The 7 Types of Possessive Case

The 7 Types of Possessive Case The 7 Types of Possessive Case The 7 Types of Possessive Case By Mark Nichol The possessive case is used to indicate relationships between one person, place, or thing and another. However, it’s more accurate to call it by its alternate name, the genitive case (genitive means, essentially, â€Å"generation†), because in many uses, one person, place, or thing doesn’t actually belong to the other. The genitive is indicated one of two ways: A singular noun is followed by an apostrophe and the letter s (as with book’s), and an apostrophe alone follows a plural noun that ends in s or es (as with teams’ or arches’). The genitive form of an irregular plural noun, one in which a change in spelling, rather than s or es, marks the word as having a plural form (such as men), is treated as if the word were a singular noun (men’s). Here are examples of the seven categories of genitive use. 1. One type of genitive case is that denoting occupation, or ownership or possession, as in â€Å"She walked into Jane’s office† or â€Å"John’s car is being repaired.† (In all genitive forms, the noun to which the apostrophe or the apostrophe and the s are attached is called the dependent, or modifier, noun; the word with which it is associated is the head, or modified, noun.) 2. Another is relationship, as in â€Å"The school’s principal is retiring this year.† (This idea can also be represented by omitting the apostrophe and the s â€Å"The school principal is retiring this year† but the meaning is slightly different; in the latter sentence, the reference is to a person identified as the school principal, whereas the genitive form treats the school and the principal as separate entities.) In this category, the idea can be expressed in a phrase beginning with the head noun: â€Å"The principal of the school is retiring this year.† The previous type is not so flexible; â€Å"She walked into the office of Jane† is awkward, and constructions such as â€Å"She walked into the office belonging to [or occupied by] Jane† are usually unnecessarily verbose. 3. The genitive can also be used to express agency, or representation, as in â€Å"The board’s secretary consulted the minutes from the last meeting.† (The secretary is a member of the board but technically doesn’t belong to it.) â€Å"The secretary of the board consulted the minutes from the last meeting† is also correct, but as in the previous example, the emphasis is slightly different, and the first version is more concise. 4. Description is another function of the genitive, as in â€Å"She admired the fabric’s glossy sheen.† (Loosely speaking, the glossy sheen â€Å"belongs† to the fabric, but the phrase is, strictly, speaking, a description.) 5. Another category is that relating to the role of the person, place, or thing that serves as the subject of a sentence, as in â€Å"The officer’s report was conclusive.† (â€Å"The report of the officer was conclusive† has the same slight distinction of meaning as similar constructions in previous examples.) 6. Then there is the role of the person, place, or thing identified as the object of a sentence, as in â€Å"The baby’s delivery was uneventful† (which can be rendered â€Å"The delivery of the baby was uneventful† with a slight difference in the meaning). 7. The most troublesome genitive form is that in which a phrase including of is truncated, as in â€Å"He gave two weeks’ notice† in place of â€Å"He gave notice of two weeks†: Many writers mistakenly treat â€Å"two weeks† as simply a modifier of notice (â€Å"He gave two weeks notice†) rather than correctly including the apostrophe to indicate the genitive case. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Great Similes from Literature to Inspire YouTaser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering?The 7 Types of Possessive Case

The evolutionary reason reading is hard †and why thats good news

The evolutionary reason reading is hard – and why thats good news This is why reading most documents feels like hard work There’s one thing about reports that people never seem to talk about. Even after 21 years, and training more than 50,000 people to write well, I really cant recall anyone bringing it up. And that secret is this: reading is hard. I don’t mean we find it difficult to read our email or text messages, or even social media. (Though there’s an awful lot more to doing that than you think.) No, I mean reading reports, official guides or any other vaguely technical document is hard. Hard reading is a feeling that’s familiar to us all. We’ve all been there. It’s Friday afternoon and you’re hunched over a dense document, trying in vain to decipher page after page of turgid text. Each sentence seems like an effort as you strain to wrap your head around just exactly what it is the author is meaning to say. More coffee hasn’t helped. You’re now on your third attempt to read the current paragraph and yet – somehow – the words just aren’t going in. And you’re still on the first page. It’s about as enjoyable and effortless as trudging around Ikea on a wet Saturday afternoon – with a hangover. And yet, those words that seem to get lost between the page and your brain are exactly the same ones that someone else thought were the best way to convey important information from their head to yours. Mind-boggling cost I’m not saying this is a new issue – far from it. But these days we have the technology to create these things in vast numbers. Just think how many times something very similar to the above scenario must play itself out in an organisation. The mind boggles at how much that must cost. Yet this is an opportunity as well as a challenge. Reports that are easy to read rise to the top and make way more impact than the rest. They stand out simply because they are different from the majority. And, rather than being a drain on mental resources, they leave us plenty of brain space to consider their implications and make quick decisions on what to do about them. Producing them is easier said than done though. If that were not the case, then everyone would write them and I would have no need to write this blog post. A report thats easy to read is the exception – simply because that’s the type that most people struggle to produce. But theres one important factor here thats easy to overlook. Reading anything is something of a miracle of biology. Understanding that is the key to getting your documents to the top and really making an impact. As you’re reading this, something incredibly complex is going on in your brain. You are looking at greyscale symbols on a screen and converting them into ideas. Abraham Lincoln called it ‘the greatest invention of the world’ – communicating thoughts to the mind through the eye. A human invention And yes, it is an invention. This is not something we evolved to do. We actually evolved to communicate vocally and face to face, over hundreds of millions of years. We’ve been communicating through symbols, what we now call reading, for less than five-and-a-half thousand years. That’s barely a heartbeat in evolutionary terms, and certainly not long enough to have evolved brain structures dedicated to the task. Instead, we take apparatus that we evolved for a whole variety of other situations and co-opt it into deciphering a seemingly endless string of squiggles and dots. We are utilising our brain’s structure for something it was never meant to do. (And on that Friday afternoon, it probably feels like it.) No artificial intelligence can match this feat, even now. You see proof of this every time you answer a website’s demand to confirm that you’re not a robot. That simple statement placed on the site as a graphics file rather than text is all it takes to differentiate you from a cyborg. Narrow focus: your eyes scan text by taking four or five narrow snapshots every second (Dahaene, 2009) Even capturing the words to process is incredible in itself. The fact that you seem to do it easily is just an illusion. In reality, as you are scanning this text, your brain is instructing your eyes to take four or five snapshots every second (known as saccades). There’s only one small area of your retina that has a high-enough resolution to take these pictures (called the fovea), which means that the snapshots themselves are small, too – occupying only about 15 per cent of your visual field. If you stop and freeze your gaze at any one point, you’ll see that you’re only actually focused on one or two words. Each word is then split into fragments, to be reassembled later. And that’s just the start of it. Next, the brain processes the words in the area that all primates – not just us but our monkey and ape cousins – use to recognise symbols and shapes. It’s no coincidence that the shapes most commonly found in nature are also the most common shapes across all written languages – T and L. These shapes (in various orientations) are the most frequent not just in those that use the Roman alphabet – such as English, French, German or Spanish – but Bengali, Thai, Chinese and even the hieroglyphs of the ancient Egyptians. We then cross-check this information against our database of words. Those we recognise get processed down one neural pathway; those we don’t, we mentally pronounce before checking to see if we recognise the sound pattern. We then choose which words we think we’re reading and that (finally) triggers the thought process. Its incredibly complex and to complete it in a fraction of a second takes a lot of brainpower. With most documents, it probably feels like it. You can almost hear the cogs grinding round as it happens. But not all reading feels like hard work. Sometimes you simply don’t notice the cognitive effort going on behind the scenes. In fact, there are many things we read that don’t feel like reading at all. We simply get lost in the flow (even if we didn’t intend to). And that’s the stuff we return to again and again. This doesn’t mean writing that material is easy, of course. Far from it. The old saying ‘easy read, hard write’ has never been more true than when it comes to writing good documents. Make it easier The trick is to write them with the brain in mind. Use good design to make them easy on the eye. Incorporate lots of white space. Use narrow columns that are easy for the eye to scan across and move onto the next line quickly. Use short, powerful words in between the technical ones. Note that this is not the same as eliminating all jargon. Jargon is fine as long as you’re sure that your audience will understand it. But don’t make the process of reading any harder than it needs to be by trying to impress your reader with flowery language. (As Leonardo da Vinci said, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.) Instead, state things as simply as you can, so that the brain doesn’t have to waste cognitive energy on deciphering what you mean. Devise a structure that flows logically. Draw people in at the beginning with a captivating introduction and then keep your reader reading with a document that flows easily from beginning to end. And then finish as powerfully as you started, so that your interaction with the reader doesn’t stop there. You want them to continue thinking about what you’ve written long after they’ve closed the document. Your aim should be to get into their heads, to set up camp in their brains. Communicate your thoughts to their minds through their eyes in as straightforward a way as possible and you’ll really get them thinking. Take this approach consistently and your documents will be in the small minority that resonate with your readers. They may even thank you for it. But even if they don’t, they won’t forget it. And that will put you in a very strong position. References Dehaene, S (2009). Reading in the brain: the science and evolution of a human invention. London: Penguin Liversedge, SP, and Findlay, JM (2000). Saccadic eye movements and cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 4(1): 6-14. Kemmerer, D (2015); The cognitive neuroscience of language. Hove: Psychology Press Rubin, GS, and Turano, K (1992). Reading without saccadic eye movements. Vision Research 32(5): 895-902. Spoehr, KT, and Smith, EE (1975). The role of orthographic and phonotactic rules in perceiving letter patterns. Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception and Performance 104(1): 21-34. Image credit: LookerStudio / Shutterstock

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 2

Marketing - Essay Example outside of the marketing function impact upon marketing efforts. The report, takes the help of Sam’s Tailor, a fashion retailer in the Hong Kong market, to apply relevant methods of market analyses to the company’s marketing mix in order to determine the relationship between external market factors and other business units like finance, human resources and production, and their role in enforcing marketing efforts. ... The report will attempt to investigate all the above factors in relation to a fashion retailer in the Hong Kong retail market. It has to be noted that since the report is based on analysis of a fabricated situation in said market, whilst relevant background information is provided on the chosen company, an assumptive format will be employed when applying theory to the situation(s) explored. I.1 The organisation, Sam’s Tailors: Known as a tourist’s must visit enterprise, whether the tourist is a celebrity or a common person visiting Hong Kong, Sam’s tailors has earned a great reputation since its establishment in 1957 for providing high quality tailored suits for men and women. The company operates on the core traditions of quality and value for money. Their concept of the 24 hour suit has traditionally drawn many famous names like Bill Clinton, and Michael Palin, who in fact had a suit made within 24 hours whilst he was shooting his BBC travel documentary, Ã¢â‚¬Ë œAround the World in 80 Days’ (www.samstailor.biz; http://www.time.com/time/asia/2004/boa/boa_body_tailor.html). The current owner, Manu Melwani, son of the founder Sam Melwani, is very particular about maintaining strong relationships with past and present customers, as he thoroughly believes that a good tailor needs to know a lot about his customers. He travels extensively to Europe and America, where the majority of his clientele are, in order to understand more of their daily habits, personalities and public opinions about them to create suits tailor made for their image. The core competencies are the amount of research that goes into studying the behaviours of a considerably small but elite customer base, and a small corporate structure

Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Finance - Essay Example For this to effectively happen, all the staff should have a sense of ownership of the budget being put into use. In order for the management to efficiently perform the necessary management functions, the use of budgets becomes very fundamental (Hilton, 1994). Therefore, budgets are mostly used in the planning process. It therefore needs to be employed appropriately so as to facilitate communication and act as a motivational factor amongst the employees. In addition, budgets are also used as for control and performance evaluations and measurements. Apart from all that, budgets provide a target for each member to achieve as well as a focus for their efforts (Hopwood, 1974). It therefore calls for participation to be allowed so that those involved in budget setting can be allowed to freely discuss and be more receptive to the decisions made so that they can easily corporate in achieving the budget goals. One very important issue that Charles Ltd. should know is that; the way in which th e budgets are administered to the appropriate staff determines their effectiveness to help achieve the organizational goals. Janet was not made part of the group when setting the budget with which she was served, therefore she could less understand the importance of this budget as well as its usefulness. She ought to have been part of this budget from initiation for him to adopt it without any problem (Lamberton & Harvey, 1991). Instead, she was made to adopt a budget of which she did not feel part of its ownership from the start. It is therefore important for Charles Ltd. to recognize that budgets in an organization have two important uses; one, they are used as a forecasting tool to measure the performance of the company in a particular period of time, especially in a year, and the second use is where the budgets are used as a yard stick of the managerial performances. However, it is usually argued that, by using the budget for measuring managerial performance, it can as well be u sed as a tool for control in the organization (Schiff & Lewin, 1978). The current budgetary reporting system considers variances that evidently show both the efficiencies and inefficiencies of the budget. This is determined by considering whether the variances are either favorable or unfavorable. On several occasions, the variances seem unfavorable as can be explained by the differences between the budgeted and the actual figures in the table. The notes 1 and 2 also indicate that the variances are unfavorable. Considering that the budget report was made by the directors without making Janet and other supervisors and managers part of its setting, it becomes very difficult for these other staffs who were not involved to just accept and adopt it. Instead, the result would be that most of the staff would use the inefficiency side of the budget report to criticize it. Taking an example of Janet, she says she has no time for the paper work, maybe because she might not have been used to th e this system of budgetary reporting. By considering the report inaccurate and unfair, she may be feeling that the inefficiencies might have arisen due to the

National Foundation for Educational Research Essay Example for Free

National Foundation for Educational Research Essay Over the last century different techniques have been used to organise children within schools according to what the public and government asked for and needed. For example after the Second World War the number and size of schools increased, the tripartite system of secondary education was introduced and there was increased competition for grammar school places Sukhnandan and Lee (1998 pg. 13). There was a drive for excellence and the 11 plus exam leant itself easily to the administration of streaming. However during the 1960s research was carried out that suggested streaming had negative social consequences for pupils, which could have been the catalyst for the shift of emphasis from excellence to equality. This resulted in a shift from streaming to mixed ability teaching that continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Ability grouping, in the form of setting and within class grouping, was sometimes used in higher year groups for linear subjects such as maths, science and modern languages but mixed ability was the main grouping method. The essay question implies that again there has been a shift, this time to setting. Boaler et al (1998) seems to imply that pressures from the government are to blame for this move; suggesting research (Gewirtz, Ball Bowe, 1993 cited in Boaler et al 1998) indicates some teachers regard the curriculum set out in the 1988 Education Reform Act as incompatible with mixed ability teaching implying that they have no choice. Todays Governments seem to be increasingly interested in achieving goals and raising standards, even if this means children missing out on the social advantages of mixed ability grouping. Setting seems to reinforce social divisions, as there are a higher proportion of boys, children of lower socio-economic status, children born in the summer and those of ethnic minority backgrounds in the lower sets (Boaler, 1997a, 1997b. Oakes, 1982. Sutton, 1966. Cited in Sukhnandan and Lee, 1998. ) whereas children in mixed ability classes tend to come from a range of different backgrounds. I find this quite extraordinary, as the Scottish Parliament has recently spent millions on an anti-racism campaign. Surely segregating the children, albeit unintentionally, will undermine the message sent out by this campaign? The essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages research has told us concerning setting. It will begin with the discussion of the effect of teachers attitudes and expectations of the set that they are teaching. It will then discuss the limitations pupils face by being placed in sets. It will discuss the social gap created by teaching children in sets. It will also discuss the advantages to the teacher of teaching children in sets and the advantages to the pupils. The essay compares setting to mixed ability teaching on several occasions this is because mixed ability teaching was the technique used before the recommendation to use setting also there seems to only be limited research on the other forms of grouping. Research has shown there to be both advantages and disadvantages to setting. Boaler et al (1998) demonstrated many disadvantages to setting. In their paper they cited a worrying statistic Jackson (1963) 96% of teachers taught to streamed ability groups meaning they taught all the children without consideration into their individual differences. Boaler et al (1998) made reference to some of the experiences of pupils in setted mathematics classes, they reported that their teachers consistently made comments such as youre in the top set, you should be able to do this and youre in the bottom group your not going to learn anything. These attitudes are undoubtedly detrimental for the child. Boaler et al (1998) reported that children in higher sets were disadvantaged because their teachers had too high expectations of the children they were teaching, one third of the children taught in the highest sets felt they were being pushed to hard, that their lessons were paced too fast and they were under too much pressure to succeed because of their teachers expectations and the competitive ethos between pupils in higher sets. This was discovered to really upset certain children, Boaler et al, (1998) I mean I get really depressed it really depressed me, the fact that everyone in the class is like really far ahead and I just dont understand. It was reported that girls were the most affected by this citing the fact that although girls have been reported to be overtaking boys in all subjects boys still get the highest grades in mathematics (where the use of setting is dominant). The complete reverse was reported for those in lower sets, who felt that their lessons were too slow; they werent being challenged so lost interest. They believed that their teachers had no faith in them. This would then lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, they have no option but to perform to the set that they are allocated, if they are not encouraged then they will languish in the bottom sets their entire school life. This causes a self fulfilling prophecy, if they are told that theyre incapable of anything more they will begin to believe it, so they wont try to do anything more. Even if the children in the lower sets worked to be moved up into the higher sets they are unlikely to be successful. Teachers teach the children in specific sets to different tiers of an exam, so those in lower groups will not learn the same things as those in higher groups so movement between the sets would be difficult. The idea that children are taught to specific tiers is generally problematic because children are allocated to sets up to three years before they sit the exam and as mobility is rare this can have detrimental effects on their attainment if they were aware that they could only get a low grade. Boaler et al (1998) reported that only some children actually knew the implications of this. The teachers high expectations of those in higher sets and low expectations of those in lower sets causes a further social gap between the sets, those in the top sets will be called boffins and those in the lower sets will be seen as stupid. This is further intensified by the allocation of better qualified and more experienced teachers to higher sets even though research suggests (Black and Wiliam, 1998, p42 cited in Boaler et al 1998) that this type of high quality teaching is more beneficial to those children in lower sets who need more guidance as they are more easily distracted. The lower ability children will recognise that the higher ability children are seen as better and again this will have detrimental effects on their self-esteem causing them to become interested in anti-educational activities where its cool to be alienated (Hallam article from TES website, Passmore 2002) and will heighten the rift between the ability groups. In a mixed ability class for example there is a reduced distinction between childrens ability, which is beneficial to the children. There is even the suggestion that children of lower ability use those of higher ability as role models. A further problem could be caused because of a distinction made between academic and vocational subjects. Only subjects such as Maths, Science, English and Modern Languages are set while subjects such as Art and Music are mixed ability as a general rule. Children who are good at art and music may not feel as valued as those who are good at maths. The emphasis for teachers seems to be applied to children in higher sets because they get taught by the best teachers and get taught in the best classrooms. Also the children who arent interested may distract other children in these mixed ability groups. Ultimately this will lower their self-esteem and have a negative effect on their attainment in and feelings for the subject. Of cause there must be advantages to setting otherwise the First Minister wouldnt have recommended it. One major advantage is that, compared to mixed ability teaching, its easier for teachers to implement as they can pitch work at a level that is more appropriate for the level the children are at. In mixed ability teaching a large majority of the class are unsupervised while setting lends itself to whole class teaching. This would appear to benefit those children in both higher and lower ability groups. Children in higher ability groups could be neglected and left to get on with their work in mixed ability classes while in sets these children will be given more attention, the children in with less ability will feel less inferior and more confident in groups of children with similar ability. Another benefit for high ability children is that low ability children who dont want to learn will not distract them. The government is aiming to raise standards so its understandable to want to give children of higher ability a better chance. Research (Kulik and Kulik, 1982. 1987. Cited in Sukhnandan and Lee, 1998. ) shows that gifted and high ability children achieve more when placed in sets than they do when placed in mixed ability groups. Its believed by some that high ability pupils benefit in groups with similar ability because it increases motivation by providing appropriate challenges and competition. There is also the implication that the children will be like-minded, facilitating the opportunity for them to discuss and bounce ideas between each other. Possibly the main reason why the First Minister recommended this form of ability grouping is because all the research conducted in this area conflicts resulting in there being no truly consistent findings on the effect of ability grouping for pupil achievement. His recommendation could therefore be based on the fact that setting is easier for teachers so it is more likely children will be taught effectively. His main concern appears to be with raising standards and setting is easier to manage and improve than mixed ability teaching as set guidelines can be given for the attainment targets for each set. The blame for these inconsistent findings has been given to the research methods used. Theres a suggestion made that the outcome of ability grouping isnt the only thing being tested. The quality of teaching, the teachers expectations, the pupils expectations and the materials available will all effect the pupils achievement. The evidence seems to produce more disadvantages to setting than advantages. The main ones being social rather than necessarily academic. However a child will perform better if they are happy and confident. Being labelled as set 6 is not good for a childs self esteem or confidence especially when teachers reinforce the idea that they are not as good as those in higher sets. This ultimately leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy, which eventually causes the child to lose all interest. If the First Ministers objective really is to raise standards then shouldnt he be focussing on these low ability children and trying to raise their attainment levels? High ability groups also suffer because of the expectation that they are more capable than they actually there. To improve this it might be necessary to re-teach teachers on pupil differences and explain that all the children within the set are not identical. For this to occur theyd have to be a reduction in the emphasis placed on meeting targets, teachers need the flexibility to return to areas that children are finding difficult. When all said and done isnt education for the benefit child? The First Ministers recommendation needs to be accompanied by guidelines for teachers on how they can avoid the negative effects of homogeneous grouping. These guidelines should include careful planning, using well-defined targets and remaining aware of the negative effects of ability grouping (GB. Scottish Office. HMI, 1996. Cited in Sukhnandan and Lee, 1998. ) There could also be a move away from emphasis on academic achievement to more recognition of non-academic achievements to restore the self-esteem of children in lower ability groups (Elton Report, 1989. Taylor, 1993. Cited in Sukhnandan and Lee, 1998. ) His recommendation was probably the right one considering the drive to raise standards and make teachers lives easier. Because of the lack of conclusive evidence for what type of grouping is more beneficial academically for the child he was right to choose the method that could be most easily implemented and controlled. However this lack of conclusive evidence means that more research needs to be carried out to discover what the best form of grouping is. To do this researchers will have to establish what is ultimately best for the child, possibly new ways of grouping could be developed or the old ways upgraded.

Democracy Rising? Essay -- International Politics

Since America's tragedy on September 11, 2001 the Middle East has been the epicenter of international attention. Cries for democracy and freedom in the region have permeated the western media. When Iraq was found to be devoid of the Weapons of Mass Destruction, bringing democracy to the country became the new reason for the war. Nearly every first world country in the world is a democracy if not in name then in practice. It would be forgivable to think that democracy is the cause of wealth, civil liberties, and all the things associated with first world countries, for there is almost no wealthy nation today that is not a de facto democracy. However while democracy is undoubtedly a tremendous invention of mankind and works well in many nations that, does not mean it is universally correct and should be applied to every nation in the world. For if democracy were forced upon many Middle Eastern nations it would not be a harbinger of increased civil liberties, wealth, and peace, b ut a step towards secular extremist regimes, far less friendly to each other and the west than their moderate authoritarian predecessors. In the early nineteenth century after world war one, the Ottoman Empire collapsed. It encompassed much of the middle east and Arab world, the League of Nations, a group of imperialist western nations which had fought on the winning allied side during the war had grand intentions of preventing future wars. However some of their actions are credited with directly leading to the second world war. One of their mandates that would have grim consequences for future generations was ratified in the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, this treaty effectively divvied up the middle east into new colonies for the victorious Eu... ...rative Political Studies 43.11 (2010): 1442-1470. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 7 Dec. 2010. Falk, Richard. "America's Pro-Iraqi Neutrality." Nation 231.13 (1980): 398-401. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 7 Dec. 2010. Guida, Michelangelo. "The New Islamists' Understanding of Democracy in Turkey: The Examples of Ali Bulac and Hayreddin Karaman." Turkish Studies 11.3 (2010): 347-370. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 7 Dec. 2010. Tibi, Bassam. "Islamism and Democracy: On the Compatibility of Institutional Islamism and the Political Culture of Democracy." Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 10.2 (June 2009): 135-64. Print. Weiffen, Brigitte. "The Cultural-Economic Syndrome: Impediments to Democracy in the Middle East."Comparative Sociology 3.3/4 (2004): 353-375. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 7 Dec. 2010.

Views on The Role of Public Opinion

The constitution in America has been changed with regards to the public opinion-related parts and stated, echoing the founding fathers, that the public in the modern world, due to the complexity of the modern world, are not interested in political issues, and are particularly ignorant of matters they do not have experience with, specially foreign affairs.According to Walter Lippmann, an American sociologist, ordinary people working only, with what he named, stereotypes are not capable of understanding politics. Which is quiet a discriminative theory. People understand their needs, their wants, and their needs for well-being; those should be the only policy and are the sole fundamentals of political economy. Politicians should not care about investment and whatever else. They should only care about the well-being of the peoples. That is why governments should be elected from the people, and by the people here I mean the working class.Because the working class is the core of the societ y, and the vast majority of the population. And without whom the rest of the population would not feed, dress, or even be able to work on the streets. Without the proletarians, all the capitalists’ farms, factories, businesses would stop and get bankrupt. And eventually people would starve if the proletarians stopped working. Imagine the mass of efficiency the proletarians have on any society. In conclusion, since the efficiency of the proletariat has been displayed, technocracy and popular governments is the answer opposing Lippmann’s theory.Lippmann added that the primary problem of popular governments is that the members are always violently prejudging matters, apathy, and preference curious trivial and dull important matters, and are hungry for side shows and three legged calves. And that even if they improved their characters they would not be of any aid to the governments because they do not spend enough time to study political issues they do not know about. And as if though Lippmann considers academic politicians live in another world or come from another planet, he continues to under-estimate the masses and the populace.And goes on even further and calls the masses shallow minded and think of unimportant matters. And that actually is the problem; Lippmann thinks that rational and educated peoples should be standing amongst noble and aristocratic ruling class. Meanwhile, what we think is that they should be standing amongst the working class, supporting them with their knowledge  and rationalism, against the government in their decisions that increases the suffering of the working class or the poor class, supporting the government when they work on the decreasing of such pains and sufferings.It would be a lot easier this way. While as matter of fact, technocratic governments would only think of making the average citizen’s life easier, because they, themselves, have suffered the everyday, equally as the average citizen before, and while, being in office. It would be a lot easier. Collaboration between the government and the people would be at its upmost.

Lets reform our schools Essay

Alcohol is dangerous for health because it causes intoxication. Every person is possess an inhibitory centre in their brains which prevents the person from doing things that he considers wrong. When a person drinks alcohol it inhibits the inhibitory centre which causes intoxication. For instance a person does not normally use abusive language while addressing his parents or elders. I he has to answer the call of nature, his inhibitory centre will prevent him from doing so in public; therefore he uses toilet. When a person consumes alcohol, the inhibitory centre itself is inhibited. The intoxicated person is found to use abusive and foul language and does not realize his mistake even if he is addressing his parents. Many even urinate in their clothes. Neither do they talk nor walk properly. They even misbehave. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey Bureau of Justice (U.S. Department of Justice) in the year 1996 alone everyday on an average 2,713 rapes took place. The statistics tell us that the majority of the rapists, were intoxicated while committing the crime. The same is true in cases of molestation. According to the statistics, 8% of the Americans commit incest in other words one in every twelve to thirteen persons in America is involved in incest. One of the major factors associated with the spread of AIDS, the most dreaded disease, is alcoholism. There are so many cases of adultery, rape, incent and AIDS found more among alcoholics. The statistics tell us that the majority of the rapists, were intoxicated while committing the crime. The same is true in cases of molestation. Due to that fact we come to know when someone consumes alcohol once and commits something shameful, it will remains with him for a lifetime. In a state of intoxication he commits rape or incest. Even if the act is later regretted, a normal human being is likely to carry the guilt throughout his life. Most of the people don’t know what could happen after the consumption of alcohol. The maximum number of deaths in the world related to any one particular cause is due to the consumption of alcohol. Millions of people die every year only because of intake of alcohol. There are so many ill-effects of alcohol such as Cirrhosis of Liver, Cancer of Oesophagus, Cancer of Head and Neck, Cancer of Liver, Cancer of Bowel, Oesophagitis, Gastritis, Pancreatitis, Hepatitis, Cardiomyophagitis, Hypertension, Coronary Artherosclerosis, Angina, Heart Attacks, Strokes, Apoplexy, Fits, Paralysis, Peripheral Neuropathy, Cortical Atrophy, Cerebellar Atrophy, Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome, Beriberi, even Pellagra occurs in alcoholic, and many other diseases are cause by alcoholism. Due to that fact alcoholism is a very serious risk and we all should be prevented by this evil desire. Consumption of alcohol is very dangerous for our health.

The Impact of Race on Childrens Friendships

The Impact of Race on Childrens Friendships In his 1963 â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech† the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. longed for the day when â€Å"little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.† While in 21st century America, King’s dream is certainly possible, more often than not black children and white children remain strangers thanks to de facto segregation in the nation’s schools and neighborhoods. Even in diverse communities, however, children of color and white children tend not to be close friends. What’s responsible for this trend? Studies reveal that children internalize society’s views on race relations, which has largely given them the idea that it’s best for people to â€Å"stick to their own kind.† The older children get, the more likely they are not to socialize closely with peers of a different race. This paints a relatively bleak picture for the future of race relations, but the good news is that by the time youth reach college they aren’t as quick to rule out people as friends on the basis of race. Why Interracial Friendships Are Important Cross-race friendships have a number of benefits for children, according to a study on the subject published in the Journal of Research on Childhood Education in 2011. â€Å"Researchers find that children who hold interracial friendships tend to have high levels of social competence and self-esteem,† according to study lead Cinzia Pica-Smith. â€Å"They are also socially skilled and tend to have more positive attitudes about racial differences than their peers who do not have interracial friendships. Despite the benefits of interracial friendships, several studies have shown that even young children are more inclined to have intra-racial friendships than interracial ones and that cross-race friendships decrease as children age. â€Å"Children’s Perceptions of Interethnic and Interracial Friendships in a Multiethnic School Context,† Pica-Smith’s study of 103 children- including one group of kindergartners and first graders and another of fourth- and fifth-graders- found that younger children do have a more positive outlook on inter-group friendships than their older peers. In addition, children of color favor cross-racial friendships more than whites do, and girls do more than boys. Due to the positive impact cross-racial friendships have on race relations, Pica-Smith encourages educators to foster such friendships among the children in their classrooms. Kids on Race CNN’s report â€Å"Kids on Race: The Hidden Picture† made it clear that some children hesitate to form cross-race friendships because they’ve picked up cues from society that â€Å"birds of a feather flock together.† Released in March 2012, the online report focused on the friendship patterns of 145 African-American and Caucasian children. One group of study subjects fell between the ages of 6 and 7 years old and a second group fell between the ages of 13 and 14 years old. When shown pictures of a black child and a white child together and asked if the pair could be friends, 49 percent of young children said they could be while just 35 percent of teens said the same. Moreover, young African-American children were far more likely than either young white children or white teens to believe that friendship between the youths in the picture was possible. Black teens, however, were just four percent more likely than white teens to think cross-race friendship between the youths in the picture was possible. This indicates that skepticism about cross-race friendships rises with age. Also of note is that white youths in majority black schools were more likely than whites in majority white schools to view cross-race friendship as possible. Sixty percent of the former youths viewed interracial friendships favorably compared to just 24 percent of the latter. Diversity Doesnt Always Result in Interracial Friendships Attending a large, diverse school doesnt mean that children will be more likely to form cross-race friendships. A University of Michigan study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal in 2013 found that race is a bigger factor in larger (and typically more diverse) communities. The larger the school, the more racial segregation there is, says sociologist Yu Xie, one of the studys authors. Data on 4,745 students in grades 7-12 during the 1994-95 school year was collected for the study. Xie explained that in smaller communities the number of potential friends is limited, making it more difficult for students to find a person who has the traits they want in a friend and shares their racial background as well. In larger schools, however, its easier to find someone who will meet other criteria for a friend plus be of the same race, Xie says. Race plays a bigger role in a larger community because you can satisfy other criteria, but in a smaller school other factors dominate the decision who is your friend. Interracial Friendships in College While several reports indicate that interracial friendships wane with age, a study published in 2010 in the American Journal of Sociology found that first-year college students â€Å"are more likely to make friends with peers they share a dorm room or major with than they are to befriend those from similar racial backgrounds,† the Houston Chronicle reported. Researchers from Harvard University and the University of California at Los Angeles tracked the Facebook profiles of 1,640 students at an unnamed university to determine how they picked friends. The study suggested students are more likely to become friends with peers they see often, peers from the same state or peers who attended similar types of high schools than they were to become friends with peers who simply shared their same cultural background. â€Å"Race is important in the end,† explained Kevin Lewis, one of the study’s authors, â€Å"but it’s nowhere near as important as we thought.†

How Hard Is the SAT Spanish Subject Test

How Hard Is the SAT Spanish Subject Test SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips  ¿Estudias espaà ±ol? ¿Hablas espaà ±ol en casa?Are you wondering if you should take the SAT Subject Test in Spanish? Let's review what it covers and how students usually score so you can decide if the SAT Subject Test in Spanish is right for you. First, you have to know what's on the test. Step 1: Familiarize Yourself With the Spanish Subject Test Before you can decide if your language skills are up to the challenge, you should know all about the SAT Subject Test in Spanish- when it's offered, how it's structured, and what's on it. When Is the Spanish Subject Test Offered? There are two options for taking the SAT Subject Test in Spanish: the Listening test and the non-Listening, or Reading-only, test. Spanish with Listening is offered only on one test date in November, while the Reading version is offered on all the other test dates- in May, June, August, October, and December. To see the exact dates and figure out when you should take the tests, check out this article.Besides when they're offered, what are the differences between the Listening and Reading options? How Is the Spanish Subject Test Structured? Both tests ask 85 multiple choice questions in 60 minutes. Here's the breakdown of the Reading Subject Test: 33% vocabulary and structure 33% paragraph completion 33% reading comprehension The Listening test, on the other hand, has this structure: 40% listening (e.g. describing a picture, continuing a short conversation, or answering comprehension questions) 60% reading (vocabulary and structure, paragraph completion, and reading comprehension). As you can see, if you choose the Spanish with Listening Subject Test, your listening skills are a significant portion of the test. However, your Listening subscore will count half as much as your reading subscore, which I'll explain more below in the section about how the test is scored. Both subscores will be reported on your score report, but the reading will count more towards your overall scaled score. The Listening portion is 20 minutes long. You are required to bring a CD player to listening to the Subject Test. Read more about the CD player guidelines here. While the skills being tested differ, between the two tests, both cover similar content. What Does the Spanish Subject Test Cover? The tests cover the following areas of understanding. Different parts of speech Basic idioms Ability to fill in words or expressions within the context of a sentence Understanding of vocabulary and structure questions within paragraphs Understanding of main points, supporting ideas, themes, style, tone, and setting of passages, which may be drawn from fiction, news articles, historical works, letters, and advertisements This practice question, for example, tests your ability to fill in a word in the correct part of speech in the context of a sentence. Difficulty level: easy. Here's a similar sample question that tests your understanding of the subjunctive form. Difficulty level: hard. Try some more sample questions from the Spanish Subject Test here, and determine whether they feel easy or hard to you. This is one important action you can take to determine your language level. Mike knows enough Spanish to ask where the bathroom is, but not enough to express all the love that's in his heart. BreakPresents/YouTube. Step 2: Know Your Spanish Language Level College Board suggests that you should have three to four years of studying Spanish or two or more years of intensive study to take the SAT Subject Test in Spanish. If you're nearing the end of AP Spanish and are getting an A, then you are likely in a strong position to score highly on the Subject Test. If you're in Spanish 3, and have not studied Spanish intensively, like in AP classes, then you might not be ready yet. Again, trying practice questions will help give you a sense of the test and whether you feel your language skills are ready. Your Spanish teachers might also have advice on whether your high school curriculum has sufficiently prepared you for the Subject Test. If you're a native speaker, you should still study for the test to make sure you know grammar and other rules of the language. Don't worry about expressions unique to one country- the test is not supposed to have any region-specific sayings. Research your college to learn their Subject Test requirements and expectations. Some might be impressed with your high score on a language test. Others might prefer you opt for another test, if they already know that you're a native speaker of Spanish. For more on this, check out our expert guide: Which SAT Subject Test Should You Take? It's also important to consider how strong your reading vs. listening comprehension in Spanish is. The Spanish with Listening gives that extra dimension of understanding and may help with placement into a more advanced language level in college. The grading curve is often more competitive for the Listening test, as students who opt for that one are typically fluent or have particularly strong Spanish skills. So if you're really not confident in your listening comprehension, you probably want to steer clear of the Listening test. Let's take a closer look at what I mean when I talk about a competitive grading curve. Step 3: Consider the Grading Curve Along with your Subject Test score out of 800, you'll also get a percentile. This percentile compares you to other students who took the test. If you score in the 75th percentile, for example, then you scored higher than 75% of other students and lower than 25%. This table shows how the Spanish Subject Test scores converted to percentiles last year. You can see that the Spanish Subject Test with Listening is slightly more competitive. The same score is a slightly lower percentile on the Listening test than the Reading test. Check out this table, based on data from the College Board, and then scroll down for a discussion of what this data means for how difficult the SAT Subject Test in Spanish is. Score Spanish with Listening Percentile Spanish with Reading Percentile 800 94 92 790 91 90 780 86 87 770 82 84 760 78 80 750 74 77 740 69 74 730 66 70 720 62 67 710 58 64 700 55 60 690 51 57 680 46 54 670 43 50 660 40 47 650 38 44 640 35 41 Average (50th percentile) scores on the tests are in the upper 600s. Let's take a look at what you need to score in the 70th, 80th, and 90th percentile. Good Scores for Spanish Listening 70th percentile:750+ 80th percentile:770+ 90th percentile:790+ Good Scores for Spanish Reading 70th percentile: 730+ 80th percentile: 760+ 90th percentile: 790+ To score in a high percentile compared to other test-takers, you have to score quite high, between 750 and 800, on the tests. While this might sound like a tall order, it's actually well within your reach if you have the requisite Spanish language skills and take time to prepare for the Subject Test. Read this article for more on the average scores of the SAT Subject Tests and what constitutes a good score on each test (it's different for each one). This data can help you set target scores and design your study plan. Let's take a look at how the scoring works, so you can keep this in mind as you study for the test. Step 4: Know How the Spanish Subject Test Is Scored Unlike the general SAT, for the Spanish Subject test (and all other Subject Tests), you lose points for incorrect answers.Spanish Subject Test gives you 1 point for every correct answer, 0 points for skipped answers, and -1/3 point for wrong answers. These points add up to your raw score, which is then converted to a scaled score between 200 and 800 through a process called equating. Equating takes everyone's scores into account. As you saw above, the grading curve on language tests like Spanish is competitive. Some years, you might be able to get away with one or two wrong answers and still score an 800. Otherwise, you will likely lose about 10 points for every two questions you get wrong. As I mentioned above, the reading subscore counts twice as much as the listening subscore toward your composite scaled score. However, both subscores will be reported and viewable on your score report. If you are adequately prepared with AP Spanish, years of study, or out of the classroom fluency, then you are in a great position to score highly on the Spanish Subject Test and demonstrate your multilingual abilities to admissions committees. Even if you're confident in your fluency, it's always important to do some serious test prep and back up your understanding with the necessary grammatical knowledge and reading comprehension. Step 5: KnowWhen to Guess and When to Leave Answers Blank Too many random guesses could bring down your score, so you have to be smart on when to guess on a question(and risk a point deduction) and when to leave a question blank (with no change of getting it right). Here are some strategies to follow: If You Can't Eliminate Any Answer Choices If you're really stumped on a question and can't eliminate any of the options, don’t guess yet.Skip the question and for now and go back to it afteryou've finished the rest of the exam.What if you stillcan’t eliminate anyof the options?It may make sense to guess, but it also may not gain you any points. Here's an example: If you guess on four questions without eliminating any answer choices, odds are you'll get one question right and three wrong. This leaves you with a net of zero points on those questions (1 - (.3333 x 3)=0). However, total randomness is rare, and the test makers often design the wrong answer choices to seem correct so that you're more likely to choose them. This means the choices you decide on may not be random, and you may end up guessing incorrectly on more than three-quarters of the questions, leaving you with a net negative of points. This leaves you with a choice. You can either leave questions you can't eliminate any answer choices on blank, or you can do you best to make your answer choices completely random. One way to do this is to pick a letter (say "A") and select that answer choice for all the questions you're guessing on to make your choices as random as possible. If You Can EliminateOne or MoreAnswer Choices Once you can eliminate at least one answer choice, the math is much more in your favor to guess.Say you have six questions where you've been able to eliminate one answer choice for each. That leaves you with three answer choices per question. Odds are you'll guess correctly on two of the questions, and answer four incorrectly. That leaves you with a net positive of 2/3 a point (2 - (.333 x 4). It's not huge, but it's definitely better than nothing. Just remember to keep your guesses on the remaining answer choices as random as possible. Additional Note:If you take a practice test, I highly recommendmarking all the questions you guessedon so that you can later evaluate the success of your guessing strategies. This will also prevent you from just ignoring questions you got right by chance, whichyou should always revisitanyway. To Sum Up... The Spanish Subject Test has a competitive grading curve. You'll have to score in the high 700s to make it into a high percentile, so set high target scores and prep to achieve them. Make sure you're confident in your comprehension of Spanish, have studied it for at least the recommended amount of time, and have a strong grasp of grammar and vocabulary. If you have all these language skills, then the test should not be overly difficult for you. Instead, it will be a great opportunity to showcase your language skills to admissions committees and add a strong Subject Test score to your college applications.  ¡Buena suerte!  ¿Quà © ms? Need to brush up on your ser conjugations? We've got you covered with our chart of ser conjugations for every tense. Looking for a good SAT Spanish study notes? We've put together the best SAT Spanish Subject Test guide here. What are the easiest SAT Subject Tests to take? This article answers that question from a few different angles, including the content of the test and how competitive the grading curves for each one are. Are you applying to Ivy League schoolsor wondering if your test scores are good enough to get in? Check out this post on Subject Test Scores for the Ivy League and other selective colleges. When are you taking the SAT or ACT? Check out this study plan that helps you schedule your prep a year or more in advance of the tests. Need a little extra help prepping for your Subject Tests? We have the industry's leading SAT Subject Test prep programs (for all non-language Subject Tests). Built by Harvard grads and SAT Subject Test full or 99th %ile scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so that you get the most effective prep possible. Learn more about our Subject Test products below:

Gap Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gap Analysis - Assignment Example Currently, Motorola has been on a declining verge for its total assets, operating income, revenue sales, and profitability (Motorola Solutions Inc., 2014). These outcomes have been noted by analysts to be the outcome of a collective set of organizational inadequacies which have been within the ranks of the organization for several years now (Literral, 2008) As a corporation which once used to be a global leader and strong competitor in the mobile phone industry, the desired state of Motorola was for it to continue recording growth both in terms of market capitalization and market size. The rationale for this positioning is that as an advantage of globalization, the use of modern technological tools such as mobile phones in transacting basic businesses and commerce has been increasing tremendously. This has given room to several companies in the mobile phone industry which did not use to be known as major global firms to take advantage to strategically grow and expand their business horizon (Literral, 2008). Based on the business principle of brand equity therefore, it was expected that Motorola would continue to compete effectively in this industry rather than be heard in the news for most appalling reasons that it has currently been heard for. As noted by Chau (2008), performance outcomes within organizations are a process rather than an event. What this implies is that the variables and factors that lead to an organization recording a certain level of performance is not something that happens overnight. Rather, it happens as a gradual process that is achieved through the collective efforts of all human resource within the organization. In the case of Motorola, most experts have blamed the current state to performance deficiencies that have come about as a result of poor innovative reasoning by employees (Literral, 2008). As the mobile phone industry is at the center of the

A Case Study on the Annual Report of Public Limited Company Essay

A Case Study on the Annual Report of Public Limited Company - Essay Example The business solutions of the company are designed to meet a diverse range of business including the construction industry, aviation, chemicals, and shipping. Shell product lines include fuels for home and commercial fuels, gas and fuel cards, motor and bike oils, industrial lubricants, marine fuels, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (or LPG), and other chemical products. The company also engages in major projects and innovative technology solutions (including coal gasification technology) while overseeing safety and environment performance. Shell’s strategic policy implementation emphasizes mainly on improving its performance and growth, both social and environmental (for instance, its emphasis on biodiversity (Schaltegger, Bennett, and Burritt, 2006, p. 595)). The main focus on its strategy development includes three fields: nearer-term performance focus, medium-term growth delivery, and maturing new generation project options. The company reports have announced its strategy for 2010 and beyond. Some of the key aspects of the new strategy are listed below (source: Shell Website). It is significant to note that the company’s strategy is centered on strong operating performance and sustained investment on organic growth. Looking at the energy scenarios to 2050, Shell’s forecasts are mainly focused on the energy challenge faced by the world today. The primary motto of the company is to provide more energy and less carbon. Shell strongly believes that the development and implementation of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technology is important for greenhouse gas emission control and employee safety issues, which by 2050 can contribute significantly to CO2 management. Due to the weak global economy, the financial performance of Shell has been significantly affected in the fourth quarter of 2009.