Diminish, Decline, and Dwindle

Diminish, Decline, and Dwindle Diminish, Decline, and Dwindle Diminish, Decline, and Dwindle By Maeve Maddox A reader asks, Can you please post an article on the correct usage of the words diminish, decline, and dwindle?  I believe diminish is used with uncountable nouns such as the light diminishes, decline is used with abstract and uncountable nouns such as â€Å"decline in quality† or â€Å"decline in performance,† and dwindle is used only with countable nouns such as â€Å"the population of tigers has dwindled.† This question, so intellectual and logic-seeking, made me aware in striking fashion how differently speakers approach language. Were I debating which of the three verbs to use- diminish, decline, or dwindle- I would weigh their distinctive emotive qualities, never giving a thought to whether they refer to countable or non-countable nouns. As it happens, all three of these verbs may be used with countable or uncountable nouns when the intended meaning is â€Å"to lessen† or â€Å"to become smaller.† Deciding which to choose depends upon context and the connotation wanted. Diminish descends from a Latin verb meaning â€Å"to cut small. Ancient Latin had the verb diminuere, â€Å"to break into small pieces, and diminuere, â€Å"to make smaller, to reduce in size.† Decline derives from Latin declinare, â€Å"to turn or bend away or aside from the straight course.† Dwindle derives from dwine, an archaic English verb meaning, â€Å"to waste or pine away.† That all three are used interchangeably in modern English is illustrated by the following examples from the Web: As populations age and revenues diminish, government and private pension funds around the world are facing insolvency. Nevada and Strip gaming revenues decline in February Chicago food fest struggles as revenues dwindle Diminish conveys a lessening of the strength or quality of something. Its most common use is with uncountable nouns: Are we getting more stupid? Researchers claim our intelligence is diminishing as we no longer need it to survive Researchers have some new insights into how power  diminishes  a persons capacity for  empathy. Our smartphones supply endless possibilities for entertainment, but a new study shows they can diminish the quality of users time away from work or school. Decline connotes a gradual diminishing, like something moving down a slope. We had watched our children decline, fall into drug and alcohol abuse, fail to perform at school, lose jobs, abandon relationships, become unable to function in the family or society, and we hadn’t known why.   Agriculture is  declining day by day. The six monthshad been for me a sorrowful waiting game of watching [my mother] decline and wondering which day would be her last. Dwindle suggests a gradual diminution into nothingness or something close to it. A novel’s plot might dwindle to a disappointing close. A dying battery causes a flashlight’s illumination to dwindle. The liquid in the â€Å"Drink Me† vial causes Alice to dwindle in size. An excellent photographic visualization of dwindling is what the Wicked Witch of the West does when Dorothy throws water on her in The Wizard of Oz. A quotation that I associate with the word dwindle is the line that concludes Millamant’s monologue to her fiancà © Mirabell in Congreve’s Way of the World. After listing the freedoms she enjoyed as an unmarried woman as conditions (articles) that he must agree to if he wants her to go through with the marriage, she concludes with this statement: These articles subscribed, if I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into a wife. 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 Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Arrive To vs. Arrive At41 Words That Are Better Than GoodTrooper or Trouper?

No More Mistakes With This Grammar Cheat Sheet

No More Mistakes With This Grammar Cheat Sheet The cold, hard truth is that the autocorrect feature on your phone and the spelling and grammar checks in your word processing software arent enough to guarantee error-free writing. And text speak never cuts it in academic and professional settings or in serious personal circumstances. Even if your class or major is unrelated to English, strong writing skills are crucial in any endeavor or career. Use this grammar cheat sheet to check yourself, and make a note of any weak spots you have or things you tend to forget or mix up. Keep a physical or digital sticky note on your computer, and glance at it any time you sit down to write. Homophones Its, Its The bird is flapping its wings. (correct; possession) Its a beautiful day to watch birds. (correct; contraction of it + is) Their, There, Theyre Their party was a bit loud. (correct; possession) Im glad I wasnt there. (correct; adverb) Theyre going to get in trouble one of these days. (correct; contraction of they + are) Then, Than First, put on your socks; then, put on your shoes. (correct; sense of time/order) You are taller than I realized. (correct; comparison) Yore, Your, Youre The movie special effects of yore used no CGI. (correct; time in the past) Your taste in movies is a bit odd. (correct; possession) Youre really into those black-and-white films. (correct; contraction of you + are) Word Usage Bring, Take Please bring me my phone. (correct; from another location to your current location) I always take my phone to class. (correct; from your current location to another location) Everyday, Every Day My workouts are an everyday thing. (correct; adjective only) I work out every day. (correct; adverb phrase) I, Me, Myself I am the queen. (correct; subject) Bill and I are friends. (correct; compound subject) Give me my crown. (correct; object) The fight for the throne is between Bill and me. (correct; compound object) I call myself Queen of the Universe. (correct; reflexive verb) It was just him and myself. (incorrect) It was just him and me. (correct) Lay, Lie Lay your head on the pillow and rest. (correct; transitive verb) Lie here and rest. (correct; intransitive verb) Loose, Lose I must have lost weight, because my pants are loose. (correct; adjective) I would like to lose a bit more weight. (correct; verb) Nor, Or He is neither a man nor a child. (correct; negative) That is either a small rat or a large mouse. (correct; positive) That, Which I read the book that you recommended. (correct; specifies one book of many) I read the book, which happened to be very expensive. (correct; refers specifically to a certain book) Weather, Whether Have you checked the weather report today? (correct) I dont know whether I should take an umbrella or not. (correct) Who, Whom Who are you? (correct) Do you know who he is? (correct) Who are you talking to? (incorrect but very common) Whom are you talking to? (correct) Punctuation Apostrophe () shes (correct; contraction of she + is) wouldnt (correct; contraction of would + not) Bobs book (correct; the book of Bob) the Olsens home (correct; the home of the Olsens) the members choice (correct; the choice of a certain member) the members choice (correct; the choice of more than one member) I visited the Olsens. (incorrect; apostrophe not used in plurals) I visited the Olsens. (correct) Colon (:) My mother told me to buy milk, eggs, and bread. (correct; language flows and does not need the colon) My mother told me to buy just the essentials: milk, eggs, and bread. (correct; stop before list requires the colon) I told her one thing: I need money. (correct; phrase or clause after colon explains phrase or clause before colon) Comma (,) Im with him, hes with her. (incorrect; comma splice between two complete sentences) Im with him, and hes with her. (correct; conjunction added) Im with him; hes with her. (correct; alternative if you do not add a conjunction; see Semicolon) Hyphen (-) I hate three eyed monsters. (incorrect depending on intended meaning; sounds like I hate eyed monsters and there are three of them) I hate three-eyed monsters. (correct; I hate monsters with three eyes) Remembering these grammar rules takes a bit of self-discipline. (correct) Semicolon (;) Lets go to the movies, its not too late. (incorrect; comma splice) Lets go to the movies; its not too late. (correct; semicolon separates two sentences) Of course, this cheat sheet cant cover everything you need to know about English. Massive style guides are published for professional copywriter and editors. But hopefully, this helpful article will steer you in the right direction.

Evaluation Research, Research Analysis And Ex Post Factor Essay

Evaluation Research, Research Analysis And Ex Post Factor Hypothesizing - Essay Example Evaluation research, factors that makes formulation of the problem difficult and suggested solutions The role of research in science involves collection of data on a given topic in order to establish existing properties of the data to aid ‘decision-making’ processes. In evaluation research, data collection and analysis aims at establishing preference on an item. A number of difficulties, through controversies, however, have continually been raised with respect to formulation of problems in evaluation research. The reasons for such difficulties are their induced dilemma on a researcher with respect to formulation of research problem. The first factor that makes formulation of the problem difficult is existence of different theories with respect to time, within the research’s outline, when the problem is supposed to be formulated. While formulating the problem prior to the research allows for identification of information gap through exploration of existing literatu re, some experts believe that it restricts a researcher’s objectivity in research. An evaluation researcher may therefore not know whether to ‘pre-establish’ a research problem or to let problems emerge from the research process (Hunter and Brewer, 2006). The relevance of a research problem in determining the scope of a research such as research design and methods also identifies a number of difficulties in formulation of problem in evaluation research. Available resources for a research initiative together with expected cost of completing different research initiatives for example restrict a researcher’s options, in formulating the research problem, to a scope whose methodology will meet the available finances. Existing ideologies and availability of resources are therefore some of the factors that make formulation of a problem difficult for an evaluation researcher (Maxfield and Babbie, 2011). The problems can however be solved by a researcher’s s ubjective reasoning based a number of factors. One of the possible suggestions to solving the dilemma on problem formulation is reliance on a person’s experience with respect to the appropriate time, within the research’s timeline, when a problem should be developed. The researcher’s experience should also solve the difficulty of whether the problem should be developed, prior to a research, or should emanate from the research process as opposed to being determined by the researcher. Another suggestion to handling the issue is the dependence on existing literature on a similar evaluation research topic to guide a researcher on formulation of the problem. Similarly, reliance on theories also offers directions to an evaluation researcher on development of research problem (Vedyadhara, n.d.). Topics of evaluation research Evaluation research is a widely scoped type of research that aims at developing solutions to social problems or developing a plan for solving soci al issues. Consequently, it has diverse topics within the social framework. One of its topics is the â€Å"cost benefit studies† of social problems (Babbie, 2012, p. 361). The cost benefit studies evaluate existence of relationships between economic investment in social initiatives and the possible benefits from such initiatives. The topic for example researches and projects both inputs and outputs in a social venture to justify an initiative. An example of an evaluation research in cost benefit is an initiative to determine the significance of investing a given amount of resources in an anti drug campaign. In the research, the aim would be to determine the involved cost of the campaign and possible benefits, both social and economic, which can be derived from the

Apostle Pauls view of the Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Apostle Pauls view of the Law - Essay Example His Hebrew name was Saul and while still a Pharisee he persecuted the Christians. He was a person of prominence in the holy city of Jerusalem and had supervised the stoning of a Christian named, Stephen. As Paul himself says in Gal. 1.13 and also in Gal. 1.23, â€Å"I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it†. After the incident of murdering Stephen, Paul asked permission from the religious authorities to go to Damascus and persecute the Christians there. On his way to Damascus he had a vision of the Christ rising from the dead, and this vision made him temporarily blind. It was a pivotal moment in Sauls life and it changed the course of both, his life and the history of the world. On reaching Damascus still blind, Saul was treated by Ananias, and later baptized to Paul and Christianity by the same person. On changing religion, now he became the persecuted and had to flee to save himself from the Jews. St. Paul as he was known later was one of t he earliest Christian missionaries along with St. Peter and his fellow apostle, James. St. Paul is credited with writing the thirteen epistles in the New Testament though now speculation has arisen as to whether he is the actual author of six out of the credited thirteen. Amidst all the authors of the New Testament Paul is the most influential one of all. Pauls view of the law as we can see from the gospels written in the form of letters to the Galatians and the Romans is the most controversial part in the studies on New Testament. It has also been said that the two letters written to Galatians and Romans contradict each other in context to the laws, as Paul changed his views while writing them. However a closer look into the two letters reveal that they complement each other while Paul talks about the Law and there is nothing to show his contradictory talk on it. Other academicians speculate that there was no study or understanding of the Laws by Paul, he just responded

History of the Violin and Bow Essay Example for Free

History of the Violin and Bow Essay Stringed instruments such as the violin and its accompanying variations have been used in music for thousands of years. The first officially recorded use of the violin was during medieval European times. The earliest form of the violin was referred to as a Fiddle and the person playing it was termed as a Fiddler. During the 15th century though, the violins began taking on a new shape and began to carve its own history in music. The evolution of the violin continued into the 16th century when it developed what was to become its final look and shape. It is this artistic representation of a violin that we still recognize and use in our present time. An Italian from Cremona named Andrea Amati, is recognized as the founder of the most famous violin making school. The violin making school is not a structure per se but more of a school of thought and characterization. It was during this time that an explosion in violin making reached as far as Europe even as Cremona remained as the home of the best violin makers in the world. The most famous of these violin making families are the Amati, Guarneri, Antonio Stradivari, Rugerri, and Bergonzi. In the music world, the finest musicians openly acknowledge the Stradivari and Guarneri violins to be the best violins ever made over the past 150 years. The Violin is a member of the string instrument family and is capable of producing a 3 octave sound range when played by skilled musicians. The sound a violin creates depends on a number of factors, the most important of which are the type of wood used to produce the body of the instrument and the type of metal strings used.. It is usually 14 inches in length and uses metal strings tightened to various degrees on tuning pegs, to produce its exceptional sound quality. A typical violin is composed of the following parts: Chin rest, F-hole, strings, tuning pegs, scroll, tailpiece, fine tuners, bridge, belly, fingerboard, neck, and back plate. The sound is produced by the instrumentalists skimming a bow over the metal strings. Violins are usually constructed to withstand the 17 pounds of downward force that is regularly applied to the 4 metal strings. But just like any stringed instrument, the Violin in itself will fail to make sweet music for the listeners if not strummed with a bow. The bow is the instrument by which a Violinist makes his instrument sing. His expertise in the use of the bow produces the violins varying tones and pitches. How a bow is shaped and the different parts that form the bow all work together to form the best bow for violin playing. A bow is most often described as an arc shaped piece of wood that has a flat horsehair piece stretched and tensioned across the wood. The tips of the bow are pointed on one end and rounded on the other. Although the violin enjoyed various incarnations as it gained popularity and was played by chamber and orchestra musicians, the violin bow did not keep up with these changes. This led to a total redesign that resulted in what is known as the modern bow. The modern bow is believed to have first made its appearance in France during the 19th century at the hands of the Tourte family. The Tourte family is considered by the violin historians to be the bow maker equivalent of the Stradivari family in violin making. The modern bow has more tension and resistance and uses Pemarnbuco wood as wood stick. Sometimes, makers will add subtle modifications to the bow in the hopes of producing a more handy and usable bow. Admittedly, not much has changed in the 150 year history of the bow. The violin and bow can be thought of in terms of milk and cookies or coffee with cream. One always enhances the best aspects of the other in order to produce a very significant experience for the person whose auditory and sensory perceptions participate in the resulting enjoyable final product of the merging of the 2 instruments. Work Cited Psarianos, Peter. (2007). Violin Bow. How Products Are Made. Retrieved October 14, 2007 from http://www. madehow. com/Volume-2/Violin-Bow. html. Skinner, Matthew. (N. A. ). The Violin and It’s History. Retrieved, October 13, 2007 from http://www. nelson. planet. org. nz/~matthew/cbt. html Sprenger, Christoph Sprenger, Raffael. (N. A. ). The History of the Violin. Retrieved October 13, 2007 from http://www. sprengerviolins. com/e/violin_history. htm.

Chemistry Essay -- essays research papers

Robert Boyle is considered both the founder of modern chemistry and the greatest English scientist to live during the first thirty years of the existence of the Royal Society. He was not only a chemist and a physicist as we know him to be, but also an avid theologian, a philanthropist, an essayist, and a beginner in medicine. Born in Lismore, Ireland to Richard Boyle, first earl of Cork, and Katherine Fenton, his second wife, Boyle was the youngest son in a family of fourteen. However he was not shortchanged of anything. After private tutoring at home for eight years, Robert Boyle was sent to Eton College where he studied for four years. At the age of twelve, Boyle traveled to the Continent, as it was referred to at the time. There he found a private tutor by the name of Marcombes in Geneva. While traveling between Italy, France, and England, Boyle was being tutored in the polite arts, philosophy, theology, mathematics, and science.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As the years went by, Boyle became more and more interested in medicine. His curiosity in this field led him to chemistry. At first Boyle was mainly interested in the facet of chemistry that dealt with the preparation of drugs, but soon he became genuinely interested in the subject and started to study it in great detail. His studies led him to Oxford where he joined such scientists as John Wilkins and John Wallis. Together in 1660, they founded the Royal Society of London for the Ad...

Last Sacrifice Chapter Twenty-two

â€Å"YOU'RE AWFULLY HAPPY.' I blinked and found Sonya staring at me. The CR-V and smooth stretch of I-75 hummed around us, the outside revealing little except Midwestern plains and trees. Sonya didn't seem quite as creepy crazy as she had back at school or even at her house. Mostly, she still just seemed scattered and confused, which was to be expected. I hesitated before answering but finally decided there was no reason to hold back. â€Å"Lissa passed her second monarch test.' â€Å"Of course she did,' said Victor. He was staring out the window away from me. The tone of his voice suggested I'd just wasted his time by saying something that was a given. â€Å"Is she okay?' asked Dimitri. â€Å"Injured?' Once, that would have sparked jealousy in me. Now, it was just a sign of our shared concern for Lissa. â€Å"She's fine,' I said, wondering if that was entirely true. She wasn't physically injured, but after what she'd seen †¦ well, that had to leave scars of a different type. The back door had been quite a surprise too. When she'd seen a small crowd by the first door, she'd thought it meant only a few people were up that late to see the candidates. Nope. Turned out everyone was just waiting out back to see the victors. True to her promise, Lissa hadn't let it faze her. She walked out with her head held high, smiling at her onlookers and fans as though she already owned the crown. I was growing sleepy but Lissa's triumph kept me smiling for a long time. There's something tiring about an endless, unknown stretch of highway. Victor had closed his eyes and was leaning against the glass. I couldn't see Sydney when I twisted around to check on her, meaning she also had decided on a nap or was just lying down. I yawned, wondering if I dared risk sleeping. Dimitri had urged me to when we left Sonya's house, knowing that I could use more than the couple hours Sydney had given me. I tipped my head against the seat and closed my eyes, falling instantly asleep. The blackness of that sleep gave way to the feel of a spirit dream, and my heart leapt with both panic and joy. After living through Lissa's test, spirit dreams suddenly had a sinister feel. At the same time, this might be a chance to see Adrian. And †¦ it was. Only we appeared somewhere entirely unexpected: Sonya's garden. I stared in wonder at the clear blue sky and the brilliant flowers, nearly overlooking Adrian in the process. He wore a dark green cashmere sweater that made him blend in. To me, he was more gorgeous than any of the garden's other wonders. â€Å"Adrian!' I ran to him, and he lifted me easily, spinning me around. When he placed me back on my feet, he studied the garden and nodded in approval. â€Å"I should let you pick the place more often. You have good taste. Of course, since you're dating me, we already knew that.' â€Å"What do you mean, â€Å"pick the place?† I asked, lacing my hands behind his neck. He shrugged. â€Å"When I reached out and sensed you were sleeping, I summoned the dream but didn't feel like thinking up a place. So I left it to your subconscious.' Irritably, he plucked at the cashmere. â€Å"I'm not dressed for the occasion, though.' The sweater shimmered, soon replaced by a light gray T-shirt with an abstract design on the front. â€Å"Better?' â€Å"Much.' He grinned and kissed the top of my forehead. â€Å"I've missed you, little dhampir. You can spy on Lissa and us all the time, but the best I get are these dreams, and honestly, I can't figure out what schedule you're on.' I realized that with my â€Å"spying,' I knew more about what had just happened at Court than he did. â€Å"Lissa took her second test,' I told him. Yup. His expression verified it. He hadn't known about the test, probably because he'd been sleeping. â€Å"When?' â€Å"Just now. It was a tough one, but she passed.' â€Å"Much to her delight, no doubt. Still †¦ that keeps buying us time to clear you and get you home. Not sure I'd want to come home if I were you, though.' He looked around the garden again. â€Å"West Virginia's a lot better than I thought.' I laughed. â€Å"It's not West Virginia–which isn't that bad, by the way. It's Sonya Karp's– ‘ I froze, unable to believe what I'd nearly said. I'd been so happy to see him, so at ease †¦ I'd let myself screw up. Adrian's face grew very, very serious. â€Å"Did you say Sonya Karp?' Several options played out in my head. Lying was the easiest. I could claim this was some place I'd been a long time ago, like maybe she'd taken us on a field trip to her house. That was pretty flimsy, though. Plus, I was guessing the look on my face screamed guilt. I'd been caught. A pretty lie wouldn't fool Adrian. â€Å"Yes,' I said finally. â€Å"Rose. Sonya Karp's a Strigoi.' â€Å"Not anymore.' Adrian sighed. â€Å"I knew you staying out of trouble was too good to be true. What happened?' â€Å"Um, Robert Doru restored her.' â€Å"Robert.' Adrian's lip curled in disdain. The two spirit users hadn't gotten along well. â€Å"And just because I feel like we're marching into full-fledged Crazy Territory–which means something, coming from me–I'm going to take a guess that Victor Dashkov is also with you.' I nodded, wishing desperately then that someone would wake me up and get me away from Adrian's interrogation. Damn it. How could I have slipped up like this? Adrian released me and walked around in small circles. â€Å"Okay, so. You, Belikov, the Alchemist, Sonya Karp, Victor Dashkov, and Robert Doru are all hanging out in West Virginia together.' â€Å"No,' I said. â€Å"No?' â€Å"We're, uh, not in West Virginia.' â€Å"Rose!' Adrian halted his pacing and strode back over to me. â€Å"Where the hell are you then? Your old man, Lissa–everyone thinks you're safe and sound.' â€Å"I am,' I said haughtily. â€Å"Just not in West Virginia.' â€Å"Then where?' â€Å"I can't †¦ I can't tell you.' I hated saying those words to him and seeing the look they elicited. â€Å"Part of it's for safety. Part of it's because †¦ well, um, I don't actually know.' He caught hold of my hands. â€Å"You can't do this. You can't run off on some crazy whim this time. Don't you get it? They'll kill you if they find you.' â€Å"It's not a crazy whim! We're doing something important. Something that's going to help all of us.' â€Å"Something you can't tell me,' he guessed. â€Å"It's better if you're not involved,' I said, squeezing his hands tightly. â€Å"Better if you don't know the details.' â€Å"And in the meantime, I can rest easy knowing you've got an elite team at your back.' â€Å"Adrian, please! Please just trust me. Trust that I've got a good reason,' I begged. He let go of my hands. â€Å"I believe you think you've got a good reason. I just can't imagine one that justifies you risking your life.' â€Å"It's what I do,' I said, surprised at how serious I sounded. â€Å"Some things are worth it.' Pieces of static flickered across my vision, like TV reception going bad. The world started to fade. â€Å"What's going on?' I asked. He scowled. â€Å"Someone or something's waking me up. Probably my mom checking in for the hundredth time.' I reached for him, but he was fading away. â€Å"Adrian! Please don't tell anyone! Anyone.' I don't know if he heard my pleas or not because the dream completely disappeared. I woke up in the car. My immediate reaction was to swear, but I didn't want to give away the idiotic thing I'd done. Glancing over, I nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw Sonya watching me intently. â€Å"You were having a spirit dream,' she said. â€Å"How'd you know?' â€Å"Your aura.' I made a face. â€Å"Auras used to be cool, but now they're just starting to get annoying.' She laughed softly, the first time I'd heard her do so since being restored. â€Å"They're very informative if you know how to read them. Were you with Vasilisa?' â€Å"No. My boyfriend. He's a spirit user too.' Her eyes widened in surprise. â€Å"That's who you were with?' â€Å"Yeah. Why? What's wrong?' She frowned, looking puzzled. A few moments later, she glanced up toward the front seat, where Dimitri and Robert sat, and then studied me in a scrutinizing way that sent chills down my spine. â€Å"Nothing,' she said. â€Å"Nothing's wrong.' I had to scoff at that. â€Å"Come on, it sure seemed like–‘ â€Å"There!' Sonya abruptly turned from me, leaned forward, and pointed. â€Å"Take that exit.' We were nearly past â€Å"that exit,' and Dimitri had to do some fancy maneuvering–kind of like in our escape back in Pennsylvania–to make it. The car jerked and lurched, and I heard Sydney yelp behind me. â€Å"A little warning next time would be helpful,' Dimitri noted. Sonya wasn't listening. Her gaze was totally fixated on the road we'd pulled off onto. We came to a red light, where I caught sight of a cheery sign: WELCOME TO ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN. The spark of life I'd seen in her moments ago was gone. Sonya had returned to her tense, almost robotic self. Despite Sydney's clever negotiating, Sonya still seemed uncomfortable about this trip. She still felt guilty and traitorous. â€Å"Are we here?' I asked eagerly. â€Å"And how long were we on the road?' I'd hardly noticed the drive. I'd stayed awake for the first part of it, but the rest had been a blur of Lissa and Adrian. â€Å"Six hours,' said Dimitri. â€Å"Go left at that second light,' said Sonya. â€Å"Now right at the corner.' Tension built in the car. Everyone was awake now, and my heart raced as we pushed deeper and deeper into suburbia. Which house? Were we close? Was one of these it? It was a fast drive but seemed to stretch forever. We all let out a collective breath when Sonya suddenly pointed. â€Å"There.' Dimitri pulled into the driveway of a cute brick house with a perfectly trimmed lawn. â€Å"Do you know if your relatives still live here?' I asked Sonya. She said nothing, and I realized we were back to promise territory. Lockdown mode. So much for progress. â€Å"I guess there's only one way to find out,' I said, unbuckling my seatbelt. â€Å"Same plan?' Earlier, Dimitri and I had discussed who would go and who would stay behind if Sonya got us to the right place. Leaving the brothers behind was a no-brainer. The question had been who would guard them, and we'd decided Dimitri would while Sydney and I went with Sonya to meet her relatives–who were undoubtedly in for a shocking visit. â€Å"Same plan,' agreed Dimitri. â€Å"You go to the house. You look less threatening.' â€Å"Hey!' He smiled. â€Å"I said â€Å"look.† But his reasoning made sense. Even at ease, there was something powerful and intimidating about Dimitri. Three women going up to the door would freak these people out less–especially if it turned out Sonya's relatives had moved. Hell, for all I knew, she'd purposely led us to the wrong house. â€Å"Be careful,' Dimitri said, as we got out of the car. â€Å"You too,' I replied. That got me another smile, one a little warmer and deeper. The feelings that stirred in me flitted away as Sonya, Sydney, and I walked up the sidewalk. My chest tightened. This was it. Or was it? Were we about to reach the conclusion of our journey? Had we really found the last Dragomir, against all odds? Or had I been played from the beginning? I wasn't the only one who was nervous. I could feel Sydney and Sonya crackling with tension too. We reached the front step. I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. Several seconds later, a man answered–and he was Moroi. A promising sign. He looked at each of our faces, no doubt wondering what a Moroi, a dhampir, and a human were doing at his door. It sounded like the start of a bad joke. â€Å"Can I help you?' he asked. I was suddenly at a loss. Our plan had covered the big stuff: find Eric's mistress and love child. What we'd say once we actually got there wasn't so clear. I waited for one of my companions to speak up now, but there was no need. The Moroi man's head suddenly whipped to my side as he did a double take. â€Å"Sonya?' he gasped. â€Å"Is that you?' Then, I heard a young female voice behind him call, â€Å"Hey, who's here?' Someone squeezed in beside him, someone tall and slim–someone I knew. My breath caught as I stared at waves of unruly light brown hair and light green eyes–eyes that should have tipped me off a long time ago. I couldn't speak. â€Å"Rose,' exclaimed Jill Mastrano. â€Å"What are you doing here?'

Interview with a preschool teacher

She was able to give me more Insight on what Is deed to be done to become a teacher and what Is required of her. The person that I interviewed was Ashley Humphreys. She is a lead teacher and the administrator of the united Local Head Start Preschool program that is operated by the Community Action Agency of Columbian County. This is her first year teaching with the program. Before she could become a teacher had to get her Bachelor degree and her preschool license. She graduated from Kent State University in May of 2013.While she was working on her degree she had to do student teaching. She was able to complete it at the following schools: South Range in kindergarten, Southern Local in kindergarten, and United Education Service Center Preschool. Along with having to get her degree Ashley is required to have twenty hours per year in continuing education hours. She also is required to be certified in CPRM and first aid. Ashley has a lot of duties for being the lead teacher and administr ator.As a lead teacher her duties include: making lessons plans weekly, maintaining contact with parents, keeping the children's file updated, entering notes into Teaching Strategies Gold (TTS), riding the bus to either pick up or drop off students, and much more. Administrator requires her to keep all the staff files up to date, maintain safety logs, maintain ratios at all time and much more. A normal day for Ashley would be arriving to school by seven every day. Her While waiting for the students to arrive Ashley is getting everything ready for the day ahead.She would either getting things ready for small groups, get the music ready for the day or she might be cleaning up anything that might be still laying around from the day before. Once her eighteen students arrive at eight A. M. She lets them play with table toys for about ten to fifteen minutes. Breakfast is served at eight fifteen. Once the children are done eating breakfast the children go to centers and are called to brush their teeth while they are playing in center. Once centers are done the children come to the carpet and then do music and the calendar.Once the students have completed those activities they go to small groups. This is where Ashley has each group set up and they are set up to help meet the individuals needs of each child. The individual's needs are indicated on the lesson plans. After small groups the children go back to the carpet and Ashley or her assistant will read a book o the children or have a group discussion over the project they are working on. Lunch will be served then gross motor and then it is time to say goodbye for the day.Ashley loves working with the children. She loves that she can enhance the lives of the children. She enjoys her co-workers. She loves that she has co-workers that think on the same page. It makes it easier when planning activities for the children. Even though Ashley loves her Job there are things about her Job that she dislikes. There are several things that she dislikes about her Job. One of the things she dislikes is owe the laws are changing and it is hard to keep up with the changes.She also dislikes that she is having a hard time find a Job, in a Public school, within her hometown or close to her home. If she would be able to get into a public school she is finding out that her pay rate could be based on test scores. If her class would get lower score on state testing then she could get a pay cut. The only thing that Ashley dislikes about working for Head Start is they pay you very low for all the work they require from you. There are not enough hours in the day to complete everything they sky of you.

Techno Music Presentation essays

Techno Music Presentation essays What kind of music do you listen too? Jazz, Rock, Rap, Hip-Hop, Gospel, Country? All of these are quite popular here in the United States and THE WORLD. but there is another form of music that you may not know much about that kids our age are dancing too: The sources I found for this presentation come mainly from online articles found through Lexis Nexis, one book from a former Recording Industry class, a brief interview with a prestigious expert, and my experience as a techno DJ and enthusiast. As generally accepted the official music form of techno was created in Detroit, Michigan by 3 DJ/Producers. These men, Kevin Saunderson, Derick May, and Juan Atkins were influenced and continued the sounds of 70s Disco into the early 80s. With their use of sequencer and sampler machines, the Techno style they started flourished into Europe. In this presentation I use the Term Techno broadly to describe the major forms of Electronic Music. The three major forms of Electronic Music are House, Trance, and DnB. House Music was created in the early to mid-eighties by a DJ/Producer named Frankie Knuckles in Chicago, Illinois. This was new knowledge for me which I learned from a book called Repeated Takes by Michael Chanan. Frankie Knuckles found he could take common disco/dance beats, samples, and strong female vocals to create pleasing club songs. House music quickly took off in the club scene especially in the dance clubs in Chicago, New York City, and LA. House Music was named after the warehouses that Frankie Knuckles and other DJs often held huge parties at. House is usually 115 -135 BPM. BPM is Beats Per Minute. Just to give you a basis: Hip-Hop and rap are usually around 85-105 BPM. Trance Music the second major genre is a little harder to originate. Trance is definitely the continuation of the Detroit Techno sound which flourished into Europe. England and Germany qui...

Sociolinguistics - Language, Dialects and Society

Sociolinguistics - Language, Dialects and Society Language is central to social interaction in every society, regardless of location and time period. Language and social interaction have a reciprocal relationship: language shapes social interactions and social interactions shape language. What is Sociolinguistics? Sociolinguistics is the study of the connection between language and society and the way people use language in different social situations. It asks the question, How does language affect the social nature of human beings, and how does social interaction shape language? It ranges greatly in depth and detail, from the study of dialects across a given region to the analysis of the way men and women speak to each other in certain situations. The basic premise of sociolinguistics is that language is variable and ever-changing. As a result, language is not uniform or constant. Rather, it is varied and inconsistent for both the individual user and within and among groups of speakers who use the same language. People adjust the way they talk to their social situation. An individual, for instance, will speak differently to a child than he or she will to their college professor. This socio-situational variation is sometimes called register and depends no only on the occasion and relationship between the participants, but also on the participants’ region, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, and gender. One way that sociolinguists study language is through dated written records. They examine both hand-written and printed documents to identify how language and society have interacted in the past. This is often referred to as historical sociolinguistics: the study of the relationship between changes in society and changes in language over time. For example, historical sociolinguists have studied the use and frequency of the pronoun thou in dated documents and found that its replacement with the word you is correlated with changes in class structure in 16th and 17th century England. Sociolinguists also commonly study dialect, which is the regional, social, or ethnic variation of a language. For example, the primary language in the United States is English. People who live in the South, however, often vary in the way they speak and the words they use compared to people who live in the Northwest, even though it is all the same language. There are different dialects of English, depending on what region of the country you are in. What Sociolinguists Study Researchers and scholars are currently using sociolinguistics to examine some interesting questions about language in the United States: There is vowel shift occurring in the North, in which pattered alterations to vowels is occurring in certain words. For example, many people in Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago are now pronouncing bat like bet and bet like but. Who is changing the pronunciation of these vowels, why are they changing it, and why/how is it spreading?What parts of African American Vernacular English grammar are being used by white middle-class teenagers? For example, white adolescents might compliment a peer’s clothes by saying, she money, a phrase associated with African Americans.What will be the impact on language in Louisiana due to the loss of monolingual French speakers in the Cajun region of Southern Louisiana? Will the French features of language be sustained even when these French speakers are gone?What slang terms do younger generations use to show their affiliation with certain subgroups and to distinguish themselves from their parents’ generation? For example, in the ea rly 2000s, teenagers described things that they enjoyed as cool, money, tight, or sweet, but definitely not swell, which is what their parents would have said when they were teenagers. Which words are pronounced differently according to age, gender, socioeconomic status, or race/ethnicity? For instance, African Americans often pronounce certain words differently than whites. Likewise, some words are pronounced differently depending on whether the person speaking was born after World War II or before.Which vocabulary words vary by region and time, and what are the different meanings associated with certain words? For example, in Southern Louisiana, a certain breakfast dish is often called lost bread while in other parts of the country, it is called French toast. Similarly, which words have changed over time? Frock, for instance, used to refer to a woman’s dress, while today frock is rarely used. Sociolinguists study many other issues as well. For instance, they often examine the values that hearers place on variations in language, the regulation of linguistic behavior, language standardization, and educational and governmental policies concerning language. References Eble, C. (2005). What is Sociolinguistics?: Sociolinguistics Basics. pbs.org/speak/speech/sociolinguistics/sociolinguistics/.

You are starting a new business in British Columbia and you have 20 Research Paper

You are starting a new business in British Columbia and you have 20 employees and 15 different positions to run the opreation - Research Paper Example The metropolis has a business enabling environment and is often frequented by visitors all year round thus, a good business destination. Since this nature of business is more of a luxury, Princeton was ideal since most of its inhabitants are affluent according to a research conducted by Forbes in 2011. That notwithstanding, the town is a major tourist destination along the Canadian coastline hence likely to be frequented by foreigners who may be likely to be interested with the services that we offer (Sims, 2007). The competitive edge of Rozalo health spa and salon is centred among the following; team of dedicated staff, services that we offer, our strategic location and finally our client centred business strategy. The twenty highly qualified men and women who form the workforce for Rozalo health spa have the pre-requisite skills and expertise to perform their duties effectively to guarantee high degree of customer satisfaction, thus branding our firm as a premier outlet in giving quality and distinguished services in Princeton. The services that we offer are also another element in our competitive edge, after conducting a dull feasibility study in Princeton and its environs we realized all the existing health spas in the area literally offered similar services with minimal specialization. Having identified that market niche our firm decided to venture into a few specialized services which would be customer made to fit individual client needs and preferences. Thus, any customer visiting our premises will leave clients satisfied that all their expectations have been accomplished. That notwithstanding our business premise is strategical with proximity to beach hotels hence providing easy access to clients on vacation to pop in for specialized services while they are relaxing. Finally, the business strategy of Rozalo health spa as a firm is client centred. This means all the

Pre-testing of Advertisement before Launching Essay

Pre-testing of Advertisement before Launching - Essay Example Coulter (2005. pp43-44) termed this as attitude change as a function of information processing & "persuasive communication". Coulter termed the attitude change as quantitative effect of advertisement and variation in thinking as a result of advertisement as qualitative effect of advertisement. Chaudhuri (2001. pp275) discovered some evidence of the effects of advertisement that the dimensions of customer emotions are strongly linked with the perception of risks in purchasing products & services. In fact the author also established that negative emotions have much stronger influence than positive emotions the in way that the same create threatening consumption scenarios for customers thus leading to negative perceptions of risks pertaining to the products & services. Also it was observed by the author that the perceptions of risks are more prevalent in products where the customers tend to actively analyze the pros & cons of acquiring them. It was surprising to be observed that alcohol & cigarettes, in spite of display of clear warning messages, were highly consumed by the users given that they buy these products more because of addiction rather than need. In this context, the author also appreciates the comment by Wang and Minor (2008. pp198) that "Marketing research needs to pursue more precise, comprehensive, and unbiased measurements of the psychological processes to reflect a broader and deeper intellectual understanding of the human mind's mechanism". Looking into these complex expected reactions of consumers, it is highly risky to launch an advertisement to customers without carrying out psychological effectiveness tests of the campaigns. In fact, if the advertisements are launched without such tests and the results are disastrously negative perceptions in customer's mind, then the damages thus caused may take ages to be repaired and sometimes may even get rendered as absolutely irreparable. For example, in a very recent research Hansen and Strick et al (2009. pp145) challenged an old myth that humour makes the impact of an advertisement very effective. After an impressive survey on this subject they realized that humour in advertising reduces memory of brand names as it distracts the customers from brand names from even within the advertisements. They discovered that customers only remember the humour but not the company and its brand names. Also, customers may not take such products seriously although they appreciate the humour a lot. This discovery may shatter empirical generalizations that have been letting millions of dollars getting shed on some conceptual framework that is traditionally perceived to be effective only to be realized now that the output was more damaging and against the objectives of the campaign. This justifies that campaigns should be tested effectively before they can be launched to actual end customers. Having said that, it needs to be understood and emphasized that this is not an easy phenomena. The advertisement designers need to come out of the shell and comfort zone and be ready to face the criticism from the testers of the advertisement. The testers need to be certain individuals that have no stake