The Use of Punctuation in the Writing of Libyan Students Essay

Punctuation in English Parkes (1992), in his invaluable study of the history of punctuation, states: "Punctuation was developed by stages which coincided with changing patterns of literacy, whereby new generations of readers in different historical situations imposed new demands on the written medium itself' (p. 2). Punctuation is not a static model and even if we confine the discussion to early modern and modern English, it has changed quite considerably across time (Numberg, 1999). The uses of punctuation are conventional; they change over time and vary from language to language. There have been to be conventions or rules, for without these, punctuation would be wholly idiosyncratic and the possibilities of using it to facilitate effective communication would be either lost of severely hindered (Beard & et al., 2009). Some rules of punctuation are mandatory: if we violate them, we have made mistakes in punctuation. Others are optional: our choice is basing on the effect and emphasis we desire to deliver. To that extent, Greenbaum and Nelson (2002: 183) say â€Å"punctuation is an art.† There was a considerable debate between two schools: one believed punctuation should be based on elocution (how a sentence is spoken when it is read out aloud) and the other believed punctuation should be based on the grammar (Petit: 2003; Curtis, 2007; Hall and Robinson, 1996; Parkes, 1992). The latter (the syntactic-based approach) is the one we use today, which means the debate was won by grammar school. Recently, Dawkins (2003 and 1995) has come out with a new believe: teaching punctuation should be based on the meaning (the semantic- based approach). Dawkins (2003) assumes that writers have an intuitive sense of the independent claus... ..., p. 349). Moreover, Chiang (1999) claims that in EFL writing, the sentence(s) may appear to be appropriate order, but in incongruent places due to inappropriate use or non use of punctuation. Using the premise that students often have weak language skills, Warner (1979) surveyed 431 postsecondary students using four tools: student’s scores on an objective test, an in-class writing sample, an editing exercise, and a questionnaire about background in English and attitude toward grammar and writing. She found that the largest number of errors in the writing occurred in punctuation. She came out with: The high error rate in punctuation resulted from 1) the students not knowing the rules of punctuation, 2) knowing the rules but not being able to apply them to their own writing, or 3) constructing such poor sentences that correct punctuation was impossible (p.18).

Essay --

This essay offers a contextual, and theoretical explanation as to why Stereoscopes are a product of modernity: drawing particular attention to the stereoscope - that enables what many viewers perceive as a greater level of realism in the cinematic image -, existing arguments around the topic which have been developed to interpret and explain its social significance within the modern period. The discussion begins with an informative differentiation of both ideologies, which we identify as Modernism and Modernity; the second paragraph, is a brief background of the optical instrument which hopefully bleeds into the main body of ideas conceived from thorough research via David Trotter, Jonathan Crary and Goethe. My interest in this particular subject arose out of empirical knowledge of cameras from studying Photography at A Level and a prior thesis I conducted in regards to Capitalism: Slavery, an excerpt by filmmaker Ken Jacobs. A metaphorical screening considering the relationship of b oth fields not only in their shared money form but also the difference surrounding these two highly charged and complex kinds of bodies: the slave body and the corporate body which in reality are the a biological form and a wealth form. Modernism indicates a branch of movements in art (Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism; Cubism; Expressionism; Dada, Surrealism, Pop Art. Etc.) with distinct characteristics, it firmly rejects its classical precedent and classical style, what Walter Benjamin would refer to as â€Å"destructive liquidation of the traditional value of the cultural heritage†; and it explores the etiology of a present historical situation and of its attendant forms of self-consciousness in the West. Whereas Modernity is often used as ... .... 'It is a moment when the visible escapes from the timeless incorporeal order of the camera obscura and becomes lodged in another apparatus, within the unstable physiology and temporality of the human body'. Crary further demonstrates the shift in vision's location from camera to body by examining the way in which it was reproduced in various optical devices invented during this same period, specifically the stereoscope, the kaleidoscope, the phenakistiscope, and the diorama. His examination is based on a provocative premise: 'There is a tendency to conflate all optical devices in the nineteenth century as equally implicated in a vague collective drive to higher and higher standards of verisimilitude' (110). According to Crary, such an approach tends to neglect entirely how some of these devices were expressions of what he calls 'nonveridical' models of perception.

Huxley Maquiladora

Internationalization of a firm is often defined as its cross border business activities, which include trading resources and final products or services, capital transactions, and widening human resources. By adopting internationalization, a firm can expand its market size, minimize operation cost, and enhance competitiveness. Relocating production plant to Mexico from Texas, Huxley sets the first step into internationalization.The movement of the manufacturing site can save a significant amount of production costs like transport tariffs, labor payments and taxations. Huxley Maquiladora should utilize the benefits offered by the new location and NAFTA, and hence focus on research & development in order to improve innovation aspect. Since we enter into technology-bombard world, hi-tech is the next step to internationalize. Only by upgrading effective know-how is the solution of long-term growth and market power maintenance.There are three ways to internationalize in Mexico: subcontract ing, shelter operation and wholly owned subsidiary (WOS); however in term of Huxley’s domination power, it should mainly consider shelter operation and WOS for bigger profits and larger sustainable plans with the option of locating either in Ciudad Acuna or Saltillo. Both shelter and WOS provides the company complete control over the quality and production management, but the costs and the set-up procedures are completely different. In this case, I would suggest applying shelter operation in Saltillo.First, shelter offers a faster, simpler, and cheaper start up than WOS; it only takes about 45-120 days to turn from authorization to actual production rather than six months to a year as WOS. Also, with shelter, the company does not have to worry about choosing appropriate plant site, recruiting and training new employees, cultural practice differences, complicated taxations, getting official legalized permits and licenses, and developing a close and healthy relationships with a ll government levels.The only cost involved in shelter operation is paying the shelter service provider in term of working hours with the rate of roughly $3. 5/hr. By paying this money, Huxley can enjoy administration, HR management, and trading services without a panic. And often times the payment rate is negotiable with a long-term contract, so in the long run it may cost less than what it seems like. Furthermore, if the business is doing ell, then it is easier to become a physically locally present company than starting from zero. Ignoring the complications and hazards, the company can fully employ its higher skill-level manpower to R&D and thus come up with more up-to-date concepts and products, which is beneficial to both the firm and consumers. As far as the location choice, Saltillo has a better doing business environment than Ciudad Acuna overall.According to the information provided, Saltillo has a higher educated population with a lot more females, which is more favorable to Huxley as it highly demands skillful and fast learning female workers for lamination and filing processes. Moreover, the transportation is more developed and efficient in Saltillo, like it is closer to the international airport with more and higher capacity operated airlines, along with well urban connected highways and railroads, and more importantly it offers 100+ tons/day cargo service, which Ciudad Acuna does not.With this feature, trading and other transactions can undergo smoothly, frequently, and effortlessly. To add on, there are more industrial parks that give the company a larger degree to compare various service providers and pick the best fit one. Even though the labor and water costs are more expensive in Saltillo and the average round trip from Saltillo to the US border costs $850 more than that from Ciudad Acuna, Saltillo is still more attractive to a manufacturing business.It is because it contains more conditioning beneficial infrastructural features, which I bel ieve can help achieving the goal of profit maximization, and with that being said, the benefits will overshadow the higher cost rates after all. To conclude, the decision of Huxley on moving the production line across the border to Mexico can enhance its profit earning and Mexico’s economy and bring opportunities to local people, as well as the relationship between the two countries. A successful internationalization can lead to positive ripple effect worldwide.

buy custom Advertising and Gender Roles essay

buy custom Advertising and Gender Roles essay The paper examines the way, in which advertisements portray women. The Times Magazine and the Vogue Magazine have been using the photos of women on their forefront covers over 50 years, to portray a certain image. This study focuses more on how sexualized portrayal of women in the fashion sector is seen in the metro-sexual mens magazines, as the visual rhetoric. According to numerous studies, done on the sexual images of women in these magazines, this kind of advertisement has significant effects on women. The study also focuses on how sexual images, demonstrated by women in these magazines, are designed to brand the article for the purpose of achieving outstanding sales rates. There is an argument that the male images could also help. However, the real fact is that it is a woman who still buys these magazines, regardless of which gender is branding the cover page. A lot of people have been criticizing that the stereotypical portrayal of female images, especially the sex-based ones, reinforces the gender biases. In media, fashion plays the role of advertising, especially concerning what women should behave, how they should look like, and also what they are expected to be as parts of their society. The fashion, dressing, and the clothing signify certain practices, and these practices generate the meanings, which in the end produce or reproduce the cultural groups with their relative power positions. The image that people receive from the commercial pictures is for the purpose of marketing their products; thus, selling the way, in which people understand the world. Most people argue that the visual communication and advertising industry portray the cultural language, which may shape the society. It is obvious that the society views fashion and dressing as the contributing factor to the social norms, which include the views on class, gender, sex, and sexuality. In the current society, fashion and dressing is the main portrayal factor of a person's character, and his or her desires. Dressing helps in defining social roles, especially the gender role. In Japan, a research done on the womens magazines clarifies the responsibility of gender-role ideologies, especially in emphasizing femininity and also stereotypical depictions of men and women. The research found out that, in these magazines, external qualities, such as the youth and the thinness, are emphasized. Majority of women, who feature in these magazines, is at their 20s, a period when women are at the peak of their beautiful looks. Among some other topics, these magazines discuss themes that relate to household chores that women should perform, such as cooking for their husbands and family. These female magazines, accord ing to this research, focus on the styles and housework, while the mens magazines, on the other hand, talks about leisure and hobbies. As a result, such publications depict gender-based division of labor activities in the family. Feminism, on the other hand, has criticized the media, particularly the womens magazines portrayal of the gender aspect in the society. This is because; the readers are urged to behave in accordance with that gender-role ideology. This is being termed as the feminist transition model of communication. People always ask themselves questions on whether it is acceptable to assume that media, especially those dealing with the womens magaznes, to depict or impose the required gender norms. Another concern comes to what the readers of the magazines get from the media texts. These two issues relate in essence that if the readers are taking meanings from these texts that are quite different from the required gender norms, then there might be a conclusion that the womens magazines contain greater ambiguities of meanings. On the high end, the gender norms indicate social norms, based on sex and sexuality. The majority of the discussions are based on the sex-based division of labor activities. Men, for example, are supposed to perform the wage earning activities, while women are expected to carry on with the household duties. Many magazines also discuss the gender differences, such as femininity and masculinity. The research, conducted on these magazines, indicates that there are always four perspectives that the magazines have in common; namely, the perspective on marriage, the perspective on education, the perspective on the profession, and, finally, the consciousness of equality or independence (Hermes, 1995). Taking a look at the Times Magazine of 1981, one can notice that the magazine contained conscious question on gender roles, such as Do you agree that men should work, and women should stay at home?, If you were to be born again, would you rather be born male or female? The research findings have defined the gender norms as the gender role awareness. It is centered on the sex-based division of roles, which traditionally have been the main focus in the industry. It also goes forward to explore the relationship that the womens publications have in common with the fashion magazines. The awareness on gender norms that have been focusing on the sex-based division of labor refers to this as the normative consciousness on the gender roles. The research was also conducted on the fashion consciousness. According to the Vogue Magazine, various questions were created to give the estimate of interest and awareness of people when it comes to matters of fashion. The interests of many respondents were based on the following ideologies. The respondent adopts latest fashions ahead of other people.When people choose clothes, they consider if their boyfriends or girlfriends will like them.When people choose clothes, they consider how friends will evaluate them.People sometimes judge others basing on their clothing and what a person wears.People think that clothing and what the person wears reflects the persons personality.The results, obtained from such ideologies, were utilized, as the scale measuring normative evaluation on arriving at the average understanding of the gender roles. Looking at the frequency, in which people read these magazines, and the normative consciousness of the gender roles and the fashion reveal that men demonstrate a correlation between fashion consciousnesses and the reading frequency rate. On the other hand, there was no correlation between the frequency of reading and the consciousness of the gender roles. The same results appeared in the female population. From this, one may conclude that people do not buy and read magazines with the purpose of improving their gender roles, but instead for the purposes to be well-informed on the fashion trends. It is only because of these intentions of people going for magazines that aauthors use these opportunities to pass the information on gender roles to the people indirectly (Barnard, 2002). The idea of combining sex and advertising really works magic. The past studies have figured out that magazine advertising, especially with pictures of women featuring in them, signifies the objects of heterosexual, masculine desires. The studies on the mens and womens magazines also indicate that these publications contain more sexual content than the general public magazines do. Most advertisers have used sex to sell various products, especially perfumes and cars. This depicts the real picture of which one might think the magazines are meant for the purposes of educating people on the gender roles. The same sex is not only used for selling the products, but also foists off the opinions, the trends, and also the stereotypes. Theoretically, sex attracts the attention and also gives sexual meanings to the nonsexual products, thus leading to the conventional understanding that sex sells; however, it seems to sell more than the products themselves do. (Stratford, 1987) Gender stereotyping in the advertising industry refers to the social roles that women play. For example, women are usually portrayed as the homemakers, sex objects, and the dependent, insignificant adornments of men. Women are seen to be unable to make some decisions, and because of this, they are insignificant for the world of men. The recent research done on the advertisement has indicated that women have started playing more positive roles; however, these figures are quite insignificant. Nevertheless, additional research, done prior to the latest three decades, indicates that the stereotypes, concerning womens social roles, are still on hold; hence, they are diminishing their self concepts, as well as the achievement aspirations. In general, it appears that the traditional research done on the mass communication has had inaccurate and unfair portrayal of women in advertising and also the assumptions that images posed by the women have effects on the audiences. The thesis focuses on how sexuality and such images of men and women are constructed visually. These visual constructions possess rhetorical functions in both mens and womens magazines. The visual rhetoric, thus, is well suited for the purpose of evaluating sexual imagery that the advertising industries portray in order to bring the understanding on how these images are created originally for the purposes of persuading people towards certain activities and products (Courtney, 1971). In conclusion, the research has found out that there are numerous womens fashion magazines that feature the fashion related articles, and that, in the recent years, the number of mens magazines have grown tremendously. This result is backed by the discoveries of correlation analysis between men and women, concerning the frequencies of which the magazines are read and also the fashion consciousness. In addition, correlation was seen in the fashion consciousness and also the normative consciousness on gender roles. No correlation was determined between the frequency, in which people were reading the magazines and the normative consciousness to gender. With this, it is, therefore, difficult to come into real conclusion on whether reading the magazine reinforces the gender norms that focus on the sex-based labor division. Buy custom Advertising and Gender Roles essay

Marijuana Prohibition Is A Violation Of First Amendment Rights Essays

Marijuana Prohibition Is A Violation Of First Amendment Rights Essays Marijuana Prohibition is a Violation of First Amendment Rights "Let me ask you something? if you had a choice, what would it be: Marijuana or Martinis?" This question appeared in the New York Times on Tuesday, May 12th, 1998. Due to the "Marijuana Tax Act" of 1937 the only legal choice that you and the 18 million other adults who used marijuana last year can make is the martini ("Against Drug Prohibition" ix). The legal acceptance of alcohol, however, does not exclude it from the category of a "drug," even in the eyes of the Food and Drug Administration. The prohibition of marijuana is historically counteractive and a direct defiance of First Amendment rights. This prohibition has denied thousands of critically ill patients a drug that would effectively treat their illness and relieve their pain. The basis upon which marijuana is prohibited has been proven by the very government which has banned the drug to be false. Since 1914, our nation has outwardly protested against the use of any "drug," contrary to our past acceptance of the market. Before and during the Civil War, morphine (a derivative of opium) was implemented for it's anesthetic qualities and was used as a main ingredient in many medicines. Marijuana was also implemented by the medical community in the treatment of migraine headaches, insomnia and rheumatism and cocaine to treat sinusitis, hay fever, and chronic fatigue. These drugs were not only medicinal, however, and they became popular for recreation, and cocaine, specifically became an ingredient in wines and soft drinks, namely Coca Cola (Encarta, "Cocaine"). Just following the turn of the century, a new climate of temperance swept the nation and in 1914 Congress passed the Harrison Act, banning opiates and cocaine, and the prohibition of alcohol soon followed in 1918, making the U.S. officially a "dry" nation. This prohibition led to a rise in a black market trade of narcotics and alcohol. In 1933, the prohibition on alcohol was lifted due to an overwhelming public concern with widespread organized crime, police corruption and violence (Encarta, "Prohibition"). Much like the money spent on maintaining the prohibition of alcohol, since 1981, $150 million tax dollars have been spent in the attempt to prevent Colombian cocaine, Burmese heroine and Jamaican marijuana from entering U.S. borders. In light of this, evidence shows that for every ton of narcotics seized, hundreds more prevail. Also in relation to alcohol prohibition, those profiting most from America's "War on Drugs" are the organized crime barons, who make an estimated $10 to $50 billion dollars a year from drug trade alone (More Reefer Madness, 15-25). Again, in concurrence with the prohibition of alcohol, during the 1920s, bootleggers marketed small bottles of 100+ proof liquors due to their ability to more easily conceal them (Encarta, "Prohibition"). Drug smugglers tend to carry and sell hard drugs in extremely potent form (i.e. cocaine) for the same reason. The federal government also controls the amount of nicotine and other additives in cigarette and cigar manufacturing, in an effort to lessen their risk to public health. The same tactic could be used on marijuana. The "harmful" effects of marijuana usage are the number one reason for it's restriction. These effects, however, are disputable. As early as 1972, President Nixon's "National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse" concluded that, "There is little proven danger of physical or psychological harm from the experimental or intermittent use of natural preparation of cannabis," and recommended then that the personal and medical use of marijuana be decriminalized. Since that time, the NAS (National Academy of Sciences) Institute of Medicine, the Federation of American Sciences, the Australian Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health, the American Public Health Association, the British Medical Association, and the New England Journal of Medicine have produced studies showing that marijuana use is not only harmless, but that it is also therapeutic in the treatment of many serious ailments. Moreover, marijuana has been proven to be less toxic and less expensive than conventional me dication and in many cases more effective than commercially available drugs ("Against Drug Prohibition" 13). It is in this that the prohibition of marijuana is most harmful to the American public. Graham Boyd, an attorney representing a group of plaintiffs including eleven prominent

Free Essays on Afirmative Action

Affirmative Action: Is it the solution? Introduction From the beginning of recorded history, possibly before then, humans have found a necessity for classifying and categorizing every aspect of life. This need for order has been used to efficiently organize and clarify the endless details on Earth. This arrangement of objects in groups has also created a very sinister and volatile mindset that some people live by. This associative manner of classification has lead to the formation of beliefs in race identities, stereotypes, and superiority in the form of racism. Racism is contempt for people who have physical characteristics different from your own (Nanda and Warms 1). This concept is often combined with what is called racialism. Racialism is an ideology based on the following suppositions: There are biologically fixed races; different races have different moral, intellectual, and physical characteristics (Nanda and Warms 1). This is the ideal that many people engage in consciously and the way some people think without even realizing it. The only way to overcome this derogatory belief system is to define the meanings and misunderstandings of racial differences. Race is the term for classifications of people based on opinions about physical characteristics and differences between groups of individuals. The problem with this is that these differences do not really provide distinctions between ancestral lineages. In fact, these subtle differences between so called races, like broadened noses, physical structure, and skin color, are the results of environmental circumstances encountered by early nomadic human groups as they moved and settled in new territories. These traits are the products of many thousands of years of genetic hit or miss. Some of these traits were beneficial to the individuals and some were disadvantageous for survival in the many diverse environments found on Earth. For instance, the most commonly cited differen... Free Essays on Afirmative Action Free Essays on Afirmative Action Affirmative Action: Is it the solution? Introduction From the beginning of recorded history, possibly before then, humans have found a necessity for classifying and categorizing every aspect of life. This need for order has been used to efficiently organize and clarify the endless details on Earth. This arrangement of objects in groups has also created a very sinister and volatile mindset that some people live by. This associative manner of classification has lead to the formation of beliefs in race identities, stereotypes, and superiority in the form of racism. Racism is contempt for people who have physical characteristics different from your own (Nanda and Warms 1). This concept is often combined with what is called racialism. Racialism is an ideology based on the following suppositions: There are biologically fixed races; different races have different moral, intellectual, and physical characteristics (Nanda and Warms 1). This is the ideal that many people engage in consciously and the way some people think without even realizing it. The only way to overcome this derogatory belief system is to define the meanings and misunderstandings of racial differences. Race is the term for classifications of people based on opinions about physical characteristics and differences between groups of individuals. The problem with this is that these differences do not really provide distinctions between ancestral lineages. In fact, these subtle differences between so called races, like broadened noses, physical structure, and skin color, are the results of environmental circumstances encountered by early nomadic human groups as they moved and settled in new territories. These traits are the products of many thousands of years of genetic hit or miss. Some of these traits were beneficial to the individuals and some were disadvantageous for survival in the many diverse environments found on Earth. For instance, the most commonly cited differen...

Conformity and its consequence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Conformity and its consequence - Essay Example In other words, the practice of conformity may be found at individual level and at group level. At times, it may so happen that the exposure to some extraordinary things may attract the individuals to believe or practice the same, but for fear from the society regarding non conformity with the general belief, the individuals prefer to avoid the new practice. The people may just follow the conformity and they become more selfish while treating others in some of the occasions. For example, in case of very old man who came to the house of Pelayo and Elisenda, the couple initially tried to find the actual truth about his whereabouts and nature of life. Once they got a clue that the old man might be an angel, they tried to get the advantage of the presence of old man in their home. They started collecting entry fee for visiting the old man and in this process they became rich, but unfortunately they neglected the old man. Though the father Gonzaga expressed doubts about the characteristic s of the angel due to lack of mortal characters in old man and lack of ability to speak in Latin language, the major sections of common people in the society started believing that the old man might be an angel.