Adverbs Are Really Quite Acceptable

Adverbs Are Really Quite Acceptable Adverbs Are Really Quite Acceptable Adverbs Are Really Quite Acceptable By Mark Nichol Adverbs are to verbs as adjectives are to nouns: They modify action words. However, they can also support other parts of speech, such as adjectives and other adverbs, as well as clauses and even entire sentences. When writers want to add to detail in the form of answers to questions such as â€Å"Who?† â€Å"When?† and â€Å"Where?† (as well as â€Å"how much?†), they reach for adverbs. Most adverbs end in ly, but note that some adjectives do, too. You can tell the difference by the root word: Seriously (from serious) is an adverb, but timely (from time) is an adjective. Others end in the related forms ways (such as sideways) and wise (like otherwise) or consist of nouns preceded by a- (akin, for example). Others, known as comparative and superlative adverbs, end respectively in -er or -est (for instance, faster and fastest). But adverbs, unlike other parts of speech, are diverse and flexible in their function, even in the same position: â€Å"He has arrived, obviously,† for example, is subtly distinct in meaning from â€Å"He has arrived obviously.† And they can be found anywhere in a sentence: â€Å"Slowly, he opened the door,† â€Å"He slowly opened the door,† and â€Å"He opened the door slowly† all mean the same thing. (An adverb can, of course, also immediately follow a verb: â€Å"He then walked quickly toward the lamp.†) Adverbs, like adjectives, have gotten a bad rap for their cluttering qualities. They are ever so useful, and so applicable and adaptable that writers often employ them mindlessly and indiscriminately. But which of the three adverbs in the preceding phrase (not only mindlessly and indiscriminately but also often) must I mercilessly vaporize with the Delete key? Don’t hesitate to apply one or more adverbs within a sentence if they serve a purpose, but do hesitate before you cast them among your prose with Brysonian abandon. Bill Bryson, the exhaustively (and exhaustingly) amusing author of The Mother Tongue: English How It Got That Way and other books on language, as well as volumes on history, science, and more, never met an adverb he didn’t like, but he’s earned the right to break the rules. Consider this sentence from his latest work, At Home: A Short History of Private Life: â€Å"Eventually even he admitted that mostly he wished to build it simply for the slightly strange pleasure of making something really quite enormous.† Out of context, it may seem quite indulgent, but this is Bryson’s voice, a voice that would be fatally muted by this Hemingwayesque excision of the sentence’s adverbs: â€Å"Even he admitted that he wished to build it for the pleasure of making something enormous.† Admonishments to avoid adverbs (and adjectives) are often misconstrued: They are not to be avoided, but they are best not employed merely to prop up weak nouns and listless sentences. 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:15 Terms for Those Who Tell the FutureTen Yiddish Expressions You Should KnowNominalized Verbs

Focus vs. Locus

Focus vs. Locus Focus vs. Locus Focus vs. Locus By Mark Nichol What’s the difference between a focus and a locus is it all just hocus-pocus? and where does nexus fit in? The technical meaning of focus is â€Å"a point of convergence or divergence, or seeming divergence,† in terms of particles of matter. It also refers to adjustment for clear vision as well as the field of clear vision, and it has a geometrical definition of a fixed point. From the scientific sense have developed literal and figurative connotations of a point, center, or area of activity or occurrence, as well as direction, emphasis, perception, and understanding. The original plural spelling of the word, borrowed directly from Latin and meaning â€Å"hearth† (the area of premodern households that was the center of activity), is foci, but focuses is an alternative; the adjectival form is focal. Focus can be employed, depending on context, with or without a preceding article: â€Å"This plan lacks focus†; â€Å"His story doesn’t have a focus†; â€Å"That is the focus of the argument.† A locus, meanwhile (in Latin, the word means â€Å"place†), is a site or location. As is the case with focus, the sense can be figurative or literal. (Unlike focus, locus has only a Latin plural: loci.) The difference between focus and locus, then, is subtle. Both words can refer to a place where something happens, but the fine distinction is that the former denotes a center of attention and the latter refers to the location itself. A locus may become the focus, but the reverse is not true, because the site preceded the attention focused on it. Nexus, from the Latin word nectere, meaning â€Å"to bind† (the root term is also the basis of connect), can also mean â€Å"focus,† but it is better reserved for the senses of â€Å"connection† or â€Å"link,† or of a connected group or series. And what of other related – or seemingly related – terms? An axis is a geometrical or physical or figurative line, or a vertebra or a stem. It can also be somewhat synonymous with the terms defined above, relating to a point or a spectrum, or, as in the manner in which it was used in World War II to refer to the alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan, a partnership. (The Latin word refers to a line or an axle; the plural in both Latin and English is axes.) A cynosure is a guide or a center of attention. (The word is from Greek by way of Latin and means, literally, â€Å"dog’s tail†; it refers to the constellation Ursa Minor, or the Little Bear.) An omphalos (the word is Greek for â€Å"navel†) is a focal point or a hub, and a hub (perhaps a variant of hob, a word for a shelf on a hearth) is a center of activity, either on a large scale or at the center of a wheel. An epicenter is, in figurative usage, a center of activity; the original meaning is the point on Earth’s surface above an earthquake’s point of focus. Now, how about that hocus-pocus? It evidently originated with itinerant performers who incorporated mock-Latin incantations into their magic or juggling acts to impress gullible onlookers, who associated the classical language with learned scholars and ancient mysteries. It is likely a corruption of the blessing â€Å"Hoc est corpus meum,† meaning â€Å"This is my body.† Hokey-pokey is probably a further variant, but neither it nor hocus-pocus has any focus, locus, or nexus. 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 Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:4 Types of Gerunds and Gerund PhrasesWhat is Dative Case?Sentence Adverbs

Nutrition and dietetics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nutrition and dietetics - Essay Example The options that they have are limited since they have to be a member in women’s only facilities, which are expensive and not well distributed throughout the country. They thus choose to stay away from these facilities, which would help them in their exercise activity. This increases the chances of risk since the women do not exercise and reduce fat as well as keep fit. Girls rarely experience any physical activities in schools. This receives basing on the belief of upholding moral quality. The society believes that girls lose their shyness if they change their clothes anywhere aside from home (Kelishadi 2007). As much as moral upbringing is admirable, this practice leads to no exercise for the female children. They have no outlet to reduce excess fat and to keep fit. Another factor is in diet. Many families have poor feeding habits. The family receives exposure to things like energy-dense foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. This consumption of unhealthy foods and drinks increases the chances of obesity quite high. Some women skip breakfast or take snacks rich in fat and calories throughout the day. These unhealthy eating habits reduce nutrition and increase the chances of obesity and chronic illnesses in the women. Higher levels of income lead to a more comfortable lifestyle (Al-Shayji IA 2004). Transport is mainly modern with reduced walking or running. Time spent on the television or internet increases as time passes. This greatly reduces physical activity. Thus, muscles do not undergo stretching and flexing. This leads to increased rate of obesity among the population. According to research, people can maintain good health even in their old age if the prevention and control of chronic diseases receives establishment early in life. This article elaborates a program that will help the Saudi Arabian women in reducing their chances of obtaining obesity. The goals of the program

IKEA Analysis Report (Operations management)1 Assignment - 1

IKEA Analysis Report (Operations management)1 - Assignment Example The value proposition provides benefits both to the company and the stakeholder. It encourages the roles and tasks undertaken by the stakeholders to be in like with company’s objectives. It becomes the promotion proposition to potential clientele, the reason they ought to do trade with company, rather than its rivals. It communicates to the entire company a sense of precise purpose and course, coordinating their labours toward the overburdening common purpose of generating a satisfied customer. IKEA, the Swedish furniture industrialized company have applied Co-productivity to its complete exploitation. IKEA sells its commodities to customers in a kit type which the customer assembles themselves, at a lower pricing. The cause that this technique is successful is that customers do not place a worth on their own energy and time in assembling the merchandise. In some scenarios, the amount of extra effort inputted by the clients can be a greater cost than it could be if the get-tog ether of the furnishings were done proficiently (Porter, 2001). IKEA’s differentiation positioning strategy; the fundamental nature of a differentiation policy is to be exceptional in manners that are precious to clients in a sustainable method. Differentiation needs an in-depth comprehending what clients value most, where down the value chain to generate the differentiating variables, and what facilitates and capabilities are required to produce this exceptionality. It is that the corporation services a small number of market segments by offering a value intention that satisfies each section on a few key scope which creates this positioning strategy gainful. The key is to create product stand out from competitive provisions by having merchandise that provides a few highly valued elements. Distinctive capabilities are those potentials that a company can do better than competitors and are not simply imitated. For instance, IKEA can be said to have an idiosyncratic capability i n comprehending the customer. When this characteristic capability lies in a major accomplishment area, or a movement which is necessary if the company aspirations to stay alive in the long-term, it becomes a competitive gain. The value Chain The value chain is the organization of various products or segments of the company to offer valuable items. It involves proper planning, coordination and control of the company segments such as production, marketing, service and design and development. IKEA value chain is summarized as; the value proposal is the conclusion of the value sequence. There are two parts to the value plan: the consumer and the company. The company covers all of the domestic and external procedures that are executed throughout the value chain. The accomplishment or failure of the value plan will mirror how the members of the value chain recognize the external pressures on the value chain (Sheehy, Bracey, and Frazier, 1996). If these discernments are inaccurate, then th e worth proposition will be outdated. The value chain encompasses the customers and stakeholders expectations that must be considered. Manage the logistics of the company that ensure smooth flow of procedure. Ikea intangible products and benefits Currently IKEA has not concentrated on assessing the tangible advantages of its environmental

Assignment - Team Work in Business Essay Example for Free

Assignment Team Work in Business Essay Some management teams are bound to succeed while other are not due to a number of factors. A team, according to Adair (1986), is more than just a group with a common aim. It is a group in which the contributions of individuals are seen as complementary. Collaboration, working together, is the keynote of a team activity. Adair suggests that the test of an effective team is: â€Å"whether its members can work as a team while they are apart, contributing to a sequence of activities rather than to a common task, which requires their presence in one place and at one time. † Below is a discussion of some of the major factors that create a difference between winning and losing management teams . 1. Supportive Sponsor Management teams are usually formed by a sponsor who recognizes that reaching an organizational goal will require a group of individuals working together to provide the leadership necessary to move a company, division or unit towards the organizations goals. It is the sponsor’s responsibility to create a ‘charter’ that establishes the management team and its primary focus. In addition, the sponsor establishes specific goals the team is to accomplish. The sponsor will also select the team leader and gain his or her commitment to lead the leadership team in defining and carrying out the needed actions. Lack of will or proper direction by the sponsor ( e. g board of directors in a company) can lead to team failure. 2. Environmental factors These include physical factors such as working proximity, plant or office layout. In general, close proximity aids group identity and loyalty, and distance reduces them. Other environmental issues include the traditions of the organisation under which the management team operates, and leadership styles. Formal organisations tend to adopt formal group practices. Autocratic leadership styles prefer group activities to be directed. 3. Team size Small groups tend to be more cohesive than larger groups; small groups tend to encourage full participation; large groups contain greater diversity of talent. 4. Focus on Stakeholder Outcomes A shared understanding of the management team’s stakeholders, their expectations of the team, and the values the team embraces is essential to create the focus needed as the management team members plan and execute the actions necessary to achieve the team’s goals. 5. Smart Goals Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound goals should be established by the team’s sponsor and then broken into sub-goals by the management team. Without SMART goals, the team will lack the milestones necessary to drive action. 6. Team Leadership Team leadership is the most critical success factor for the performance management team. A leader with strong performance management skills and the ability to develop others virtually guarantees a successful performance initiative. Every management team needs a leader who focuses the members of the team on the mission, purpose, and goals of the team. This individual must be committed to the team’s results and must be willing to be held accountable by the team’s sponsor and other stakeholders, for leading the team through processes that insure the team’s goals are reached. The team leader must engage each team member in the processes of the team and build a platform of mutual trust that leads to open debate, collaboration, individual commitment, and personal accountability. 7. Mutual Trust The most important element of successful team work is the establishment of a platform of mutual trust that enables the management team to engage in open debate and decision making that leads to commitments to action by individual members of the team. Building this trust requires an openness that allows team members to know and understand the beliefs and behaviors of all members of the team so that team actions can be structured to take advantage of each members uniqueness and talents. Behavioral and values assessments are powerful tools in developing an understanding how each member of the management team views themselves and responds to others in the team. 8. Engaged Management Team Members An effective management team will have team members who are actively engaged in the work and focus of the team. This will require that each team member emotionally commits to actively and openly participate in the team’s processes in the pursuit of the team’s goals. The team member must willingly commit to carry out action plans to complete individual actions necessary for the team to reach their team goals. The team member must be dependable and carry the full weight of personal responsibility to complete their individual commitments by the date committed to. Engaged team members enthusiastically support each other and add value to other team members. They prepare for team processes and choose to engage others in a positive manner to find solutions to issues and challenges they individually or as a team face. They constantly seek to improve themselves for the benefit of the team and never, never, never quit. 9. Composition of the Team The Apollo Syndrome is a phenomenon that having too many people with a high mental abilities grouped together to solve a problem is, in many instances, detrimental to the teamwork process. Team members spend much of their time trying to persuade the team to adopt their own views as well as figuring out ways to point out weaknesses in the rest of the team’s ideas. They have difficulty reaching consensus in decisions and are focused on their own work, paying little attention to what their fellow team members agree doing. Occasionally the team will pick up on the fact they are having problems, but will then overcompensate to avoid confrontation. This leads to even more problems in making sound decisions. A knowledgeable team, skilled at group working, and with a wider range of talents is much more likely to succeed than an inexperienced group with a narrow range of talents. 10. Individual Commitments The work of a management team is carried out by individual members of the team. When a team has developed a plan of actions that are necessary to achieve their goals or overcome barriers, individual members must commit to carrying out specific actions which in many cases will include actions by the individual teams they in turn lead. The management teams collaborative processes must include steps to: * Define individual actions, * Gain the commitments by individual team members to complete the actions, * Document due dates, and * Establish status reporting processes. 11. Discipline and Accountability Team goals will usually not be realized until individual commitments are completed. Management team members must embrace a discipline to complete their commitments as scheduled. They must agree to hold each other personally accountable for completing, as scheduled, the commitments each person has made to the team. Each management team member must continuously report the status of their open commitments to the team so that barriers to completion can be identified early in order to permit the management team leader and other team members the opportunity to deal with the issues before overall deadlines are impacted. 12. Identification and Removal of Barriers Barriers to team and individual progress will occur in every management team effort and must be dealt with quickly to continue progress towards the teams goals. The team leader must continuously monitor the status of each individuals commitments and initiate barrier removal processes where appropriate. Team-based processes for developing action plans to overcome barriers impacting individual commitments should be instilled as a part of the teams culture. 13. Shared vision / approach. The ability for a management team to clearly state its goals and objectives and gain buy-in among the people they lead ( e. g. employees )along with a synergistic team that can carry out their responsibilities is vital to performance success. The vision and/or mission of the team must be accepted by all the team members and critical goals viewed as the collective responsibility of the team. If a return to profitability is a critical goal of an executive team, priorities and time commitments must be pulled from elsewhere. Focusing on results that in any way does not support the critical goal(s) of the team will lead to team failure. 14. Technology support While a skilled management team can improve performance with very little tools and only an effective approach, with proper technology to support the teams needs, and the proper data to drive decision making, there is almost no limit to the improvements an organization will yield. 15. Ability to Innovate Innovating is a key aspect of teamwork and involves challenging the way things are currently being done. Technology is changing so quickly that the way you are currently performing tasks may no longer be the best way. If you are not up-to-date in your practices, your cost structure may be too high or you may no longer be delivering competitive service. Innovating is essential for all work teams. There are always better ways of doing things if you only take time to discover them. 16. Promoting To obtain the resources people, money, and equipment to carry out your work, you have to sell what you are doing to other people. Resources to implement new ideas will only be given if your team can persuade and influence people higher in the organization. Promoting to customers or clients both inside or outside the organization is also important if you are to continually deliver what people want. 17. Developing Many ideas dont see the light of day because they are impractical. The Developing activity ensures that your ideas are molded and shaped to meet the needs of your customers, clients, or users. It involves listening to their needs and incorporating these in your plans. Developing will ensure that what you are trying to do is possible, given the resource constraints of your organization. 18. Inspecting Maintenance Regular checks on work activities are essential to ensure that mistakes are not made. Quality audits of your products or services will ensure that your customers or clients will remain satisfied. Inspecting also covers the financial aspect of work in your team, as well as the security aspects, the safety aspects and the legal aspects. All management teams need to uphold standards and maintain effective work processes. Your car will fail if it does not have its regular service. Teams can fail too, if the team processes are not regularly checked and maintained. Maintaining ensures that quality standards are upheld and that regular reviews of team effectiveness take place. 19. Linking Linking is the activity that ensures all team members pull together, and makes the difference between a group of individuals and a highly effective and efficient team. It covers the linking of people, linking of tasks and leadership linking.

Accounts Settled: A Review :: essays research papers

Accounts Settled: A Review In the book, Accounts Settled, there is only one major character named Gordon. Gordon is seventeen, six feet tall, and has the beginning of a beard. The main setting is in a forest-filled valley that is a mile from Gordon's home. The story does not give a specific date but the most logical time this story takes place is in the winter during the early 1900s. The inciting incident in the story is when Gordon's dad came down with flu-pneumonia and Gordon must take his place in taking care of the trapline that he had set up in the forest. The conflict of the story is internal and external because Gordon had to face himself and nature. The rising action started when Gordon had a sense of fear as he went into the valley. The, the porcupine stole his food and Gordon was going to kill it but remembered an old woodsman tale that it's bad luck to ill a porcupine. Gordon then goes to bed, hungry and it took him awhile to fall asleep. He later wakes up to find a cougar ready to pounce on him. The cougar dose not strike yet because it is waiting for Gordon to move. Gordon knows better and stayed in the same position for what seemed like hours. Suddenly, the porcupine returns to look for more food and this disrupts the cougar. The climax is when Gordon quickly reaches for his gun and shoots the cougar. The resolution is when Gordon "cries the final tears of his boyhood" and he is finally a man. This writer used suspense in his story many times. For instance, "his eyes held the boy unwinkingly as he waited in the fiendish way of cats for the moment when the man must stir, or make an attempt to escape, the moment when his ingrained fear of man would be swallowed up by the rising tide of his blood- lust" and "moments passed, horrible heart-thudding moments, during which neither

Tv has negative influence on society

TV has a negative influence on society Introduction: According to David Hinckley of New York Daily News, â€Å"The average America over the age of 2 spends more than 34 hours a week watching live television plus another 3-6 hours watching taped programs. † This statistic shows how much tv can affect us, considering how much we watch it. I want you to think about your favorite tv show right now. I'll bet you that that show contains some kind of violence, sexual interactions, cussing, drug or alcohol usage, stereotypes and many other bad nfluences.Even shows like Spongebob Squarepants, a kids cartoon, are saying to have subliminal, or hidden, messages that are disturbing and wrong. Resolution: My partner and I are resolved that tv has a negative influence on society. By negative influence we mean a power affecting a person, think, or course of events in a bad way(free dictionary. com). And in this case, tv is affecting society, or people in general thought of as living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions and values. My first argument is that violence on tv leads to aggressive behavior in the people watching it.According to Dr. Gail Gross in the Huffington Post, â€Å"when children see violence on television, they have a difficult time differentiating between what is real and what is make believe, and tend to copy what they see. † In 1 study done at Pennsylvania Statue University in 1982, about 100 preschool children were observed both before and after watching tv. Some watched cartoons that had a lot of aggressive and violent acts and others watched shows with no violence. The esearchers notched real differences.Children who watched the violent shows were more likely to hit out at their playmates, argue, disobey class rules, leave tasks unfinished, and were less willing to wait for things than those who watched the unviable not programs, says Aletha Huston-Stein PH. D, now at the University of Kansas. In conclusion, media violence makes kids more aggressive, less patient, and more fearful of the world around them. There are plenty of violent tv shows like law and order, criminal minds, the walking dead, breaking bad, and so on that show case iolence and killings.These shows can lead many people to follow in their ways. So as you can see from this evidence, violence on tv leads to aggressive behavior in the people watching it. My second argument is that watching tv gives open access to everything. When you watch tv, you are susceptible to messages that are dangerous, especially the youth. Say that you are a young kid and your parents want to keep you away from the dangers of drug and sex until you're older. Well whole watching tv you could flip to a hannel and start watching a television show that includes these activities.Now as a young kid you may be confused and not know the difference between right and wrong when it comes to these new things you haven't heard ot betore. Another point is shows like teen mom expose you to premarital sex and these shows make it seem normal and natural to have sex as a teenager. Furthermore, according to changingchannels. org, tv desensitizes viewers to the evil nature of premarital sex and unprovoked violence, encouraging young viewers to find them acceptable and ormal in society.So you can see from the points made, television gives people, especially youth, open access to everything. conclusion: Our first argument was that tv violence leads to aggressive behavior in the people watching it. Our second argument was that tv gives people open access to everything. Do you really want young children susceptible to drug, sex, and violence before they are even old enough to know what it is? From these arguments, it should be clear that tv is leaving a negative impact on our society.