Whole-word codes

Learning outcome

You can read a whole-word code by matching words that repeat, and you can refuse a letter rule the pairs do not show.

Concepts and reasons

Some codes replace a whole word with another whole word. There is no letter shift to discover. A word can be decoded only if it appears in the given sentences.

Use the words that repeat. In the set below, na appears in the first and third sentences, and are also appears in the first and third. So na means are. tok appears in the second and third, and bad appears in the second and third. So tok means bad. dar appears in the first and second, and good appears in the first and second. So dar means good.

The sentences are: pit dar na means you are good. dar tok pa means good and bad. tim na tok means they are bad.

A word that appears in only one sentence takes the meaning that appears in only that sentence. tim appears only in the third sentence, and they appears only there, so tim means they.

Worked examples

1. they is tim.
2. good is dar.
3. are is na, and bad is tok. and is pa, because pa and and each appear only in the second sentence.

Common traps

Do not invent a letter shift for pit, dar and na. The question never says the code is a letter code. Do not decode a word that is absent. water is not in these sentences, so these sentences do not give a code for water. One shared word is not enough if it is shared by all three sentences. Here no code word is in all three, so each repeated word has a clean pair of sentences.

Practice questions

1. What is the code for they?
2. What is the code for good?
3. What is the code for and?

Answers and explanations

1. tim. they and tim each appear only in the third sentence.
2. dar. good and dar each appear in the first and second sentences, and nowhere else in the set.
3. pa. and and pa each appear only in the second sentence.

Analogy

A whole-word code is a pile of labeled boxes. You can name a box only when the same label shows up with the same contents. You cannot open a box that was never brought in.

Quick reference

• Match the repeated words first.
• na = are, tok = bad, dar = good.
• tim = they, pit = you, pa = and.
• Do not force a letter shift onto a word code.
• A missing word has no code in this set.