Amy Lowell by Marcia Dinneen Essay Example for Free

Amy Lowell by Marcia Dinneen Essay Amy Lowells Life and Career Marcia B. Dinneen (http://www. english. illinois. edu/maps/poets/g_l/amylowell/life. htm) Amy Lowell was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the daughter of Augustus Lowell and Katherine Bigelow Lawrence. Both sides of the family were New England aristocrats, wealthy and prominent members of society. Augustus Lowell was a businessman, civic leader, and horticulturalist, Katherine Lowell an accomplished musician and linguist. Although considered as almost disreputable, poets were part of the Lowell family, including James Russell Lowell, a first cousin, and later Robert Lowell. As the daughter of a wealthy family, Lowell was first educated at the family home, Sevenels (named by her father as a reference to the seven Lowells living there), by an English governess who left her with a lifelong inability to spell. Her first poem, Chacago, written at age nine, is testament to this problem. In the fall of 1883 Lowell began attending a series of private schools in Brookline and Boston. At school she was the terror of the faculty (Gould, p. 32). Even at Mrs.  Cabots school, founded by a Lowell cousin to educate her own children and the children of friends and relations, Lowell was totally indifferent to classroom decorum. Noisy, opinionated, and spoiled, she terrorized the other students and spoke back to her teachers (Heymann, p. 164). During school vacations Lowell traveled with her family. She went to Europe and to New Mexico and California. On the latter trip she kept a travel journal. Lowell enjoyed writing, and two stories she wrote during this time were printed in Dream Drops; or, Stories from Fairyland (1887), by a Dreamer. The volume was published privately by her mother, who also contributed material, and the proceeds were donated to the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Lowells schooling included the usual classes in English, history, French, literature, and a little Italian. As Lowell later noted, My family did not consider that it was necessary for girls to learn either Greek or Latin (Damon, p. 87). She would also describe her formal education as not amounting to a hill of beans (Benvenuto, p. 6). School ended in 1891, and Lowell made her debut. Described as the most popular debutante of the season, she went to sixty dinners given in her honor. Her popularity was attributed to her skills in dancing and in the art of conversation, but her debut did not produce the expected marriage proposal. Although Lowell had finished formal schooling, she continued to educate herself. Unfortunately, higher education was not an option for Lowell women. She put herself through a rigorous reading program, using her fathers 7,000-volume library and the resources of the Boston Athenaeum (her great-grandfather was one of the founders). Later Lowell would successfully speak out against the proposed relocation of the Athenaeum; this would also become the subject of a poem. Lowells love of books themselves began with her first Rollo book, Rollo Learning to Read, which her mother gave her when she was six. This gift marked the beginning of an enthusiasm for book collecting that would last throughout her life. In 1891 she made her first major purchase of a set of the complete works of Sir Walter Scott with money she had received as a Christmas gift. It was, however, her collection of Keatsiana, including a rare first edition of Lamia inscribed to F. B. from J. K. (Fanny Brawne from John Keats), that put her in the forefront of international book collectors. Following her debut, Lowell led the life of a prominent socialite, visiting, going to parties and the theater, and traveling. Her mother, who had been an invalid for years, died in 1895. A disappointment in love prompted a winter trip to Egypt in 1897-1898. Lowell had accepted the proposal of a Bostonian whom she loved, but before the engagement was formally announced he became entangled elsewhere (Damon, p. 120). The family could do nothing to protect her except guard tenaciously the name of the errant suitor (Gould, p. 65). The trip was also for health reasons. Doctors felt Lowells obesity could be cured by the Egyptian heat and a diet of nothing but tomatoes and asparagus. The regimen almost killed her and resulted in a prolonged nervous collapse. In 1900 Lowells father died, and she bought Sevenels. She also bought a summer home in Dublin, New Hampshire, that she named Broomley Lacey. The area was home to the MacDowell Artists Colony as well as to other notable painters and sculptors. In Brookline Lowell assumed her fathers civic responsibilities. Early in 1902 she spoke against the reappointment of the elderly superintendent of the Brookline public school system. She was the first woman in the Lowell family to make a speech in public (Gould, p. 77). Initially booed, Lowell continued to speak with her usual forthrightness and, at the end, won applause as well as her point. Lowell became a member of the executive committee of the Brookline Education Society and chair of its Library Board. In October 1902 Lowell became a poet. Her interest in verse had been growing beyond her childhood enthusiasm, fueled by her reading Leigh Hunts Imagination and Fancy; or, Selections from the English Poets,which she had found near the ceiling in her fathers library. The volume was a revelation to her, opening a door that might otherwise have remained shut, Lowell remarked (Gould, p. 51). She had become enamored of poetry and the poets Hunt discussed, particularly Keats. After she saw Eleanora Duse perform one October night she wrote her first adult poem, Eleanora Duse. Although some critics say that she was being too hard on herself, Lowell described the 71-line poem as having every cliche and every technical error which a poem can have. Yet she also said, It loosed a bolt in my brain and I found out where my true function lay (Damon, p. 148). At age twenty-eight she had discovered her calling: to be a poet. In 1910 four of Lowells sonnets were accepted for publication by the Atlantic Monthly. A Fixed Idea, published first, appeared in August of that year. By 1912 she had published her first book of poetry, A Dome of Many-Colored Glass; the title came from Percy Bysshe Shelleys Adonais, his elegy for Keats. It was not well received by either the public or the critics. Louis Untermeyer wrote that the book to be brief, in spite of its lifeless classicism, can never rouse ones anger. But, to be briefer still, it cannot rouse one at all (Damon, p. 92). Yet 1912 was also the year that Lowell met actress Ada Dwyer Russell. The friendship between the two women has been described as platonic by some, as lesbian by others; it was, in fact, a Boston marriage. They lived together and were committed to each other until Lowells death. Russell was Lowells companion, providing love and emotional support, as well as the practical skill of organizing Lowells busy life. Biographer Richard Benvenuto observed that Lowells great creative output between 1914 and 1925 would not have been possible without her friends steadying, supporting presence (p. 0). The following year Lowell discovered some poems in Poetry by Hilda Doolittle, signed H. D. Imagiste. Lowell felt an identification with the style of H. D. s poetry and determined to discover more about it. Armed with a letter of introduction from Poetry editor Harriet Monroe, Lowell traveled to London to meet Ezra Pound, head of the imagist movement. In London Lowell not only learned about imagism and free verse from Pound, but she also met many poets, several of whom became lifelong friends. Over the years Lowell would develop many literary friendships that resulted in an enormous volume of literary correspondence, requiring Lowell to employ two full-time secretaries. Lowell not only supported and encouraged other poets with her writing, such as her favorable review of Robert Frosts North of Boston in the New Republic (20 Feb. 1915), but also with money and gifts. Lowells poems began to appear in increasing numbers in journals, and she was becoming a prolific writer of essays and reviews. Pound had requested the inclusion of her poem In a Garden in his anthology Des Imagistes(1914). Later Lowell and Pound would have a falling out over the direction of the imagist movement, and Pound would call the movement, as adapted by Lowell, Amygism. Lowell became the spokesperson of imagism, leading the fight for the renewal of poetry in her homeland (Francis, p. 510), and her efforts were tireless. She traveled throughout the country, selling the new poetry. Her own volume Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), written in free verse and polyphonic prose, a Lowell invention, brought her an instantaneous phenomenal rise to fame (Gould, p. 139). Lowells first book of criticism, Six French Poets (1915), based on a series of her lectures, was also well received. Lowell was publishing a book a year, alternating between volumes of short verse and longer poems. Men, Women and Ghosts (1916) was highly regarded and contained Patterns one of her most famous poems. In it an eighteenth-century woman, walking in her garden, contemplates a future that has suddenly become empty because of the loss of her fiance in battle; she mourns the fact that the Patterns of her role required her to remain chaste before marriage. The next year she published another critical volume, Tendencies in Modern American Poetry, which included essays on six contemporary poets: Edwin Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, Edgar Lee Masters, Carl Sandburg, H. D. , and John Gould Fletcher. Lowell also published anthologies of imagist poets in 1915, 1916, and 1917. Her next volume of poetry, Can Grandes Castle (1918), included four long poems; the title was taken from the name of the refuge where Dante, the Florentine exile, wrote portions of his Divine Comedy. Inspired by her lifelong interest in the Orient, Pictures of a Floating World (1919) is a translation of the Japanese word ukiyo-e, a term commonly associated with a form of eighteenth-century Japanese painting. It includes 174 short, free verse lyrics, considered by some as overtly erotic. For example, A Decade and The Weathercock Points South are described as a celebration of lesbian devotion. Legends (1921) contains eleven longer poems, and Fir-Flower Tablets (1921) is a collection of poems based on translations of ancient Chinese verse. Since Lowell did not read Chinese, she was dependent on English translations by Florence Wheelock Ayscough, which Lowell then turned back into poetry. A Critical Fable (1922) is a long, humorous poem, evaluating the state of contemporary poetry. Originally published anonymously, the poem pokes fun at fellow poets and at Lowell herself in lines of rhymed couplets. The poem was modeled on James Russell Lowells A Fable for Critics (1848). Her last publication was the momentous biography , John Keats (1925). In 1921 Lowell had given an address at Yale honoring Keats on the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth. The lecture stimulated her to write the book, which minutely examines Keatss life and corrects some long-standing misconceptions about him. Lowell was also the first biographer to see Fanny Brawne in a favorable light. The book was well received in the United States but not in Britain, where she was accused of writing a psychological thriller rather than a literary biography. Lowell was angry and heartbroken but in typical fashion determined to confront the critics on their own turf.

Analysis Of Claude Steeles Whistling Vivaldi

Analysis Of Claude Steeles Whistling Vivaldi This semester has proven to be a very useful for the development of both my reading and writings skills. For me, as for a person who merely five months ago came from a country where English language is known by a few, this experience was vital in a way that it opened up the secrets of effective reading, writing and analyzing in English language. Before taking the College Writing course I had a hard time understanding the proper writing process, which seemed very vague to me, but as I began taking my first steps in trying to understand it I have realized that it was only fear that took over me. Although many would think that the final result is only what matters, for me the process was more engaging. The course has offered a wide range of reading and writing techniques and styles, thus taught me to transfer my ideas to paper clearly and effectively. However, applying theory in practice would have been much harder if there were not the preparatory writing assignments that we had throug hout semester. The essays and papers we wrote throughout semester helped me to trace my progress in writing process. They helped me comfortably and very efficiently write papers based on academic journals and articles. In the beginning of the semester, one of my weaknesses was the organization of sentences and paragraphs. The process of writing an essay has changed over the semester. At first I would start writing essay by putting all of my ideas onto paper thus making an inappropriate organization. But having realized the importance of making a thesis statement I have less trouble organizing main points of each paragraph. Even though it is hard to develop a solid and clear thesis, I understand its significance as it states the argument that reader will be reading. The first major assignment that we did this semester was the paper on Robert Sapolskys Ego Boundaries, or the Fit of My Fathers Shirt. This assignment was unique in its nature, as it demanded us to deeply analyze each and every part of the text: summarize it, reflect upon the ideas of the text by explaining them, and finally exploring our own experiences with those ideas. Clearly, the assignments goal was to teach us the proper way to understand texts, and integrate ideas that are present in texts with our own lives. I have to admit that in the beginning I had no idea how to complete the assignment, but with the clear directions that were provided, I managed to do it. It was very surprising when I realized that the writing process for this paper was very mechanical and precise. Before this paper, I always thought that writing such complicated papers required a lot of imagination, which I thought I did not have. However, now I understand that all that I needed to do is to read the tex t thoroughly, brainstorm for ideas, and to formulate the final version of the paper based on my ideas and on drafts that I previously wrote. I felt a huge satisfaction and relief after completion of the assignment, because I have learnt a huge lesson for myself from this assignment and I was ready for this type of tasks in the future. However, as confident as I felt after completing the Sapolsky paper, I had never imagined that there were different approaches to writing these kinds of essays. One of the major tasks was to write an essay based on a very complicated book by Ervin Goffman The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. This book was intended for large audiences with no particular knowledge about the study of psychology. Nevertheless, the text was very difficult to analyze as it contained many complicated words, intricate sentence structure, and allusions to other works on similar topics. . I felt overwhelmed by reading long and complicated literature because I thought I needed to remember every single detail that I read. However I learned to highlight the main ideas as I read so that I could go back and find details if I needed to recall on them for my essay. Due to this technique, I improved my analytical skill tremendously and was able to extract the main ideas throughout the text, and combine them to w rite a decent essay. The primary difficulties I faced doing this task were the abundance of scientific terms and the overall difficulty of the text. In order to understand the text, I had to read it carefully, part by part, so that I could get the connection between the ideas in the text. By taking notes every time I encountered something interesting and provoking, I managed to construct the outline for the essay. Then, writing the essay itself became much easier since I had all the ideas on my notes. The only thing I had to do to finish the assignment was to assemble the notes and combine them in meaningful sentences and in correct order to provide the essay with a proper flow and preciseness. The course has offered a wide range of reading and writing techniques and styles, thus helping me formulate the notion of clear, rich, and focused writing. The essays and papers we wrote this semester helped me formulate my own writing process, with help of which I can comfortably and very efficiently write papers based on academic readings that the university classes offer. As far as I am concerned, I have become a much more attentive reader and a much better writer since I took this class. I have to admit that I was rather skeptical about what the class had to offer me, but now I understand how important it was for me to be a part of this class and had such a valuable experience. With the knowledge that I have acquired during this semester, I am very eager to start working on papers and essays regarding my own field of specialization. Understanding other peoples stories In his article Understanding Other People Stories Roger Schank discusses the challenges people encounter when trying to understand each other. According to Schank, people frequently do not understand what others tell them. It is easier to remember a notion or a belief if it is told in a form of a story. He presents a theory that all the information, experience and events we understand are incorporated in a story that that we remember and share with others. Schank states that understanding means to respond to the speakers stories with stories of listeners own memory. People learn from stories if they can relate it to something that they previously knew. Moreover, we truly understand a new story only if it made us reexamine our previous stories. Throughout the text author talks about different things that are important to know about understanding other peoples stories. There is an interesting point that the author describes is a selective listening. People hear only some parts of the stories they are told and tend to listen to the ones that interest them. The reason for that is that we care about topics that we can understand and relate to. We cannot think of about all the possible ramifications of something we are being told. So we pay attention to what interests us (Schank, 374). He presents a notion about index, which is a kind of symbol that helps people classify all the stories they have in the memory. Schank describes it as [a]n index is a juxtaposition of another persons beliefs, made evident by statements or actions, with ones own beliefs (Schank, 380). We use them to label some stories of beliefs that we had before in our system of values. Furthermore, the author describes the topic about the way people understand stories as that they do it by reflecting their own stories onto the speakers stories. Understanding process of other peoples stories involves identifying ourselves to our own memories. We can use our own stories to confirm the beliefs of others that were imposed on a particular object. An example of this is my recent conversation with my parents. Last time using Skype, we were talking about my new life at Berkeley. I told them my story of getting used to my new environment that involved the difficulties and obstacles that I struggled with during the first month. There were a lot of challenges; I told them that it is really hard to study abroad, and particularly at such a place as Berkeley. I have troubles with a lot of things ranging from studying unfamiliar subjects to living in the dorm. Interestingly, their response was recalling their own time when they were students in college as I am now. And what they told me is that everybody goes through this process that I am neither the first one nor the last one. The academic year will pass quickly before I even notice it. I just need to be patient and do my best to succeed in college. I found their answer interesting, since I could see the relation of it to the idea that people understand stories by reflecting their own stories. My parents reflected my story to their own experience when they were in college. They saw my story as a story about them as a Subject 5 from the text did. They found an index of studying at college is difficult time and that everyone goes through this process. As a result they just confirmed their previously held beliefs about hard time at university. This is an example of the process when people understand a story by recalling their own memories. Another interesting idea that the author highlights in the article is that people often misunderstand other peoples stories by relating their own experience to the new story. When the listener hears a new story he finds an old story from his memory, which he can use to relate it to. However, the idea is that we usually find only one principle to relate a story, because it is enough for us. That is why each person understands stories in a different way. A good example of that could be how I personally got confused when I was reading Robert Sapolskys Ego boundaries or the Fit of my Father Shirt. At first, I misunderstood the nitroglycerin bottle as the bottle containing the ashes of the authors father. This happened because of the word frailty, which I thought to be remains of his father, but having discussed this article in the class I realized that this was just a medicine that his father used to take. This misunderstanding happened because of my previous experiences with the word fr ailty. I related the context of the text as a story about people who hold ashes of their ancestors in a vase, since it is important and sacred remains of their loved ones. Because I initially knew a story about such people I just related it to the new story that I have read. My index was that people remember and honor deceased relatives in way of storing their ashes. I had a belief that people often keep the ashes of their ancestors after the death, so that they have some part of the deceased person to relate to him. Thus recalling a previously known story to understand a new one led me to misunderstanding the core context. This example proves the idea that people often misunderstand stories by reflecting their own meanings on it. To learn from the story you need to enhance the old story with details that you matched with a new one. Because people tend to understand other peoples stories mainly through reflecting the stories they previously knew, the question then arises: How do people get beyond this circle of understanding and learning new things? Schank answers this with a contradictory approach. He argues that it happens due to irregularity in understanding stories. By not fully understanding the story they learn something new easily since that piece of information gets stuck in their memories for a while when they identify the mistake afterwards., as he points this out, [w]e really only learn when the stories we hear relate to beliefs that we feel rather unsure of, ones that we are flirting with at the moment, so to speak. When we are wondering, consciously or unconsciously, about the truthà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, then the evidence provided by others can be of some use (Schank, 388). Schank believes that people c an learn something new only when they ask questions and analyze their views. For example, in the Sapolskys article Ego boundaries or the Fit of my Father Shirt, the author describes the relationship with his father, and the way he thought about his father as a mentally ill person. He tries to use his previously known stories such as scientific knowledge of the disorders to explain the illness of his father. His index is that science can explain everything. He uses his understanding of mental disorder to examine the behavior of his father. As a result, Sapolsky considers his father as a scientific case not as a father. Using his scientific knowledge he tries to explain that his father had split brain disorder that led to vanishing of his ego boundaries. However, through the process, he realizes that he is not able to justify his previously believed thoughts about his father as a mentally ill patient, because the science could not answer all of the questions the author had. In the end he understands that the problem was not in the diagnosis, but in the attitude towards the problems he had with his father. Thus, he teaches himself a new story: by reexamining his previously held beliefs about an index that scientific approach can explain everything in the life. In the conclusion we can see that the process of understanding other peoples stories is complicated. Understanding involves such process as indexing, finding old stories to relate, and reflecting them to the new ones. We usually do it by relating our own stories to the new stories that we hear, but finding similar elements in our own story and the story being told is different to all people. Therefore, we learn from new stories if we rethink our previously held beliefs. The Role of Thefts in Theft The main topic in Joyce Carol Oatess Theft are the different kinds of thefts. Theft in the story appears to take both physical and intangible forms such as stealing pens, wallets, personalities, authority and reputation. Theft is a zero-sum game with no win-win outcome. That is a fundamental idea which lies throughout Oates story. Peoples vulnerabilities, bad habits and motivations of hatred are resembled through these thefts. The author presents several facts of theft to allow a reader to analyze motives of a thief, his/her psychology and consequences of such their acts. The main character, a college sophomore, Marya Knauer has a complex and ambiguous attitude towards theft. She perceives it as a weakness, which prevails over her sense of moral duty and voice of reason, but also as a tool that she believes can empower her. Her first stealing experience began with silly little shoplifting expeditions which insensibly rose into a sequence of spontaneous, rash and pointless thefts (143). Admittedly, stealing gave her a feeling of elation and triumph when she appropriated someones genuinely valuable possessions. It can be inferred that Marya clearly understood that her habit to steal was disgusting but she could not resist any opportunity to do so. It seems she sought excitement and a dose of adrenaline by getting involved in risky and morally unacceptable affairs. Moreover, Marya considered theft as an act of liberating herself when her personal life was constrained and dictated by others will, when she had had to submit to the routine schedule of Wilmas household and she was living her life as it were nothing more than an extension of theirs (142). Stealing made her feel free because she could transgress the bounds of decency, disregard rules, and neglect prohibitions without being caught and taken into accountability. She could hardly fight her impulse even though her euphoria lasted fraction of a second. For Marya stealing was a way of seeking revenge from people who tried to take advantage from her. She stole a pen from a professor who did not give her a good grade, because he lost some of her work during grading. Having put much effort in studying, she took everything too seriously what resulted in professor calling her rather grim as she was always thinking only about academics. The reaction to such rude remark was her lying about her mo ther serious illness and stealing the professors pen. Marya felt her pulses were beating hot, in triumphed for a way of defeating the professor for the words he said and for the grades he gave (158). Moreover, she did not feel guilty or ashamed because she believed that professor deserved this. She started using this pen signing her name repeatedly, hypnotically: Marya, Marya, Marya Knauer, Marya Marya Marya Knauer, a name that eventually seemed to have been signed by someone else, a stranger (159). She saw this act of stealing as triumph over the professor, who tried to hurt Maryas identity. Interestingly, theft takes on a more sophisticated form when it comes to reading. The reading she did acquired an aura, a value, a mysterious sort of enchantment (142). It was perceived as a forbidden fruit, something illicit, precious beyond estimation (142). Indeed, she could be completely immersed in reading, slipping out of her consciousness and into that of the writers (142). She found herself entirely absorbed into writers ideas and mentality as if her mind was led by an invisible hand, and that experience was electrifying and hypnotizing. It prompted her to conceive life as an ephemeral and to regard everything as superficial and trivial. Mere life was the husk, the actors performance, negligible in the long run (142). Reading as a process was equally elating and exciting as stealing but not criminal and risky. Maryas personality was splitting and she started losing authenticity while making her way through writers imagination, greedily reading every word as it was her own, tr eating every emotion, idea expressed and the plot itself as her own creation. Maryas addiction to reading can be expressed by absence of any intrigue in her personal life, which Oates describes as isolated, ascetic, and monotonous (143). Reading is treated as a one-sided relationship which she benefits from without giving anything back. When the book Marya read seemed to take life through her, she could get her emotions, which are usually experienced and nurtured through building relations with other people. The first theft that is depicted in the story happens with Marya, when her wallet with a month salary from part time job at university library and her favorite pen were stolen from her room in Maynard House. These incidents made Marya become anxious and angry, feeling unprotected before the real world. It ruined her previous impressions of the university life and made her very cautious and even distrustful for other students. Marya decided to isolate from the world by staying in her room all the time and reading every book she could find. (142). As a consequence she became a complete robot, having a derelict life, because she could not trust anyone in her dormitory anymore. Marys isolated living and unsocial behavior reflects her attitude towards friendship. She asserts that friendship is a waste of time on something ephemeral and not worthwhile (154). Marya is completely obsessed with studying; her energy is devoted to maintaining high grades. However, relationship with Imogene alters her perception of the friendship. It evolves from a friendly acquaintance to admiration, mutual benefit, envy, competition, ignorance and culminates in break up. Imogene is presented as a chameleon playing various roles in public, quickly adapting her behavior to changing circumstances, and changing her mood and attitudes frequently. Her inquisitive character and easygoing informality are seen by Marya as intrusion into her privacy, her secret isolation. Marya and Imogene become interdependent but they are not interested in the actual friendship. Maryas life changed drastically when she met Imogene Skillman. The first time when Imogene appeared in the dorm room, Marya was depressed and reduced the protection level from the world. Marya recognized from the first look that Imogene was somewhat unique person, not resembling other student on the campus. But Marya could not fully understand what Imogenes real personality was. After spending more time with Imogene, Marya still did not acknowledge that they are becoming friends. She always questioned herself if she appreciated Imogenes friendship and even accepted that she liked Prhyllis more (153). This girl majored in mathematics and lived next-door, and according to Maryas system of values of true friendship Philly was a best match as an appropriate company. In spite of Phyllis being more likeable friend, Marya could not stop thinking that she is more inclined towards Imogene. Marya is flattered by Imogenes attention; she accompanies her to coffee shop, meets with her friends trying to impress them. Marya cautiously succumbs to Imogenes admiration and tolerates flattery since she fears becoming dependent on her friendship, for dependency is equivalent to limited freedom. Her protest against Imogenes influence and domination is expressed in the intense concentration on her academic performance. She threw herself into work with more passion than before, eager to face challenges and vindicate that her intellectual achievements demonstrate her wealth, thus soft power (154). The difficulties in friendship that Marya and Imogene had with each other originate from different backgrounds they had before. First, Marya came from a poor family, where she had to obey restrictions and authority. On the contrary, Imogene being from a rich family had a nonchalant life with lots of freedom and opulence. The thefts that are illustrated in the story had a great influence on the development of the relationship between main characters. Thus, thefts caused Marya and Imogene to realize what true friendship is. However, Marya and Imogene have never become best friends, because Imogene, in contrast, had plans of her own about Marya. Imogene stole Maryas time by spending time in the coffee shops with her friends, stole characteristics of Maryas personality like mimicking in order to perform on stage, and rumored bad things about Maryas reputation. But when Marya realized that Imogene was using her for own purposes, she immediately felt deceived and angry. However, even though Marya understood Imogenes true intentions, she could not stop having relationships with Imogene. Marya discovered Imogenes true nature at the dinner in a sorority house where Marya was invited as a guest. When she heard that Imogene made Matthew write a paper on Chekhov for herself, Marya began suspecting the true Imogenes intentions and desires (163). Her suspicion grew up more when Marya knew about Imogenes cheating on her fiancà © with a stranger. Imogene did it on purpose to make Marya and Matthew jealous of her. After all these underprivileged activities of Imogene, Marya begins to realize that she has become Imogenes possession, a trophy displayed to her alleged admirers, just a decoration in her one-actor performance. Marya rethinks her concept of friendship writing that it is play-acting of an amateur type and a puzzle that demands too much of imagination (154). Maryas protest against Imogenes influence and domination is expressed in the stealing the earrings of Imogene the Aztec ones, the barbarian-princess ones (175). The author wittingly emphasizes the earrings design to show that they symbolize Imogenes social status, popularity and dominance on the campus. Stealing in this case epitomizes betrayal and presumably attempt to appropriate Imogenes privileges. Unlike Maryas previous inconsequential thefts this case has a major impact on both characters. She did it on purpose to get everyones attention to her, to show that Marya was stronger than all the disloyalties and intrigues against her. She even pierced her ears, risking infection and sickness, and showed everyone that she is truly a nut that cant be cracked (174). Marya felt triumphant, she did not fear being caught up and punished. In contrast, Marya had worn earrings everywhere, for everyone to see, to comment, and to admire and she had been amused at Imogenes shocked expression (17 6). That theft left no winner. Imogene and Maryas friendship was completely ruined. Both students driven by envy and competition have been contributing to gradual erosion of their relationship by covertly and sometimes explicitly stealing each others intangible possessions. Various thefts depicted in the story tell readers about the many different circumstances that Marya and Imogenes friendship had to go through. Marya Knauer is a vivid instance of a strong willed personality. Despite all of the hostile and embarrassing obstacles and actions towards her, she managed to overcome and keep the perfect record, so that to save her status and character unbroken. The effects of stereotype threats Whistling Vivaldi by Claude M. Steele is a thorough analysis of a concept known as identity contingency. According to Steele, contingencies are circumstances you have to deal with because of a given social identity. Identity contingencies from the authors perspective represent constraints, both formal and implicit, tied to social, ethnic, religious, gender or any other recognized identity (3). Identity contingencies negatively affect individuals since they deprive those prone to being stereotyped or discriminated of equal opportunities, and abilities. Steeles research interest in identity contingencies and the roles they play in peoples lives stems from his personal experience of segregation. He reflects on his childhood when he was a victim of racial order in the 1950s, which placed a number of restrictions tied to the identity, from housing and school segregation to employment discrimination (3). Those conditions made individuals feel their racial identities and deal with their neg ative implications in everyday life. Steele focuses his research on educational issues tied to identity contingencies and their influence on academic performance among minority college students. The author argues that identity contingencies and specifically stereotype threats negatively impact the intellectual abilities of students; moreover he encourages exploring and implementing solutions to alleviate the stress and underperformance in academic setting in order to help students succeed at university. The aim of the research is to prove the importance of identity contingencies and of understanding identity threat to personal and societal progress (Steele, p.15). Steele comes up with several general patterns of findings. The first is the role identity contingency have in shaping individual lives. The second suggests that their negative impact contributes to the most important social problems in society, thus undermining social integrity. Third is a general process by which stereotype threats interfere with a broad range of human functioning. Finally, they offer a set of solutions that can alleviate effects of the identity threats. At the forefront of Steeles analysis is a stereotype threat, a particular kind of identity contingency. He speculates that stereotype threat embodies a standard human predicament, powerful enough to constrain behavior simply by putting a threat in the air. It is a widespread phenomenon found in any given society and any potential identity group can become subjected to it. It can be applied to any situation to which stereotype is relevant. Thus, it follows members of the stereotyped group into these situations as a balloon over their heads (Steele, p. 5). The author asserts that it is hard to eradicate stereotype threats, though the pressure they impose on individuals can be eased. Stereotype threat is an intrinsic part of human interrelations, a tool used by individuals, driven by a basic instinct of competition. Unlike discrimination in its gross forms, stereotype threats are formed subconsciously to benefit privileges of one social group, competing for opportunity and decent life, at the expense of the other group. The correlation between identity contingency and intellectual performance, in particular academic, preoccupies Steele throughout his research. He sheds light on the issue of academic underperformance of students from underrepresented backgrounds. The problem he believes has repercussions at a nationwide level, even though people think they live in a racially fair and identity-fair society (212). He perceives it as a core American struggle, wherein institutions try to integrate themselves racially, ethnically, class-wise (Steele, p. 17). In his attempt to reveal what factors account for persistent academic struggles of minority students, Steele uses a concept known as observers actors perspective. The actors perspective emphasizes students characteristics, their intellectual luggage, aspirations, values, skills, and expectations. He accesses that the actors perspective can be essential in explaining underperformance since the observers perspective alone cannot provide the full pictur e of the problem. His research appeals to E. Jones and R. Nisbett concept of the difference between those two perspectives. They argued that the observers perspective is subject to bias because it stresses the things we can see, the actors traits and characteristics. But it deemphasizes these traits and characteristics which fall out of the observers literal and mental visual field, namely circumstances the actor responds to and the environment he has to adapt to. Steele believes that the actors perspective can offer a plausible explanation of the link between identity contingency and intellectual performance. The feedback he receives from minority students supports his view. Students noted the university environment, wherein their social status was subtly accentuated and social life which was organized by race, ethnicity, and social class. This organization led to a rather racially homogeneous teaching staff and faculty. As a result, their social networks were organized by race. They were also puzzle d by the fact that minority styles, interests and preferences were marginalized on campus (Steele, p. 19). Steele in his book presents several experiments conducted to demonstrate how stereotype threat indirectly affects behavior and interferes with physical or intellectual performance. Experiments he refers to, Michigan Athletic Aptitude Test and the one done at Princeton University, clearly show that the pressure stereotype threat is distracting enough to lead to individuals failure in particular task. The task in experiment measured the very trait and ability the group was stereotyped as lacking. Knowledge of the negative stereotypes relevance in the given situation made the assessed group fear that frustration on the task could be misinterpreted and seen as confirming the stereotype. Hence, any deviation in performance, whether mental or physical, or a false move could cause an individual to be reduced to the stereotype and treated accordingly. Steele admits that it is hard to prove that something abstract like stereotype threat can have a substantial effect on the individuals perform ance. Nonetheless, the research and experiments he undertakes supports his hypothesis of stereotype threats detrimental effect on individual performance. His research focus raises a number of thought-provoking questions about the ways stereotypes affect our intellectual functioning, stress reactions, and the tension that can exist between different groups. Moreover, he explores strategies that alleviate these effects in order to help solve societal problems (Steele, p. 13). Steele conducts an experiment to prove that academic achievement problem of minority students is not entirely due to skill and ability deficits. He contends that external factors and social and psychological aspects of academic experience can be powerful enough to directly or indirectly impair intellectual performance. Hence, the environment and status of a student can be an actual component of ability. Steele comes up with a stigmatization idea, an idea that a devalued social status can cause und

Corporate Governance UK USA

Corporate Governance UK USA A statutory response to Corporate Governance: A Critique Compare and contrast UK and USA responses to Corporate Governance Introduction My dissertation will focus on the examination and the comparison of the corporate governance practices followed in UK and USA. The extensive reforms that have taken place in the particular sector have led to the development of many doubts regarding the effectiveness and the credibility of the corporate governance systems applied on these two countries. For this reason, the examination of the particular issue is considered to be really valuable offering to researchers and managers around the world the chance to understand the various aspects of corporate governance and align (where possible) their business strategies with the relevant corporate governance principles applied on each specific market (referring to the cases of UK and USA). Moreover, this study could help to the identification of any potential weaknesses of the corporate governance policies applied on UK and USA suggesting appropriate reforms on the relevant rules. Background: Business activities around the world have often caused the interest of governments within the particular states. The reason is that all parts of these activities need to be appropriately regulated in order to offer adequate and effective protection to the stakeholders and the public in general (referring mostly to protection from severe financial losses that can threat the viability of the company but even the level of the development of the local economy – when the firm under examination is a well established one, eg Enron). However, because there are many differences in corporate structure internationally, it is necessary for legislators to each specific state to try to adapt the legal principles that are related with business activity with the social and cultural characteristics of each particular state; the size of the firm and its culture should be also taken into consideration. The particular issue was examined by Douglas et al. (1989, 440) who noticed that ‘differ ences in environmental conditions in different country markets, in terms, for example, of market size and growth, rate of technological change, or barriers to entry, may also lead to differences in strategy’. In other words, corporate activity is a complex network of actions and initiatives that need a careful review and close monitoring by the governmental authorities in order to ensure the safety of the transactions without influencing the development of the various corporate projects. As noticed above, the dissertation will focus on the examination of a specific aspect of corporate activity: the corporate governance. The latter can refer to a series of elements within a particular organisation starting from the principles that should be applied to the governance of a firm up to the relationships between the employer (board of directors) and the employees. On the other hand, globally two major corporate governance systems are recognised: the liberal form of corporate governance (UK and USA) in which the interests of shareholders are considered to be the major priority for legislators when developing laws related with business activities. In accordance with the coordinative model (accepted mostly by Europe and Japan) the interests of other participants (in the corporate activities) like employees, customers and suppliers are considered to have a crucial role in the formulation of the laws regulating business activities. This study will refer primarily to the corpora te governance schemes applied in UK and USA. For this reason, the corporate governance system of these two countries will be analytically presented highlighting the potential differences and also the advantages of each one of them within the modern market. From another point of view, the examination of the various aspects of corporate governance cannot be achieved without the analytical presentation of the characteristics of corporate governance through an appropriately customised definition. In this context, it is stated by Buck et al. (2005, 42) that ‘corporate governance and governance institutions in general terms are concerned with the means by which a firms stakeholders control the decisions of senior managers; these stakeholders can include shareholders, executive directors, employees who are not executives, customers, creditors, suppliers (including banks as suppliers of credit), competitors, and the State’. From another point of view, Pedersen (1999, 45) supported that ‘corporate governance the mechanisms by which companies are controlled and directed is a complex subject that consists of owner-manager relations, stakeholder relations, board structures and practices, management compensation, capital struct ure, company law, and other variables’. Both the above definitions present the particular aspects of corporate governance within the modern market; no differentiation in corporate structure seems to be made in accordance with the principles of the state of activity (or the state of origin). On the other hand, the study of Fort (2000, 829) led to the conclusion that ‘corporate governance can be described as the top management process that manages and mediates value creation for, and value transference among, various corporate claimants in a context that ensures accountability to these claimants’. In accordance with the above definition the development of the various aspects of corporate activities is decided by the firm’s managers; the intervention of the state is rather limited. Indeed, the increase of the power of top management in modern businesses around the world is also highlighted by the literature and the empirical research. In a relevant report it is noticed that ‘the principal weakness of corporate governance today is the excessive concentration of power in the hands of top management; rebalancing or equalising this power is a prerequisite for controlling management fraud and promoting accurate financial reporting’ (CPA Journal, 2008). The above described concentration of power can have severe consequences for both the stakeholders and the public in general. In the case of Enron the concentration of power in the firm’s top managers led to the unexpected collapse of the firm and the development of severe turbulences in American economy. Literature Review Corporate governance – general aspects Firms that operate within the modern market have to face a series of challenges related with both their internal and external environment. In this context, it is supported by Wooldridge et al. (2001, 17) that ‘the main challenge for companies in a global economy is to situate themselves in various centers of excellence and weave together different centers of excellence into a global production network’. From a different point of view, Gooderham et al. (1999, 507) noticed that ‘despite their very different assumptions, both rational and institutional explanations of organizational structure and management practices predict similarity among firms that operate in the same industry within the context of a simple country’. In other words, the regulation of business activities today can be effective only if it takes into consideration the various aspects of these activities as they are formulated within the modern market – taking always into consideration t he changes in the needs of the firm’s shareholders but also in the needs of the stakeholders. On the other hand, it is clear that extensive differentiations can be observed in the methods of corporate governance applied to modern firms in accordance with the social and cultural characteristics of these firms but also the social and cultural context of the country in which the firms’ operations are based. The theoretical and empirical research has proved that significant differences can be observed in all aspects of business activities in accordance with the social and cultural characteristics of a specific region – where business activities are mainly developed. The differences mentioned above can refer to specific management issues or they can refer to all business context. In the case of British firms, Scullion (1994, 86) noticed that ‘very few British companies can claim to have a truly international top management team’. Other issues of corporate activity may be differentiated under the influence of the social and cultural trends applied on a specific country/ region. In order to understand the importance of corporate governance for the development of the business activities, we should refer primarily to a clear description of the interests existed within any corporation: the stakeholders from one side and the shareholders from the other. Regarding this issue, it is noticed that ‘stakeholders, broadly defined as society as a whole, are interested in the collateral benefits derived from the success of the enterprise, such as the abundance of a product or a service, a clean environment, or a general rise in the standard of living; stockholders have a dual interest in the success of the enterprise: direct interest as a reward for their investment, and collateral benefit as stakeholders’ (CPA Journal, 2008). The conflict of interests of these two sides can lead to the development of severe turbulences within the organization. On the other hand, in firms that the interests of both these sides are protected it is very likely that there will be no severe problems in the communication and the cooperation between these parties towards the increase of the firm’s performance. It should be noticed that the principles of corporate governance are primarily stated by the governmental authorities (referring to the firms of a particular country). Apart from these orders, the international community can intervene in the business activities presenting a series of standards that should be met in the corporate activities worldwide. OECD is a well known international organization that provides appropriate solutions to a series of issues related with international business activities. The specific organization has set several rules regarding the various aspects of corporate governance. In accordance with these rules: ‘’all shareholders should be treated equally; insider trading and abusive-self dealing should be prohibited; capital structures and arrangements that enable certain shareholders to obtain a degree of control disproportionate to their equity ownership should be disclosed’ (OECD, 2004, 18-19). It is clear from the above rules that inter national organizations can set rules regarding business activities around the world; however these rules can be characterized rather as ‘principles’ of commerce being similar with the ethics held in corporate activities worldwide. Corporate governance in Britain In the case of Britain, the regulation of business activities is realized through the application of a series of legislative texts and orders. The history of business activity in the particular country was examined by Pedersen (1999, 45) who noticed that ‘the industrial revolution took its beginning in the United Kingdom more than 250 years ago; therefore, the hypothesis of greater differentiation in the early industrialized nations than in later industrialized nations can be tested by examining the extent to which the corporate governance structures of U.K. firms are more or less similar to the governance structures of firms in other nations’. In other words, Britain is a country with a significant history in business activities. The importance of the latter in the economy should be considered as extremely high. For this reason the legislator pays a significant attention to the development of the appropriate legal framework for the regulation of the various aspects of c orporate governance. The above assumption is in accordance with the view of Kay (1995, 84) who supported that ‘British statute law is virtually silent on how corporations are to be organised; since the corporation is regarded as a creation of private contract, obligations on companies are mainly there to prevent abuse of the privilege of limited liability, and concern formal matters such as registration and audit’. Because of the above phenomenon, additional legislative texts (as described below) have been introduced and applied in order to support the effective regulation of all corporate governance in British firms (foreign firms that operate in Britain may have the right to claim the application of the laws of their country of origin – it depends on the law applicable on each case taking into account the firm’s articles of association but also the legislation of the country of origin and the country of operations). However, it could be noticed that the British statute law recognizes to the firm’s leaders (board of directors) the right to decide on the firm’s corporate governance. The legal framework applied in UK regarding the corporate governance includes a variety of legislative texts: ‘Common law rules (e.g. directors fiduciary duties). Statute (notably the Companies Act 1985). A companys constitutional documents (the memorandum and articles of association). The Listing Rules, which apply to all companies that are listed on the Official List (or AIM Rules, as appropriate). The Combined Code on Corporate Governance; the Code is supplemented by: the Turnbull Guidance (relating to the internal control requirements of the Code), the Smith Guidance (on audit committees and auditors) and suggestions of good practice from the Higgs Review. Non-legal guidelines issued by bodies that represent institutional investors (such as the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) and the Pensions Investment Research Consultants (PIRC). In the context of takeovers of public companies, the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers and the rules of the Takeover Panel apply. The Financial Services Authoritys Code of Market Conduct (relating to the disclosure and use of confidential and price sensitive information and the creation of a false market)’ (Metropolitan Corporate Cousel, 2008) In other words, corporate governance in Britain is regulated by a series of legal texts the most important of which is the Combined Code on Corporate Governance as described above. The specific Code includes provisions that refer to all particular aspects of corporate governance of firms operating in Britain; however because in some cases additional provisions may be required (like in the case of a merger) it is possible that other legislative texts are used in order for the relevant issues to be appropriately addressed. In any case the common law rules and the Companies Act of 1985 are applied (the former are rules that can be applied in any dispute – whenever necessary – whether the latter can be applied in any issue related with the business activity – i.e. not only to the corporate governance). Corporate governance in USA On the other hand, in USA there is no Code for the regulation specifically of the corporate governance issues; instead a series of laws and courts’ decisions can be used in order to resolve problems that are related with the corporate governance of firms operating across the country. There are certain issues that are regulated directly by the law but these are limited; in the high majority of the disputes appeared in the area of firms’ corporate governance various statutes and other legislative texts can be applied. In accordance with a report published recently in USA ‘corporate governance practices in the United States are not regulated by any one particular statute but instead are affected by the governing instruments, the corporate law and the court decisions of each issuer’s state of incorporation, and, in the case of many publicly-owned issuers, by the U.S. federal securities laws and requirements of the national securities markets (Security and Excha nge Commission of Brazil, 2008). On the other hand, it should be noticed that corporate governance issues are likely to be regulated differently by each one of the 50 states of USA. In this context, the Sarbanes-Oxley law which was introduced in 2002 has been formulated in order to offer a valuable legislative base for the regulation of various issues referring to the corporate governance of firms across USA. The above is considered to have influenced also the UK legislation related with the corporate governance. Regarding the specific legislative text it is noticed by Tran (2004) that ‘Sarbanes-Oxley, which called for tighter internal company controls, caused a rethink of   corporate governance laws in the UK as well, with the publication of the Higgs report, written by Derek Higgs, the former investment banker’. The effectiveness of Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 has been extensively criticized. In accordance with Atkins (commissioner in United States Securities and Exchan ge Commission, 2003) the specific legislative text ‘contains many advances for corporate governance and attempts to provide best practices to prevent the misdeeds that have led to the investor losses. Many of these ideas are not new, but have been floating around in one form or another for quite a number of years’ (Atkins, 2003). In other words, Sarbanes-Oxley Act has been introduced in order to resolve specific problems in corporate governance for firms operating in USA; in the long term the achievement of this target can be doubted and only the examination of the consequences of application of this Act in practice could lead to a ‘safe’ assumption regarding the particular issue. It is for this reason that the incorporation of the empirical research (questionnaire) in current study has been considered as necessary. Research question and objectives In accordance with the issues developed above, current study will focus on the regulation of corporate governance in two specific countries: UK and USA. Because the particular issues can include a variety of aspects, it is necessary for the relevant research to be expanded to the following questions: a) which is the current trends in corporate governance around the world, b) which are the major differences between the corporate governance practices followed by the Anglo-American countries and the countries of continental Europe/ Japan, c) which are the benefits and the pitfalls of the statutes and the other legislative texts applied on UK and USA regarding the corporate governance d) which are the most common problems related with the corporate governance in these two countries. References Atkins, P. (2003) Recent Experience With Corporate Governance in the USA, online, available at http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch062603psa.htm Buck, T., Shahrim, A. (2005) The Translation of Corporate Governance Changes across National Cultures: The Case of Germany. Journal of International Business Studies, 36(1): 42-69 CPA Journal (2008) A Comprehensive Structure of Corporate Governance in Post-Enron Corporate America http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2004/1204/essentials/p46.htm Fort, T., Schipani, C. (2000) Corporate Governance in a Global Environment: The Search for the Best of All Worlds. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 33(4): 829-859 Kim, H. (1995) Markets, Financial Institutions, and Corporate Governance: Perspectives from Germany. Law and Policy in International Business, 26(2): 371-405 OECD Principles of Corporate Governance (2004), available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/32/18/31557724.pdf Pedersen, T., Thomsen, S. (1999) Business Systems and Corporate Governance. International Studies of Management Organization, 29(2): 43-54 Scullion, H., (1994) ‘Staffing policies and strategic control in British multinationals’, International Studies of Management and Organization, 24(3): 86-97 Security and Exchange Commission of Brazil (2008) available at http://www.cvm.gov.br/ingl/inter/cosra/corpgov/usa-e.asp Tran, M. (2004) USA: Corporate Governance Law Too Strict available at http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11374 Metropolitan Corporate Counsel (2008) Corporate Governance In The UK And U.S. Comparison http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/current.php?artType=viewartMonth=DecemberartYear=2005EntryNo=3957

Kitchen Conversations in Russia :: Russia Soviet Union Politics Essays

Kitchen Conversations in Russia Russians say, â€Å"Russia is a country of kitchen conversations.† From time to time people get together in the kitchen and hold long conversations. Using very ordinary attributes, Russian people created a unique custom that can tell a lot about Russian character, perhaps more than volumes of history books. Over the course of last century, â€Å"kitchen conversations† affected Russian society at all levels and became a symbol of freedom from communist thought control and Russian people’s dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in their country. A Russian proverb says: â€Å"we don’t value what we have and cry when we lose it.† Russian people recklessly lost their freedom when they gave the power to communists in 1917. Among the great many consequences of this upheaval was a major economic crisis, part of which was a massive housing shortage. As a result, millions of people were cramped into what was called â€Å"communal apartments.† Generally, those were large apartments with a long corridor that led to a kitchen, a bathroom and several bedrooms where different families used to live. Since they had to share a kitchen and a bathroom, they basically had to share their lives. Everything that happened in society and neighbors’ lives was discussed in the kitchen. Moreover, neighbors actively meddled in other neighbors’ lives, often without any permission. Malicious tricks and helping hands, peaceful coexistence and furious quarrels, ridiculous misunderstandings and deep compassion transformed the kitchen in a theater-like place where tragedy and comedy intertwined into farce and the audience shared heroes’ drama. Most people used to live like this for more than thirty years (some still live like this today) when the government decided to build more housing in the 1950s and families in communal apartments were gradually resettled into single-family apartments. New apartments had a small kitchen and no dining room, but people gathered in the kitchen anyway. First of all, people thought about the kitchen as a common area where it was convenient to spend their free time. Secondly, people got used to talking about important events in their life in the kitchen. Lastly, small kitchen space made people physically closer to each other, which created informal and sincere atmosphere and gave them freedom to speak openly without regard to communist authority. Kitchen Conversations in Russia :: Russia Soviet Union Politics Essays Kitchen Conversations in Russia Russians say, â€Å"Russia is a country of kitchen conversations.† From time to time people get together in the kitchen and hold long conversations. Using very ordinary attributes, Russian people created a unique custom that can tell a lot about Russian character, perhaps more than volumes of history books. Over the course of last century, â€Å"kitchen conversations† affected Russian society at all levels and became a symbol of freedom from communist thought control and Russian people’s dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in their country. A Russian proverb says: â€Å"we don’t value what we have and cry when we lose it.† Russian people recklessly lost their freedom when they gave the power to communists in 1917. Among the great many consequences of this upheaval was a major economic crisis, part of which was a massive housing shortage. As a result, millions of people were cramped into what was called â€Å"communal apartments.† Generally, those were large apartments with a long corridor that led to a kitchen, a bathroom and several bedrooms where different families used to live. Since they had to share a kitchen and a bathroom, they basically had to share their lives. Everything that happened in society and neighbors’ lives was discussed in the kitchen. Moreover, neighbors actively meddled in other neighbors’ lives, often without any permission. Malicious tricks and helping hands, peaceful coexistence and furious quarrels, ridiculous misunderstandings and deep compassion transformed the kitchen in a theater-like place where tragedy and comedy intertwined into farce and the audience shared heroes’ drama. Most people used to live like this for more than thirty years (some still live like this today) when the government decided to build more housing in the 1950s and families in communal apartments were gradually resettled into single-family apartments. New apartments had a small kitchen and no dining room, but people gathered in the kitchen anyway. First of all, people thought about the kitchen as a common area where it was convenient to spend their free time. Secondly, people got used to talking about important events in their life in the kitchen. Lastly, small kitchen space made people physically closer to each other, which created informal and sincere atmosphere and gave them freedom to speak openly without regard to communist authority.

Dont Concentrate on Camps Essay -- essays research papers

Don’t Concentrate on Camps   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A concentration camp can be defined as a camp were particular people are confined or detained for a period of time, although ironically the term death camp is commonly used as a synonym. Between the years of 1942 and 1945 the German Nazi Party initiated concentration camps for all Jews and other peoples that were considered by Adolf Hitler to be inferior. This is a commonly known fact, although extensive knowledge is limited to most people. The majority of concentration camps established have been used for the containing and eventual extermination of its prisoners. Camps have been located all over the world for many different reasons. Survivors (though rare) do exist and always have gruesome, life altering stories kept away in there souls. Undoubtedly Auschwitz in Poland is the most well known camp, but the future existence of concentration camps in the United States has even been discussed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although one of the first uses of concentration camps was by Britain in 1899 against the Boerevolk people, Adold Hitler took them to extreme during World War II (Berwick 85). The first concentration camps of the 1930’s were simply meant to hold political enemy’s of the Nazi state such as Communists and Socialists, but eventually, bigger camps were created for the extermination of inferior groups and races (Swiebocka 1). The original intention of concentration camps was not specifically to murder mass numbers of people although that was though of as a plus side. In his raging insanity Adolf Hitler molded the concept of concentration camps from containment to extermination. Hitler located his primary concentration extermination camps in Poland focusing on six main camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek-Lublin, Sobibor, and Treblinka (Sheehan 6). In these camps alone over 2,700,000 Jews were murdered, along with tens of thousands of Gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war, Poles, and others (Sheehan7). The prisoners in these camps died from many different causes. Some simply died from starvation and illness, others were told to â€Å"dig a hole† and then when they finished were shot only to fall inside there own grave. Most were sent to gas chambers to be chemically destroyed. Nazi guards would give the prisoners a small piece of soap and tell them to go into a designated room and â€Å"s... ...exico border, they would immediately be under containment. Supposedly there intention is strictly precautionary, but could the United States actually be considering using them in the future? After all, the government has showed in the past its ability to imprison a group of peoples. During World War II the United States Government demanded that all Japanese Americans be put into concentration camps for holding until the end of the war. They did not intend to kill anyone, although some did die, the U.S. was simply attempting to protect itself against any further Japanese attacks. Concentration camps were used then, and if necessary they could be used again. The origin of concentration camps was simply to hold a group of dangerous peoples. Adolf Hitler obliterated this idea and created his own version of concentration camps to exterminate the Jews and all other inferior people. Auschwitz will remain in infamy as the most horrifying place on earth, and its survivors will forever be scarred. Unfortunately the future might hold concentration camps for American again if it becomes necessary, but honestly, the world will be a better place when concentration upon camps desists forever.

Coffee Ulbs Essay

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a distinct aroma and flavor from the roasted seeds of the coffea plant. Coffee comes in many types of colour such as dark brown,white,beige,black,light brown,and more. Coffee was first discovered in the northeast region of Ethopia. Cofee cultivation first took place in southern Arabia,appears in the middle of the 15th century in the Sufi shrines of Yemen. According to the ancient chronicle,Omar who was known for his ability to cure sick through prayer was once exiled from Mocha,Yemen to a desert cave near Ousab. Starving,Omar chewed berries from nearby shrubbery but found them to the bitter. He tried roasting the seeds to improve the flavor,but they become hard. He then tried boiling them to soften the seeds,which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. Upon drinking the liquid,Omar was revitalized and sustained for days. As stories of this ‘miracle drug’ reached Mocha,Omar was asked to return and was made a saint. In production of coffee,it consist of many steps such as processing,roasting,grading the roasting seeds,decaffeination,stored,brewing and finally be served. When processing the coffee,the berries of coffee have been traditionally and selectively picked by hand,only the berries at the peak of ripeness would be selected. After that,green coffee is process by one of two methods. Whether by dry process method or wet process method. Then,it will be sorted by ripeness and colour. After that,the seeds are fermented to remove the slimy layer of mucilage still present on the seeds. When the fermentation is finished,the seeds are washed to remove the fermentation residue. Then,the seeds are dried. Finally,the coffee is sorted again and been labeled. The roasting process influences the taste of the beverage by changing the coffee seed both physically and chemically. During roasting,caramelization occurs as intense heat that breaks down starches,changing them to simple sugars that begin to brown,which alters the colour of seeds. Then the seeds will be grading depends on the colour of roasting seeds. It will be labeled as light,medium light,medium,medium dark,dark or very dark. The degree of roast has an effect upon coffee flavor and body. Many methods can remove the caffeine from coffee,but all involve either soaking the green seeds in hot water or steaming them and using a solvent to dissolve caffeine that containing oils. Once roasted,coffee seeds must be stored properly to preserve the fresh taste of the seeds. Coffee seeds must be ground and brewed to create a beverage. Almost all methods of preparing coffee require the seeds to be ground and mixed with hot water long enough to extract the flavor,but without overextraction that draws out bitter compounds. The roasted coffee may be ground at a roaster,in a grocery store or in the home. Then,the coffee may be brewed by several methods such as boiled,steeped,or pressurized. Once brewed,coffee may be served in a variety of ways. As an example,the white coffee was made into dairy product such as milk or cream or dairy substitute or as a black coffee with no such addition. It may be sweetened with sugar or artificial sweetener.

Analysis Of Noun Phrase In English And Vietnamese Education Essay

Noun phrases every bit good as other phrases play an of import function in get the hanging any linguistic communication. Without noun phrase, there would hold no agents, no patients, and no receivers. Additionally, no affair how broad our vocabulary may be, a individual word is frequently deficient in showing our thought.. A incompatible analysis between English and Vietnamese is necessary and interesting for learning and analyzing. Almost every linguistic communication has noun phrases, nevertheless, despite holding the same basic construction, they have some differences..This survey aims to research internal and external construction of English and Vietnamese noun phrases so make a comparing between two sorts of NP every bit good as suggest some teaching deductions. I hope through this assignment, both I and the readers will larn something helpful which can use to English instruction and acquisition.Noun phrase in EnglishDefinitions:Le ( 2002 ) defined noun phrase ( NP ) as a group of words get downing with a noun and working appositional. This NP frequently goes right earlier or right after the noun it expresses. Ex-husband: A victim of war, he hated the sight of soldiers. ( A victim of war = he ) Harmonizing to L.H.Nguyen ( 2004 ) , a NP is a group of words with a noun or pronoun as the chief portion ( the caput ) . In his book â€Å" Analyzing English † , Jackson added some more deal about the caput which is â€Å" the minimum demand for the happening of a noun phrase † . Despite the NP is in simple signifier such as â€Å" pupils † or in complex signifier such as â€Å" the narrative about the miss who used to populate at that place † , it must hold a noun or pronoun showing the chief thought.Structure:Basically, a noun phrase consists of 3 chief parts: Pre – Alteration, Head, Post – Alteration. But in some complex NPs, we can see that the Pre – Alteration may incorporate other elements. Based on the theory of NP in the book â€Å" Analyzing English † by Howard Jackson, we have a elaborate expression of NP as followers:Pre – AlterationHeadPost – AlterationPre – clincher ( A ) Identifiers ( B ) Numeral/Quantifier ( C ) Adjectives ( D ) Noun qualifier ( Tocopherol ) N/pro ( F ) Relative clauses, infinite clause, prepositional phrase, adjectives, adverbs. ( G ) Table 1: The construction of a NP in English Now, we will travel into inside informations of the construction of a NP.Pre – AlterationThis portion fundamentally has 5 elements as shown in the above tabular array. The first component is pre-determiners. They are a little group of words which may happen before the identifier in a NP. They besides have quantifier mention ( all, both, half, aˆÂ ¦ ) ; fraction numbers ( one-third, aˆÂ ¦ ) . Following component is identifiers. This component includes articles ( a, an, the ) ; demonstrative ( this, that, these, those ) ; genitives ( my, your, his, aˆÂ ¦ ) . But there is one thing we should pay attending. In any NP, merely merely one identifier may happen, it means that articles, demonstrative and genitives are reciprocally sole. We ca n't state â€Å" that my house † but if we use â€Å" of-phrase † with the genitive pronoun, we can show that NP in another manner â€Å" that book of mine † . In some NPs such as â€Å" five cats † , â€Å" several books † , the pre – alteration here is numerical ( five ) or quantifier ( several ) . Besides, sometimes, we can see the combination of these two elements in some NPs. The frequent sequences are ordinal numerical ( particularly â€Å" first † and â€Å" last † ) + indefinite quantifier ( eg â€Å" the first few hours † ) , ordinal + cardinal ( eg â€Å" the 2nd five yearss † ) , indefinite quantifier + central numerical, particularly circular figure ( eg â€Å" several thousand people † ) ( Nguyen, 2004, p. 44 ) . To magnify the caput noun in some manner, the following component, adjectives, come after the identifier and numerals/quantifiers. However, in instance that several adjectives co-occur in a NP, there is a regulation for their order.nameSizeformagecoloring materialbeginningsubstancepresent participialcapturing Small unit of ammunition old brown Gallic oaken composing tabular array Table 2: The adjectival order The last component is noun qualifiers which come between the adjectives and the caput noun. As we can see, nouns may work non merely as caputs of NP but besides qualifiers in NP. For illustration, in NP â€Å" a kids book † , â€Å" kids † modifies â€Å" book † and â€Å" a kids book † means a book for kids. Beside 5 basic elements mentioned supra, there is one farther sort of pre-modification that is NP in possessive instance. This sort is marked by an ‘s added to the its concluding word ( eg my friend ‘s bike ) .Head:The most usual sort of caput of NP is noun, but in some NPs such as â€Å" She is my best friend † , the caput may be a pronoun of some sort, normally a personal pronoun ( he, she, youaˆÂ ¦ ) . Similarly, Jacobs ( 1995 ) stated that many NPs in English are individual signifiers dwelling possibly merely of a noun or a pronoun. When the caput is a pronoun, it does n't necessitate any alteration, particularly the pre-modification.Kinds of pronoun operation as the caputExamplesPersonal pronoun He, she, you, they, we, aˆÂ ¦ . Indefinite pronoun Person, something, cipher, aˆÂ ¦ †¦ Possessive pronoun His, her, your, their, aˆÂ ¦ Demonstrative pronoun This, that, aˆÂ ¦ Table 3: Kinds of pronoun operation as the caput of NPPost-modificationThis portion is most often followed by phrases or clauses. Three sorts of phrasal/clausal post-modification we frequently see is: comparative clauses, infinite clauses, and prepositional phrases, sometimes we besides see an adjective or an adverb operation as a post-modifier in NP ( Jackson, p.15 ) . A comparative clause consists of a comparative pronoun ( who, whom, which, that, whose, aˆÂ ¦ ) as a caput, which mentions back to the caput noun of NP. If the comparative pronoun ‘s map is object in the comparative clause, we can exclude that comparative pronoun. Infinite clause is clause normally without topics introduced by a infinite signifier of the verb. That sort of clause include 3 sorts: space clause, present participial clause, past participial. In a NP, prepositional phrase occurs most often working as post-modifier.Some illustrations:All the schools in townA B F G ( prepositional phrase )The last few yearssB C C FDong Bang Shin Ki, my favorite music set.F G ( appositional NP )My noisy 4-year-old white Thai catB name age coloring material FThis arch revenue enhancement aggregator ‘s grabbing manusNP Genitive D FThe Korea history which has merely been published.B D F G ( comparative clause )Something of import to makeF ( indefinite pro ) G ( adjectives ) G ( infinite clause )The miss behind youB F G ( adverb )Two Equus caballuss eating grass.A F G ( infinite clause: present participial )A subject vocal composed by Lee So ManB E F G ( infinite clause: past participial )One-third of the populationA B FNoun phrase in VietnameseDefinitions:Mai, Vu and Hoang ( 2006 ) defined NP ( danh nga »? ) is a phrase in which the noun map as the chief portion. Besides, NP in the theory of Doan, Nguyen, Pham ( 2001 ) is a â€Å" free combination of a noun karyon and one or more than one subsidiary elements â€Å" which can be front elements standing before the nucleus noun or can be end elements standing after the nucleus noun.Structure:As a phrase, NP in Vietnamese besides has three chief parts: Pre-Modification ( Front Element ) , Head ( Nucleus ) , Post-Modification ( End Element ) . More elaborate, harmonizing to Mai et Al. ‘s theory ( pp. 276-280 ) , the construction of NP in Vietnamese can be described as followers: Tat ca nha »?ng Cai con meo A‘en ay ( -3 ) ( -2 ) ( -1 ) Head noun ( 0 ) ( 1 ) ( 2 ) Table 4: The construction of a NP in VietnameseFront elementsAs we can see from the tabular array, the elements in the place ( -3 ) , ( -2 ) and ( -1 ) are called front elements, while the elements standing after the karyon ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) are called end elements. Those elements are placed in a stable manner as shown in the above tabular array. In footings of the front elements, we have three sorts. In the place ( -1 ) , quantifiers such as â€Å" tat ca † , â€Å" tat thay † , â€Å" hat thay † , â€Å" hat ca † , â€Å" ca † , aˆÂ ¦.are used. Those words can happen before: definite numbers: ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t, hai, Ba, ba »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn, aˆÂ ¦ Ex-husband: tat ca ba »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn m? °i sinh vien ( 1 ) corporate nouns: A‘an, lA © , bo , ba »Ã¢â€ž ¢ , nam, aˆÂ ¦ . Ex-husband: ca lA © con trai general nouns: qua? §n, ao, binh, linh, xe ca »Ã¢â€ž ¢ , may moc, aˆÂ ¦ Ex-husband: hat thay may moc Let ‘s pay attending to the quantifiers such as â€Å" tat ca † , â€Å" tat thay † , â€Å" hat thay † , â€Å" hat ca † , â€Å" ca † , aˆÂ ¦.From the illustrations above, we can see that such those quantifiers occur before the caput noun. Now, taking the first illustration, is it right if we say it in such a manner â€Å" ba »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn m? °i sinh vien tat ca † ? Actually, in footings of grammar, it is right but the significance is different. The NP â€Å" tat ca ba »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn m? °i sinh vien † means that no pupils are left, but in â€Å" ba »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn m? °i sinh vien tat ca † , there are some pupils left. So, we can reason that â€Å" tat ca † can stand before and after the caput noun depending on the talker ‘s attending. Diep Quang Ban ( 2000 ) stated that place ( -2 ) is the topographic point taken by word category as followers:Definite numeral/ central figure ( ta »Ã‚ « cha »Ã¢â‚¬ ° sa »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ l? °a »?ng xac A‘a »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹nh/sa »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ ta »Ã‚ « )Ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t, hai, Ba, ba »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn, m? °a »?i, trA?m aˆÂ ¦.. M? °a »?i con meoEstimate quantifier ( ta »Ã‚ « cha »Ã¢â‚¬ ° sa »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ pha »?ng A‘a »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹nh )Vai, vai Ba, dA?m, m? °i, aˆÂ ¦ vai Ba khach hangAllocating words ( ta »Ã‚ « ham y phan pha »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi )Ma »-i, ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t, ta »Ã‚ «ng, aˆÂ ¦ Ma »-i cong danArticles ( quan ta »Ã‚ « )Nha »?ng, cac, ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t, .. Nha »?ng bac sA ©Word â€Å" may †May con ga nay Table 5: the place ( -2 ) in a NP in Vietnamese However, we should pay attending that such elements as â€Å" vai, vai Ba, dA?m, aˆÂ ¦ † can non co-exist with the quantifiers such as â€Å" tat ca † , â€Å" tat thay † , â€Å" hat thay † , â€Å" hat ca † , â€Å" ca † in the place ( -3 ) . In footings of the place ( -1 ) , Diep Quang Ban ( 2000 ) stated that it is taken by the deictic word â€Å" cai † ( ta »Ã‚ « cha »Ã¢â‚¬ ° xuat ) in order to stress things mentioned in the caput noun. However, sometimes, â€Å" cai † is replaced by another deictic word such as â€Å" con † in NP â€Å" con ng? °a »?i ay † . In Vietnamese NP, â€Å" cai † occurs before the caput noun and can step in between a numerical ( if there is one ) and the classifier or a step phrase. It may be preceded by other pre-noun qualifiers such as quantifiers, numbers, and articles. It must ever coincide with a classifier as in â€Å" ba cai cua »Ã¢â€ž ¢n len kia â€Å" or â€Å" ba cai thung n? °a »Ã¢â‚¬ ºc nay † . Besides, â€Å" cai † is sometimes mistaken with the homonymic classifier â€Å" cai † , but it ‘s different from classifier cai every bit good as other classifiers in term of distribution and map. When â€Å" ca i † precedes a count noun, the usage of a classifier is obligatory, as shown in ( a ) . However, â€Å" cai † can non be used before the homonymic classifier as shown in ( B ) Ba cai cua »Ã¢â€ž ¢n len ( correct ) Ba cai cai chen ( incorrect ) Normally, with the presence of the deictic word, the noun is demonstrative like â€Å" nay † , â€Å" kia † , â€Å" ay † , aˆÂ ¦ . ( eg: cai tha? ±ng nhoc nay ) . But, in spoken linguistic communication, we frequently see that the demonstratives are omitted, like â€Å" cai tha? ±ng nhoc † .The karyon ( head noun ) :Harmonizing to Dinh Dien ( n.d ) , the karyon ( place ( 0 ) ) may be a noun ( boy, teacher, cat, houseaˆÂ ¦ ) or a combination between a classifier ( danh ta »Ã‚ « cha »Ã¢â‚¬ ° loai ) and the caput noun such as â€Å" con ng? °a »?i † , â€Å" quya »?n sach † , â€Å" may say † . Otherwise, the caput noun may be a classifier followed by a descriptive free word bunch ( ta »Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ ha »?p ta »Ã‚ « ta »Ã‚ ± do mieu ta ) such as â€Å" hai ng? °a »?i A‘ang nga »Ã¢â‚¬Å"i noi chuya »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡n A‘a? ±ng kia † , â€Å" nha »?ng via »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡c ban hom ba »?a † A dditionally, words which are non nouns can besides be the caput due to the talking wont of Vietnamese. For illustration, we can shorten the NP â€Å" hai ca »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœc ca phe A‘en † into the NP â€Å" hai A‘en † . Some Vietnamese classifiers are normally used: caiA : used for most inanimate objects ( cai ban, cai gha , .. ) con: normally for animate beings and kids ( con be ) , but can be used to depict some inanimate objects ( con dao, con A‘? °a »?ng ) bai: used for composings like vocals, drawings, verse forms, essays, etc ( bai th , bai hat, .. ) cay: used for stick-like objects ( cay ph? °a »?ng, cay sung, aˆÂ ¦ ) toa: edifices of authorization: tribunals, halls, â€Å" tusk towers † ( toa nha , .. ) qua/trai: used for ball-shaped objects ( qua chua »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi, trai A‘at, .. ) quya »?n/cua »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn: used for book-like objects ( cua »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn sach, quya »?n tap chi , .. ) ta »? : sheets and other thin objects made of paper ( ta »? giay, ta »? bao, .. ) la : smaller sheets of paper ( la th , la bai, aˆÂ ¦ ) via »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡c: an event or an on-going procedure ( via »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡c kinh doanh, via »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡c ha »?c, aˆÂ ¦ )End elements:Doan et Al. classified the terminal elements in footings of portion of address, construction, manner of connexion, order of some elements. c.1 ) In footings of portion of address: noun la »Ã¢â‚¬ ºp ngoai nga »? verb la »Ã¢â‚¬ ºp giao tiap adjectival la »Ã¢â‚¬ ºp A‘ong central numerical la »Ã¢â‚¬ ºp 4 noun of topographic point la »Ã¢â‚¬ ºp tren la? §u noun of clip la »Ã¢â‚¬ ºp bua »Ã¢â‚¬ ¢i ta »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi pronoun la »Ã¢â‚¬ ºp ca »Ã‚ §a toi Table 6: The terminal elements in Vietnamese NP in footings of portion of address c.2 ) In footings of construction: A chief – accessary phrase: sach vA?n ha »?c Ma »? A co-ordinated phrase: sach nghe va noi A S-V phrase: sach ma toi va »Ã‚ «a mua c.3 ) In footings of manner of connexion: Direct ways ( eg: tinh tha? §n thep, mat ba »Ã¢â‚¬Å" cauaˆÂ ¦ ) Indirect ways ( eg: ba »Ã¢â€ž ¢ phim ma anh thich, bai viat ma toi va »Ã‚ «a hoan thanh ) c.4 ) In footings of the undermentioned order: The nucleus i? A i? B ( a, B, degree Celsius, vitamin D ) i? CABacillusCgoes with the karyon to organize a phrase ( a compound noun ) describes the features of the object that the karyon mentioned Ex-husband: phong khach ra »Ã¢â€ž ¢ng, ban lam via »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡c American ginseng tra »?ng, aˆÂ ¦ . demonstrative pronouns such as â€Å" nay, ay, A‘o † aˆÂ ¦ a B C vitamin D a noun, a verb or an adjectival â€Å" va »? + noun † or â€Å" ba? ±ng + noun † â€Å" ca »Ã‚ §a + noun † or â€Å" a »Y + noun † Clauses Table 6: The terminal elements in Vietnamese NP in footings of some elements ‘ order. Something about demonstratives may do you misconstruing if we arrange them in different order. For illustration, compare two NPs â€Å" via »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡c ay ca »Ã‚ §a anh † and â€Å" via »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡c ca »Ã‚ §a anh ay † , we can see the difference in significance here due to our talking modulation. In the first NP, if we speak with a level modulation, we can understand it as â€Å" his work † , whereas, if we speak with a raising modulation at â€Å" ay † in the 2nd NP, it can be understood that â€Å" it ‘s your work, non others ‘ work † .Some illustrations:Tat ca nha »?ng cai vay A‘en ba? ±ng denims a »Y store Cass ma ca? ­u( -1 ) ( -2 ) ( -3 ) ( 0 ) ( 1 ) ( ai? bi? ci? vitamin D )th? °a »?ng thay A‘o( 2 )B ) A °a »?ng A‘ua sa »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ 2 a »Y tr? °a »Ã¢â‚¬ ºc ma? ·t ( Diep, 2000, p. 60 )( 0 ) ( 1 ) ( central numberi? degree Celsius )degree Celsius ) Nha »?ng tha? ±ng nhoc ngha »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ ch nga »?m ay( -2 ) ( 0 ) ( 1 ) ( adjectival ) ( 2 )vitamin D ) San nha qi ma »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi lau( 0 ) ( 1 ) ( S-V phrase )vitamin E ) Cai cua »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn tap chi a »Y tren ka »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ A‘o( -1 ) ( 0 ) ( 1 ) ( degree Celsius ) ( 2 )A comparing of English NP and Vietnamese NPFrom what we discuss above about the NP in English and Vietnamese, we can see that both of them have a basic construction: pre-modification, caput, post-modification. . However, there are still some differences between them. We will discourse some singular similarities and differences in the places of pre-modification and post-modification in English and Vietnamese NP.First, in both English and Vietnamese NP, quantifier, numbers, fractions stand before the caput noun.( a ) All those old chairsQuantifier caput noun( B ) Several thousand peoplenumerical caput noun( degree Celsius ) One-third of my pupilsfraction caput noun( a ) Tat ca nha »?ng cai gha cA © A‘oquantifier caput noun adjectival( B ) V ai ngan ng? °a »?inumerical caput noun( degree Celsius ) Ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t pha? §n Ba sa »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ ha »?c sinh ca »Ã‚ §a toifraction caput nounSecond, demonstrative, ordinal Numberss, genitives come before the caput noun in English but after the caput noun in Vietnamese.That big brick housedemonstrative caput nounThe 2nd circuit to Koreaordinal figure caput nounMy favorite spicy nutrientgenitive caput noun( a ) Ngoi nha ba? ±ng gach to la »Ã¢â‚¬ ºn A‘ocaput noun demonstrative( B ) Chuyan du la »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ch tha »Ã‚ © hai A‘an Han Qua »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœccaput noun ordinal figure( degree Celsius ) Tha »Ã‚ ©c A?n key yeu thich ca »Ã‚ §a toicaput noun genitiveThird, in footings of adjectives, we put them in forepart of the caput noun in English NP but in Vietnamese, we put them after the caput noun.Ex-husband: cai ban mau nau lam ba? ±ng ga »- xoaicaput noun. adjectivesA brown oaken tabular array.adjectives head noun.However, in some instances, adjectives come a fter the caput noun in English NP such as â€Å" something unusual † , â€Å" person brave † , aˆÂ ¦ Additionally, the order of adjectives qualifiers in English is instead fixed ( name, size, form, age, coloring material, beginning, substance, present participial ) whereas that in Vietnamese NP may be exchanged, based on the talker ‘s attending. For illustration, in English, we merely have merely one order â€Å" a reasonably bluish skirt † but when we say in Vietnamese, there are 2 ways â€Å" ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t chiac vay mau xanh district attorney tra »?i xinh xan † and â€Å" ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t chiac vay xinh xan mau xanh district attorney tra »?i † . Furthermore, in English NP, the happening of nouns and clinchers is obligatory but optional in Vietnamese NP. So, if we translate the phrase â€Å" cua »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn sach tren ban † into Vietnamese, it will be â€Å" book on tabular array † . Is it right? As you see, the true phrase should be â€Å" the book on the tabular array † . In Vietnamese, classifiers are by and large obligatory in numerated NP whereas in English, we do n't usually utilize classifiers before nouns, except some particular words â€Å" a brace of places † , â€Å" a loaf of staff of life † aˆÂ ¦ . Ex-husband: In English, we say â€Å" two books † but in Vietnamese, we say â€Å" hai cua »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœn sach † . The following difference I want to advert is the place of noun qualifiers. In English NP, they come before a caput noun but in Vietnamese, they come after the caput noun. Nevertheless, in some instances in Vietnamese, noun qualifiers precedes the caput noun ( eg ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t thi nhan, ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t ca »? tha »Ã‚ § , .. ) A concert dance category A bundle circuit A summer run ( a ) Ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t la »Ã¢â‚¬ ºp Ba le ( B ) Chuyan du la »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ch tra »?n goi ( degree Celsius ) chian da »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ch mua he Last but non least, sometimes there are some equivocal constructions that cause us baffled. In Vietnamese, what comes into people ‘s head foremost is spoken foremost is the common regulation, which is besides a natural order of people ‘s thought ( Dinh, n.d, p. 11 ) . Let ‘s take a NP as an illustration. How many ways you can state the English NP â€Å" a new Korean leather coat † ? We have â€Å" ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t cai ao khoac ma »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi ba? ±ng long thu ca »Ã‚ §a Han Qua »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœc † or â€Å" ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t cai ao khoac Han Qua »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœc ba? ±ng long thu ma »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi † and â€Å" ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t cai ao khoac ba? ±ng long thu Han Qua »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœc ma »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi † . It seems that in the English NP, the place of pre-modifiers and post-premodifiers are non so free and flexible as that in Vietnamese NPDeduction in English instruction and acquisitionLearners of English may hold some troubles such as how to interpret from English into Vietnamese and frailty versa due to the differences in the place of pre-modifiers and post-modifiers we have merely mentioned above ( for illustration: ma »Ã¢â€ž ¢t quya »?n sach hay – a book good or a book interesting. They may besides be in problem with the order of the adjectives in a instead long noun phrase with many adjectives. Which adjective come foremost? Which one will come next? Where should we set those adjectives. Vietnamese pupils may happen it hard to retrieve all the places due to the wont of puting the adjectives after the caput noun and utilizing them flexibly. Knowing clearly about English NP and Vietnamese NP, particularly the differences every bit good as the common errors that Vietnamese scholars frequently meet will assist the instructors guide their pupils right. In other words, scholars can cognize their errors from the beginning so that they can happen it easy to larn English subsequently, particularly grammar. Based on the cognition of English NP and Vietnamese NP, the instructors besides design the undertakings for pupils to consolidate and pattern cognition of phrases and sentences in both two linguistic communications.DecisionIn decision, although NP in English and Vietnamese has the same basic construction ( pre-modification, caput, post-modification ) , they are non the same in the word order of pre-modification and post-modification. These differences are caused by the unsimilarity in thought and talking wont of English and Vietnamese. As a pupil every bit good as a teacher-to-be, this research helps me a batch. When making t his assignment, I have a opportunity to consolidate my cognition of both English and Vietnamese and cognize something new and helpful. With what I learn from this research, I will use to my survey and learning calling.