Commentary

Unlike many of my other papers in which I analyzed the ways actions are performed, this paper was built around an identifiable formulation. While there is considerable appeal in collecting words, expressions, or formulations to see how they function and what actions they perform, there are, in my view, two significant problems in doing so. The first is that although there is surface similarity in the collection, the items may function very differently and should not be in one collection. Various instances put under the rubric of Extreme Case Formulations are integral parts of different actions. The second problem is related to the first. In studying interaction, we appreciate that fact that interactants perform specific actions, moment to moment, in the course of engaging in activities. When we consider the choices or selections that participants make, those choices generally are in terms of the various ways of performing, or not performing, a relevant action in that sequential environment. However, when we put together a collection of objects, such as Extreme Case Formulations, that service quite different actions and activities, we are focused away from the fact that the Extreme Case Formulations are but one way of working to accomplish the local action, with other ways as alternatives. Instead, papers that are built around a word or phrase or formulation usually are organized to reflect some number of ways that the term or expression or formulation is used....