Alice Walkers Short Story The Welcome Table Essay Free Essay Example, 1000 words

ï » ¿ The Welcome Table by Alice Walker ‘The Welcome Table’ is a fictitious piece by Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize winning writer and poetess. The story bears a strong adherence to the literary genre, the African-American Literature. It narrates the story of an old black woman, who epitomises the inferior possible of the socially degraded Blacks. The story takes up the concept of the great divide in society---between the ‘Whites’ and the ‘Blacks’ and attempts to consciously evoke pity and empathy for the old black woman, who is looked down upon and left untended even in the harshest of conditions. We will write a custom essay sample on Alice Walker's Short Story The Welcome Table Essay or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now This piece of fiction, very clearly, does not simply narrate a story but provokes the thoughts of readers and questions the very fundamental ethics of the disintegrated society that one lives in, today. The story starts off with the old black woman entering the Church, that was meant for the Whites exclusively. Thus, the theme of a societal divide and the concept of jeering racism is introduced right in the beginning of this literary piece. The white people do not know what their next step should be and their fears regarding the Blacks come back to daunt them. When the old black lady sits at the last row of the Church bench, the Whites huddle up together in the front rows. Here, the authoress strongly establishes the divide between the blacks and the whites. What is more obvious and requires special mentioning, though, is this societal divide on the basis of race and colour, in the sanctum of Lord Almighty! The whites see this as an intrusion into a sanctum that was meant for them, exclusively. This establishes the fact that even in the presence of the all-powerful God, where human beings are considered His children, equal and irrespective of any segregating factors, the social divide had played havoc! Equality of all men is a religious connotation and this simply did not alter or impact the condescending attitude of the whites, towards the black woman. This also highlights the extremity and the depth of the penetration of this social evil, that has crept into the lives of us humans! In addition to these societal, racist and religious facets to the story, one also encounters a humanitarian aspect, or rather the lack of it!

Personal Narrative A Challenging Course - 885 Words

English 101 was a challenging course. A constant stream of reading and writing lead to a demanding yet rewarding semester. The variety of texts read and written about provided a plethora of life lessons and demonstrations of values. Now at the end of the course I find myself a better student and writer. The texts themselves were not influential to my growth as a critical reader or college student. Rather, it was my own analysis of the texts that allowed me to consider other perspectives on technology use in the classroom and the importance of revision when it comes to school work. Writing an essay on the impossibility of multitasking and the learning setbacks caused by technology use in the classroom caused me to reduce my technology use while doing homework. Deak says, â€Å"If you are listening to Mozart while you are going maths, whenever your brain starts to hear Mozart it has to leave the maths part, and that takes time. When the brain starts to refocus on maths, it goes through the whole process again† (Morrison 1). Ever since writing this essay, I’ve began to pay attention more to my own technology use and productivity. I no longer take short, frequent breaks while doing school work. Instead, I take longer breaks after accomplishing more of my work before switching to another task. I find that I am now more efficient and less stressed ever since I allow myself to do more work. Prior to writing, I would have never considered such an anti-technology stance, no matter whatShow MoreRelatedMy First Attempt At Redemptive Accomplishment935 Words   |  4 PagesAccomplishment if it is Not Challenging The most appreciated accomplishments in life; come from struggle. As a teenager, I failed to complete college. My failure was not a lack of intellect; rather it was a lack of discipline and commitment. A decade and a half later, I have grown to appreciate the value of putting in effort. 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Feedback would be given by the teacher, guiding the student to help her understand which areas she would need to focus on and which areas she exceled. This stimulates cognitive growth and self-discovery, unimpeded by standardized expectations and demands. As student participating in this type of curriculum would be allowedRead MoreEssay On Social Morality In Macbeth938 Words   |  4 Pagesconsidering the aspect in which gender plays a divisive role, addressing masculinity to be considered superior in all societal functions. The machinations at work driving the play’s narrative forward are parallel to the guises both the witches as well as Lady Macbeth undertake in order to achieve their ends. Upending against the narrative was the perceived notion that reigned within the time of Shakespeare through which public norms had enabled an extensive division between the genders took root as the socialRead MoreExpository Writing - Writing And Writing1560 Words   |  7 Pagesthe semester, I was not certain what to except from this course. Writing has never been my strong suit, early in the semester I struggled with the writings. In high school, English class was not my favorite subject causing me to not gain the knowledge I should have, coming into this course with a poor knowledge about expository and narrative writing. Once I entered this course, the information that was received about expository and narrative writing helped me tremendously. I became accustomed to theRead MorePersonal Statement : My Personal Philosophy O f Education1193 Words   |  5 PagesMy philosophy of education is that every child should receive high quality education that is inclusive, relevant and meaningful to their life. I am a firm believer of making pedagogy relatable to my students. My vision is driven by my personal experiences with the American school system. I was what is thought of as â€Å"A child at risk†. I am an immigrant, black, Muslim student. My life is complex as I am a part of multiple marginalized groups. Most of my teachers looked at me in a pity way. They alwaysRead MoreHow I Am A Writer Essay1112 Words   |  5 Pagesclass was required to develop an electronic portfolio and the four essays included in this portfolio are a literacy narrative, textual analysis, profile, and a reflective essay. The first assignment the class worked on was a literacy narrative. A literacy narrative is a personal account of your first time learning how to read or write. Having to do this assignment was very challenging to me, because I could not recall the first time of me personally reading or writing. When I first started to read

Salvidor Dali Was Born Essay Example For Students

Salvidor Dali Was Born Essay Dali became a member of the surrealist motion. He was surrounded by creative persons who accepted his bizarre behavior and celebrated the eccentric imagination in his art. Surrealism is a cultural motion that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its ocular graphicss and Hagiographas. It was founded in Paris by a little group of authors and creative persons who painted images which gave a graphic world to the universe of dreams and the subconscious. Amongst other creative persons Dali met in the surrealist group, he made familiarity with Gala, the married woman of the Surrealist author Paul Eluard. Dali and Gala fell in love and moved to Paris together in the fall of 1929 and married five old ages subsequently. Dali painted Christ of Saint John of the Cross in the summer of 1951. It is a reworking of a drawing of the Crucifiction believed to hold been made by Saint John of the Cross, a sixteenth century Spanish saint. It is an oil picture on canvas and is 205 centimeter by 116 centimeter. The picture was purchased by Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in 1952 for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8,200. The Spanish authorities offered à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½80 million for the picture but the offer was turned down. It is one of the favored plants of art in the metropolis. The picture has aroused esteem, unfavorable judgment and contention since it was painted! Students of Glasgow school of Art submitted a request against the purchase because they thought the money would hold been better allocated to creative persons in the City. It was thought by spiritual groups that with his repute, Dali should nt be painting spiritual plants and Art Critics believed that with this picture, Dali was non forcing the boundaries of the surr ealism he was known for. The picture was attacked by a visitant in 1961 who used a rock and his custodies to rupture the canvas, but it was successfully restored. Dali relied on his dreams for counsel, he aimed to unite atomic scientific discipline and faith in Christ of Saint John of the Cross, and besides used mathematical theories to seek and work out the ideal proportions for his work. Dali wrote In 1950 I had a cosmic dream in which I saw in coloring material this image, which in my dream represents the karyon of the atom. This nucleus afterwords took on a metaphysical significance. I consider it to be the very integrity of the existence, Christ and When thanks to Father Bruno ( Carmelite ) , I saw the Christ drawn by Saint John of the Cross, I worked out geometrically a trigon and a circle which aesthetically summarised all my old experiments and I drew my Jesus in this trigon . In the pictures Christ of Saint John of the Cross and Crucifixion Jesus s cross floats above the land. In the picture Christ of Saint John of the Cross you see Christ s point of position from above, while in Crucifixion ( 1954 ) you see the position of the witnesss below. These pictures show how world is perceived. Dali started painting from scientific discipline after World War II, this is when he began the atomic ( or atomic ) period of his work. In the picture The continuity of memory ( 1931 ) you see a deformed foetus like caput lying on the land and runing redstem storksbills and in the backround a landscape that looks similar to Port Lligat where Dali grew up, the landsc apes in many of his pictures resemble Port Lligat with flaxen beaches and old canvas boats. The runing pocket tickers suggest the irrelevancy of clip during slumber, when we are asleep clip does non prevail, but memories do. Dali called his pictures manus painted dream photographs.This picture besides relates to comprehend world and suggests that Time is a human perceptual experience . .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed , .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed .postImageUrl , .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed , .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed:hover , .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed:visited , .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed:active { border:0!important; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed:active , .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u25e6e1478f7996517ec5014b807e53ed:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The persistence Of Memory Salvador Dali EssaySalvidor Dali is my favorite creative person, I love his work! I admire Dali s eccentricnes, I would love to hold met him! The painting Christ of Saint John of the Cross is my favorite picture as one love spiritual pictures and when Dali pigments from his dreams I find it truly interesting as dreams are so absorbing to me. I love surrealism art as I feel like it takes me off to another topographic point merely like when I dream. Dali painting his dreams has inspired me to get down making this. I love the thought of Christ on the cross up up above looking down on Earth and there is ever something traveling on down below, in this painting the fishermen on the beach. I love the colors and the light coming through the clouds in the sky and the distances above the hills in the landscape. I think Dali s Christ of Saint John of the Cross inspired other creative persons to paint from scientific discipline and faith. I think it has inspired people to believe about faith and surrealism art.

Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Gilman Essays (1614 words)

Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Gilman For the women in the twentieth century today, who have more freedom than before and have not experienced the depressive life that Gilman lived from 1860 to 1935, it is difficult to understand Gilman's situation and understand the significance of ?The Yellow Wallpaper?. Gilman's original purpose of writing the story was to gain personal satisfaction if Dr. S. Weir Mitchell might change his treatment after reading the story. However, as Ann L. Jane suggests, ?The Yellow Wallpaper? is ?the best crafted of her fiction: a genuine literary piece?the most directly, obviously, self-consciously autobiographical of all her stories? (Introduction xvi). And more importantly, Gilman says in her article in The Forerunner, ?It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked? (20). Therefore, ?The Yellow Wallpaper? is a revelation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's own emotions. When the story first came out in 1892 the critics considered ?The Yellow Wallpaper? as a portrayal of female insanity rather than a story that reveals an aspect of society. In The Transcript, a physician from Boston wrote, ?Such a story ought not to be written?it was enough to drive anyone mad to read it? (Gilman 19). This statement implies that any woman that would write something to show opposition to the dominant social values must have been insane. In Gilman's time setting ?The ideal woman was not only assigned a social role that locked her into her home, but she was also expected to like it, to be cheerful and gay, smiling and good humored? (Lane, To Herland 109). Those women who rejected this role and pursued intellectual enlightenment and freedom would be scoffed, alienated, and even punished. This is exactly what Gilman experienced when she tried to express her desire for independence. Gilman expressed her emotional and psychological feelings of rejection from society for thinking freely in ?The Yellow Wallpaper?, which is a reaction to the fact that it was against the grain of society for women to pursue intellectual freedom or a career in the late 1800's. Her taking Dr. S. Weir Mitchell's ?rest cure? was the result of the pressures of these prevalent social values. Charlotte Gilman was born on July 3, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut in a family boasting a list of revolutionary thinkers, writers. And intermarriages among them were, as Carol Berkin put it, ?in discrete confirmation of their pride in association? (18). One fact that catches our attention is that, either from the inbreeding, or from the high intellectual capacity of the family, there was a long sting of disorders ranging from ?manic-depressive illness? to nervous breakdowns including suicide and short term hospitalizations (Lane, To Herland 110). Harriet Beecher Stowe, Gilman's aunt, also complained about this illness. When writing to a friend, Beecher said, ?My mind is exhausted and seems to be sinking into deadness? (Lane, TO Herland 111). She felt this way for years and did not recover from so many breakdowns until finding ?real release in her writing? of Uncle Tom's Cabin (Lane, To Herland 111). And Catherine Beecher, another famous writer and lecturer at that time, was also sent to the same sanitarium for nervous disorders. As Gilman came from a family of such well known feminists and revolutionaries, it is without a doubt that she grew up with the idea that she had the right to be treated as anyone, whether man or woman. Not only did this strong background affect her viewpoint about things, it also affected her relations with her husband and what role she would play in that relationship. From the beginning of her marriage, she struggled with the idea of conforming to the domestic model for women. Upon repeated proposals from Stetson, her husband, Gilman tried to ?lay bare her torments and reservations? about getting married (Lane, To Herland 85). She claimed that ?her thoughts, her acts, her whole life would be centered on husband and children. To do the work she needed to do, she must be free? (Lane, To Herland 85). Gilman was so scared of this idea because she loved her work and she loved freedom, though she also loved her husband very much. ?After a long period of uncertainty and vacillation? she married Charles Stetson at 24 (Lane, Introduction x). Less than a year later, however, ?feelings of ?nervous exhaustion' immediately descended upon Gilman, and she became a ?mental wreck'? (Ceplair 17). In that period of time, she wrote many articles on ?women caught between families and careers and the need for women to have

hamlet analysis free essay sample

Hamlet Analysis Report It is debatable whether or not Hamlet is one of the greatest dramatic characters ever made. The moment we are introduced to Hamlet, many readers can recognize his intensity and the passion that he possesses. Hamlet holds many negative qualities such as indecisiveness, hate, obsession, brutality, and spontaneity. Regardless of these negative qualities, Hamlet is still the tragic hero and the Prince of Denmark. On the other hand, he has remarkable qualities that a hero should have such as bravery, passion, loyalty, respect, cautiousness, and dedication. We can see all of his qualities throughout this tragic play, but when we are introduced to him, we are given such a mysterious impression and it sets the tone for the play. In this report, I would like to analyze and talk about three of his qualities which I thought stood out the most: his indecisiveness, cautiousness, and madness. The first quality that I would like to talk about and analyze is his indecisiveness. We will write a custom essay sample on hamlet analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When Hamlet had received the news that King Hamlet had died and his mother, Gertrude, had married the new king Claudius, his uncle, Hamlet is disgusted, cynical, and full of hatred. While everyone has gone on with their lives after King Hamlet’s death, Hamlet is still left to think and doubt about his father’s death. Gertrude tells Hamlet, â€Å"Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know’st ‘tis common—all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity† (I.ii. 71-73), and Claudius says to Hamlet, â€Å"To give these mourning duties to your father, But you must know your father lost a father, That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound† (I.ii 88-90). Hamlets pain and misery is then more deepened because those around him are not mourning but quick to move on. Although Gertrude and Claudius have said those things, Hamlet is surely more hurt by the fact that his mother had married her brother-in-law within a short peri od of time after the Kings death. We cannot blame Hamlet for this emotion that he feels, for anyone in his situation would be disgusted and feel the same way that he does. Hamlet is then left to reminisce about his father on how much he had loved her queen, â€Å"But two months dead, nay, not o much, not two. So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother, that he might not beteem the winds of heaven visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth, Must I remember†¦?† (I.ii 138-143). Hamlet is then  disgusted by the thought of his mother, and women in general, which affects his feelings towards Ophelia as well. Later on in the play, the turning point, Hamlet is faced with a ghost who claims to be the ghost of his father. This ghost describes to Hamlet who he is and what has truly happened. Everybody had known that King Hamlet had died by a poisonous snake in his garden, but the truth is that, â€Å"The serpent that did sting thy father’s life now wears his crown† (I.v 38-39). Hamlet carefully observes and listens to what the Ghost says and is later left with a bewildered attitude. The Ghost continually tempts and persuades Hamlet to take revenge for his father and kill Claudius. From here on out, we are left to see Hamlet contemplating on whether or not what the Ghost said was true or whether or not he has to kill his uncle. We are already left with an image that Hamlet has a grudge toward Claudius and after meeting the Ghost, Hamlet is now left t o think whether he should take revenge or not. In Act III Scene IV, Claudius is kneeling down and praying. Hamlet is deciding whether or not he should kill the king right then and there but is constantly unable to make up his mind. Even if he were to take revenge right now, the king was praying, so by killing him, he would be send him to heaven. Hamlet shows his cautiousness in this scene, which I will be talking about later. Hamlet is constantly thinking about the â€Å"what ifs† while watching Claudius pray. Hamlet says, â€Å"I his sole son do this same villain send to heaven. Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge† at one point, then is left to reconsider, â€Å"†¦And am I then revenged to take him in the purging of his soul, when he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No.†(III.iv 77-78, 84-87). Hamlet decides to kill Claudius another day, but is left with an uncomfortable mind to kill him when he is in the act of doing wrong deeds and when he is positive that Claudius had killed his father. Another quality that stands out for Hamlet is that he is extremely cautious and intellectual. When Hamlet first receives the news that King Hamlet had died, he returns home to find evidence of his father’s inexplicable death. Although the ghost tells Hamlet that Claudius had murdered his father, Hamlet seeks to prove Claudius’ guilt before taking any action against Claudius. Some may say he overuses his intelligence while ignoring his emotions and going with his instinct. This is what causes Hamlet to hold back on taking revenge against Claudius. Also, when Hamlet first encounters the ghost, his sight is telling him that what  he is seeing is not possible, but his emotions think otherwise. â€Å"Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death, have burst their cerements† (I.iv 47-48). Hamlet is then careful with his actions and thinks things through because he knows the value of having the accurate facts; otherwise, he may unreasonably kill his uncle and have to deal with the consequences. He then later plans a play for actors to re-enact the king’s murder, which the ghost had told him, to prove and actually believe what the ghost had said. At one point in the play, Hamlet considers about committing suicide saying these famous lines â€Å"To be or not to be, that is the question: whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (III.i 57-58). Hamlet begins to realize that his anxiety and pressures cause him to doubt that reason alone can solve his problems. He also realizes that he lacks the emotion to avenge his father’s death. However, Hamlet connects both his emotion and reason and avoids his temptation to commit suicide. Hamlet shows us that he is strong by making the decision to stay alive and fight Claudius’ corruption. Although he chooses to stay alive and revenge his father, he still lacks the motivation to actually kill Claudius. In Act IV, Hamlet meets a captain who works under Fortinbras. The captain tells Hamlet of the deeds they do, and Hamlet is shocked that his armies go to war over a â€Å"little patch of ground† (IV.iv 18). Hamlet is shocked that Fortinbras would sacrifice many soldiers to conquer a little patch of ground, whereas, Hamlet is struggling on killing one man with good reason. Hamlet realizes he was blinded by his intellect and seems to be impressed by Fortinbras who quick ly turns thought into action, and from then on, Hamlet decides to have bloody thoughts. â€Å"†¦O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!† (IV.v 65-66). In addition, another scene where Hamlet demonstrates his carefulness is when he sacrifices his love for Ophelia because he was determined to seek revenge for his father. Although he makes this decision, he had still kept her close and his actions had led to unfortunate events of making Ophelia go crazy and kill herself. The last quality I would like to talk about is Hamlets insanity. The events at the beginning of the play are enough to drive anyone mad, not only because his father has passed away, but his mother had married the brother of King Hamlet. In the beginning, Hamlet pretends to be mad so that he can gain details about his father’s death and not be responsible for his actions. He is using his fake insanity as an excuse. With Hamlets grief,  he cannot control himself and then later, his intentional insanity is slowly becoming habitual. Like stated above, Hamlet even has thoughts of committing suicide because he cannot endure it anymore. While acting insane, Hamlet, who loves Ophelia, is forbidden by Ophelia’s father to see her. Hamlets insanity and rude behavior towards Ophelia is all a part of Hamlets plan. Hamlet wishes for Ophelia to tell Polonius, Ophelia’s father, that Hamlet has gone mad so that Polonius can go to Gertrude and Claudius and tell them that Hamlet has gone mad. At first, Hamlets madness is viewed as harmless and is thought to have been caused by the problems that are present. However, when Hamlet murders Polonius on accident thinking it was Claudius, Hamlets madness is viewed differently. In Act IV scene II, Claudius says, â€Å"This mad young man. But so much was our love, we would not understand what was most fit but, like the owner of a foul disease†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (IV.ii 19-21). Hamlets madness is now viewed as a â€Å"foul disease†. Hamlet’s insanity slowly becomes less intended. He beings to act irresponsibly with no thought about any consequences. It seems to us that he does not care about anyone at all. He treats those important to him as if they mean nothing to him. For example, Hamlet talks down to Ophelia and tells her he does not love her anymore and also Hamlet offends Gertrude and we know this because Gertrude says, â€Å"What have I done that thou dar’st wag thy tongue in noise so rude against me?† (III.iv 40-41). This was when Hamlet had killed Polonius on accident thinking it was the king. Gertrude and Hamlet are arguing when Hamlet hears a man behind the â€Å"arras† and murders him without any hesitation. We are now shown a new and changed Hamlet, he is not the man we were introduced to in the beginning of the play: respectful, responsible and gentle, but the new and mad Hamlet is impulsive, cruel, and violent. When Hamlet finds out that Ophelia had died, this is when we all assume and know that Hamlet really loses it. His plot to revenge his father had only hurt and killed those around him directly and indirectly. Hamlet murders Polonius, which lead to Ophelia’s suicide. Laertes, Polonius’ son, is also upset about Hamlet killing his father, so he plans against Hamlet, which leads to his own death, as well as Hamlets own death, Gertrude’s death, and Claudius’ death. We are given many interpretations of Hamlets madness, and I believe that it is up to the reader’s to interpret Hamlets insanity as they see it. We are told that his madness is purposeful actions and true insanity, but we are  not fully aware of what it actually is. What all started off as Hamlet planning to kill Claudius and revenge his father, ends up as Hamlet killing himself and those around him. One may argue that Hamlets indecisiveness, cautiousness, and madness are what added up to get himself and those important around him killed, but those three qualities are what stood out and made Hamlet in to the tragedy play it is. Hamlet Analysis free essay sample Ghost appears and then leaves Horatio decides to tell Hamlet about the ghost He tells Hamlet about the ghost Hamlet decides that he wants to see the ghost Hamlet sees the ghost Hamlet follows the ghost Ghost tells Hamlet about his death Hamlet decides to get more information / prove what the ghost was saying before doing anything about it Hamlet swears his friends to secrecy about what the ghost said and about his plans to act crazy in order to get more information Offstage trigger – Hamlet acting crazy with Ophelia) Ophelia tells Polonius that Hamlet has gone crazy Polonius concludes that this is because Hamlet loves Ophelia Polonius decides to tell this reasoning to Claudius (side track 1– Claudius tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to figure out what is afflicting Hamlet) Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude that Hamlet is crazy because of Ophelia Polonius speaks to Hamlet and decides to plan a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia (side track 1 – Rosencrantz and Guildenstern speak with Hamlet and tell him of the players) side track 1 – Hamlet decides to use the players to weed out the truth from Claudius) (side track 1 – Hamlet asks Polonius to have the Claudius and Gertrude watch the play) Hamlet meets Ophelia while Claudius and Polonius hide and listen Hamlet says he doesn’t love Ophelia Polonius and Claudius decide there must be another reason for Hamlet’s madness and plan to figure out what it is by watching him (side track 1 – Hamlet speaks with the players to make sure everything is going to go exactly the way he has planned it) side track 1 – Hamlet asks Horatio to watch the king during the play) (side track 2 – the players enact the Murder of Gonzago) (side track 2 – Hamlet comments on the play) (side track 2a – Claudius rises and leaves mid-play, very upset, along with Gertrude , who is also upset) (side tracks 1 2a converge – Hamlet and Horatio decide that because of Claudius’ reaction to the play, the ghost was telling the truth) (side track 1 – Hamlet decides to take violent action) (side track 2b – Gertrude asks to speak with Hamlet) side track 2b – Hamlet agrees to speak with Gertrude, and sends Polonius to tell her so) (side track 2c – Claudius plans to send Hamlet to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern because he is becoming a danger) Polonius decides to hide and listen to Hamlet and Gertrude (side track 2b – Hamlet is on his way to speak to Gertrude and sees Claudius ‘praying’) (side track 2b – Hamlet decides not to kill him then because he would go to heaven) (side track 2b – Hamlet decides to go on and talk to Gertrude) Polonius hides when Hamlet enters side track 2b – Hamlet speaks with Gertrude, then hears a noise) Polonius makes a noise Main thread and side tracks 1 2b converge – Hamlet stabs Polonius and kills him Hamlet takes Polonius’ body Gertrude tells Claudius about Hamlet’s actions Claudius sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find where Hamlet put Polonius’ body Rosencrantz and Guildenstern talk to Hamlet and bring him back to talk with Claudius Main thread and side track 2c converge – Claudius talks with Hamlet and officially sends him to England (to be killed) side track 3 – Fortinbras is passing through Denmark and speaks to Hamlet) (side track 3a – Hamlet decides that he is not giving up – ‘my thoughts be bloody†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢) (side track 4 – Ophelia has gone crazy) (side track 5 – Laertes gets back, learns of Polonius’ death, and blames Claudius) (side track 5 – Laertes confronts Claudius) (side track 5 – Claudius tells Laertes that Polonius’ death was not his doing) Offstage trigger – pirates attack Hamlet’s ship Offstage trigger – pirates take Hamlet prisoner and return him to England Main thread and side track 3a converge Horatio hears news of Hamlet’s return (side track 5 – Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet was the cause of Polonius’ death) (side track 5 – Claudius tells Laertes that he has a plan to kill Hamlet) (side track 5 – Laertes asks to be the instrument of Hamlet’s death) (side track 5 – Claudius plans for Laertes and Hamlet to duel, Laertes with a poison- tipped sword, and adding a poisoned drink, just in case, to ensure Hamlet’s death) (side track 4 – Gertrude says that Ophelia has drowned herself) Main thread and side track 4 converge Horatio and Hamlet meet in the graveyard and learn of Ophelia’s death, and see Laertes jumping into the grave Hamlet also jumps into the grave and accuses Laertes of putting on a show of emotion Hamlet and Laertes scuffle then are pulled apart Hamlet feels bad for accusing Laertes the way he did and scuffling with him Hamlet agrees to do whatever Laertes wishes of him (side track 5 – Osric come to tell Hamlet of the proposed duel between him and Laertes) Main thread and side track 5 converge – Hamlet agrees to duel Laertes Hamlet and Laertes begin to duel Claudius poisons a cup and plans to offer it to Hamlet Hamlet refuses the cup and continues dueling (side track 6 – to cheer on Hamlet, Gertrude drinks from the poisoned cup) Hamlet gets scratched by the poisoned rapier Hamlet and Laertes scuffle and switch rapiers Laertes gets scratched by the poisoned rapier (side track 6 – Gertrude dies) Main thread and side track 6 converge – Laertes says that Claudius poisoned the cup, and that the rapier-tip was poisoned, then he dies Hamlet realizes that he is dying and that he now has the excuse to kill Claudius Hamlet stabs Claudius and makes him drink of the cup Claudius dies Hamlet entreats Horatio to tell the story of their deaths, then dies (side track 3b – Fortinbras is returning through Denmark and happens upon the scene) main thread and side track 3b converge – Horatio plans to tell Fortinbras et. We will write a custom essay sample on Hamlet Analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page al. the story of what happened, and Fortinbras plans to take his claim over the country Part II: Events Tracked Backward for Hamlet†¦ Hamlet†¦ Stops Horatio from drinking the poisoned cup Tells Horatio to be the messenger – to tell everyone his story Kills Claudius Scratches, and therefore kills Laertes with the poisoned rapier Gets scratched by Laertes with the poisoned rapier Taunts Laertes at the moment when Laertes is considering not killing him And Laertes begin the gentlemen’s duel Agrees to duel Laertes Resolves that whatever will be will be, and feels bad for Laertes Insults Laertes in Ophelia’s grave Jumps into Ophelia’s grave Talks to Horatio about death Sees the grave diggers Returns from the ship bound for England Ship gets attacked by pirates Leaving for England, but is not going to give up Banished by Claudius Hides Polonius’ body Kills Polonius Talks with Gertrude Decides not to kill Claudius while he is praying (appears to be praying) Agrees to talk with Gertrude Accuses Guildenstern of playing him like a recorder Discusses Claudius’ reaction to the play with Horatio Adds commentary to the play Flirts with Ophelia Asks Horatio to mark how Claudius reacts to the play Tells the players to act exactly as he has instructed them Tells Ophelia to ‘get to a nunnery’ and says that he doesn’t love her Decides to use the players to get the truth from Claudius about his father’s murder Hears of the players from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (offstage? acts crazy toward Ophelia to the point of frightening her Swears his friends to secrecy about the ghost and the way he is going to act Plans to learn whether the ghost was telling the truth, or just a demon playing games Learns from the ghost that he was murdered Speaks to the ghost Follows the ghost Sees the ghost Hears of the ghost Part III: Stasis, Intrusion, New Stasis†¦ Stasis: Claudius has married Gertrude and become king after his brother, the previous king, died. Hamlet, the son of Gertrude and the previous king, is still upset about his father’s death. Intrusion: The appearance of the ghost New Stasis: The majority of the characters are dead, and Horatio is asked to tell their story as Fortinbras becomes the new king Part IV: Dramatic Conflict for Hamlet and Claudius†¦ Hamlet ~ Individual versus self: Hamlet gets down on himself for not being able to take immediate action or to react as strongly / emotionally as characters like the player and Fortinbras. Individual versus others / individuals: Hamlet has obvious conflict with Claudius, who he believes killed his father. He also has some physical ‘conflict’ with Laertes. Individual versus society: Hamlet cannot simply kill Claudius because he has to consider how society would react to that if they did not know what Claudius had done initially. Individual versus the universe / nature / fate It becomes Hamlet’s duty to avenge his father’s death. Claudius ~ Individual versus self: Claudius appears to show guilt about murdering his brother (shown when he wishes to pray but is unable to) Individual versus others / individuals: Claudius’s first conflict with an individual was before the play started, and that was with his brother, the king. Once he ‘won’ that conflict, his new conflict became the one between himself and Hamlet Jr. He was afraid that Hamlet knew too much and / or that he would try to take the throne back from him. Individual versus society: If the people in that society knew what Claudius had done, there would have been much more conflict between them and him, but as it was, their only real conflict was that Claudius couldn’t take Hamlet to them to be punished for Polonius’ death, essentially because they liked him too much. Individual versus the universe / nature / fate

How to Write an Essay on a Teacher

How to Write an Essay on a Teacher It’s a rather complicated task to write an essay on a teacher because only a few people can really understand how difficult and challenging this profession is. A teacher should not only be an expert in teaching but also to be ready to face various problems and cope with them. A good teacher does everything possible to create a comfortable atmosphere at a class that can stimulate students’ creativity and thinking. How to Start? The most important thing is to find a topic that can provoke discussions. That shouldn’t be just â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† issues. It must let people agree or disagree with the author. In addition, it should be not only provocative but specified as well. It’s better to avoid too general statements and keep to the problem which one can support with solid and trustworthy evidence, facts, and statistics. For example, the topic may sound like â€Å"What Type of Teacher Do Contemporary Students Need: Authoritative, Liberal or Democratic?† Different parents think differently. Such a topic can make people participate in debates trying to prove their point of view. The Next Step Is a Proper Structure Each academic assignment has a required structure. An essay should include an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction presents the problem and explains its nature and/or possible solution. There should be also a thesis statement in the introductory part. For example, â€Å"Today, more and more teachers prefer the democratic way of teaching to the authoritative one. As a result, students become uncontrolled and start losing interest in their study.† A writer should also strike the reader from the very beginning using rhetorical questions, citations, analogies, anecdotes, captivating stories, etc. The body is the largest part of the essay because it includes the whole information on the topic in details. The research is to be thorough and correspond with the chosen topic. The conclusion sums everything up and can give the idea for further research of the problem. This part of the essay should also be impressive. When the first and the last words hit the target auditory, the whole essay will have a chance to get A+. For example, â€Å"It doesn’t matter what type of teaching a teacher chooses. If a person is really good at teaching, students will be inspired with hope, lit with rich fancy, and infused with love to learning.† Other Things to Mention When dealing with academic writing a person should pay attention to each detail. A student must learn all the requirements and follow them. There are different writing styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), and each of them needs some specific spacing, font and its size, the arrangement of the bibliography section, footnotes, title page, and a number of other details. It’s also necessary to sound logical and avoid making grammar mistakes. Each part of the essay must support the main idea of the paper and there must be a logical connection between them. One should also arrange appendix and supporting materials if necessary.

Website Review of SAAMI Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Website Review of SAAMI - Assignment Example This page also has a number of highlights on key events and activities held by the institution with relation to the usage and management of firearms. In the â€Å"Who we are† link, the website explores the technical committees involved, the legal and legislative aspects, the regulatory affairs, the international and issues related to the United Nations. It also explores the inner issues about SAAMI, as well as its strategic goals, which include increasing its public visibility as experts within the field, publication of pertinent policies and standards about SAAMI, creation of a platform or forum for introducing appropriate new policies and standard and maintenance of technically correct standards relating to performance, terminology, safety and interchangeability. In addition, another strategic goal of the institution is to become the leading institution in the global technical resource, especially in relation to issues pertaining to manufacturers of ammunition and firearms. The mission of this institution is to promulgate and create performance, technical, as well as safety standards governing the commerce in firearms, c omponents, and ammunition. Under the information and specifications, â€Å"info and spec† link, the site explores various issues among them cartridge and chamber drawings, news designs and revisions, SAAMI and ANSI standards, publications, videos, product manuals, glossary, recoil formulae and lead mobility. Each section under this category provides in-depth information and analysis regarding the factor under scrutiny. As such, every new user of firearms gets a great tonnage of information from this site. The â€Å"Member Companies† link explores the different members and independent organization that form part of the company.

Personal Statement for LSE MSc Finance Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

For LSE MSc Finance - Personal Statement Example My decision to study mathematics in my undergraduate level was motivated by the fact that I always had a flair for the subject. I always regarded mathematics highly as its knowledge is also applied in other subjects such as physics and chemistry. I like solving mathematical problems that the subject provides. For me, mathematics is quite fascinating as it seems boundless and as such allows considerable choice for additional research. My main objective of studying the subject was, therefore, to learn to think and look at things differently, from a different angle than people doing degrees in humanities. While pursuing my undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburg, my mathematical skills have been modelled in a way that I am now in a position to see many things from a mathematical perspective. Some of the courses that have had a significant impact in my mathematical career growth include financial mathematics, Stochastic Modelling and Introduction to Number Theory. I am also doing a project at the moment that stochastically analyses are queuing at call centres. Having almost completed all the branches of the syllabus, I believe I am well-rounded and ready to further my education by pursuing Master of Science degree in finance. Throughout my two final years at the university, my interest in finance and financial analysis was growing each day. I want to get an opportunity to study at one of the greatest universities in UK and worldwide. We are living in a world that, unlike before, continues to experience unprecedented financial and economic meltdown. The recent crises in the global markets and the effects of globalization especially in emerging markets have necessitated a deeper understanding of the subject of finance. This is largely because through the finance knowledge; we can be able to build more robust systems and

W 5 OIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

W 5 OIS - Essay Example At the organizational level, the lack of synchronization of the information systems with the larger organizational structure has often been a problem. An example of this is an information system that is introduced with no changes in organizational hierarchy and structure, creating conflict of roles among various departments of the organization. At the individual level Holladay and Coombs (2013) identified lack of training as the major problem that pull companies away from realizing their information technological investment ambition. This is because the comings of such investments, most of which are information systems demand very high level of training that would ensure that users are comfortable operating the various user interfaces of the systems. Once such training is absent, then it can be expected that efficiency of workers can even be worse than it was before. As far as technological factors are concerned, most organizations refuse to undertake adequate monitoring and evaluation of their information technology investment, making it impossible to adequately undertake system repairs and updating. Meanwhile, the malfunctioning of systems that arise from poor monitoring and replacement of parts can lead to several cases and instances of system mistakes, some of which can lead to adverse cases of errors (Howell and Frost ,

Effect of Violent Video Games on Self-Perception

Effect of Violent Video Games on Self-Perception In their 50th  volume, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology published an article named â€Å"Intense acts of violence during video game play make daily life aggression appear innocuous: A new mechanism why violent video games increase aggression† in which scientists examined the effects of violent video game play on perception of aggression regarding both the actions of one’s self as well as the actions of others, and how these altered perceptions of aggression can then lead to increased aggression in the subjects. In the first experiment the subjects played either a neutral or a violent video game and then were asked to answer questions regarding theoretical aggressive actions taken by the subject or another person. These questions gauged how seriously and how aggressive the subjects considered certain actions, such as shouting or shoving, to be when performed by others or themselves. The second experiment aimed to both reaffirm the findings of the first and further prove that decreased sensitivity to aggressive actions can directly result in an increased level of aggression in the subjects who played violent video games. The subjects again played either a violent or neutral video game, but after the video game, they were asked to decide how much chili sauce another participant would have to consume in a separate experiment. The subjects were told that there was a separate experiment and that the scientist could not choose how much chili to give the subjects in order to prevent bias. The subjects of the original experiment were informed that the subjects of the other, â€Å"fake† study did not like spice, and that they would likely not enjoy the chili. Experiment one proved to be a relative success, but also provided more questions than answers when it was shown that violent video games affect self-perception significantly harder than perception of others. As predicted, subjects who played violent video games rated behaviors as less aggressive than the control group, furthermore playing the violent video game also led to more negative mood scores. Interestingly enough, playing the violent video game did not have a statistically significant impact on the perceived aggression of theoretical actions performed by people other than themselves. In other words, playing violent video games caused subjects to perceive less aggression in their own actions but not in the actions of others. In the second experiment, the hypothesis was again supported as those who had previously played the violent video game chose to administer higher quantities of chili to who they thought were study participants that did not like spice. Essentially it was sho wn that playing a violent video game led to decreased scrutiny regarding the aggressiveness of one’s own actions and as a result led to the subjects subconsciously choosing to cause more discomfort to another person than they might have if they hadn’t played a violent video game. All in all the experiments proved to be a success, the first experiment provided sound reason to believe that playing violent video games leads to a decrease in the self-perceived aggression of our own actions, and the second experiment provided proof that a decrease in self-perceived aggression could translate into an unconscious increase in the aggression of our own actions. It seems that violent video games may have an adverse effect after all, as this study stands as evidence that playing violent video games can influence a person to regard their own aggression with less gravity and in turn act with more aggression towards other, whether they are aware of it or not.

Basic Syntactic Notions

S Y N T A X LECTURE 6 BASIC SYNTACTIC NOTIONS 1. Some approaches to the study of syntactic units. The central role of syntax within theoretical linguistics became clear only in the 20th century, which some scholars call the â€Å"century of syntactic theory† as far as linguistics is concerned. Nowadays theoretical approaches to the discipline of syntax are numerous and extremely diverse. One school of thought treats syntax as a branch of biology, since it conceives of syntax as the study of linguistic knowledge as embodied in the human mind.Other linguists regard syntax to be the study of an abstract formal system. Yet others consider syntax to be a taxonomical device to reach broad generalizations across languages. One more school of thought approaches syntactic phenomena from the philosophical point of view proceeding from the idea that reality consists of things, their qualities and relationships. Hence, the subdivision of words by the parts of speech and the treatment of s yntactic problems as philisophic processes. The hypothesis of generative grammar is that language is a structure of the human mind.The goal of generative grammar is to make a complete model of this inner language (known as i-language). This model could be used to describe all human language and to predict the grammaticality of any given utterance (that is, to predict whether the utterance would sound correct to native speakers of the language). This approach to language was pioneered by Noam Comsky. Most generative theories (although not all of them) assume that syntax is based upon the constituent structure of sentences. Generative grammars are among the theories that focus primarily on the form of a sentence, rather than its communicative function.Among the many generative theories of linguistics, the Chomskyan theories are: Transformational Grammar (TG) (Original theory of generative syntax laid out by Chomsky in Syntactic Structures in 1957 ; Government and binding theory (GB) ( revised theory in the tradition of TG developed mainly by Chomsky in the 1970s and 1980s); Minimalist program (MP) (a reworking of the theory out of the GB framework published by Chomsky in 1995) Categorial grammar is an approach that attributes the syntactic structure not to rules of grammar, but to the properties of the syntactic categories themselves.For example, rather than asserting that sentences are constructed by a rule that combines a noun phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP) (e. g. the phrase structure rule S > NP VP), in categorial grammar, such principles are embedded in the category of the head word itself. So the syntactic category for an intransitive verb is a complex formula representing the fact that the verb acts as a functor which requires an NP as an input and produces a sentence level structure as an output. This complex category is regarded as † a category that searches to the left for a NP (the element on the left) and outputs a sentence (the element on th e right)†.The category of transitive verb is defined as an element that requires two NPs (its subject and its direct object) to form a sentence. Dependency grammar regards structure as determined by the relations (such as grammatical relations) between a word (a head) and its dependents, rather than being based in constituent structure. For example, syntactic structure is described in terms of whether a particular noun is the subject or agent of the verb, rather than describing the relations in terms of phrases. Stochastic/probabilistic grammars/network theories These are theoretical approaches to syntax based upon probability theory.They are known as stochastic grammars. One common implementation of such an approach makes use of a neural network or connectionism. Some theories based within this approach are: Optimality theory and Stochastic context-free grammar. Functionalist grammars are functionalist theories, which (though focused upon form) are driven by explanation based upon the function of a sentence (i. e. its communicative function). Some typical functionalist theories include: Funtionalist grammar; Prague Linguistic Circle; Systemic functional grammar; Cognitive grammar; Construction grammar; Role and reference grammar; Emergent grammar Constructional Syntax.Constructional analysis of syntactic units was initiated by Prof. G. Pocheptsov (1971). The analysis deals with the constructional significance/insignificance of a part of the sentence for the whole syntactic unit. The theory is based on the obligatory or optional environment of syntactic elements. For example, the element him in the sentence / saw him there yesterday is constructionally significant because it is impossible to omit it. At the same time the elements there and yesterday are constructionally insignificant – they can be omitted without destroying the whole structure.Communicative Syntax. It is primarily concerned with the analysis of utterances from the point of their c ommunicative value and informative structure. It deals with the actual division of the utterance – the theme and rheme analysis. Both the theme and the rheme constitute the informative structure of utterances. Pragmatic approach to the study of syntactic units can briefly be described as the study of the way language is used in particular contexts to achieve particular goals. Speech Act Theory was first introduced by John Austin.The notion of a speech act presupposes that an utterance can be said with different intentions or purposes and therefore can influence the speaker and situation in different ways: I just state the fact; Textlinguistics studies the text as a syntactic unit, its main features and peculiarities, different ways of its analysis. Discourse analysis focuses on the study of language use with reference to the social and psychological factors that influence communication. 2. Some concrete methods of syntactic analysis.The most commonly applied concrete methods of syntactic analysis seem to be the IC and transformational procedures. The method of IC is based on the idea that sentences have a hierarchic structure consisting of a number of layers. It is assumed that parts of a sentence are combined with each other according to strict rules. If we want to know how a sentence is built we must separate its units or constituents. Hence the notion of immediate constituents /IC/. Immediate constituents are those parts of a sentence that we arrive at after dividing it into two (the first step).Those parts or IC may, in their turn, be divided into further parts until the actual place of each word in the structure of the sentence as a whole has been established. (e. g. The old man saw a black dog there. S – sentence P – phrase N- noun V – verb t – article p – preposition A – adjective D – adverb) The method of IC is very helpful in syntactical analysis. But it has certain limitations. Sentences in whic h the relations between words are considerably different despite identical surface structures get in the IC model quite similar interpretations. Compare the sentences: John is eager to please and John is easy to please. In the former the relations between John and eager are of a subjective character, while in the latter John and easy stand in an objective relation to each other. By applying the method of IC we cannot establish formally the existing difference. It is because the structures of these sentences are analyzed separately from the structures of other sentences. The tansformational method is aimed at overcoming the demerits of the method of IC.The Transformational grammar was first suggested by American scholar Zelling Harris as a method of analyzing sentences and was later elaborated by another American scholar Noam Chomsky as a synthetic method of ‘generating’ (constructing) sentenceswhich is why the theory is also called â€Å"generative grammar†. The fundamental ideas underlying this method are as follows. Every language has a very small number of sentence patterns called kernel or basic sentences. All the variety of sentences which can exist in that language are derived or generated from these kernel sentences by derivation rules.Grammarians have made attempts at setting up a list of patterns that could be regarded as kernel sentences. It is interesting to point out that the number of these is essentially different in various books. Transformational grammar makes a fundamental distinction between two types of sentences: kernel sentences and transforms. The latter are derived from the former. Transformational grammar traces the derivational history of a sentence by establishing what is called its â€Å"depth structure†. It thus shows why sentences having similar surface structures convey different structural meanings.The differences in meaning can be formally explained applying the transformational method. Z. Harris set u p the following list of kernel sentences: NV(John came); NVpN (John looked at Mary); NVN(John saw Mary); N is N (John is a teacher); N is p N (/John is in bed); N is D (John is here); N is A (John is angry) The above sentence â€Å"The old man saw a dog there† can be interpreted as the transform of the following three kernel sentences:The man saw a dog there. The man was old. The dog was black. (The man who was old saw a dog that was black. ( The old man saw a black dog there.The ambiguity of the sentence â€Å"Flying planes can be dangerous†, is easily explained by the following transformational procedure: To fly planes is dangerous. He can fly planes. ( Flying planes can be dangerous. Planes can be dangerous. Planes fly. ( Flying planes can be dangerous. Only by transformation can we explain why phrases of the N`sN type denote different relations as in John’s arrival and John’s trial, the former being a transform of the kernel sentence John arrives and the latter having a different derivational history: X triesJohn ( John is tried ( John’s trial.S. Porter reduces the number of kernel sentences to three: â€Å"All simple sentences belong to one of three types: A) The sun warms the earth; B) The sun is a star; C) The sun is bright; As an argument S. Porter adds: â€Å"Word order is changeless in A) and B), but not in C). Even in sober prose a man may say â€Å"Bright is the sun†. The sentences derived fromsuch kernel sentences are words or combination words added to the kernel ones in accordance with their combinability so as to make the communication as complete as the speaker wishes.Thus, the kernel sentence â€Å"Boys play† can be quite independent. But this sentence can be extended by realizing the combinability of the noun â€Å"boys† and the verb â€Å"play† into â€Å"The three noisy boys play boisterous upstairs†. We can develop the sentence into a still more extended one. But one should bear in mind that the rules of combinability have to be observed for the sentence to be valid. It should also be stressed that there are rules of grammatical and lexical combinability as well as stylistic ones.The combination of words will be ungrammatical if we put together â€Å"boys plays†, instead of â€Å"boys play† or â€Å"the fish shouted† instead of â€Å"the boy shouted†. 3 The Subject Matter of Syntax Words by themselves do not, as a rule, make up complete units of speech, in order to become such units, they must get combined with one another in the framework of linguistic items of a higher rank. These are the sentence and the phrase. As a whole, they make up the syntactical structure of a language.From the point of view of Structural Grammar syntax is the part of grammar that studies the laws in accordance with which words become phrases, and sentences. Hence, syntax is the part of grammar that investigates the syntactical structure of a language. It treats of both phrases and sentences which, though belonging to different levels of language structure, are closely connected with each other. The traditional definition of syntax was extended by Prof. L. S. Barkhudarov who states that syntax has also to investigate phenomena lying on a still higher level, namely the level on which sentences combine into groups of sentences.Considering the fact that syntax studies the way words and phrases are combined into phrases, sentences and texts some scholars define syntax as the science which studies the types of formal and semantic relations within word combinations, sentences, supra-phrasal unities and texts. The syntactic language level can be described with the help of special linguistic terms and notions: syntactic unit, syntactic form, syntactic meaning, syntactic function, syntactic position, and syntactic relations. Syntactic unit is always a combination that has at least two constituents.The basic syntactic units are a word-group, a clause, a sentence, and a text. Their main features are: they are hierarchical units (the units of a lower level serve the building material for the units of a higher level); as all language units the syntactic units are of two-fold nature (the content side – the syntactic meaning of a syntactic unit- being opposed to the expression side -the syntactic form of a syntactic unit); they are of communicative and non-communicative nature (word-groups and clauses are of non-communicative nature while sentences and texts are of communicative nature.Syntactic meaning is the way in which separate word meanings are combined to produce meaningful word-groups and sentences. Syntactic form may be described as the distributional formula of the unit (pattern). John hits the ball – N1 + V + N2. Syntactic function is the function of a unit on the basis of which it is included to a larger unit: in the word-group a smart student the word ‘smart’ is in subordi nate attributive relations to the head element. In traditional terms it is used to denote syntactic function of a unit within the sentence (subject, predicate, etc. ).Syntactic position is the position of an element. The order of constituents in syntactic units is of principal importance in analytical languages. The syntactic position of an element may determine its relationship with the other elements of the same unit: his broad back, a back district, to go back, to back sm. Syntactic relations are syntagmatic relations observed between syntactic units. They can be of three types -coordination, subordination and predication. 4 The Phrase Level and the Sentence Level Modern linguistics distinguishes between the phrase level and the sentence level.There exist many definitions of phrases, the difference between them being that one group of scholars hold that phrases consist of only notional words while their opponents think that the constituents of a phrase can be function words (prep ositions, conjunctions, etc. ). Most definitions mention some negative feature characteristic of phrases. Prof. B. A. Ilyish, for instance, terms as phrase â€Å"every combination of two or more words which is a grammatical unit but is not an analytical form of some word. † Prof. L.S. Barkhudarov, on the other hand, defines a phrase as â€Å"a group of syntactically connected notional words being part of a sentence but not being the sentence itself. † We have already mentioned how difficult it is to draw a rigid demarcation line between phrases and analytical forms. As to the borderline between phrases and sentences, it is much easier to establish. The most important feature of a sentence as distinct from a phrase is its intonation. The structure of a phrase is of a very wide and abstract character.While singling out particular types of phrases we do not take into account the lexical meanings of the words or their morphological features. (So, for example, all the group s of words, that follow, can be classed as phrases of the V+N type: writes a letter, has seen the friend, has been giving lessons, having completed the work, etc. ) Since phrases are only parts of sentences, we must assume that there exists a higher level with its own peculiar structure. It is called the sentence level.Irrespective of its linear character (a succession in time or space of morphemes, words, phrases), the sentence has a hierarchic structure. That means that the parts of a sentence are not independent, they can exist as such only in their mutual interrelation. The interdependence of the parts of a sentence is not necessarily reflected in their linear succession. 5. Types of Syntactical Relations; Means of Expression The relations between words within phrases and sentences are not uniform.It is one of the most important tasks of syntax to single out and to define the types of syntactical relations. The universally recognized types of syntactic relations are: subordinati on, coordination and predication. Subordination is the type of syntactical relation under which the function of one part of the phrase coincides with the function of the phrase as a whole. The leading part is called the head of the phrase while the part having a function different from that of the head is called the adjunct of the phrase.Apart from the purely semantic criterion it is quite possible to establish which word is the head by applying the formal procedure of substitution (e. g. â€Å" A young man entered the room†. In this sentence the whole group a young man performs the function of the subject. We may replace the group by the word man: â€Å"A man entered the room†. Hence, the word man is the head of the phrase and young – the adjunct. ) While performing the substitution procedure one should not change the syntactical relations within the sentence as a whole(e. g. He is a young man.He is a man. He is young /wrong/). Coordination is the type of synta ctical relation under which he syntactical function of the whole group coincides with that of its parts. Coordination can also be established by applying the substitution test (Thus, in the sentence â€Å"Boys and girls studied at that school†, the group boys and girls performs the function of the subject. The same function can be performed by either of the words making up the group: â€Å"Boys and girls studied at that school†. â€Å"Boys studied at that school†, â€Å"Girls studied at that school†).Coordinative relations are found in phrases with coordinative conjunctions /but, neither†¦nor/ and also in groups like the poet Byron, my brother the teacher(e. g. The poet Byron lived in Greece. – The poet lived in Greece. – Byron lived in Greece; My brother the teacher got married last year. – My brother got married last year. – The teacher got married last year). Predication is the type of syntactical relation under which t he syntactical function of the group as a whole is different from the functions of each of its components /IC/.The most typical predicative relation is that between the subject and the predicate. This is most distinctly seen in complex sentences such as: â€Å"I hate†¦talking loudly†; â€Å"I knew he had come† None of the IC of the subordinate clauses can be replaced by the clause as a whole. It is impossible to say â€Å"I knew he† or â€Å"I knew had come†. The types of syntactic bonds just described are generally recognized, though not all scholars use the terms given above to designate them.However, these types of syntactic bonds can fail to explain the relation between, for instance, the main predication and the inserted elements in the sentences (â€Å"The boy, as it were, left the house†. â€Å" Interestingly and fortunately for him nobody saw him†). That is why some grammarians consider it also necessary to single out other type s of syntactic relation to cover the cases in question. The number and types of syntactic bonds added to the above given ones varies from author to author and we are not going to dwell on them here.Instead, we shall confine ourselves to presenting the system of syntactic bonds worked out by Prof. Smirnitskiy which will serve as an example. According to him there are four types of syntactic relations in English: 1) the attributive bond characterized by A. I. Smirnitskiy as the closest kind of syntactic relations (we deal with the attributive bond in attributive word combinations or between the attributive subordinate clause and its head in the main clause); 2) the completive bond connecting the predicate and all kinds of objects, objective subordinate clauses.Adverbial subordinate clauses are also said to be connected with the main clause with the help of this kind of bond; 3) the copulative bond connecting homogeneous parts of a sentence, or independent clauses in a compound sentenc e. Parenthesis(or insertions) of all kinds are also regarded as syntactic phenomena introduced into the sentence with the help of this kind of syntactic bond; 4) the predicative bond, which is described as the loosest of all syntactic bonds, establishes the relations between the subject and the predicate.Every language has its peculiar grammatical means that signal different syntactical relations. Like morphemes indicating various forms of words, these may be called syntactical forms for they express syntactical relations. The relations between words in a phrase or a sentence are diverse and multiple. In syntactical analyses we normally avoid mentioning relations which can be ascribed to the lexical meanings of the words (e. g. In the phrases his singing and his hat the semantic relations between the words are different (doer- process, possession) but syntactically we have one and the same relation (subordination).Modern English makes use of the following syntactical means of expres sing syntagmatic relations: Word-order. It is with the help of word-order that we make out the syntactical relations between the words in the following groups: a young man; to read a book; stone wall; Peter sees Mary; etc. Word order may indicate not only that the words stand in some kind of relation to one another but also what kind of relation it is. The forms of the words. This linguistic device has more than often been underestimated by scholars writing on the grammar of English.In the opinion of Prof. A. I. Smirnitskiy, it is just due to their scarcity that the forms of the words acquire an important role in the structure of the sentence or phrase. The importance of the morphological forms can be clearly seen if we compare the following two groups of which only the former is a sentence: He likes them – Him like they. Function words. By these we mean prepositions and conjunctions which show different relations between words (e. g. the poet Byron – the poet after By ron; a poor man – poor and proud). Intonation.Intonation may perform different functions: it helps to distinguish between a phrase and a sentence, it may also indicate different relations between words. LECTURE 7 THE PHRASE 1. Syntactical Classification of Phrases In accordance with the character of syntactic relations existing between the parts of a phrase, these are divided into three large classes: subordinative phrases, coordinative phrases, predicative phrases. This division is based on the definition under which a phrase is understood as a combination of two. or more notional words standing in some syntactical relation to one another' and being . art of a sentence. 2. Formal Relations within a Phrase. The inner relations between the parts of a phrase are expressed formally in some way or other. No uniform classification of these formal devices has not been established so far. Still, the following types of formal syntactical means have been outlined so far: Agreement by which grammarians understand the phenomenon of two or more words having similar morphological forms due to their being connected syntactically. As a rule, the subordinate element adapts its form to that of the word it is subordinated to.Agreement is found in noun phrases with demonstrative pronouns: (this book – these books that house – those houses. ) As to the agreement between the subject and the predicate, it is of a less formal character (e. g. The United States is a country situated in North America. Our group are fond of sports. ) In this respect English is less formal than, say, Russian. In English the subject and the predicate agree with each other semantically rather than formally. This type of connection is called correspondence. Government by which grammarians understand he phenomenon of one of the words in a phrase having some grammatical form conditioned by the word it is subordinate to Government is very common in Russian where even prepositions can requ ire that the nouns following them should stand in a certain case form. As a syntactical device government is rather rare in Modern English. We find it in combinations of the V+In type in which the verb requires that the personal pronoun should have the form of the objective case. The same can be said of p + In and p + whom (see him, invite us, to me, about whom, etc). Adjoining and enclosure.The absence of both agreement and government, termed adjoining, is the most characteristic feature of the syntactical structure of Modern English. Adverbs, for example, are said to be adjoined to verbs and adjectives. Strictly speaking it is not only the actual position of the adjective that helps the hearer or reader to understand what word is modified by the adverb, but in many cases some semantic features have also to be taken into account, for the adverb may be considerably far from the word it is connected with. Modern English makes extensive use of another means of expressing syntactical r elations.It is called en enclosure. A very illustrative example of enclosure is found in word groups like a. fine day, where the article is separated from the noun permitting other words to become syntactically connected with the noun. In this way any word, word group and even whole sentences may become adjuncts of the noun (e. g. The above statement; a big-circulation newspaper; a take-it-or-leave-it tone). 3. 0. Jespersen ‘s Theory of Ranks A very interesting syntactical theory, known as the theory of three ranks. was elaborated by O. Jespersen.According to this theory, there is a certain analogy between the distribution of words into parts of speech and their interrelations in actual speech. Analysing the word group extremely hot weather 0. Jespersen points out that the chief word is defined by another word which in its turn may be defined by a third word, etc. â€Å"We are thus†, he writes, â€Å"led to establish different â€Å"ranks† of words according to their mutual relations as defined defining. † In his example weather is called_the primary, hot – the secondary, extremely – the tertiary In this way one can establish the rank of a word in respect of the other words it is connected with. . Subordinative phrases: noun phrases; verb phrases; adjective phrases; adverb phrases; pronoun phrases. .Subordinative phrases are distinctly different from co-ordinative and predicative phrases. In these phrases we always find parts winch are unequal as regards their syntactical status. The word whose function coincides with the function of the whole_phrase is called the head, and the dependent or subordinate word is called the adjunct. Unlike coordinative phrases subordinative phrases are always binary in structure.That means that irrespective of the actual number of words making up a subordinative phrase it always falls into two immediate constituents. So, for example, the phrase continued to refuse to meet demands for highe r wages, at the initial stage of division into I? falls into two parts: continued and to refuse to meet demands for higher wages. What was the adjunct during the first division, in its turn, falls into the next I?: to refuse and to meet demands for higher wages; the latter also consists of two parts: to meet and demands for higher wages, and so on.The principles of classification of subordinative phrases may be various. They may be classified depending on the part of speech the head of the phrase belongs to. Under this classification the following types of phrases are distinguished: noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, pronoun phrases. The second classification takes into account whether the I? of the phrase consist of one or more than one. notional words. If each I? of the phrase has only one notional_word, the phrase is called simple.If at least one of the I? has_two or more notional_words, the phrase is called complex. We can also distinguish, in this co nnection, between complex phrases with an expanded head and complex phrases with an expanded adjunct , and, finally, there may be phrases in which both the head and the adjunct are expanded. (e. g. The reception of the delegation by the President (a complex phrase with an expanded head) Saw the father of the youth (a complex phrase with an expanded adjunct); The reception of the delegation by the President of the state (a complex phrase in which both the head and the adjunct are expanded).Subordinative phrases may additionally be divided into continuous and discontinuous. This division takes into account the fact whether the I? of the phrase are found in succession or whether they are separated by some word which does not belong to this phrase. (e. g. Slowly, Old Jolyon got up out of the chair – a discontinuous phrase). a. Noun Phrases Noun_phrases are subordinatiye phrases in which the,head is a noun. As regards the mutual positions of the head and its adjunct linguists dist inguish noun phrases with preposed adjuncts and noun phrases with postposed adjuncts.In noun phrases with preposed adjuncts the latter can be expressed by the following classes of words: adjectives, pronouns, numerals, verbs in the form of participle I or participle II, nouns having the ‘s morpheme or without it. To use symbols, these phrases have the following structures: AN (white snow; thick books); laN (this room; his friend); QN (three windows; the second lesson); V-ingN (shouting boys; melting ice); V-enN (written works; corrected mistakes); N'sN (Mary's book; a week's delay); NN (window glass; university team).In noun phrases with postposed adjuncts the following units may be the adjuncts: prepositional groups; adjectives and adjective phrases; verbs in the form of participles and verb phrases in which participles are the heads; verbs in the form of the infinitive and verb phrases in which the infinitive is the head; infinitival and gerundial predicative phrases; noun p hrases; conjunctional groups; adverbs; numerals;subordinate clauses.The patterns noun phrases with postposed adjuncts are: NpN (the title of the book); NpNP (the title of the new book); NpIn (the saving of him); NpV-ing (my reason for coming); NpV-ingP (my reason for coming here). In principle any preposition can be part of a postposed adjunct. Special investigations have shown, however, that the preposition of covers 70% of all occurrences. Postposed adjuncts with adjectives are relatively rare, in this position the occurrence of adjective phrases is much more common: NA (the people present); NAP (a country rich in coal).It should be stressed here that only a limited number of adjectives can be used as postposed adjuncts. They are: the adjective present; adjectives with the suffixes -ible, -able, some adjectives with the prefix a- (afraid, alive). Postposed adjuncts with verbs in various forms are represented by the following types: NV-en (the person addressed); NV-ing (the childre n shouting); NV-enP (the work done by him); NV-ingP (the children shouting in the yard); NtoV (the work to do); NtoVD (the work to do quickly).Postposed adjuncts consisting of predicative phrases are of two kinds: they may have as a head either the infinitive or the ing-form. As a rule, they are introduced by the preposition for (the so-called for-phrases). Here are some of the most frequent patterns: NforNtoV (a book for Tom to read); NforN'sV-ing or NforNV-ing (the reason for Tom's coming; the reason for Tom coming). Each part of the adjunct may get considerably expanded (the reason for poor Tom's coming late;a poem for this little boy to learn by heart).Postposed adjuncts in which nouns are the heads or introduced by the conjunction as are not very frequent in Modern English. They are: NNP (a child the same age); NasN (his life as an artist); NasNP (his life as an opera singer). Postposed adjuncts with adverbs are rarely used: ND (Jim’s speech yesterday). Postposed adjunct s with numerals are confined in English only to quantitative numerals (page three, room ten). b. Verb PhrasesVerb phrases take a central position among all types of phrases in Modern English. They display a great variety of structure and are capable of combining with one another.Therefore they make up syntactical constructions of considerable depth, and complexity. Prof. L. S. Barkhudarov suggested that verb phrases should be classified according to the lexico-grammatical nature of the verb being the head of the phrase. As is known, all English verbs fall into two large classes: transitive and intransitive verbs. It is also known that many verbs can be used in either meaning but this is quite irrelevant for syntax because in any given sentence one and the same verb is either transitive or intransitive.Under the classification suggested by Prof. L. S. Barkhudarov English verb phrases fall into the following main classes: phrases the head of which is either a transitive or an intransi tive verb; phrases the head of which necessarily belongs to a definite subclass of verbs (transitive or intransitive). The adjuncts in verb phrases, accordingly, fall into two types: adjuncts capable of combining with verbs of either class called extensions; adjuncts capable of combining with verbs of only a definite class (transitive or intransitive) called complements.The adjuncts of a transitive verb are called object complements, those of an intransitive verb qualifying complements. The following adjuncts can be found in verb phrases with extensions: adverbs and adverb phrases; adjectives and adjective phrases; prepositional groups; noun phrases without prepositions; pronouns; verbs in the form of the infinitive; participle I and participle II;conjunctional groups; predicative phrases;subordinate clauses: VD (runs quickly); VDP (runs very quickly); VA (stood, angry); VAP (stood, red with anger); VpN (returns to the country);VNP arrived last week); VIa (lives there); VIself. wash ing himself); VtoT (came to help); VtoVP (came to help me); VV-ing (came laughing); VV-en (came, frightened); VbN (acting as judge); VbA (speaking whenever possible); Vb toV (rising so as to see); VforNtoV (stood for John to pass); VpN'sV-ing (left without John's, noticing). (For verb phrases with complements see: ?. ?. . , p? 89 -110) ?.Adjective Phrases Adjective phrases have a comparatively low frequency of occurrence, if the head of the phrase is an adjective in the positive degree, the adjunct may be: an adverb; a prepositional group; a noun; a noun phrase; a verb in the form of the gerund or the infinitive; a predicative phrase and a subordinate clause: DA (incredibly beautiful); ApNP (good for young children); AN (worth the trouble); AV-ingP (busy doing sums); AtoV (ready to go); AforNtoV (easy for John to read).Things are somewhat different with adjectives in the comparative and superlative degrees. Adjectives in the comparative degree usually combine with adjuncts intr oduced by the conjunction than (Tom is older than George). They also combine with adverbs and adverbial pronouns, such as far, still, much (far greater, much better, still greater). Adjectives in the superlative degree may have a proposed adjunct like by far or a postposed adjunct – a prepositional group introduced by the prepositions of and in. d.Adverb Phrases In adverb phrases the adjuncts may stand both in preposition and in postposition. Proposed adjuncts are adverbs and adverbial pronouns (except enough), and with the adverbs before, later, earlier, ago nouns or noun phrases. Postposed adjuncts are the pro-adverb enough, prepositional groups (p+N,etc. ), nouns and noun phrases: DD (rather well); IdD (so nicely); ND (years later); NPD (six days ago); D+enough (well enough); DpN (high in the air). e. Pronoun PhrasesOnly indefinite, negative and demonstrative pronouns can be heads of pronoun phrases.They take the following adjuncts: prepositional groups (p+N; p+In, p+NP); adjectives or adjective phrases; verbs in the form of the infinitive or verb phrases with the infinitive as the head;infinitival predicative phrases and subordinate clauses. The adjunct is always placed in postposition: In pN (some of the workers); In pIn (some of us); InA (something strange); IntoV (nothing to do); In forNtoV (Nobody for Tom to see). 5. Coordinative phrases. Co-ordinate phrases are characterized by the following features: all its members have a similar function in the sentence; their structure is not binary.As to the morphological peculiarities of the constituents of a coordinate phrase, it should be stressed here that this point is of no relevance for syntax. (So, for example, in the sentence – Celia was pretty and a good companion – pretty and a good companion are the constituents of one and the same coordinate phrase irrespective of their being essentially different as regards their morphological nature: pretty is an adjective, good companion is a noun phrase. ) Coordinate phrases fall into two groups: 1)Syndetic coordinate phrases.The syntactical connection between the I? is expressed with the help of conjunctions. If the conjunction is continuous, the coordinate phrase is said to be simple. If the conjunction is discontinuous, the phrase is said to be correlative (E. g. It was the sound of a gramophone, harsh and loud, He has both luck and talent. ) 2)Asyndetic coordinate phrases. The syntactical connection between the parts of the phrase is expressed only with the help of intonation. (E. g. He was hot, dusty, tired out. The good lady her mother now interposed. ) 6.Predicative phrases Predicative phrases fall into three groups: infinitival predicative phrases (for John to come); gerundial predicative phrases (John's coming); absolute predicative phrases (all things considered). Predicative phrases have a binary structure, they are made up of only two I?. They have much in common with sentences, but the I? of a predicative p hrase should not be termed subject and predicate. It should be noted here that the subjectival member of a predicative phrase and the subject of a sentence always refer to different persons or things. (E. g.He stood up for me to sit down. He is proud of his friend having won a prize. The lesson being over, we went home. ) Infinitival predicative phrasesThe subjectival member of an infinitival predicative phrase is a noun. a noun phrase or a pronoun, the latter in the form of the objective case. The predicatival member of an infinitival predicative phrase is any form of the infinitive with or without words subordinate to it. The phrase is preceded by the preposition for: forN/P/toV/P/ (for John to go there); forI toV/P/ (for something to happen); forI toV/?/ (for him to come late).Gerundial predicative phrasesThe subjectival member of a gerundial predicative phrase is a noun or a noun phrase with or without the morpheme ‘s; a possessive pronoun in the conjoint form or a persona l pronoun in the objective case form and other pronouns. The predicatival member of a gerundial predicative phrase is any form of the gerund with or without words subordinate to it: NP'sV-ingP (young John's coming late); NPV-ing P: (young John coming late); I'sV-ingP (his coming late); ImV-ing P (him coming late).Absolute predicative phrasesThe subjectival member of an absolute predicative phrase is a noun or a noun phrase, a personal pronoun in the nominative case or another type of pro-noun. The predicatival member of an absolute predicative phrase is a verb in the form of the participle or the infinitive, or a verb phrase with these forms as a head, or non-verbal parts of speech: adjectives, adverbs, prepositional groups:NPV-ingP (his voice trembling with excitement); InV-ingP (it rising slowly); NPV-enP ( his thirst gone);NPtoV? (the expenses to be paid); In toVP (each to be defined); NPAP (his face very pale); NPD (breakfast over); NPpNP (hat in hand); NPpIm (her back to him); NPNP (his shot a failure). Instances are not few when absolute predicative phrases are introduced by the prepositions with or without. (He looked at Mr. Micawber attentively, with his whole face breathing short and quick in every feature. I left the room without anybody noticing it)

AIDS Article

The article is written by a gay man, who lost his first partner to AIDS and dedicated himself to spreading information about HIV prevention and campaigning for governmental attention to the problem in order to save ‘other gay and bisexual men from losing the ones they love’ (Williams, 2006, para. 6).Clark Williams also served as the interim executive director of the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center at the moment of the article’s release and as a manager of county’s HIV prevention, counseling, and testing initiatves in 2001-2003.The article reports the LGBT community of Santa Clara County joining other concerned citizens at a meeting where the county’s Board of Supervisors Chair promised to attract additional financial resources to strengthen public health system in the face of accelerating rate of HIV transmission.The focus of the effort should be prevention and early diagnosis. The article recalls the start of HIV/AIDS epidemic that was first reg arded as a rare form of cancer endangering gay and bisexual male New Yorkers. In 2006, the number of Americans who died from AIDS reached 550,000 and continued to grow. Approximately 40,000 citizens are getting infected with HIV every year.Santa Clara County, for its part, has lost 2,000 residents to the disease. More than 2,500 were living with HIV/AIDS; this number might have been considerably higher because one in three citizens having HIV remains undiagnosed. 80 percent of new infections with the virus in Santa Clara County were among gay and bisexual males.Santa Clara County is reported as being ‘near the heart of our nation's HIV/AIDS epidemic’ (Williams, 2006, para. 5). Apart from focusing on the human tragedy of living with HIV diagnosis or loosing a friend, a family member, a colleague, or a neighbor to the disease, the article discusses the problem of HIV/AIDS through the prism of financial burden on the county’s social security system.Lifetime cost of HIV treatment is estimated to be as high as $155,000 per patient. These costs are much higher if the disease is not diagnosed at early stages, which is often the case in Santa Clara County, where patients learn about their HIV status in an emergency room.However, the author notes several positive developments in the field of public health, such as risk reduction counseling to people living with HIV/AIDS and public HIV test counseling locations. Santa Clara County is compared with San Francisco, where HIV test counseling facilities are abundant. In Santa Clara County, there is only one public testing facility, despite the fact that the number of LGBT is over 100,000 in the area.The Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center is deemed as the most appropriate place to establish another full-time test counseling facility, since it is known for its excellence in providing HIV prevention to at-risk population.One additional testing facility will not solve the problem in the county. It is not onl y LGBT population that is especially affected by the spread of HIV/AIDS. Other vulnerable groups include ethnic minorities, homeless and runaway youth, and drug addicts. Therefore, five part-time testing centers should be opened across Santa Clara County.One of the main strengths of the article is the fact that it is written from an insider’s perspective. Rapport between the author and readers is immediately established when Clark Williams shares his personal tragedy of loosing his loved once to AIDS.However, emotional pathos is not the main component of the writer’s credibility: Williams is a leader of Santa Clara County’s LGBT community, knowledgeable of the actual Status Quo with regard to HIV/AIDS prevention and counseling.