Language and the Human Understanding Through Time Essay examples

In his short essay, Why Good English Is Good for You, John Simon utilizes several rhetorical devices in order to convey the idea of the resurrection of the dying English language. In order to gain the support needed, Simon aims his essay towards the average, educated, young adult, Americans, because they are still at the age of where they can learn and cultivate their minds for the better, while also being old enough to fully understand the ramifications of becoming better educated. Through the use of rhetorical questions, similes, pathos, appeals to history and authority, repetition, and many other devices, John Simon is successful in portraying his arguments of why the proper English language must be resurrected. In order to prove his argument,

"The Monkey's Paw" is a short story which moves around the edges of a ghost story and the uncanny. In general terms, the narration immerses the reader into a frightening atmosphere in which the reader can realise that there are certain elements that make the reading something more than a spooky tale; for example the way time is treated in the structure of the story. It is peculiar the way W.W. Jacobs manages to create a rather concrete story by making the reader fill so many gaps. In our opinion, that is due to the fact that there is a complete focus on the development of the story since the arrival of the monkey's paw, and that there are several omissions of facts in the beginning and in the end of the story, which is no coincidence. This

The English language is particularly complex in almost all aspects. Many of the words in the English language have different meanings for the same word. This is not unlike the definition of the different levels of usage. McCrimmon defines the three levels, formal, moderate, and colloquial, by their sentence structure, diction, and tone (McCrimmon 193). ¹ Using McCrimmon’s definitions, authors can determine what type of writing is applicable to each of the three levels. For the formal writings, an adequate example of where readers can find it is in a professional journal, and an appropriate place to find an example of the moderate level is in a weekly news magazine. Also, the best place to look for an example of the colloquial level is in certain sections of the newspaper. All of the levels of usage apply to these different types of writings and assist in defining what each level involves.

While more Americans could read than their counterparts in the Old World, many citizens were still illiterate. In

In recent weeks all of us have been introduced to the essay “What is Literacy” written by Linguist James Paul Gee in 1987. Within this document we learn Gee is going to employ his learned skills to provide a ‘useful’ definition for the word literacy. Prior to providing us this insight, however, Gee must educate the reader on various definitions, idea and numerous theories in an effort to provide support for his conclusions and ultimately woo the reader into believing the postulations he makes. It is my belief that while Gee is eventually able to turn the reader to his way of thinking, he is not able to as eloquently as he would like. In fact, upon closer examination, I

Time and time again, Tan’s mother’s inability to speak proper English is seen by standard English speakers as a sign that she is unintelligent; they believe that the way she speaks is wrong and therefore the things she has to say are not important. This belief is so pervasive that as a teen, Tan herself used to believe that her mother was not smart because of how she spoke. Because Tan’s mother’s speech did not follow the rules of traditional English, Tan “believed that her [mother’s] English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly, her thoughts were imperfect” (146). Because Tan’s mother speaks in ways that are described as “broken” and “limited”, as a teen Tan felt her mother’s language indicated that her mom was simple minded. However, as Tan grew up, she came to appreciate the beauty and intellect behind her mother’s words. While Tan’s friends comment that they cannot understand a majority of what Tan’s mother says, Tan hears her mother’s speech as “perfectly clear, perfectly natural”, and remarks that “her language, as [she] hear[s] it, is vivid, direct, full of observations and imagery” (146). Tan’s friends seem to hear Tan’s mother’s speech on a surface level; since they cannot understand what she is trying to say, they cannot understand how rich her language is. Just because Tan’s friends do not understand her mother, it does not make the intricacies of how she speaks any less unique. The tendency of standard English

Presently there is a rising number of English Language Learners (ELLs) entering into classrooms all over the country. According to the three research studies that I utilized, there are several varied assessment approaches for teaching ELLs in reading (Davis-Lenski, Ehlers-Zavala, Daniel, & Sun-Irminger, 2006; Dreher, & Letcher-Gray, 2009; Ebe, 2010). English Language Learners (ELLs) consistently struggle with some aspects of reading because, they lack background knowledge in terms of the generalized text selections, which they are often given (Davis-Lenski, Ehlers-Zavala, Daniel, & Sun-Irminger, 2006; Dreher, & Letcher-Gray, 2009; Ebe, 2010). The data across all three journal documents agrees that there is an achievement gap where ELLs

Good time management is essential to handle a heavy workload without excessive stress. For a manager, time management helps reduce long-term stress by giving the manager direction when he or she has too much work to do. The manager will then, have the control of how tasks will be completed at work. In addition, having control allows managers to increase their productivity.

Language plays an important role in communication by bringing people together and enriching their relationships. Language can also alienate those who do not speak it properly, or at all, from those who do. The essays, Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan, best known for her book, The Joy Luck Club, and Se Habla Espanol, by Tanya Barrientos, delve into the many powers that language holds. These essays reflect how by not speaking a language in proper form and by not speaking a language at all, affects the lives of the subjects of the stories.

In “The Story of an Hour” (1894), Kate Chopin presents a woman in the last hour of her life and the emotional and psychological changes that occur upon hearing of her husbands’ death. Chopin sends the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, on a roller coaster of emotional up’s and down’s, and self-actualizing psychological hairpin turns, which is all set in motion by the news of her husband’s death. This extreme “joy ride” comes to an abrupt and ultimately final halt for Mrs. Mallard when she sees her husband walk through the door unscathed. Chopin ends her short story ambiguously with the death of Mrs. Mallard, imploring her reader to determine the true cause of her death.

In simple terms, language is commonly defined as the ability to speak to and communicate with others. In reality, the concept of language is far more complex. There are multiple ways in which language can influence the human experience. It allows us to measure empathy, understand the viewpoints of others, listen, and process emotions with the goal of correctly interpreting words and cues from others. Language, however, is an imperfect tool, and although we as humans develop the ability to use and express the same words, we are often unable to control the ways in which others receive the messages that our words are meant to convey. The book Fifteen Dogs illustrates the complexity of language and shows that there are multiple factors that contribute to the way we develop language and communicate with one another. Although each dog is granted human consciousness at the same time, they individually interpret language in their own way based on their experience and perceptions of the new world and the ways in which they form connections with each other and with humans. No dog was better able to communicate with both his peers and with humans than Majnoun. Despite his mastery of language, he struggled to fit in with groups. This essay will argue that Majnoun’s example illustrates the problem of using language alone to ensure effective communication. This will be accomplished by focusing on how Majnoun struggles to understand and feel empathy, the difference between speaking words

Time Time is defined as a measured or measurable period, a continuum that lacks spatial dimensions. This broad definition lacks the simple explanation that humans are searching for. There are many scientists, philosophers, and thinkers who have tried to put time into understanding terms. The aspects of time that we can understand are only based on what we can perceive, observe, and calculate. Every day we look at our watches or clocks.

Among the most important concepts to emerge are those relating to dialects and language standards. Sociolinguists have documented the presence of dialects in every language. These dialects, all of which are legitimate, are associated with educational, economic, social and historical conditions. Hence, even if an individual scrupulously studies all the possible dictionaries of a random language, he would still be somewhat of a stranger to that language since he is unaware of all the dialectal changes.

     If I say that I am currently employed with a major petroleum distribution center, you may think that I am a highly qualified person making limitless amounts of money. However, I am using the power of language to merely say that I work at a gas station making minimum wage. Great historical figures throughout history have used the power of language, the ability to use words to their advantage, to inspire people to unite under one common cause and to change the world.

Talking about “dialects”, a term often mentioned along is “standard language”. When being brought into comparison with “dialect”, “standard language” usually serves as a legitimate variant with the highest level of excellence (Bex & Watts, 1999). Though positive in nature, standardization - the procedure of standardizing a language – often raises heated controversy because of its consequences on not only linguistics field but also the society. In the second part of the essay, I will focus on the disadvantages of language standardization.