Sample Psychology Essay - How to Write an Excellent Sample

Sample Psychology Essay - How to Write an Excellent SampleOne of the key concepts in sample psychology essay is that of the format. You should always use the essay format in your own needs and preferences. However, you can find a lot of examples on how to use the format and incorporate it to your own requirements. And remember to make your own format and not use it as an example.The first and the best example is the famous 'good example' in such events. Do you remember how you always want to have an 'experience' with your friends and workmates? You can create your own experience through writing an 'experience' or a short term assignment for yourself. Do you remember how you would write your little sister's letter when she was ill? You could do the same thing by creating a short term assignment for yourself.In this case you can start by writing your term papers and short term assignments while working from home. After a week or two, you can send it to the professor. Just make sure tha t you carefully choose the appropriate paper format.The second sample for sample essay is from the short term assignments that you received from your professor. What if you have a long term assignment from the professor? How you will be able to compose your own sample psychology essay?In this case, you can start by picking a professor that you like to study with. That way you will get all the experiences together with your professor. Then, you can also ask your professor if he/she will let you join his or her 'Reading' group. If so, you can ask them if they are interested in sharing their experiences with you.In the second example, you can also try to gather all your letters from your schoolmates and colleagues. Take a copy each of the letter and put them in a file or you can also save some of them. After few years, you can easily locate the letters that you found on the Internet.Finally, remember that a sample is a basic and a very essential concept. Before writing any sample, you should first know about the grammar and the usage of the sample. Don't forget to check the samples to check whether it fits your needs. Then, start writing a good sample psychology essay.

HMV an E-marketing Perspective Essay Example

HMV an E-marketing Perspective Essay For this report we will be analyzing the original HMV music store on 363 Oxford Street, London, and how integrating or enhancing their e-marketing strategies could benefit their store. As previously mentioned, this was the first HMV music store to open, and was set up in 1921. At that time, the store did not focus on the music and film genre, but rather on a variety of HMV branded goods. It was conservative in the sense that business transactions were done on a one to one basis, and those residing outside of London could only purchase HMV products from exclusive appointed dealers [5]. Like today, many customers were able to open accounts within the store. Purpose Currently, HMV has the following marketing objectives [1]: Generate store traffic and encourage the purchase of other products, other than CDs, along with increasing album purchases. We will write a custom essay sample on HMV an E-marketing Perspective specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on HMV an E-marketing Perspective specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on HMV an E-marketing Perspective specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Increase positive perception among its customers. Predict and satisfy their customers needs. Analyze market trends traditionally as well as on the net. According to the 2003 Annual Report [4], their key strategies have been to: Optimize store portfolio. Achieve superior financial performance. Exploit new product opportunities. Secure leadership in chosen markets. HMV has a website in which it is possible to buy CDs, DVDS or video games, also sold in-store. Unfortunately, this only satisfies some consumers needs. The advantages provided to customers by this are that they do not actually have to leave their home to make a purchase, and it is less tedious to search for desired items. On the other hand, the prices for CDs and DVDs on the current site are either the same price or sometimes even more expensive than in the store, on top of which additional fees are imposed for shipping. For this reason, online transactions may turn out more expensive to the buyer. This implies that their current method is only targeting certain audiences. With the increase of internet competition, and the ability to purchase used CDs on an alternative site for cheaper prices (such as Ebay), or even download songs illegally for free, it is possible that many customers will refrain from paying full price for products offered on the HMV website or stores. Proposition Although HMV is already using e-marketing as part of their marketing activities, there is still room for new strategies to be implemented. With the adoption of new forms of e-marketing, HMV on Oxford Street would be more up to date with the changing market and therefore increase their sales and attract more customers. The specific marketing objectives recommended for 363 Oxford Street are to: Target new customer audiences (ie. people who only buy items on promotion, people who cannot afford to buy CDs or DVDs at regular price, and people who are loyal to their artists and still want original CDs rather than burned copies). Improve profitability brought by their video games. Encourage customer loyalty. Be the leading HMV store (in customer flow) by having the best communication with their customers. The idea proposed is to develop a personalized website, directly linked to the Oxford store, rather than all HMV stores. The strategies recommended to be used within the new site to achieve each of the recommended objectives, respectively, are to: Establish an infrastructure for customers to buy sell second-hand products through the site. Provide opportunities to try out new video games in the store hold monthly tournaments between customers. Offer coupons for in-store products on the site. Distribute weekly newsletters to registered customers who wish to be notified of upcoming events, sales, etc. Recommendation for Action In order for these strategies to be carried out, a website should be specifically created for the Oxford Street store. The website should initially be advertised promoted in the store, and by other means to notify people of its existence and getting them interested in visiting. Visitors of the site will then have the option to register onto the site, to become members and be able to take full advantage of all benefits provided by it. This site should carry the HMV brand name along with an extra word to differentiate it from other HMV sites, but continue to have the benefit of the well known brand that provides customers with a feeling of good quality and service. The website is to advertise promotions taking place in the Oxford Street store, in addition to the other incentives to visit the store. The infrastructure created to buy and sell second hand products will allow consumers with used CDs or DVDs which they are bored of and want to get rid of, to either sell or exchange the product with other consumers in the same situation who wish to swap. In this way, customers who are loyal to their artists and still like to have original CDs, but cannot afford to pay high prices, are able to obtain them at a low price. Although this will mostly be a customer to customer relationship, HMV could take part in each transaction by automatically adding a small amount to the price set by the seller, such as 50 pence, which would be paid to HMV for allowing the transaction on their site. With that money, the buyer could also be benefiting indirectly by having a certain amount, such as 10 HMV points added to their account. After accumulating a certain amount, such as 50 or 100 points, the points will then have to be redeemed in-store (Oxford Street) for discounts on products or freebies. In this way, different types of customers will be targeted that were not targeted before, and more customers will be attracted into the store. This move towards cheap trading of music and films is very important since, through evolving technology, it is now so easy to burn music or films and distribute them between friends [6]. The site can also include special video game related features to attract even more customers and increase in-store sales of video games. This can be carried out by allowing site members to try out new video game arrivals and encourage people to buy them. Customers will only be allowed to play for 10 minutes at a time, establishing that it is only a trial and if they wish to pass to other levels or play longer they must go to the store and buy the game. The website can also allow members to play random video games (sold in-store) against each other, to promote the games, and perhaps even hold monthly tournaments online. The finals can be held in-store and the winner may receive either a free game or a gift certificate for that particular store. The advantage to this is that by having promoted the games and getting people in the store, even those that do not win will probably end up buying something in the store, beginning with the game they played, if they liked it, and they will prob ably continue to go to that store. Therefore, profitability of video game sales may be increased, as well as customer loyalty. Another strategy proposed is offering in-store coupons on the site. Customers are to print out the coupons and use them at the Oxford Street store only. This strategy will increase both the amount of people going to the store and visiting the site. People will visit the site more often to check out the new deals being promoted and those deals will encourage customers to visit the store. This will attract a new customer audience, those that will not purchase an item unless it is on promotion. It will also encourage customer loyalty, since the coupons may only be redeemed at the Oxford Street store, so customers will go to that particular store rather than other HMV stores. The best way to be in touch with customers through e-marketing is by sending weekly newsletters. Upon registration on to the site, members will have the option of receiving a newsletter every week updating them on upcoming events. Customers may pick from a menu which events or promotions they would be interested in and be notified via email of the ones they chose. These events may include celebrity appearances in-store for autographs, final round of video-game tournaments to be carried out in-store, new releases of CDs, DVDs, video games, accessories, and hints on hot new coupons featured on the site, which they would have to enter the site to access and print. This would help promote both the store and the website and would further increase customer loyalty in the Oxford Street store, giving them a great advantage over other retailers, including other HMV stores. Tracking There are several ways in which progress can be tracked. One minor way would be by including a number of hits feature on the site to see how many people are visiting it. The number of people that register onto the site can also be counted. Members of the site could fill out a profile upon registration to keep a record of the type of audience that is being attracted by this strategy (such as demographics). In-store sales could be compared to previous years to see if the website has helped them through advertising their products and promotions. A quantitative approach may be to track the number of coupon redemptions in the store to see how efficient that particular strategy is. A survey could also be conducted either within the store or online to find out if the website has had an impact on customers, and how it has affected their spending habits at HMV Oxford Street (whether they are spending more or less on average). Tracking progress will help the Oxford Street store conclude whethe r more customers have been attracted into their store through the website, and if this has affected their in-store sales. Critical Success Factors In order for this integration to succeed in reaching its objectives, the following CSFs must be met by either the Oxford Street store, the new website, or both: Both the store and the website must always be up to date with new technologies trends (such as creating personalized CDs in-store). The website must take up the HMV brand name to absorb the image of the company and therefore have an immediate customer base (as HMV already has brand awareness and loyalty). The quality of the website must be good to live up to HMV standards and really keep customers happy. An example of a good quality the website should have is ease to search for a desired product, which may be achieved through potential sellers categorizing their products. Stock levels must be met within the store. If the store has more stock than it can sell it will cut the companys profit margins. If the companys stock levels are too low, it will not meet customer demands, and their customers will go elsewhere. Management staff should be well trained and always aware of everything going on in the site. This way they will be prepared to answer any question(s) a customer might have regarding coupons, promotions, tournaments, appearances, etc. Conclusion In conclusion, it is essential for companies to always stay in touch with customers needs. On the same level, it is also important for companies to constantly research and analyze the market to keep up to date with new technologies and innovations. Otherwise, it is quite unlikely for a company to succeed. Fortunately, HMV has always proved to be pretty good at this and this is no time to stop. In the case of the music industry, with the new technology providing so much internet competition, it is imperative that all music companies take the future of digital music seriously [10]. This is why HMV has begun to make the move in an attempt to retain market share and keep from internet delivery of music stealing their revenue. As a customer-focused company, HMV seeks to provide what consumers want, while keeping in view new technology. Developing new ways to reach consumers is what has made HMV Group the powerful retailer it is today. To support this, David Cameron, e-commerce systems manager of HMV Group plc, says If youre going to be a successful e-business, integrating your back-end systems with your front-end database is essential [5].

How to Write an Analytical Essay on Romeo and Juliet

How to Write an Analytical Essay on Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet Features of writing about Romeo and Juliet How to start How to create an outline How to write a thesis for an essay on Romeo and Juliet How to write an introduction Tips on introduction and thesis writing How to write body paragraphs Tips on body writing How to conclude Tips on conclusion writing Tips on revision Analytical essay sample (Romeo and Juliet) Features of writing about Romeo and Juliet Writing about Romeo and Juliet allows one to discuss cultural diversity. Since you exist in today’s world, expounding on a play composed centuries ago enables you to explore cultural perspectives and assumptions different to yours and learn the historical background of modern culture. Additionally, writing about such characters as Romeo and Juliet enables you to explore the language. Shakespeare’s language utilizes complex syntax, extensive vocabulary and many phrases. Furthermore, you expand your syntactic attention span and vocabulary and can learn via imitation how Shakespeare employs figurative language. How to start Before starting your analytical essay on Romeo and Juliet, state some form of claim or argument about what you are analyzing. Typically, analytical articles focus on how the book or poem was composed, for example, how the utilization of similitude and metaphor brings forth a precise connotation to the anecdote, and how specific topics are depicted in the narrative. Alternatively put, analytical essays require the writer to examine a book or play’s smaller sections and expound them thus developing a bigger picture. For one to begin an analytical paper, thoughts and facts must be reviewed, and from there, connections are linked thus articulating concepts and using events to support it. How to create an outline When writing an outline for this type of paper, specifically an analysis essay outline format must be followed. A written outline is an effective method of arranging your thoughts. An outline breaks down sections of your thesis in a simple, hierarchical manner to aid you in viewing your essay’s overall format. So. below is how an essay’s outline can look like: Sample Outline I. Introduction Sentence capturing your reader’s interest One-two sentence proclamation (Thesis statement) II. Body paragraphs First main idea Second main idea Third main idea III. Conclusion Thesis restatement Insightful sentence closing Third main idea How to write a thesis for an essay on Romeo and Juliet The thesis tells your reader what to expect. It is precisely worded, restricted, and declaratively states your essay’s purpose. A paper lacking a carefully conceived thesis is below par. Here is a thesis statement which is fitting for an analytical essay: â€Å"By not punishing more harshly the early acts of hatred in Romeo and Juliet, an atmosphere welcomes hatred to thrive which ends in demise is formed by the Prince.† Naturally, the thesis statement is typed at the introductory paragraph’s end. How to write an introduction Your analytical essay’s introduction should attempt to enthrall your reader’s interest. To shift immediate focus to your subject, use quotations, brief anecdotes, a provocative question, or a merger of all. Also, consider using background information pertinent to your thesis and necessary for your reader to recognize your stance. Tips on introduction and thesis writing Hook your reader with a captivating first sentence. Begin with an example. Ensure your argument has context. Preview your paper’s structure. Craft a distinctive arguable thesis. Transition into your first paragraph to sum everything up. How to write body paragraphs The term used for the advancement of central ideas in your analytical essay is ‘body paragraph.’ Here, one presents the paragraphs supporting/upholding their thesis statement. A compelling analysis essay contains evidence from the text and explains your ideas. Tips on body writing Begin by typing your key ideas in sentence form. Apply textual evidence (specific details, summary, direct quotations, and paraphrase). Write your supporting points for your chief idea that is, quotations and paraphrases from sources and facts (findings and statistics from conducted studies). Ensure you tie the facts you state back to the paragraph’s main idea (analysis). Your transition from paragraph to paragraph should be fluid. Explain your argument’s importance. How to conclude Your analytical essay needs a concluding paragraph which gives your writing a sense of completeness along with alerting the reader your essay is concluding. Your finishing paragraph might summarize your paper’s key points; reaffirms the thesis in other terms, or make relevant comments regarding the analytical essay, but from a different perspective. Here is the illustration, â€Å"This feud ends tragically for Juliet and Romeo. The events contrast revenge and hatred with love and secret nuptials, forcing the youthful lovers to mature quickly and tragically die in despair. Tips on conclusion writing Don’t start a new subject in your conclusion. Make it short. Challenge the reader by posing an inquiry. Synthesize, do not summarize. Don’t repeat things stated in your thesis. Redirect your readers by giving them something to ruminate on. Tips on revision To write a perfect essay, you always need to reread your paper and correct all the mistakes. Keep your format simple. Include clear transitions, citations, and markers. Include support and evidence for main points. Check your grammar and spelling. Ensure the essay’s intent is shown not told. Analytical essay sample The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Lord Capulet is at fault partially because he instructed Juliet to slow down and find an individual she loves before getting hitched. So is Friar Laurence due to his hasty decision about secretly conducting the nuptials in the absence of their parents’ knowledge. Romeo and Juliet are blamed since at a youthful age, they secretly got married, without anyone’s knowledge. In the disastrous love story, composed by Shakespeare, Romeo, Friar Laurence, Lord Capulet, and Juliet are all at fault for the killing of Juliet and Romeo because they were rushed into decision making. Lord Capulet, the father of Juliet, was hasty in decision making because he attempted to overwhelm the sadness which came from Tybalts demise with the ‘wonderful’ news of Juliet’s marriage with Paris. Juliet’s father informs Juliet about her nuptials to Paris that coming Thursday and paints a picture of how big a celebration it will be. A day past, Lord Capulet alters the date from that Thursday to that Wednesday. Capulet acted hastily in his decision, so did Friar Laurence. Friar Laurence was the individual who joined Romeo and Juliet in matrimony without either’s families’ knowledge. In the introduction to scene six, â€Å"the two declare their unending love for each other and prepare to seal their marriage by the Friar.† Friar additionally gave Juliet the portion whose aim was making her appear lifeless for â€Å"two and forty hours.† Romeo and Juliet are blamed for their demise. They both acted hastily and got married in their parents’ absence, without their consent. They were around sixteen and thirteen as well. If Romeo would have been present to talk to Juliet, he would have known her plan and would not have killed himself since Juliet was still alive. If Romeo didn’t kill himself, Juliet would not have either. Many people are blamed for the killing of the romantic yet tragic Romeo and Juliet that is, Friar Laurence, Juliet, Romeo, and Lord Capulet. This tragic love story shows us how to love and secret nuptials forced the youthful lovers to mature quickly and dreadfully die in despair.

Qestuions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Qestuions - Assignment Example Births are accompanied by responsibilities that relate to taking care of the new born. Preparation and planning for the arrival of a newborn is a form of inherent stress that is normal for any family. Normal Stress outside the Family. An example of a stress in this category is tax liabilities. Tax liabilities emanate from the external environment of the family as they are regulated and imposed by the external legal systems. Adherence to tax requirements is a compulsory condition that the family has to contend through inclusion of a budget. Any budget deficits or failure to comply causes stress. The compulsory nature of tax remittance makes the stress normal. Abnormal Stress inside the Family. Family violence is a vice. Therefore, it is abnormal for families to experience the events of violence as they are preventable and unnecessary. Family violence subjects the family members to harm and loss as well as undermining of their dignity. Abnormal Stress outside the Body. War is a vice th at is external to a family as it involves conflict among many social units. War may lead to stress related to replacement and loss of property. This form of stress can be averted through promoting harmony in the society. Reaction to Stress Normal Stress Inside The Family Normal Stress Outside The Family -Family planning -Health security -Clear role definition -Saving -National planning -Tax preparedness -Venturing on self employment -Self reliance Abnormal Stress Outside The Family Abnormal Stress Outside The Family -Promoting awareness on the dangers of drug abuse -Legal action against offenders -National planning -Disaster preparedness -International sanctions towards war instigators 2. A good beginning definition of "theory" might be "A theory suggests a model, or representation, of the way things are." With this definition in mind, describe:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A. A good theoretical answer to the Hobbesian Question   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hobbesian question seeks t o understand how order is possible in a world characterized by competition for scarce resources. Order is possible because every person is dependent and connected to their own social world. Social role play and specialization determine the part to be played by every member of a family; thus avoiding conflict and enhancing the maintenance of order. The nature of the social roles that the families undertake are normally interconnected, and alienated by time and sequence of events. For instance, school goers normally take showers every morning at a certain sequence. The changing social demands force people to change survival tactics while still adhering to social order. Maintenance of social order eliminates any form of disagreements. A. How are family rituals important to the study of family crises? Family rituals refer to the family’s adaptation to the changing social demands. According to John Pardeck, adherence to rituals avoids conflicts as the changes are enacted in refere nce to the stipulated order. Disagreements may occur if the family members do not adhere to the rituals. For instance, the existence of a standard operating procedure enables the success of morning rituals. Rituals help researchers to understand the source of any conflict arising from the

Articles related to Managerial Accounting Essay

Articles related to Managerial Accounting - Essay Example The cumulative cost, therefore, constitutes the job cost charged to the customer. The article successfully illustrates that a job order costing approach is utilized when the job in question is distinctive from other jobs or product batches. Just as learnt in the management accounting class, cost accounting is relatively simple in job order costing. This is because the cost of materials and labor are integrated on one job ticket. Further, other overhead costs are included in the total amount of money charged to a customer. The article clearly distinguishes job costing from process costing, by showing that their difference depends on the product being availed to a customer, hence the kind of production procedure followed. I therefore learned that while process costing involves charging costs incurred in the course of production, job costing involves charging a specific job. I also learned that, cost assignment strategies and record keeping in job order costing, have higher complexity than in process costing. This is especially the case, if there are multiple services or products being provided. Complexity is increased by the fact that different services or products result in different costs. This means that for high efficacy in job costing, a company must maintain detailed cost records for every job or product. Summary: This article recognizes the fact that in any business, there is a possibility of making profits, suffering losses or simply breaking even. The F&B establishment used as an example adopts a strategy of providing high quality soup at a fair price. Â  This means that the variable costs incurred are high because of using ingredients of high quality, yet the selling price stays at an average level. As a result, the contribution margin remains equally average. Therefore, fixed expenses and generate profit, the business compensates low margin with high sales volume. This involves making sure that its outlets are

The Development Of Pretty As An Intensifier English Language Essay

The Development Of Pretty As An Intensifier English Language Essay It is commonly acknowledged that the first thought about the definition of pretty is good-looking as an adjective when it is discussed; nevertheless, when this word is searched with ICE-GB, merely 20 instances are found as an adjective whereas 112 examples are adverbs, the frequency of which is nearly five times higher. This result is similar to the other corpora, such as British National Corpus with the frequency of 55.60 per million words as an adjective while 118.17 per million words as an adverb in the year of 2000. Accordingly, the lexicon pretty is normally used as an adverb rather than an adjective. What increases the adverbial usage of pretty? This essay is going to analyze the progress of the word pretty as an intensifier or a downtowner through the corpus of ICE-GB. First of all, the meaning of intensifiers or downtoners will be defined, followed by the historical alteration of pretty, and the way of grammaticalization. After that, collocations and meaning scales are also w orth discussing. In the final part, the number of examples in spoken and written registers will be explained. Intensifiers and downtoners are semantically categorized as modifiers or degree words, which are traditionally under the classes of adjective and adverb. Syntactically, modifiers control elemental level rather than clausal level (Nevalainen and Rissanen, 2002: 361). This indicates intensifiers and downtoners to some extent vary the degree of the word that they modify. As defined by Biber (1999: 554-555), intensifiers enhance the degrees of the word on a scale, but downtoners decrease the scale on the gradable items. Moreover, although Bolinger (1972: 17) does not distinguish the difference between these two, he still calls degree words as intensifiers and divides them into four classes based on the scalar region: boosters, compromisers, diminishers, and minimizers, which are from higher level to the lower part of the scale. This completely shows that there must be a scale among modifiers, which amplify or lessen the words that they modify. Backlund (1973: 69) states that pretty is a moderate degree adverb because it uses a weak statement to reinforce a positive meaning into the word that it modifies. The point of view is similar to the idea of a scale among modifiers, since moderate degree adverbs also increase or decrease the degree of modified words; that is to say, I can employ Bolingers idea to consider pretty as an intensifier, to be more specific, compromisers. Pretty as an intensifier modifies the adjectives because it shows the middle scale of the adverbs: It was quite pretty stimulating stuff and I really enjoyed it. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦theyre you know pretty experienced counsellors. Its actually a pretty outstanding game so far. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦which was pretty obvious to most observers by this time,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Pretty also modifies the adjectives: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦your first degree has got to relate pretty closely if youre going to get on a course in most cases. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦then one comes down pretty squarely in the period before priests and Levites were separated. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦you saw last week we can date pretty exactly in the late sixth century. I mean the the Tories started pretty messily. The word pretty, according to Nevalainen, and Rissanen (2002: 367), can be traced back to Old English as a form of prà ¦ttig with merely 10 instances, and mostly means cunning or cleverness in negative contexts. In Middle English period, the meaning of pretty extends into three categories: (1) cunning, and clever, (2) manly, fine; fair-sized, considerable, great; of a beating, and (3) handsome; elegant; enjoyable and pleasant, which Nevalainen and Rissanen claim that the development of the adverb pretty originates from the definition: fair-sized, considerable , and great (2002: 308). Furthermore, they also point out that although none of the examples show the use of pretty as an adverb in fifteenth century, historically, pretty or prettily starts to be adverb in the fifteenth century. Seventeenth century sees a significant increase in the number of instances of pretty as an adverb, which suggests that the intensifier meaning of pretty is gradually developing, and from the examples t hat Nevalainen and Rissanen exploit, pretty and very seem to be interchangeable (2002:309). The following instances taken from ICE-GB demonstrate very is the synonym of pretty: This loss of heat would pretty soon lead to its reaching a very cold temperatureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. I hope, pretty briefly because this has been a short case. The first three lines are pretty easy really, Its pretty hard to park there anyway. Later on, in the nineteenth century positive ideas are conveyed by the usage of pretty, which is found to modify adjectives and adverbs (Backlund 1973: 133). If pretty is considered to be an intensifier, it may have undergone a process of functional shift, (Biscetti, 2006 :62) which means the procedure of intensifier forming is related to semantic feature copying, which is established by Lorenz in 2002. This refers to the fact that pretty becomes an intensifier through connecting the adjacent lexicon which has similar meaning. Therefore, Nevalainen and Risssanens idea about the origin of pretty as an adverb can be applied to examine the forming of intensifiers. Thats pretty good. [great] I think they did pretty well to get to end up like that. [great] These two examples seem to represent that pretty pre-modifies its similar words, good and well, in the meaning of great. However, they cannot represent the whole conversion because these two words are the high frequency lexica that pretty collocates with in ICE-GB with thirteen and six times respectively. The other highly collocating examples found in ICE-GB do not show the semantic feature copying: I am pretty sure that it is actuallyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. It is uh pretty quick. If functional shift or semantic feature copying cannot completely explain the change of pretty, there are some other reasons. According to Mendez-Naya (2003: 372), intensifiers can be said to undergo a process of grammaticalization, on account of the fact that the function of a grammatical form are generated by the gradual loss of lexical idiosyncrasy. In addition, Ito (2003: 261) also points out delexicalization, which is a procedure of grammaticalization, and elucidates the intensifiers as a lexicon that the speakers comment or evaluation towards the word they want to express. Then, five stages are further illustrated from (a) original meaning, (b) expressing emphasis, (c) affirming truth of modified words, (d) attributive adjectives, to (e) intensification without the original meaning. Some instances are found in ICE-GB: (17a) It was actually really pretty. (17b) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦its in a quiet three-lined street filled with pretty houses,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. (17c) I am pretty sure of that. (17d) Apparently thats a pretty good idea. (17e) You were pretty stroppy then. Pretty in (17a) is an adjective to show the original definition of pretty either in three of them in Middle English Dictionary. (17b) contains an adjective pretty as well, but it shows the highlighting of the word houses, and it to some extent weakens its other original meaning, such as clever. Pretty in (17c) enhances the sureness of the speaker, while in (17d) it becomes the attributive adjectives and modifies either good or idea. Pretty in both (17c) and (17d) still possess some meaning of great itself, while in (17e) it is purely an intensifier in view of the fact that pretty can straightforwardly be considered as its synonym very. These instances manifest the grammaticalization and make pretty seem to experience semantic shift. Apart from grammaticalization, the frequency of collocation that pretty has also interests the discussion value. There are eighty-four examples of adjectives that pretty modifies in ICE-GB. The first one and two are good and sure, which have thirteen and four examples respectively. Big, busy, and quick have three instances for each, and difficult, hard, impressive, low, slow, strong only have two examples. Backlunds (1973: 134) states that pretty primarily combines with positive or neutral words, and occasionally, with negative words to express irony. This is perhaps due to the reason that pretty as an intensifier does not amplify or attenuate the gradable word up to the top of the scale or down to the bottom. It is interesting to notice that good is a positive word which is the highest tendency word to collocate with pretty, followed by sure, big, busy, and quick, the neutral words. The negative words that pretty collocates in ICE-GB are bad, dreary, grim, sad, wrecked, and stroppy, which only have one example. On the other hand, the adverbs that pretty modifies are six examples of well, two examples of quickly, and the others briefly, closely, exactly, high, messily, seriously, soon, sort of, and squarely. Similarly, there is a tendency for pretty to collocate with well, a positive word. The meaning scale of pretty as an adverb is categorized by Backlund (1973: 134-143) into (i) lowering the emotional level, (ii) lowering criticism, (iii) function of weak statement, (iv) degree modifier, (v) expression of phrasal, (vi) self-compliment, and (vii) front-position. (18i) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I suspect thats a pretty daunting record,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. (18ii) Yeah I mean hes a pretty normal boy. (18iii) So I imagine you have pretty strict regulations concerning its us. (18iv) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it would have been pretty well impossible to get in without a key. (18v) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦your memory was pretty good basically, and this wasnt a problem. (18vi) Ive had a very uhm pretty straightforward sort of a life Im afraid. (18vii) Pretty much yeah Ive got to admit. The sentimental word daunting in (18i) is brought down by pretty because if this instance expressed without pretty, then it will be an explicit expression, showing the record is intimidating. In (18ii), pretty produces the idea that the interlocutor does not concern the thing he or she states, while pretty in (18iii) weakens the degree of strict, making the example sound euphemistic. Example (18iv) is more interesting because pretty modifies not only well but also the adjective impossible. The reason is based on the x schema (Santorini and Kroch, 2007): pretty dominates the following well and impossible in the phrase pretty well impossible. Examples (18v) and (18vi) manifest positive thoughts of the expresser, and these two instances are the evidence of the fact that pretty are likely to collocate with positive and neutral lexical. Front-position, as Backlund (1973: 143) claims, only occurs in the beginning of a full sentence, or can be recovered by the eliminated components, that is or it is. Hence, (18vii) can be uttered as Its pretty much. Yeah, Ive got to admit. So far, the thing that has not been discussed is the instances pretty much, which appears in ICE-GB eight times. According to Backlund (1973: 138), pretty much can be regarded as almost since much gains the implication of almost and nearly from the phrase pretty much the same, and pretty is often excluded. (19) I was pretty much advanced on the delegates. Likewise, pretty well comprises a similar sense almost as pretty much, but it also contains hesitance and reservation in the utterance (Backlund, 1973: 140). (20) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦those percentages were pretty well reversed. Although Bolinger (1972: 215-217) asserts that when pretty much is used as a pre-modifier, it is a type of fusion, and it becomes a sentence modifier with the less restrictions of connecting verbs, no instances can be found in ICE-GB. Finally, there are 134 instances that can be found in ICE-GB, and 20 of them are written registers while the others are spoken ones. This implies that pretty used as an intensifier is still rare in written works, just as Gonzalez-Diaz (2008: 233) claims that verbal situations are the initial stage that language change happens, and later written language is influenced if speakers have created the innovation. In conclusion, pretty has experienced the language change from pure adjective clever to polysemy, and one of its meaning belongs to a modifier. Grammaticalization and the frequent collocations that pretty use may be the causes of the transformation. When people are inclined to utter the pattern of expression, the expression will gradually fixed, consequently leading to the novel usage of the word. That is the reason why there are some analogous meanings between pretty much and pretty well, even though pretty is considered as an intensifier. Overall, no matter how pretty develops, intensification is the linguistic expression of exaggeration and depreciation. (Bolinger, 1972: 20) Totall: 2050

Afternoons by Philip Larkin Essay -- English Literature

Afternoons by Philip Larkin. A poem which reflects on the subject of marriage is 'Afternoons' by Philip Larkin. The poem deals with Larkin's view on young mothers watching their kids playing in a playground and on this he concludes that marrying young and having children young, lead to the mothers losing their identity and destiny. The techniques used by the poet such as theme, imagery and tone deepened my understanding of the issue. The structure of the poem is simple; there are three stanzas with eight lines in each. However, unlike every other poem by Larkin this layout has no direct meaning. The lines are unrhymed. The first stanza deals with Larkin's rather cynical view of marriage and deals with the idea that the young mothers are isolated. Larkin's brilliant use of language emphasis the recurring theme of emptiness within the young mothers and how regimented their lives have become; 'In the hollows of afternoons' and 'young mothers assemble'. In the second stanza Larkin moves from the general view into the individual and describes the mother as belonging to a middle class background. Their husbands are described as working in 'skilled trades' and being 'behind them'. The husbands are not literally standing behind the women but are metaphorically. They provide support financially, emotionally and phycologically. On a closer inspection of the poem we realise Larkin has taken an everyday situation and made a universal message out of it. The image of the mothers life being dull is further emphasised when Larkin describes the 'Wedding Album' being near the television. This image suggests that the televsion is more of a central concern in the couples lives rather than their marriage vows etc. ... ...heir identity and are dominated by responsibility, they have lost control of what is truly their own. 'something is pushing them to the side of their lives'. The poem 'Afternoons' by Philip Larkin made me think considerably about having children young especially at my age, 17. The idea that Larkin portrays, that young parents, in particular young mothers lose control of their lives as soon as they have a child. Personally I believe that Larkin's message is made more effective and memorable because he tells it in a very simplistic manner in which the reader can clearly understand. However, Larkin likes the reader to be challenged and tells his ideas via a very implicit manner. His use of theme, imagery and tone deepened my understanding of the issue and I believe the poem provides a great thinking point to any young teenagers considering having children.