Importance of Credit Scores

Passive Voice vs. Active Voice FINALLY Understand the Difference

Passive Voice vs. Active Voice FINALLY Understand the Difference Passive Voice vs. Active Voice: FINALLY Understand the Difference When you look over the following sentences, can you identify the ones written in passive voice and the ones using active voice?The blog post was being published by Reedsy.Reedsy had published the blog post.The blog post is published by Reedsy.The blog post will be published by Reedsy.If you answered: â€Å"The only active sentence is ‘b’† - you are correct! The other three sentences were written using passive voice (and so was this one).This post will show you exactly how to spot passive voice, how to fix it - and also when using passive voice is a-okay! Passive voice vs. active voice: check out the ultimate grammatical showdown here! What is passive voice?A sentence written with passive voice puts emphasis on the person or thing that experiences the action, instead of the person or thing driving the action.For example, consider this line from Douglas Adams’ The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe:â€Å"In the beginning the Universe was created.†The subject of the sentence is â€Å"the Universe.† The action of the sentence is â€Å"created.† Because the subject is receiving the action (the creation is happening to the Universe), this is a passive sentence.Passive sentences are comprised of the auxiliary verb ‘to be’ and the past tense of the main verb. For example:â€Å"Am / Are / Is† + past verb tense - The dog is walked by his owner. â€Å"Am / Are / Is being† + past verb tense - The dogs are being walked by their owners. â€Å"Was / Were† + past verb tense - The dog was walked by his owner. â€Å"Was / Were being† + past verb tense - The dogs were being walked by their owners. â€Å"Will be† + past verb tense - The dog will be walked by its owner. â€Å"Will have been† + past verb tense - The dog will have been walked by its owner. â€Å"Have / Has been† + past verb tense - The dog has been walked by its owner. â€Å"Had been† + past verb tense sThe following sentences all feature the action happening to the subject.â€Å"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was made.† - Scaramouche: A Romance Of The French Revolution by Rafael Sabatini (The action â€Å"was born† is happening to the subject â€Å"he.†)â€Å"Scarlet O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.† - Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell (The action â€Å"caught by her charm† is happening to a subject â€Å"the Tarleton twins.†)â€Å"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.†Ã‚  -   To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (The action â€Å"got his arm badly broken† is happening to the subject â€Å"Jem.†)â€Å"When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.† - The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (The second part of this sentence sees the action â€Å"changed into a monstrous vermin† happening to subject â€Å"Gregor Samsa.†)What is active voice?Active voice is a sentence or clause that puts emphasis on the person or thing that drives the action, instead of the person or thing experiencing the action.Think of the opening line from George Orwell’s 1984:â€Å"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.†The subject of the sentence is â€Å"the clocks.† The action of the sentence is â€Å"striking.† Because the subject is driving the action (the clocks are doing the striking), this is an active sentence.Check out further instances of active voice at play in the following examples.Active voice examplesThe following sentences all feature the subject enacting some kind of action.â€Å"It was the day my grandmother exploded.† - The Crow Road by Iain M. Banks (The subject â€Å"grandmother† is doing the action â€Å"exploded†).â€Å"Mother died today.† - The Stranger by Albert Kamus (The subject â€Å"mother† is doing the action â€Å"died.†)â€Å"I write this sitting at the kitchen sink.† - I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (The subject â€Å"I† is doing the action â€Å"write† and â€Å"sitting.†)â€Å"You know, at one time, I used to break into pet shops to liberate the canaries.† - Harold and Maud by Colin Higgins (The subject â€Å"I† is doing the action â€Å"break into pet shops† and â€Å"liberate the canaries.†)Active vs passive voice: why is one considered better than the other?It’s not a big secret in the world of grammar that passive voice is often considered as bad form. Supposedly, active voice produces   stronger, more direct sentences that make your writing feel - surprise, surprise - more active.But is passive voice actually grammatically incorrect? Nope! There are definitely times when using the passive voice can enhance a statement’s clarity.When to use passive voiceIf you are writing something that requires objectivity, like a research paper, passive voice can be your friend: It allows you to more easily avoid personal pronouns and to present information in a that sounds unbiased.Or maybe you want to leave the perpetrator behind the action unclear. If the action itself or the thing/person receiving the action is more significant than the p erpetrator, place emphasis on either of those elements by writing a short passive sentence, leaving the driving force of the action out.For example, if you write: â€Å"The woman was sentenced to five years in jail† - the emphasis here is on the fact that the woman has received a sentence of jail. If you were to write: â€Å"The judge sentenced the woman to five years in jail† - the emphasis here is on the judge’s ruling instead.As you can see, passive voice isn’t something you need to avoid at all costs: There are times when it’s the right choice. However, if you’re writing something meant to invite readers in - like a novel, for example - then relying too heavily on passive voice can result in writing that feels a little flat and loses a reader’s interest.To avoid that, let’s take a look at how you can fix the use of passive voice in instances where active will serve you better.How to fix passive voice in 2 easy stepsTo s how you the two fool-proof steps to fixing passive voice, we’ll use the following passive sentence as an example: â€Å"The dress was being made by the tailor.†1. Remove the auxiliary verbAs mentioned, passive sentences often contain some form of the auxiliary verb â€Å"to be.† In this example, the auxiliary verb is â€Å"was being.†Quick note: Not all passive sentences contain an auxiliary verb. For instance, â€Å"The dress was made by the tailor† is still passive, even though it doesn’t contain any tense of â€Å"to be† (in this example, â€Å"was being.†)Take the auxiliary verb out and the sentence becomes:The dress was made by the tailor.But this is still passive, so the next step is to...2. Change the subject of the sentenceThe subject is currently â€Å"the dress† because the action in this sentence is happening to it (â€Å"the dress is being made.†) The subject of this sentence can be changed by attribut ing the action to the person performing it - in this case, the tailor. The sentence now becomes:The tailor made the dress.Congratulations! The subject is now the action-performer, meaning this sentence is now active!Let’s put these two steps into action, and change a few more passive sentences into active ones.Passive: The dinner was cooked by the chef. Active: The chef cooked dinner.Passive: The flowers were being planted by the gardener. Active: The gardener was planting the flowers.Passive: I had been interviewed by the manager. Active: The manager interviewed me.Passive: The students had been graded by the teacher. Active: The teacher was grading the students.Passive: The book was written by the author. Active: The author wrote the book.Passive: The house is being built by the construction workers. Active: The construction workers are building the house. Passive voice vs. active voice: finally understand the difference for once and for all! We hope we’ve helped you understand how to identify and fix passive voice! If you feel like you could still use a hand, you can also turn to automatic passive voice checkers, such as Hemingway, Passive Voice Detector, Analyze My Writing - which are all free and web-based. Simply copy and paste the writing you want to check, and the tool will highlight instances of passive voice for you.How do you feel about the â€Å"active voice is better than passive voice† rule? Leave any thoughts or questions in the comments below!

Importance of Emotions for Children Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Importance of Emotions for Children - Assignment Example Most of the people whom I crossed paths with were not smiling at the start of our encounter. They mostly seemed deep in thought and in a hurry to get their kids into school so they could go on with their day. However, when I took the time to smile at them as we passed each other, most of them smiled back at me. They seemed puzzled by my smile and, since I was smiling even at the parents whom I did not know personally, I bet some of them were wondering where we had met before. I would like to think that by smiling at them at the start of their workday, I was able to bring a little brightness into their lives and perhaps influenced them into going about their day in a more positive manner than they started out. On my part, I have to say that I felt very lighthearted and welcoming of the people whom I smiled at. A simple smile on my part was enough to bring a sense of positivism to my day and helped me get through my day without ever feeling cross. That is because each time I would begin to feel weary or irritated, all I had to do was think of the parents whom I exchanged smiles with earlier in the day and everything negative that I felt seemed to melt away. My show of choice for this particular study of nonverbal communication and body gestures was Full House starring Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Candace Cameron (Burke), Jodi Sweetin, Lori Loughlin, John Stamos, and Bob Saget. I felt that this show would be perfect for this exercise because the show was part of a genre that everyone enjoyed and could easily be understood even with the sound on the television or laptop turned off, comedy. It turns out that I did not make a mistake with my choice of television shows. What I learned from the show is that the human face can deliver emotions even better than the voice of a person. By simply watching the facial expression on the characters faces, I was able to tell if the scene being played out was lighthearted or serious.  

Industry Analysis Paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Industry Analysis Paper - Assignment Example Competitive advantage is also taken for improving organizational performance and then it enables the company to return in asset and increase sales. Researchers argue that competitive advantage is able to predict the variance in the performance of a business and then explain the organizational consequences (Ismail, Rose, Uli & Abdullah, 2011). It is moreover the representation of a major determinant of corporate success or failure, if an organization is not capable to analyze its competitors’ strengths, weaknesses and strategies. This inability leads to the suboptimal performance in business (Sohel, Rahman & Uddin, 2014). For that purpose, analyzing the competitors is the critical need for the company’s strategy formulation and implementation of its competitive advantage. In the recent decades there appeared new techniques that help to formulate and implement strategy. Some of the popular is the Five Forces of Porter. In the following report, such analysis will be impose d to the well-known brands, companies with the world name, a Swedish multinational retail-clothing company H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) and Spanish clothing and accessories retailer Zara. The report will analyze and contrast the competitive strategy of these two companies and develop a competitive profile for each business. H&M is a Sweden-based company that operates in forty countries of the world and is known for such brands as H&M, COS, Weekday, Monki, Cheap Monday and Other Stories. The company sells products online through catalogue in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Finland and the UK. The recent launched store in U.S. (in 2013), the company has expanded its online operations to Australia (Business profile, 2015). According to H&M Group income statement, consolidated statement of comprehensive income (H&M Annual report, 2013), the company’s profit for 2012 was estimated in $ 16,867 m, while in 2013

Blaw Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Blaw - Essay Example As long as they had agreed in writing, it only means that the entertained should follow suit by paying for the service (Clarkson et al. 28). Parole Evidence Rule is not fixed just to parole or oral evidence. Under the rule, written agreements prior to the main agreement cannot be used to annul a latter drafted agreement particularly when it has been validated into a legally-binding written agreement. The disavowal that the concluding contract supersedes all the antecedent promises continues to give a pointer that indeed there was non-inclusion of furniture to the initially contracted terms. The second dimension indicates that whereas furniture is denotatively mentioned throughout the contract, a federal court may find that the provisions in the contract cannot be enforced because of vagueness. In other words, the terms need to be â€Å"reasonably certain† to effect enforcement. The same court can easily interpret the provision as an incipient agreement and seems promissory but were only meant to represent preliminary negotiations and had no legally binding connotations (Clarkson et al. 31). In an event where the court is able to determine that the provisions are unenforceable, it cannot determine the pricing due to the fact that the seller under no any legal obligation to undertake any terms of the provision. In other words, there was no obligation for the inclusion of furniture in sale agreement. In the future transaction where furniture is indeed included in the contract but the price is not, the court will not have to determine the price. In short, the court can only determine the price only when a service or good has in a way been consumed and cannot be returned in a similar condition with which it was sold. The same applies to its value which will have depreciated considerably compared to the time of sale. Such a situation will force the court to defer the pricing to

Influence of Peer Pressure on Teenage Sexual Behaviour

Influence of Peer Pressure on Teenage Sexual Behaviour Research Proposal Introduction: The budding of a child from the innocence of childhood to the maturity of an adult can be a complicated phase for many. An important factor that plays a very significant role throughout a persons life is their sexual behavior. After the mass commercialization of every product imaginable and available to consumers through print advertisements or TV advertisements, the idea of sex is being marketed to these young children almost on a daily basis. This influence is not only limited to print or TV but the internet has also started playing an important role in being a medium which provides access to teenagers and young adults to explicit content. Responsible adults of the society and the Government should make sure that those affected by sexual harassment are given proper rehabilitation facilities (Gilgun, n.d) and that perpetrators who have committed such heinous crimes are punished. Statement of problem: Many young adults become sex offenders as they grow up and some fall victim to prey like sex addiction. Also, due to exposure to explicit content on porn sites and other inappropriate material on the web these juveniles fall prey to blackmailers, sex offenders, rapists and manipulators. In girls, this could lead to unwanted pregnancy. Purpose of the study: The purpose of undertaking this study is to predict sexual behavior in teenagers due to the kind of exposure they get from experiencing peer pressure about sex at school to movies and internet that are all filled with subtle messages about sex and how wonderful it is when the consequences of their actions are not even fully clear to the teenagers undertaking this activity and how it impacts their life ahead and also to explore what rehabilitation and recovery facilities may be provided to teenagers who have being harassed. Hypothesis: The relationship between the exposure to sex related content and sexual habits of teenagers is positive and correlated. Methods and Procedures: The method used in this study was to conduct some literature review on the topic and also gather responses through teenagers and young adults through a small survey. The questions posed to them constituted of topics ranging from the influence of the media to any personal experiences they might have encountered. Also, peer pressure was an important factor included to see the effects of how many teenagers engage in sex to fit in or submit to their peers demands. Variables used: The variables used in this questionnaire were teenagers and young adults who answered the questionnaires on the topic of how they think sexually explicit content or subtle hints at selling sex to youngsters through advertisements, movies, TV shows and even billboards. Some impromptu personal interviews were also taken to see if people are biased in their opinion when communicating spontaneously vs. if they are given more time to choose and think their options. Limitations and delimitations: The limitation in this study comes out in the form of bias. The respondents in order to not let the interviewer or survey taker make judgments about them or relate the responses to their experiences subconsciously may give well thought out or morally fair answers rather than what they actually believe or think. Also since the scope of the study is limited to predicting sexual behavior in teenagers, factors such as puberty, violence, infatuation and internet play a stronger role in eliciting responses and decisions rather than rationality. Significance of the study: The significance of this study is that it will help point out the factors which can help us understand teenage psychology and behaviors better in order make policies or take collective community action to protect our children and rehabilitate and bring back to life those who have suffered. References Abstract Predictions about Teen Sexual Behavior When children grow up to step into the adult phase of their lives they are faced with perhaps the most difficult situations in their lives. They are presented with new ideas, new peers, social and peer pressure and their introduction to puberty. A lot of teenagers face the emotions of infatuation, obsession, becoming cool and doing something that would establish their reputation in front of their friends. In this age of media and mass commercialization, teenagers are exposed to sex in all forms available. It is seen in movies, TV channels, TV shows, internet, music industry and even cartoons like Simpsons where sexual references are not uncommon. It is surprising to see that while 58% of girls studying in 8th to 11th grade have faced some sort of sexual harassment occasionally or in some cases almost daily boys are also being subject to sexual harassment (Carney, 2007). The reason for such outcomes or trend seen in recent years can be the extreme exposure to sex in our culture especially to kids at an inappropriate age. This incompatibility can confuse these children who are in the process of becoming mature and distort their perceptions of sexual behavior and hinder their normal and healthy development process. Exposure to explicit content can be in the form of visual content such as is common on billboards, TV, cartoons and internet. It can also be of verbal content. A child whose parents curse and swear or use sexually explicit language and exhibit violent behavior towards each other or the society at large is subject to take the impact of such exposure and replicate such behavior when he/she grows up to be a teenager and later in their life. Perhaps, the greatest impact is of personal experience in predicting the sexual behavior of teenagers and that is usually when a person has been subject to incest or any other form of sexual and physical harassment. Such an individual becomes bitter and rebellious towards the society and takes revenge by doing those very actions and deriving satisfaction from the pain inflicted on others as a compensation for their suffering. A recent research has linked the race, age and weight of adolescents to their sexual behaviors in case of girls. Some interesting findings that came in spotlight included but are not restricted to the fact that over weight and sexually active girls and underweight girls do not practice safe sex. Latino girls were most likely to engage in risky sexual behavior including having greater than four partners, not practicing safe sex and rampant use of alcohol (Nauert, 2009) This finding indicates that as opposed to generalizing all teenagers exhibiting rogue sexual appetites; sexual behavior in teenagers can greatly differ based on their geographical location, their environment, age and even gender. Important findings that help predict teenage sexual behavior include that, teenagers who watch sexually explicit content more often than their counterparts are likely to engage and initiate sexual intercourse earlier (Collins et al., 2004) (Also see Exhibit 1) Furthermore, the impact of verbal reference to sexual activities is the same as visual impact in teenagers leading them to become sexually active at an earlier stage in their adolescence. However, it is imperative to know that if teens are shown movies or educated about the practices of disadvantages of having sex earlier or without safe practices it can put a positive impact and create awareness among them and influence their sexual behavior. Recently, the internet has proved to be yet another medium through which teenagers who are still in the phase of development and are excited by puberty and the various opportunities to socialize and go to parties, meet new partners and become equal to their peers is present, the access to sexually explicit content such as images, videos, pornography and the latest addition to the list; social networking websites present a great danger of eliciting harmful sexual behavior. In a recent study it was found that those teenagers who use the internet and social networking websites were subject to online sexual harassment such as unwanted requests to converse about sex, provide personal information, sexual solicitation or requests to do something sexual. 33% reported online harassment including the highest percentage on instant messaging (43%) and chat rooms (32%). (Ybarra Mitchell, 2008) Such consequences have made internet a bane in some cases instead of a boon with negative impacts on no t only the mental health but physical development of a child as more and more people suffer from complex about their bodies and abilities due to sexual references and discrimination. Sex at an early age for some can be damaging to moral and ethical values along with inflicting psychological problems. About 3 million teenagers contract a sexually transmitted disease such as Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and even AIDS. Most agree that teenagers tend to be reckless in their behavior, and unprotected sex is just one of a host of risky behaviors in which they engage. But even for those who are always careful, accidents can happen and contraceptives can fail. Moreover, some teenagers are exploited or coerced into having sex and thus have little control over contraception (cited in Besharov Gardiner, n.d) As exhibit 2 portrays that those engage in sex and risky behavior include marijuana, drugs and alcohol that further adds to the problem of active sex drive in teenagers. Feral children like Genie who have had no contact with the outside world for 13 years of their life and confined to a solitary room where no auditory signals or visual signals could reach rendered this child completely different from normal teenagers. Genie could not stand erect and unable to even communicate effectively with words. She was fed baby food, cereals and eggs to keep her alive. (Curtiss, 1977) This kind of treatment rendered her completely isolated from other human beings where she was unable to communicate or understand normal human emotions or any sort of sexual desires or tendencies. Another important factor which has influenced sexual behavior in teenagers is music. According to a research article published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, April 2009, Brian Primack made the statement that in a sample of adolescents listening to lyrics of a song that feature sexually explicit lyrics the tendency to engage in pre-coital activities and sexual intercourse was higher. This finding is a cause of concern and demands educational intervention because such activities by female teenagers which result in teenage pregnancies are a matter of public health concern. References Exhibits EXHIBIT 1: TV exposure and Contribution To Initiating Sex EXHIBIT 2: Early Sex and Risk Taking Behaviors

Comparing the Feminine Quest in Surfacing and Song of Solomon Essay

The Feminine Quest in Surfacing and Song of Solomon      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Margaret Atwood in her novel Surfacing and Toni Morrison in her novel Song of Solomon require their heroines to pass through a stage of self-interpretation as a prerequisite for re-inventing the self.   This stage in the feminine journey manifests a critical act typically absent in the traditional male journey, and one that places Atwood and Morrison's heroines at odds with the patriarchal community.   If authors of feminine journeys meet the requirements set out by feminist critics like Dana Heller, then we must also provide a method for interpreting the texts that will be palatable for critics from the patriarchy.   Otherwise we perpetuate an hostility between the camps that debilitates everyone.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The typical male hero's task has been to return to his community and share the boon of his journey.   That boon may be treasure badly needed for the culture's economics, it may be new wisdom needed for the proper dispensation of justice and national confidence, it may be the return to fecundity through the defeat of a monster who has been imposing an impotence on the land. Whether the boon is economic or spiritual, under the monomythic model, the stories credit the male's efforts and de-emphasize the heroine's roles in the boon's attainment.      Ã‚   The typical heroine's journey, however, existed at best as a sub-plot to the male's effort. Her role in the quest "is not meant for her active heroism," as Dana Heller says,   "but for her passive submission to a hero" (10).   Thus, if she didn't die along the quest, she married the hero.   As his spouse, she helped him dispense his boon in the typical feminine manner of caregiver, lover or innocent.   Often, the... ... New York:   Ballantine Books, 1972. Brenner, Gerry.   "Song of Solomon:   Rejecting Rank's Monomyth and Feminism," Critical Essays on Toni Morrison.   Reserve Shelf, University of Montana, 1993. Fabre, Genevieve.   "Genealogical Archeology or the Quest for Legacy in Song of   Solomon," Critical Essays on Toni Morrison.   Reserve Shelf, University of Montana, 1993. Heller, Dana.   "The Feminization of Quest Romance."   Reserve Shelf, University of  Ã‚   Montana, 1993. Hoy, David Cousens.   The Critical Circle: Literature, History and Philosophical  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hermeneutics.   Berkeley:   University of California Press, 1978. Morrison, Toni.   Song of Solomon.   New York: Penguin Books, USA, 1978. O'Shaughnessy, Kathleen.   "Life, life, life, life:   the Community of Chorus in Song of  Ã‚   Solomon," Critical Essays on Toni Morrison.   Reserve Shelf, University of Montana, 1993.