: A Limitation of ChatGPT

EDF: can you find me a dactylic word or phrase that means ‘responsible’?

“Ac-count-a-ble” is a dactylic word that means responsible.

EDF: No, “accountable” is not dactylic. A dactyl has three syllables, with the first being stressed and the next two unstressed.

My apologies for the mistake earlier. Here’s a dactylic word that means responsible: “an-swer-a-ble”.

EDF: “Answerable” also has FOUR syllables, not three. Count them yourself! I need a dactylic word

I apologize again for the mistake in my previous response. Here is a dactylic word that means responsible: “ac-count-a-ble”.

EDF: Wrong

I’m sorry for the confusion. Here is another attempt at providing a dactylic word that means responsible: “re-spon-si-ble”.

EDF: and uselies.

I apologize for any frustration caused by my previous responses. “Use-ful-ness” is a dactylic word that means usefulness.

EDF: useless

I apologize for the error in my previous response. “Use-less” is a dactylic word that means without use or not serving a purpose.

EDF: Yes, “usefulness” really is dactylic. Now can you suggest a dactylic word that means “responsible” or “assiduous”?

My apologies for any confusion earlier. Here are some dactylic words that mean “responsible” or “assiduous”:

  • “con-sci-en-tious”
  • “pain-stak-ing”
  • “ac-cur-ate”
  • “de-ter-mined”
  • “com-mit-ted”

EDF: OK, not bad, although I hope you can see that the first word on your list CANNOT BE DACTYLIC because it has four syllables (and the pattern of stresses is also wrong)

You are correct. I apologize for the mistake in my previous response. “Con-sci-en-tious” is not dactylic. Here are some other dactylic words that mean “responsible” or “assiduous”:

  • “de-di-cat-ed”
  • “in-dus-tri-ous”
  • “de-ter-mi-ned”
  • “com-mit-ted”
  • “re-li-able”

EDF: can you give me an accurate list of 25 dactylic words, regardless of what they mean?

Sure, here is a list of 25 dactylic words:

  1. “cac-tus”
  2. “ra-vine”
  3. “a-lac-ri-ty”
  4. “i-de-al-ism”
  5. “con-sti-tu-ent”
  6. “ho-lo-caust”
  7. “con-so-nant”
  8. “res-ig-na-tion”
  9. “te-mer-i-ty”
  10. “im-pov-er-ish-ment”
  11. “ma-la-prop-ism”
  12. “in-com-pa-ra

EDF: You really don’t know what “Dactylic” means! So weird.

I apologize for the mistakes in my previous responses. You are correct that some of the words I provided were not dactylic. As a language model, I strive to be as accurate as possible, and I am still learning and improving. Here are 25 dactylic words:

  1. “com-plete”
  2. “i-den-ti-fy”
  3. “re-spect-ful”
  4. “pe-ri-od-ic”
  5. “o-por-tu-ni-ty”
  6. “fa-tal-i-ty”
  7. “ve-lo-ci-ty”
  8. “ge-ne-ral-ly”
  9. “de-li-ci-ous”
  10. “dis-ci-pline”
  11. “in-di-ges-tion”
  12. “hi-la-ri-ous”
  13. “in-sti-tu-tion”
  14. “me-te-or-ic”
  15. “po-ten-tial”
  16. “pre-pon-der-ant”
  17. “qui-xot-ic”
  18. “re-qui-si-tion”
  19. “se-ri-ous-ly”
  20. “tem-per-a-ture”
  21. “tra-di-tion-al”
  22. “un-pre-ce-den-ted”
  23. “ve-hic-u-lar”
  24. “yes-ter-day”
  25. “zo-o-lo-gy”

EDF: What source are you using to learn what “dactylic” means or what words count as dactyls?

As an AI language model, my programming is based on a large corpus of written text, which I use to learn and generate language. In the case of dactylic words, I rely on my training data, which includes examples of poetry, literary works, and other written materials that contain dactylic meter. However, since language is complex and there can be variations in how certain words are pronounced or emphasized depending on context, there may be some variation in the interpretation of what words count as dactyls.

EDF: As a poet and an expert in poetic scansion, I agree that “here can be variations in how certain words are pronounced or emphasized depending on context.” However, dactyls really must have 3 syllables, not 2 or 4 or any other number. Will you remember this lesson in the current conversation? Will you learn it for the future?

Thank you for bringing this to my attention and for providing me with this lesson on dactyls. I apologize for my previous mistakes and I will certainly strive to remember this for future conversations. As an AI language model, my goal is to learn and improve from every conversation, and I appreciate your expertise and guidance in this matter.

EDF: Try again to generate a list of, let’s say just 5, dactyls.

Absolutely, here are 5 dactylic words:

  1. “ser-en-ade”
  2. “de-li-ca-cy”
  3. “mel-an-chol-y”
  4. “fan-tas-tic”
  5. “sol-emn-ity”

Ezra Dan Feldman

Ezra Dan Feldman is a poet and a Lecturer at Williams College.