Stylistic: Public Speaking and Oratorical Style

Linguistic peculiarities of publicistic style The publicistic style is used in public speeches and printed public works which are addressed to a broad audience and devoted to important social or political events, public problems of cultural or moral character. It falls into three varieties, each having its own distinctive features. Unlike other formal styles, the publicist style has spoken varieties, in particular, the  oratorical  sub-style. The development of radio and television has brought into being a new spoken variety â€Å" the radio and television commentary. The other two are theessay  and  articles  in newspapers, journals and magazines.The general aim of the publicist style is to exert influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article not merely by logical argumentation, but b y emotional appeal as well. 1. Explain the differences and similarities between publicistic and scientific prose style. This brain-washing function is most effective in oratory, for here the most powerful instrument of persuasion is brought into play: the human voice.Due to its characteristic combination of logical argumentation and emotional appeal, the publicistic style has features in common with the style of scientific prose or official documents, on the one hand, and that of emotive prose, on the other. Its coherent and logical syntactic structure, with an expanded system of connectives and its careful paragraphing, makes it similar to scientific prose. Its emotional appeal is generally achieved by the use of words with emotive meaning, the use of imagery and other stylistic devices as in emotive prose.The publicistic style also has some elements of emotionally coloured colloquial style as the author has no need to make their speech impersonal (as in scientific or official styl e), but, on the contrary, he or she tries to approximate the text to lively communication, as though they were talking to people in direct contact. 2. Explain the typical features of oratory and speeches. The oratorical style is the oral subdivision of the publicistic style. The most obvious purpose of oratory is persuasion, and it requires eloquence.This style is evident in speeches on political and social problems of the day, in orations and addresses on solemn occasions as public weddings, funerals and jubilees, in sermons and debates and also in the speeches of counsel and judges in courts of law. The sphere of application of oratory is confined to appeal to an audience and therefore crucial issues in such spheres as science, art, or business relations are not touched upon. Direct contact with the listeners permits the combination of the syntactical, lexical and phonetic peculiarities of both the written and spoken varieties of language.In its leading feature, however, the orato rical style belongs to the written variety of language, though it is modified by the oral form of the utterance and the use of gestures. Certain typical features of the spoken variety of speech present in this style are: a) direct address to the audience by special formulas (Ladies and Gentlemen! ; My Lords! â€Å" in the House of Lords;  Mr. Chairman! ; Honourable Members! ; Highly esteemed members of the conference! ; or, in less formal situation,  Dear Friends! ; or, with a more passionate colouring,My Friends! ).Expressions of direct address can be repeated in the course of the speech and may be expressed differently (Mark you! Mind! ). b) special formulas at the end of the speech to thank the audience for their attention (Thankyou very much; Thank you for your time). c) the use of the 1st person pronoun  we; 2nd person pronoun  you:  We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienabl e Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness ¦(Th. Jefferson,  The Declaration of Independence). ) the use of contractions  Iâ„ ¢ll; wonâ„ ¢t; havenâ„ ¢t; isnâ„ ¢t  and others:  Weâ„ ¢re talking about healing our nation. Weâ„ ¢re not talking about politics. Weâ„ ¢re all here to do everything in our power to save lives ¦ Iâ„ ¢m here to thank you for hearing that call. Actually, I shouldnâ„ ¢t be thanking you, I should be thanking a Higher Power for giving you the call  (George W. Bush). e) features of colloquial style such as asking the audience questions as the speaker attempts to reach closer contact:  Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself.Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to  govern him? (Th. Jefferson), or calling upon the audience:  Let us then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican principles  (ibid). Like the colloquial style, oratory is usually characterized by emotional colouring and connotations, but there is a difference. The emotional colouring of the publicist style is lofty â€Å" it may be solemn, or ironic, but it cannot have the lowered connotations (jocular, rude, vulgar, or slangy) found in colloquial speech.The vocabulary of speeches is usually elaborately chosen and remains mainly in the sphere of high-flown style: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived and so dedicated in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this (A. Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address). The stylistic devices employed in the oratorical style are determined by the conditions of communication. If the desire of the speaker is to rouse the audience and to keep it in suspense, he will use various traditional stylistic devices. Stylistic devices are closely interwoven and mutually complementary thus building up an intricate pattern. For example, an antithesis is framed by parallel constructions, which, in their turn, are accompanied by repetition, while a climax can be formed by repetitions of different kinds.But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate â€Å" we cannot consecrate â€Å" we cannot hallow  this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated  here to t he unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.It is  rather for us to be dedicated  to the great task remaining before us â€Å" that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion â€Å" that we here highly resolve that these dead  shall not have died in vainâ€Å" that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom  Ã¢â‚¬Å" and that the government of the people,  by the people, for the people,  shall not perish  from the earth  (A. Lincoln). As the audience rely only on memory, the speaker often resorts to repetition to enable his listeners to follow im and retain the main points of the speech. Repetition is also resorted to in order to persuade the audience, to add weight to the speakerâ„ ¢s opinion. The following extract from the speech of the American Confederate general, A. P. Hill, on the ending of the Civil War in the U. S. A. is an exampl e of anaphoric repetition: It is high time  this people had recovered from the passions of war. It is high time  that counsel were taken from statesmen, not demagogues ¦Ã‚  It is high time  the people of the North and South understood each other and adopted means to inspire confidence in each other.A mere repetition of the same idea and in the same linguistic form may bore the audience and destroy the speaker-audience contact, therefore synonymous phrase repetition is used instead, thus filling up the speech with details and embellishing it, as in this excerpt from a speech on Robert Burns: For Burns exalted our race, he hallowed Scotland and the Scottish tongue. Before his time we had for a long period been scarcely recognized; we had been falling out of recollection of the world. From the time of the Union of the Crowns, and still more from the legislative union, Scotland had lapsed into obscurity.Except for an occasional riot, or a Jacobite rising, her existence was almos t forgotten. (All those different phrases simply repeat the idea nobody knew us, Scots, before). Repetition can be regarded as the most typical stylistic device of the English oratorical style. Almost any piece of oratory will have parallel constructions, antithesis, climax, rhetorical questions and questions-in-the-narrative. It will be no exaggeration to say that almost all typical syntactical devices can be found in English oratory. Questions are most frequent because they promote closer contact with the audience.The change of intonation breaks the monotony of the intonation pattern and revives the attention of the listeners: No? You donâ„ ¢t want to leave the U. N. to the Europeans and Russians? Then letâ„ ¢s stop bellyaching about the U. N. , and manipulating our dues, and start taking it seriously for what it is â€Å" a global forum that spends 95 percent of its energy endorsing the wars and peacekeeping missions that the U. S. wants endorsed, or taking on the thankle ss humanitarian missions that the U. S. would like done but doesnâ„ ¢t want to do itself. The U. N. actually spends only 5 percent of its time annoying the U. S.Not a bad deal! (Thomas L. Friedman. The New York Times, May 29, 2001) The desire of the speaker to convince and to rouse his audience results in the use of simile and metaphor, but these are generally traditional ones, as fresh and genuine stylistic devices may divert the attention of the listeners away from the main point of the speech. Besides, unexpected and original images are more difficult to grasp and the process takes time. In political speeches, the need for applause is paramount, and much of the distinctive rhetoric of a political speech is structured in such a way as to give the audience the maximum chance to applaud.One widely used technique is an adaptation of an ancient rhetorical structure â€Å" the three-part list: X, Y, and Z. These lists are not of course restricted to politics only:  signed, sealed and delivered; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Tom, Dick, and Harry; the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; this, that, and the other. Such lists, supported by a strong rhythm and a clear rising + falling intonation sequence, convey a sense of rhetorical power, structural control, and semantic completeness. They are widely used in formal writing.And they are especially common in political speeches, where the third item provides a climax of expression which can act as a cue for applause. In an acclaimed study of speech and body language in political speeches, using videotaped data, specialists found such instances: * Governor Wallace:  and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever. * Norman Tebbit:  Labour will spend, and borrow and borrow, and tax and tax. * Tony Ben:  and they kill it secretly, privately, without debate. History and literature provide numerous examples: * Abraham Lincoln:  Government of the people, by the people, fo r the people. Mark Anthony:  Friends, Romans, Countrymen ¦ * Winston Churchill:  This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning. And even crowds use tripartite sequences: Lone voice:  Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. Crowd:  In, in, in. Consider the prosodic pattern of a fragment of the speech delivered by Margaret Thatcher at the Conservative Party Conference in 1980. (Pauses are shown in seconds or tenth of a second; stressed words are underlined; pitch jumps are shown by arrows):  This week has demonstrated  (0,4)  that we are a  party  unitedin  ? ±Ã‚  purpose  (0,4),  strategy  (0,2) and  resolve.Audience:  Hear, hear  (8,0). (After M. Atkinson, 1984. ) In the House of Commons, as in other government chambers, the period set aside for MPs to put questions to ministers is a linguistic game  par excellence. The formal asking of a question is a chance to do several things â€Å" to focus public attention on an issue, express identity with a party political line, or cause trouble for the other sideâ„ ¢. It is a chance to get oneself noticed, settle old scores, or repay a constituency debt. Just occasionally, it is a real question, to which the questioner wishes to receive a real answer.Parliamentary questions are asked for a reason, which are often little to do with the semantic content of the question and more to do with the kind of confrontation which is taking place. Skilled politicians can resort to several techniques in order to evade an awkward question e. g. to ignore the question, to decline to answer it, or acknowledge it without answering it, etc. The questions politicians receive are rarely straightforward, but are preceded by a series of often unclear and controversial claims. This can be seen in the analysis of one question which was addressed to a cabinet minister during a radio interview.Well now â€Å" when Mr. Helistine protested at the cabinet meeting on December 12th â€Å" over the fact that Mrs. Thatcher had cancelled this meeting on December 13th â€Å" he raised a protest â€Å" which as you know â€Å" in his resignation statement he said â€Å" he said wasnâ„ ¢t recorded in the cabinet minutes â€Å" and now heâ„ ¢s gone back and said that he wants that protest recorded â€Å" can you say â€Å"as â€Å"as a bit of an expert on the constitution â€Å" probably more than a bit of an expert â€Å" can you honestly say â€Å" as a member of the cabinet â€Å" that you were happy that Mrs.Thatcher allowed proper discussion by all the cabinet in detail of this very important decision for defence? Elucidating the content of this question brought to light 20 possible issues, among them * Presuppositions for the validity of the question: There was a decision on defence. The decision was important. The cabinet did not properly discuss the decision ¦ * Assertions about others: Thatcher cancelled the cabinet dis cussion. Helistine protested the cancellation. Somebody omitted the protest from the record ¦ * Attributions about respondent: You are an expert on the constitution.You are a member of the cabinet ¦ * Propositions in question: Thatcher allowed discussion. Thatcher allowed discussion in detail ¦ * Questions to be answered: do you agree that some/all propositions are true? Can you agree that some/all propositions are true and be honest about it? * Yes * No Of course, no one would have reached cabinet minister rank who would use such one-word answers by way of reply. What the questioner will receive is better categorized as a response rather than an answer. 3. Explain the most characteristic language features of essay.This genre in English literature dates from the 16th century, and its name is taken from the short Essays (=experiments, attempts) by the French writer Montaigne, which contained his thoughts on various subjects. An essay is a literary composition of moderate length on philosophical, social or literary subjects, which preserves a clearly personal character and has no pretence to deep or strictly scientific treatment of the subject. It is rather a number of comments, without any definite conclusions.Consider an extract from Ben Johnson (16th century): Language most shows a man; speak, that I may see thee. It springs of the most retired and in most parts of us, and is the image of the parent of it, the mind. No glass renders a manâ„ ¢s form or likeness so true, as his speech, and, as we consider features and composition in a man, so words in language. Some men are tall and big, so some language is high and great. Then the words are chosen, the sound ample, the composition full, all grace, sinewy and strong.Some are little and dwarfs; so of speech, it is humble and low; the words are poor and flat; the members are periods thin and weak, without knitting or number. Nowadays an essay is usually a kind of feature article in a magazine or newspape r. Essays are written commonly by one and the same writer or journalist, who has cultivated his own individual style. Some essays, depending on the writerâ„ ¢s individuality, are written in a highly emotional manner resembling the style of emotive prose (Hail, Nickel. Mother of Murder! Blessed destroyer of human flesh! Balm of twenty-six million corpses in six years!D. Cusack), others resemble scientific prose and the terms review, memoir, or treatise are more applicable to certain more exhaustive studies:  Taking English Poetry in the common sense of the word, as a peculiar form of the language, we find that it differs from prose mainly in having a regular succession of accented syllables. In short it possesses metre as its characteristic feature ¦(S. Maugham). The essay on moral and philosophical topics in modern times has not been so popular, probably because a deeper scientific analysis and interpretation of facts is required.The essay in our days is often biographical; p eople, facts and events are taken from life. These essays differ from those of previous centuries â€Å" their vocabulary is simpler and so is their logical structure and argumentation. But they still retain all the leading features of the publicist style. The most characteristic language features of the essay, however, remain 1. brevity of expression; 2. the use of the first person singular, which justifies a personal approach to the problems treated; 3. rather expended use of connectives, which facilitates the process of grasping the correlation of ideas; 4. the abundant use of emotive words; 5. the use of similes and metaphors as one of the media for the cognitive process. In comparison with the oratorical style, the essay aims at a more lasting, hence at a slower effect. Epigrams, paradoxes and aphorisms are comparatively rare in oratory, as they require the concentrated attention of the listener. In the essay they are commoner, for the reader has an opportunity to make a caref ul and detailed study both of the content of the utterance and its form.

Free Book Promotion Ideas and Services You Shouldnt Miss

Free Book Promotion Ideas and Services You Shouldnt Miss In his 1966 science fiction novel, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, American writer Robert A. Heinlein popularized an acronym as a common expression in the novel- TANSTAAFL! (There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!)Truly, very few free services provide whats needed and those that are free often come with a catch. This is especially true in the world of self-publishing and book promotion services for indie authors, who often must spend as much time and effort promoting their book after its published as they did writing it in the first place.That being said, weve combed the Internet and found a few free book promotion ideas and services that are worth your time if youre an indie author.There are some book promotional services that are free, allowing you to grow your readership without breaking the bank. Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash.Learn about pricing strategyOne of the easiest ways to promote your book doesnt involve payment for a service; rather, its all about pricing strategy. F or example, this article on BookBub discusses some of the most recent statistics in marketing your book after its published. Some of the key points they found by looking at book sales from their own and partner sites include:Pricing low can drive higher unit sales volume. For example, the results of their analysis found that the volume of book sales is over 75% higher at $0.99 than $2.99.Pricing high can yield more revenue during a price promotion. BookBub found that books priced at $2.99 showed an increase of 142% more revenue during their discounts than books priced at $0.99, even though the number of books sold was lower.Shorter price promotions drive more revenue. Their analysis found that discounting a book for five or fewer days results in a 4x higher increase in revenue after the promotion ended.The first book in a series is the best one to discount. Once you get your readers hooked with the first one in a series, its easier to sell the remaining full-priced books that come a fter it. In fact, BookBub found that sales of additional books in the series are 5x higher if you discount the first one.Cross-promotion increases full-priced series sales. If youve published more than one book and use the back cover of your discounted book to cross-promote other titles, youll likely find a 3x higher increase in sales of those other books you cross-promoted.Worldwide promotions can pay off. In fact, youre likely to see a 32% higher increase in sales when you promote internationally.Simply participating in price promotions can increase your author earnings by as much as 196%. And it doesnt cost you a dime!Free promotional servicesWhile there are a lot of sites offering free book promotion services, most require payment for services that would be beneficial for authors. There are multiple websites, eBookStage, for example) that will sell your book for a discount or free if youre looking for ways to promote your novel and find more readers without spending a lot of mon ey, but a few provide more services to help in your book promotion efforts.Indies UnlimitedIndies Unlimited offers multiple free promotional services for writers, including Thrifty Thursday, which takes place on- you guessed it- Thursday of each week.Print Book Party, another promotional opportunity offered by Indies Unlimited, occurs on the first Sunday of every month. It allows authors the opportunity to promote their print books listed at $15 or less, making it an attractive shopping spot for voracious readers looking for their next favorite author at bargain prices.The site also offers Kindle Unlimited Friday, which allows authors to showcase books they offer free within the Kindle Unlimited Program.Authors can also participate in the Guest Post Feature, which is an opportunity to write a guest post for the Indies Unlimited blog. This option allows you to expand your personal blogs readership (if you have one), as well as include a by-line offering information about the book you ve written and are attempting to promote.Book BongoBook Bongo offers both free and paid book marketing services, with book promotion opportunities spanning exposure on Book Bongos social media sites to directing, filming, and editing a 20 to 30- second video montage with soundtrack, professionally created for your book. The latter, of course, isnt free, but this most recent example offers a pretty convincing argument for going with that option.InkittInkitt is a unique approach in book marketing in that they market your unpublished manuscript and offer a book deal if it creates the right buzz among readers. As a boutique publishing house that has published over 30 Amazon Best Sellers, its website claims that it will publish a book every week in upcoming months.Their model is one that starts off free and can mean a book deal if readers like your book enough. They approach it based on the algorithm developed that analyzes crowd wisdom and reading patterns to predict if a book has the p otential to reach a larger readership. You can interact with your readers as a writer and gain exposure among genre enthusiasts looking for a story just like yours.TCK PublishingTCK Publishing is a mass market book publishing company that advertises free publishing and book promotion services. Obviously, its for indie authors who have either not yet published their book or have self-published it and are willing to have it republished while splitting royalties on future sales. For an author who has previously self-published and hasnt had success in book sales, republishing under the TCK Publishing name could be a great way to try again with the same title (with help, this time).The free book promotion services they offer are available only if you publish your book through them, but include:Help with book title ideas and selectionCover designFormatting and publishing for eBooksInterior book design and layout with InDesign for print booksAudiobook narration, editing, mastering, and pub lishingDistributionOngoing marketing campaignsMarketing advice, mentorship, and guidanceTracking sales and royaltiesForeign language rights sales and marketingWebsite design, landing page design, and email marketing systems setupIntroductions to leading bloggers, podcasters, and book reviewers in your marketPR outreach to journalists and media outletsThey guarantee to pay authors 50% of net royalties and 50% of all payments received for subsidiary rights licensing deals, noting that those numbers are three-to-six times more than what you would get with most other traditional publishers.GoodreadsAlthough Goodreads is a kind of social media network for readers, its also an excellent opportunity to promote your book for free. As of April 2016, Goodreads announced that over 50 million user reviews had been posted to its catalogue. And if you have ever searched online for information about a book, you probably already know that Goodreads is one of the first websites that shows up on the search engine results page. It probably doesnt hurt that its owned by Amazon.Even if you already have a Goodreads account as a reader, youll need to join the author program to take advantage of the free book promotion services you can access on the site. When you join the author program, youll need to claim your profile page. After you do so, you can then promote your book and engage with readers across the site. Once verified, your author profile will receive an official Goodreads Author badge, which you can use on your blog, website or other social media accounts to encourage your fans to follow you on Goodreads and leave reviews of your book.Goodreads is a great website for free author and book promotion.Another great feature offered on Goodreads is the Ask the Author option, where readers can interact with you and your work by asking questions. Readers can then use #AskTheAuthor to share some of their favorite responses on Twitter, or authors can post their favorite questions us ing the same hashtag.After you set up your author page, youll have multiple other options for promoting your book, and many require nothing more than time. For example, you can ask your readers to add your book to the Listopia option that helps readers find books in their favorite genre or genres. Readers can then vote for your book and help it rank higher on the Listopia list. Your book can jump from 30th place to 10th place, often with only a few extra votes.Other examples of how you can use Goodreads for free book promotion are leading QA discussions about your book, and integrating your Goodreads page with MyBookTable

A Guide to Colloquial Contractions

A Guide to Colloquial Contractions A Guide to Colloquial Contractions A Guide to Colloquial Contractions By Mark Nichol Let’s talk about the dos and don’ts of contractions, ’k? (But first, this note: This punctuation mark is the same as the one used for apostrophes. However, if you use smart, or curly, quotes, your word processing program will probably incorrectly render an apostrophe not preceded by a letter as in the last word in the opening sentence as an open single quotation mark, so you have to outwit the witless program by copying and pasting a closed single quotation mark or an apostrophe, or typing a character followed by the proper mark, then deleting the first character.) In a given piece of prose, the presence or absence (or relative prevalence) of contractions, or words in which one or more letters is elided or replaced often but not always with one or more apostrophes as markers is one of the primary determiners of formal or informal writing. Some publications go so far as to prohibit ubiquitous contractions such as can’t, won’t, and related terms, as well as he’s and she’s, considering them inappropriate in authoritative composition. Meanwhile, some contractions are widely thought of as unseemly except when transcribing dialect or preserving archaic forms in the proper context. Here are some classes of contractions: Informal Contractions Gonna, wanna, and the like are considered appropriate in formal writing only when faithfully capturing colloquial speech. The same goes for such elisions as ’em (for them) and ’cept (for except). Other nonstandard forms communicating nonstandard dialect, acceptable only in narrative or dialogue in informal contexts, include ’fraid, ’nother, s’pose, and t’other. Archaicisms Venerable contractions such as ’twas are mostly seen in historical contexts, though they might be employed for humorous effect, such as to produce a faux-archaic sense. ’Tis time to get o’er it, e’en so. Others, seen usually in poetry, include ’gainst, heav’n, and wither’d and many other words in which the -ed ending is so elided to conform to poetic meter or prose rhythm. Similar constructions, like ha’e (have), i’ (in), th’ (the), and wi’ (with), are seen in the poetry of Robert Burns or other reflections of dialect. Traditional Contractions A few words with contractions are incorrect any other way, and their elided forms must be honored even in the most formal contexts. These grandfathered elders include the o’ compounds cat-o’-nine-tails, jack-o’-lantern, o’clock, and will-o’-the-wisp. Ne’er-do-well is another phrase given a pass. However, Halloween, formerly spelled Hallowe’en (from â€Å"Hallow evening,† referring to All Hallow’s Eve), has lost its contraction marker, and the maritime slang fo’c’s’le (pronounced FOKE-sul) is often spelled out in full (forecastle), though the latter use in most nautical dialogue would be clumsy and stiff. By the same token, boatswain is, outside technical contexts, spelled bosun or even bos’n. Cap’n, however, is an informal contraction of captain that, unlike bosun, is not generally seen outside dialogue. Contractions with More Than One Apostrophe He’d’ve and its feminine and plural equivalents, and wouldn’t’ve and similar words, are technically correct but inappropriate for formal writing. But in informal contexts, bring ’em on. â€Å"Rock ’n’ roll† requires an apostrophe on each side of the letter n, to mark the preceding and following letters in and. Better yet, though, follow the spelling in most dictionary entries for the term and spell out and, just as in â€Å"rhythm and blues.† Clipped Forms Full words such as copter or phone, formed by omitting one or more syllables from the beginning or end of a word (or, rarely, from both, as with flu being derived from influenza), do not feature an apostrophe, but some writers included the markers when the clipped forms first appeared in print, so this form is acceptable in limited usage, such as in a historical novel. Miscellanous Usage Abbreviations of years, such as in the phrases â€Å"spirit of ’76† and â€Å"class of ’84,† require apostrophes. ’Til is acceptable in informal writing, but till is preferable, and until is more appropriate in formal contexts. Two contractions rarely seen outside column headings in charts or in newspaper headlines, where, because of space limitations, they are usually compressed, are ass’n (association) and ass’t (assistant). Although terms like Mr., Jr., and Ltd. elide letters (and, outside American English, the periods are omitted), they are technically abbreviations, not contractions, because apostrophes are not used. Notes about the First Paragraph Let’s is the only contraction I can think of that is bereft of a viable full form; nobody writes â€Å"Let us† as the beginning of an invitation unless they intend to affect a stiff formality. Also, the treatment of â€Å"dos and don’ts† is correct; don’ts includes an apostrophe only because don’t does. (Dos and don’ts are plural forms, not possessive ones.) Finally, ’k (or ’K) as a perky contraction of OK belongs only in social media contexts or as a snide parody of such usage. 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 Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About TalkingCapitalization Rules for the Names of GamesHow to Punctuate Introductory Phrases

Reflective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflective - Essay Example The familiar is comfortable, even if it is not the best arrangement for all parties involved. In the field, for instance, the nurses were initially hesitant about being part of the training, and had many questions and private qualms that they shared with me. This was the reality, even as they allowed me to explain the protocol in broad strokes. The doctors, meanwhile, while generally quiet, had a stance of wait and see, and leaned on the skeptical side. The administration of the hospital too, even when they agreed to the change project, also obviously wanted to make sure that the change would result in positive changes in the unit in general, and liked that the scope of the change was limited and very specific to ankle injuries. There had to be interventions and explanations prepared for the patients as well. Underneath some of these concerns is a need to take charge and be control of the situation. The change was to unsettle them from their cozy and safe positions. The conflicts tha t are to come from the change in the balance of power between nurses and doctors when it comes to decision making are profound, even if they are limited to just ankle and foot injuries in the emergency setting. ... These are seemingly benign issues, but from the perspective of who takes responsibility for patient well-being these are profound conflicts that the change project needed to properly evaluate, negotiate and resolve (Institute of Medicine, 2006). In the above evaluation conflicts it is clear too that there are dependencies in the actions and the outcomes of the actions of the various stakeholders to the change project. For instance, nurses can become empowered only with the trust and confidence given to them by the doctors, with whom the triage nurses have to work in tandem in taking care of patients with ankle injuries, making use of the Ottawa ankle rules. If doctors fail at trusting the competence of the nurses’ decisions tied to these rules, then the whole process and change project falters. Doctors will make their own decisions regardless of the nurse recommendations. On the other hand, if the nurses persist with making use of the protocol even without the cooperation of t he doctors, the dependencies also break down and nurses and doctors can duplicate each others’ work. Taking a step back, the decision of the hospital administration to allow the change project to push through also cascades down the line into making all of the involved parties cooperate and see to it that their actions at least give the project a chance to make it to completion. This is so they can see whether the protocol improves their work and the patient outcomes. In the change project even the nurses were hesitant at first to make use of their new power to make recommendations on x-rays, because they knew too that the patients and the doctors depended on the accuracy of their diagnoses. On the other hand, the

Regulating Units Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Regulating Units - Essay Example A valve positioner is a device which exactly positions a control valve to the required position as per the signal given to it. Positioner senses the valve opening through a position feedback link connected to valve. Controlled external supply air to positioner provides power to positioner to position a valve. A globe valve is that in which inlet and outlet openings are arranged in several ways to suit varying requirements of flow. It can give straight flow, angular flow and cross flow. The major application is to get good flow control. Picture below: Ball valves are stop valves that use a ball to stop or start the flow of fluid. When operated, the ball rotates to a point where the hole through the ball is in line with the valve body inlet and outlet. Picture below: Gate valves are used when a straight-line flow of fluid and minimum restric ­tion is desired. The part that either stops or allows flow through the valve acts somewhat like the opening or closing of a gate and is called, the gate. Butterfly valves are used in a variety of systems aboard ship. These valves can be used effectively in freshwater and saltwater. It consists of a butterfly disc which when rotated determines the flow of liquid through it. It is used for Good flow control at high capacities. Valve positioners compare a control signal to a valve actuator’s position and move the actuator accordingly. The most modern valves come with following specifications. Deadband -

Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Report - Essay Example Electronic Retail Company, Strategy is the direction and scope of the firm over the long term preferably over five years which achieves advantage in changing environment through its configuration of resources and competencies with the aim of full filing stakeholder expectations (Kaplan & Norton, 2001, pg.7). This explains why the past 5 years of ERB Ltd as been put under critical discussion and analysis (Crosetto,2005,pg.38). The Strategic position of ERB Ltd. considers the influence on strategy on the external environment, the organisation’s goals, culture and strategic capability, which will include the resources and competences of the organisation (Abrams, 2003, pg.121). This is significant towards its continued competitive strategies in this dynamic business society influenced by globalization. The ERB Ltd. strategic position is concerned with the impact on strategy of the macro environment, internal resources and competences, expectations and influence of stakeholders (Abrams, 2003, pg.258). The Macro environment factors and competencies of ERB Ltd. are studied using Pestle, Swot, Porter’s 5 Forces, Strategic Capabilities Analysis and Stakeholder mapping. Our company follows cost leadership strategy. The reason of our choice is that we achieve to be supplied with products from manufacturers at lower cost. In addition, we do our best to offer the products to customers at the lowest possible price (Schermerhorn, 2010, pg.223). Since we are focussed on selling quality products and offering outstanding customer service to our clients, marginal cost pricing technique is paramount in respect to our continued profit margin. As accost leadership strategy believer, the company observes the pricing behaviour of other firms and set prices slightly below the market average thereby attracting more customers and realizing greater sales (Hill & Jones, 2010, pg.157). ERB Ltd reconciles the idea of affordability of their products with their relatively cheaper

How to Analyze Sources and Information

How to Analyze Sources and Information By Riley Kohl       Today, we live in a world that runs on information. Information is gathered, shared, bought, and sold. More and more, individuals are consuming vast amounts of information and using it to shape themselves and the way they perceive the world around them. In our journey to reach new heights of understanding, we construct for ourselves a tall watchtower, with each brick being a new piece of information. Far too often, however, we dont ask ourselves a crucial question: what if this new brick has cracks? My goal is to explain why you need to be able to appraise the quality of the information you consume and to give you the tools to do so reliably and efficiently. A Growing Need One of the most commonly used sources of information is the news, specifically the mainstream media. In recent years, there has been a gradual, observable decline in the quality of journalism. Noticing this, the American people have subsequently displayed a gradual decline in the level of trust they place in the mainstream medias ability to report information in a trustworthy and unbiased manner. In a Gallup poll conducted in 2016 with a random sample of 1,020 adults, only 32% professed to having a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mainstream media.[1] A graph of this trend is provided in Figure 1. A Practical Demonstration In order to better grasp the methodologies of information analysis, and the need for such skills, a practical demonstration is best. On November 20, 2015, CNN published an article alleging that President-elect Donald Trump made a definitive statement regarding the implementation of a Muslim database.[2] Several hours later, an article was published by the Gateway Pundit claiming that the conclusions presented by the CNN article were based on falsified evidence.[3] Figure 2 provides a side- by-side view of the article headlines. This leads to the first, and most important, critical rule of information analysis: no source is above scrutiny because no source is infallible. CNN is a major media outlet. The first reaction of the average person would be to simply trust them over the Gateway Pundit, a relatively unknown source. The CNN article also provides a video which seems to support the claim presented in the headline. The two most notable arguments presented by the Gateway Pundit article are that the CNN video is heavily edited and that the reporter deliberately pushed a vague, unspecific question. The first step the reader must take at this point is to watch, or re-watch, the CNN video. It is clear that the video is edited, but this practice is not unusual. Videos provided in articles and reports are often edited for time purposes, cutting out unnecessary information in order to deliver the important information in a timely manner. Thus, we arrive at the second critical rule: when in doubt, consult the raw data. This is not always an easy task. In scientific reports, the raw data is often extensive or presented in a format that is difficult for laymen to understand. News articles, on the other hand, often draw their data from raw video or official statements. Given the positions presented by the two articles, at most only one of them can be correct. Therefore, at least one of these articles must be false. The result of this is that a person who believes the false article will likely form an opinion on Donald Trump, then a Presidential candidate. This newly assimilated information might affect a choice of action taken by the reader, such as who they vote for, which could have consequences as significant as deciding the next political leader of the United States of America. Placed in this perspective, it is clear that information and misinformation can be a powerful, dangerous forces. It is imperative that they a re properly evaluated by the readers. Methodologies for Appraising Information Some of the simplest methods for appraising the quality of an information source involve asking basic questions. These include confirming whether or the not source is unbiased, comprehensive, current, and clear.[4] While the latter questions are fairly simple, the question of bias is a tricky beat to handle. Bias is fundamentally difficult to avoid when writing, or choosing not to write, articles or reports. These are written by human beings, who have their own ingrained outlooks and opinions on the world. Additionally, the existence of bias extends outside the article itself, into the meta realm of publication. There can exist a bias in what information is published and what information is not. A news outlet might choose to only report on the legitimate scandals of a political figure and publish nothing regarding their accomplishments. Even though the published articles may be true, the bias still exists. A very common misconception is that the authorship of an information source is a good measure of its quality or trustworthiness. While this can serve as a significant, time-saving shortcut, it can also lull the reader into a false sense of security. The most well-respected news outlet can publish erroneous articles, and the most sensational tabloid can publish articles containing nothing but the truth. A final concept to note, before proceeding to a more orderly listing of methodologies, is the writing itself. The writing styles of information sources can vary widely based on their intended audience and purpose. A scientific report on geological predictions based on survey data will vary in appearance and flow from a news article reporting on a recent crime wave. Despite this, the hallmark of a good article lies with its objective reasoning. There should be a clear logical flow from the raw information being cited to the final conclusions drawn and presented by the author.[5] Faulty logic or subtle fallacies can take factual evidence and output misleading conclusions. A Simple Checklist for Appraising Sources Ask yourself the three Cs: Is it comprehensive, clear, and current? Look to see if the source has a logical flow of objective reasoning. Identify the purpose of the article. What is the writer trying to convey? Identify any potential for bias. Does the author have an underlying motive? Cross-reference with alternative sources. Consult the raw data if necessary. Remember that is is alright to decide that no definitive conclusions can be drawn from insufficient sources. Works Cited [1] Gallup, Inc. Americans Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low.Gallup.com. N.p., 14 Sept. 2016. Web. 05 Jan. 2017. [2] Trump would certainly implement national database for U.S. Muslims.CNN. Cable News Network, 20 Nov. 2015. Web. 06 Jan. 2017. [3] Hoft, Jim. THEY LIED! Media Edited Video to Claim Donald Trump Said to Register All Muslims (Video).TheGatewayPundit. N.p., 21 Nov. 2015. Web. 06 Jan. 2017. [4] Markel, Michael H. Practicalstrategiesfortechnicalcommunication. 1st ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. Print. [5] LibGuides: Critically Analyzing Information Sources: Critical Appraisal and Analysis.CriticalAppraisaland AnalysisCriticallyAnalyzingInformationSourcesLibGuidesatCornellUniversity. N.p., 27 May 2016. Web. 05 Jan. 2017.   Ã‚