Usage Involved The Area Of Simple Present English Language Essay

Usage Involved The Area Of Simple Present English Language Essay This report was compiled to examine Simple Present Tense (SPT) use with beginner ESL students, aged 7-10 years old, attending Primary school. Ideally class sizes consist of 5-10 students, all L2 learners. The purpose and structure of SPT is highlighted. SPT differences with other languages and SPT difficulties faced by ESL students are outlined. SPT activities from introductory lessons through to higher proficiency have been discussed. Definition of Simple Present tense: The tense of a verb that expresses action or state in the present time and is used of what occurs or is true at the time of speaking and of what is habitual or characteristic or is always or necessarily true, that is sometimes used to refer to action in the past, and that is sometimes used for future events (Merriam-Webster, 2003, pg.982). These are not so much the meanings of the simple tenses themselves as the meanings which they gain in particular contexts. It is only the tense plus the context which can be said to express a certain temporal or aspectual meaning such as repetition, habit, or generality. The tenses themselves do not carry such specific meanings. If they did, then context would not be necessary for interpreting the time reference of a verb (Pennington, 1988, pg.). Simple Present tense is used to discuss: Repeated actions and express the idea that an action is usual. The action can be a hobby, a daily occurrence, a scheduled event or something that happens regularly e.g. I play soccer. It can also be something a person often forgets or usually does not do e.g. She never goes on holidays. Habitual is a common term used to describe the meaning of this term, which has come under scrutiny. What constitutes habitual action is determined completely by experience, and not at all by language especially not by the tense of the verb (Pennington, 1988, pg.53). Facts or generalisations It indicates that the speaker believes that a fact was true before (past), is true now (present), will be true in the future e.g. Spiders have eight legs and is timeless. It is also used to make generalizations about people or hings e.g. Vanessa is boring (Pennington, 1988, pg.53). Past and Future events Simple present is used to talk about the past or future and is described in a very immediate way, bringing the past or future into the present, including them as part of the present reality of the speaker and the hearer. As pointed out by Brown and Levinson (1978), shifting to the present tense is a way to show deference and positive regard towards the hearer, making a good story which pulls [the hearer] right into the middle of the events being discussed, metaphorically at any rate, thereby increasing their intrinsic interest; (p. 111). (Pennington, 1988, pg.52) http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepresent.html Structure of Present Simple sentences I base He You form She verb + S We of It They verb (+) Subject + verb + (+) Subject + verbS + (-) Subject + DONT + verb + (-) Subject + DOESNT = verb + (?) DO + subject + verb + (?) DOES + subject + verb + (WH)WH Q + DO + subject + verb +.. (WH) WH Q + DOES + Subject + verb + WHO + verbS WHO + verbS (Singalovski, 2008) Spelling When you add S to the verb you have to pay attention to spelling. 1. think + s 2. catch + es When the verb ends with s, sh, ch, x, z or o we add es. 3. stay + s fry Æ’Â   fries (Singalovski, 2008) Description of differences between English and Korean Korean language is spoken by 60 million people in North and South Korea. With an additional 5 million emigrants speaking the language worldwide in China, Japan, North America, and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Renaud, 2002, pg.1). The phonetic system, the syntactic structure, and semantics between English and Korean differ so greatly that the transition from one language to the other requires enormous efforts from the learner. More specifically, in relation to simple present tense, Korean learners typically struggle with the following disparities: In English, the word order is SVO (subject-verb-object), while the basic pattern of a Korean sentence is SOV (subject-object-verb). Although Korean has case-marking morphemes to designate the cases of the nouns and shows a more flexible word order, the predicate always comes at the end of a sentence (Cho, 2004, pg.33). In Korean the subject of the sentence is left out if it can be implied by the context, whilst in English, sentences need explicit subjects (Worldlingo, 2011). In Korean language new words are created by combining simple words, without changing their form (agglutinative). Words are created by adding suffixes to the basic part of the word (stem). Suffixes attached to a verb stem indicate things such as verb tense (past, present, or future), verb aspect (complete, repeated, or continuing), and honorification (marking of the relative status of the person addressed to or referred to from the speaker or addressers point of view-an elder, a stranger, a close friend) (Renaud, 2002, pg.4). In English the following third person pronouns are commonly used he, she, it, her, him (singular) and they, them (plural) . In Korean there are two third person pronouns used, male and female; the female form sounds awkward, and is mostly used when translating texts. Korean originally had only one third person pronoun for both genders, meaning it. However it has increasingly been interpreted as a male pronoun used for both genders. Although in recent years the pronoun the female counterpart is slowly gaining ground due to the influence of translations from European languages, it is almost restricted to specific styles of written language, because Korean generally uses subject less or modifier + noun constructions (Worldlingo, 2011). Generally forms used to denote third person in Korean are not separate lexical items, but rather are formed by combining the demonstrative pronouns i = this, ku =that and ce =that (over there), with bound nouns. The deictic use depends on the distance between the referent and the speaker. They indicate respectively, close proximity, middle proximity and distant proximity (Iksop, Ramsey, 200, pg.90,91). In Korean verbs in the present tense do not take -s in the third person singular. Korean learners of English commonly fail to ensure there is subject-verb agreement, by missing inflected endings in writing and speaking (Cho, 2004, pg.33). Many Koreans repeat the question-answer format of Korean negative questions when communicating in English. To the question, Didnt you like it? English speakers answer either, Yes, I did or, No, I didnt, whilst Koreans generally respond either Yes, I didnt like it, or No, I liked it. Native English speakers are generally perplexed by Koreans amalgamation of positive and negative elements of discourse. Korean students also experience fossilization problems when attempting to express conditionals, indirect questions, rhetorical questions and hypothetical statements, as a result of first language interference (Cho, 2004, pg.33). Clearly, the difficulties Korean learners have in learning English are not limited to just Koreans. Students of any nationality may experience difficulties due to language difference, culture gaps, and the discrepancy between their language ability and their overall maturity(Cho, 2004, pg.36). . . Difficulties simple present tense poses to learners Parrott (pg.195, 2010) and Wee (pg.35, 36, 2009) outline the subsequent issues, as characteristic and typical difficulties learners face with simple present tense. Omitting third person s / Omitting auxiliary verbs Errors of omission consist of the omission of compulsory elements in tense or number markers such as the omission of the grammatical morphemes. These include the omission of -s/-es/-ies for the verbs after the third person singular in the simple present tense. The copula be verb is often omitted in the simple present and simple past well as the progressive tenses (WEE, 2009, pg.351). Addition of Unnecessary Elements Unnecessary elements that are present result in errors of addition, for example, the use of redundant tense markers. Students may put -s,-es,-ies markers after the verbs that follow the plural nouns/pronouns in the simple present tense or redundantly put the -ed marker in cases where it is not necessary, for example, cuted, puted (WEE, 2009, pg. 352). Double Marking Double marking occurs when two items are marked for the same feature such as tense, for example, My neighbour doesnt likes Mary. or The thief didnt ran away when I shouted. Students may redundantly add -s, -ed or -ing forms to the verb after a modal which should be followed by the base form of a verb (WEE, 2009, pg. 352). Incorrect tense choice Errors of misformation occur when students choose the wrong forms of the words in place of the right ones. These commonly happen in cases of subject-verb agreement, for example, The men was here last night. The wrong tense may be used, for example, the use of the past tense forms to express present or future time or the use of the present tense forms to refer to past actions (WEE, 2009, pg. 352). Questions and Indirect Speech Students are often confused when they use reported questions or indirect speech resulting in the occurrence of errors of ordering. This means that the correct elements are wrongly sequenced, for example, They asked me where was the girl. Students face a lot of difficulties in using the phrasal verbs and may produce sentences like I pick up her. or I phone up him. (WEE, 2009, pg. 352) Questions and negative forms Errors arise from several possible general sources, namely interlingual errors of interference from the native language, intralingual errors within the target language, the sociolinguistic context of communication, psycholinguistic and cognitive strategies, along with countless affective variables (Brown,1980: 66). Level students are taught simple present tense and through which contexts and topics. Effectively teaching simple present tense verbs to ESL students helps to build a strong foundation for their use of the English language. The simple present tense is usually the first verb tense ESL students are taught (Teaching ESL to Adults). Students learn best when they feel safe yet challenged, when responses are accepted yet extended, and when expectations are realistic yet high. Teachers can assist by teaching explicitly within context and providing varying levels of support as students become increasingly independent and how it changes in different situations (BOS NSW, 2000, pg.8). ESL learners need an explicit, methodical and planned language program that is integrated into their general class work in all key learning areas, and that takes into account their needs and development (BOS, NSW, pg.13). English language teachers have changed, or are changing, from a traditional approach to teaching formal grammar rules to a more communicative approach to teaching how to use grammar meaningfully in context. Communicative approaches to presenting grammar usually include a focus on meaning and use as well as form. Grammar can be taught in many ways there is no best way that suits all grammar points (Gardener, 2008, pg.39). Students are introduced to simple present tense at school (K-6) through numerous curriculum topics English, Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE), Science and Technology. Students use specific text types to practice usage of simple present tense. Each text type uses different language and grammatical features. These features are outlined in Table 1.2. This table indicates primary use of simple present tense in Report writing. In addition, Parrot (2000, pg.190), identifies past narratives and commentaries as other instances in which the simple present tense is also used. Reports and narratives are focus texts (structure, grammar and context) in the English K-6 syllabus. Grammar is used as a tool to help students understand how sentences are structured so that they are meaningful, clear and syntactically accurate (BOS NSW, pg.9). Reports are also commonly used in the following Key Learning Areas (KLAs) HSIE Significant events and people, Cultural Diversity (BOS NSW, 2006) and in Science and Technology Living Things, Earth and Its Surroundings (BOS, 1993, pg.10). The HSIE and Science and Technology syllabus highlight activities that essentially require the use of language. Students use language to pose questions, clarify ideas and communicate understandings (BOS, 1993, pg.27). Describe activities you could use for simple present tense The way in which the verb tenses are introduced can make the structure of the English Language easier for the students to understand. Whereas pre-teen and early teen children learn a language by listening and repeating what they hear, without any need to think about grammar, this facility seems to fade as everyone gets older. The older a student is the more he or she will want to analyze the structure or learn using rules. Unfortunately many rules for the English language have exceptions sometimes many exceptions (Stocker DG, 2011). Activities in a b require more direct, explicit instruction through discussion, modeling and controlled activities. Whilst c requires more implicit instruction and allows students to apply knowledge of tense in meaningful ways, through less controlled activities. Activities are conducted independently, in pairs and as a whole class, using verbal, auditory, visual, written and kinesthetic activities. Activities are implemented across all KLAs in the NSW K-6 curriculum. Introducing simple present Introductory activities- Define simple present tense to students, the structure and forms which it can take (positive, negative, yes/no, questions -wh) and when it is used. Focus on frequency adverbs, spelling and pronunciation. This can be done through discussion, asking questions and modeling. Students are taught as a whole class but also independently asked to give answers. Introductory activities need to be introduced over a series of lessons and each concept is taught independently of the others e.g. positive and negatives not taught with plurals. In between each topic follow up activities presented in b and c can be implemented. Activities Simon Says, Guessing Games What animal am I ?, Verbal Show and Tell, Songs Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton) Practicing and consolidating in controlled circumstances Worksheets -unscrambling sentences, cloze passages, short answer questions, changing negatives to positives, changing singular to plural. Such worksheets can be found at http://www.eslprintables.com/printable.asp?id=248248. Writing Report writing using simple present tense, using their prior knowledge of simple present tense and report writing. Teacher discusses structure and language features with students as whole class. Students are given an outline and topic and are able to construct in pairs. Routines students write their daily routines. Directions students give directions to a designated location. GAP Activities Interactive whiteboard Teachers can access interactive whiteboard activities using DET Portal, through TALE. The preceding links provide suitable simple present activities that reinforce initial concepts taught. https://portalsrvs.det.nsw.edu.au/learningobjects/Content/L10347/object/content/index.html https://portalsrvs.det.nsw.edu.au/learningobjects/Content/L10346/object/content/index.html These activities consist of short stories, followed by supporting activities to enforce the concepts being discussed. Lessons can be implemented using a combination of individual or whole class approaches. Freer practice of the aspect of language Interactive computer games- The British Council have designed this language website for K-6 students. It includes interactive games, songs, videos and short stories to assist students in developing an awareness of simple present tense. Each of these activities is supplemented with worksheets and visual arts activities. Activities can be found at the following web address: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/category/language-focus/grammar-present-simple This website allows students to work at their own pace, requires minimal teacher direction and gives students instant feedback, all whilst learning through an enjoyable medium. There are numerous educational websites, however each should be thoroughly assessed for appropriateness, quality and curriculum standards. Board Games- The preceding websites provide printable board games. http://www.eslhq.com/worksheets/preview_worksheet.php?worksheet_id=26329 http://www.ihbangkok.com/!new/resources/present-simple-board-game.pdf Each game is supported with teacher reference notes. Each game concentrates on a different form of simple present tense. Students work together in small groups of 2 or 3. The questions in the templates can be altered, so that students are answering meaningful questions and to avoid repetition. The aforementioned activities are a small sample of activities that could be used to teach simple present tense. Multiple activities can be sourced from the internet, textbook and colleagues then manipulated and altered to suit the needs of individual students. These activities allow for both informal and formal assessment to take place and allow the teacher to continually evaluate students progress.

The Principles Of Liberal Idealism And Realism

The Principles Of Liberal Idealism And Realism For the purpose of this essay, my discussions will be narrowed down to the theory of Realism and would reflect on my knowledge of the topic before the seminar, key issued raised, what i learnt during the seminar and how it impacted on my understanding, i would also discuss what i did thereafter with my knowledge of the topic in terms of further research. I had just the basic knowledge about the concept of Realism before attending the aforementioned seminar which is that power is of primary importance to the realist. Also, in international relations, states are primarily motivated to obtain power and security because of anarchy on the world stage. The 1963 version of the movie Lord of the flies which we watched in a previous class also went a long way to aid my understanding of the themes of power and security in the realist school of thought. In the movie Lord of the flies, elements of realism were highlighted, there was a high regard for the values of national security and state survival which was eminent in the character of jack who formed his own gang of hunters and claimed to provide security from the beast and food for all those who followed his leadership. Also, the conviction that international relations are conflictual and that these conflicts are ultimately resolved by war. This can be linked to the character of Jack who had constant disagreements with Ralph of which he was always ready to go to war. I learnt from the movie that laws and rules are necessary to keep the darker side of human nature in check. When all elements of civilization disappeared from the island, the boys revert to a more primitive part of their nature; savages and anarchy replaced democracy. During the course of the seminar, ten assumptions of the principles of realism were discussed based on Kegley (1995) who asserted that people are sinful and wicked by nature and the likelihood of eliminating the instinct for power is rather utopian. Key issues were raised and discussed from different perspectives, but something of particular interest to me was the way power was viewed by some of my peers as not just the ability to dominate others or as a state having international influence or military strength on the world stage and not even in financial terms. Power was viewed in ideas as well; an ideology is even more powerful than money or any other material thing. This is interesting because the realist has this hierarchy of power capabilities and military strength is its most obvious way of enforcing power, the realist would relegate ideas to low politics. This point was challenged during the discussion by a fellow student who stated that the realist belief of power superseding an ideology had changed after the Second World War and that ideology had been placed on a much higher level than power. But that was the same thing that was said in the height of the cold war, the fight was a clash of an ideology and this clash was combated through guns, tanks and bombs. A good question raised was that are the guns, tanks and bombs a means to an end or are they a means in itself? That is to say are these weapons complementing an ideology? Or will ideas be smashed by guns, tanks and bombs. Personally i think on the long run, an ideology will definitely survive any form of weapon because it is the way of life of a people but if there is an uprising, weapons can be used to subdue but not necessarily causing deaths or more chaos. However, this was not the case in China during the Tiananmen Square Massacre of June 1989, where students and intellectuals led series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing beginning on 14 April, 1989. For more than six wee ks, millions of students gathered at Tiananmen Square to protest against the governments authoritarianism and called for economic change and democratic reform. On the night of June 4 1989, the Peoples Liberation Armys (PLA) tanks rolled into the centre of Beijing and killed hundreds of students, intellectuals, supporters and bystanders (Shirk, 2007). Another interesting issue raised was one very good argument in the heart of the cold war which is that would Washington sacrifice New York in order to save London? Meaning that if there was a nuclear attack, would Washington realise that our duty is to save our ally before we save ourselves. In answering this question, a state thinks of its self and its benefits first, it has to be calculating, Washington will never sacrifice New York to save London or any other ally. Also when it comes to power, a state has its interest at heart; looking at the China, United States, Taiwan relationship, America stood in there as an intermediary force also putting into consideration what its losses would be if it takes any rash decisions, which shows that a state considers its benefits first and is always calculating. The US cannot pick fights with China despite its constant human rights abuses because China is the big boy on the playground. Another issue discussed was that of national interest, the realist defines national interest as the acquisition of power (Kegley, 1995).We live in this atmosphere of national interest. It was in the US national interest to invade Iraq and go into Afghanistan; i presume it was in the national interest to get out of Iraq. A state needs to acquire power as much as possible if not, another state would and this then becomes a threat. According to Machiavelli, the fundamental responsibility of states people is to advance and defend the national interest. For Machiavelli, if the state is not strong, it will be a standing invitation for others to prey upon it (Donnelly, 2000). At the end of the seminar, we agreed that power cannot be eradicated instead; means and mechanisms to restrict and control it should be in place. The seminar impacted on my understanding of the concepts and principles of realism to a large extent especially the discussions on ideology of which i concluded that everyone is free to have an ideology, something they believe in. But the question remains: what do you do with your ideology? Is it used in a positive or negative way? Leaders since the Roman Empire have used ideology to instil amongst the masses a common consciousness, to help safeguard or teardown political communities and to equally conquer or repel alternative ideologies. An ideology can also be used to commit terrorism all over the world for example, Islamic extremists or radicals and 9/11. Hybel (2009) argues that world actors for centuries have aspired to propagate a structure of meaning through the world arena that reflected their own system of beliefs, ideas and values which would effectively protect and promote their material interest, believing their system to be superior to all others and such they felt moral ly obliged to spread it. Hybel states that radical Islamism is driven by the same set of goals. When these plethoras of ideas conflict or compete, war becomes almost inevitable. After the seminar, i carried out more research to aid the knowledge gained, i applied the concept of the realist quest for power to real life situation in international relations and theoretical approaches matched with applied analyses on events. Great powers all over the world are constantly competing for influence, international competition between the United States, china, Russia, Europe, Iran, India and Japan raises threats of regional conflicts. I was able to understand why the United State was an ambitious superpower. Kagan (2008) argues that Americas technical advances in weaponry far outstripped the rest of the world and placed the US in a special category of military superpower. As a matter of global strategy, they have preferred a preponderance of power to a balance of power with other nations, insisting on preserving and if possible extending regional predominance in the Middle east, East Asia, The Western Hemisphere: until recently Europe and Central Asia. According to Ch omsky (2003), The United States has been pursuing a grand imperial strategy aimed at staking out the globe. They are willing to dominate (as in the Cuban missiles Crisis) no matter how high the stakes. The Bush administration in September 2002 announced its National Security strategy which declared the right to resort to force to eliminate any perceived challenge to US global hegemony, which is to be permanent. China is another (emerging) superpower and a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. Sixty years ago, China was torn by domestic conflicts, invaded, vulnerable, isolated and poor. Today, it is an economic giant with its economy racing to become the largest in the world and its military power growing steadily. No other nation has moved faster from weakness to strength (Kagan, 2008). In conclusion, the seminar opened my understanding to a plethora of ideas and concepts i hitherto had little knowledge of and was able to make sense of the link between the theoretical approaches of international relations and real life situations present in the world today as well as to professionally analyse international events.

Role of Women in the Epic of Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon Society Essay

Role of Women in Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon Society  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Beowulf, the hero of Anglo-Saxon epic, had many adventures, and many companions and fellow-warriors are mentioned throughout his story. Some of them seem noble and courageous, truly living up to the standards of their culture; some seem cowardly. But all have gained immortality in the words, many times transcribed and translated, of the famous epic. However, the women of the time are rarely mentioned in Beowulf. Still, even from those few women who are mentioned and from other documents of the era, it is possible to see the position of women in of Anglo-Saxon society. In many cases, they enjoyed more rights than women in later Medieval cultures. Both Wealhtheow, Hrothgar's queen, and Hygd, Hygelac's queen, apparently held power in their courts. Wealhtheow's actions in rewarding Beowulf after his battles show the queen's role and position as hostess. She awards him "two arm ornament... ... impact on today's life, goes far toward dispelling notions that the Anglo-Saxons restricted the freedom of women in favor of a purely male-oriented, hero-worshiping society. Works Cited Beowulf and Other Old English Poems. Trans. Constance B. Hieatt. New York; Odyssey Press, 1967. Gies, Frances and Joseph. Marriage and Family in the Middle Ages. New York; Harper and Row, 1987. Page, R.I. Life in Anglo-Saxon England. New York; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1970.

Morals and Ethics in the Movie Wall Street Essay -- Film Movie Wall St

Morals and Ethics in the Movie Wall Street The movie 'Wall Street' is a representation of poor morals and dissapointing business ethics in the popular world of business. This movie shows the negative effects that bad business morals can have on society. The two main characters are Bud Fox played by Charlie Sheen and Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas. Bud Fox is a young stockbroker who comes from an honest working-class family but on the other hand, Gordon Gekko is a millionaire who Bud admires and wants to be associated with. Greed seems to be a huge theme of this movie. This movie portrays the unethical society we live in. It shows how money oriented society has become and that people will do almost anything to get ahead. Competitiveness has become such a widespread game all over the country, especially in big cities. At the start of Wall Street, Bud Fox is young and insecure about the business world. Bud is a broker seeking new clients and offering second-hand advice regarding the buying and selling of stock. Bud was faced with a choice that would change his life. He was so sure he wanted to be involved with Gordon Gekko that he was willing to do whatever it took to be a part of his immoral scheme. It only took about five minutes for Bud to agree to give insider information about stocks to Gekko in order to become more lucrative and manipulative at the same time. Bud wants to sell him stocks, and hopefully one day be like he is. Bud is obviously desperate to d...

New Jersey Pine Barrens :: essays research papers

Plants make up most of the Pine Barrens. For instance, pine trees such as the short needles, pitch pines, jack pines, long needles, yellow pines, and many others make up most of the pine forest in the Pinelands. Other trees include the pine oaks and the cedar trees. Due to the roots of these cedar trees, water in the Pine Barrens appears a brownish red color. This happens because the roots emit pigments of red color into the soil which then runs into the water. Even though the amount of red pigment released is very little, due to the large amount of cedar trees in the Pine forests, the water is affected. The main crops of the Pine Barrens include blueberries and cranberries. There are also many rare plants that can be found in the Pinelands. One of these is the pitcher plant which is related to the Venus Fly Trap. Plants such as these have an influence on how nitrogen is depleted in the Pine Barrens and also on how the Pine â€Å"Barrens† got there name, nothing like vegetables grow there. The pitcher plant helps prevent pollution from entering the lakes as well as help in preventing flooding. The lakes in the Pine forest are home to the tree frog. These forests are also home to many other animals like cranes, water snakes, turtles, salamanders, and other frogs. There are many dangers facing the Pine Barrens today. The most dangerous is the effect industrialization has on it. Many industries contribute to the mass pollution of water, land, and air. This greatly impacts the ecosystem of the Pinelands and the animals that live in it. Industrialization also leads to the building of more houses that are detrimental to the Pinelands because the Pinelands are being destroyed little by little every day. This ecosystem is too precious to waste, it needs to be preserved. Pollution has caused over forty species of birds to become endangered. Acid rain also causes the extinction of many species. Acid rain is the term used to describe the chemicals that are deposited through the rain. These chemicals travel through the soil and affect many plants and animals. Acid rain is a world-wide problem that concerns all ecosystems; acid rain needs to controlled by limiting the amount of pollution let out into the air. Another major issue affecting the Pine Barren s is forest fires. There are as many as four hundred forest fires per year. New Jersey Pine Barrens :: essays research papers Plants make up most of the Pine Barrens. For instance, pine trees such as the short needles, pitch pines, jack pines, long needles, yellow pines, and many others make up most of the pine forest in the Pinelands. Other trees include the pine oaks and the cedar trees. Due to the roots of these cedar trees, water in the Pine Barrens appears a brownish red color. This happens because the roots emit pigments of red color into the soil which then runs into the water. Even though the amount of red pigment released is very little, due to the large amount of cedar trees in the Pine forests, the water is affected. The main crops of the Pine Barrens include blueberries and cranberries. There are also many rare plants that can be found in the Pinelands. One of these is the pitcher plant which is related to the Venus Fly Trap. Plants such as these have an influence on how nitrogen is depleted in the Pine Barrens and also on how the Pine â€Å"Barrens† got there name, nothing like vegetables grow there. The pitcher plant helps prevent pollution from entering the lakes as well as help in preventing flooding. The lakes in the Pine forest are home to the tree frog. These forests are also home to many other animals like cranes, water snakes, turtles, salamanders, and other frogs. There are many dangers facing the Pine Barrens today. The most dangerous is the effect industrialization has on it. Many industries contribute to the mass pollution of water, land, and air. This greatly impacts the ecosystem of the Pinelands and the animals that live in it. Industrialization also leads to the building of more houses that are detrimental to the Pinelands because the Pinelands are being destroyed little by little every day. This ecosystem is too precious to waste, it needs to be preserved. Pollution has caused over forty species of birds to become endangered. Acid rain also causes the extinction of many species. Acid rain is the term used to describe the chemicals that are deposited through the rain. These chemicals travel through the soil and affect many plants and animals. Acid rain is a world-wide problem that concerns all ecosystems; acid rain needs to controlled by limiting the amount of pollution let out into the air. Another major issue affecting the Pine Barren s is forest fires. There are as many as four hundred forest fires per year.

Economics †Short Answers Essay

Answer #1 One of the problems that concern me right now would be the continuous increase of prices of petroleum products in the market which greatly affected my budget. Moreover, the said hike of oil prices causes our economy to perform badly for the past quarters which indirectly affects the prices of major commodities in the market like sugar, coffee, rice etc based from what I have read from the news papers and magazines. In this regard, oil price hike imposes negative externalities on our welfare –consumers. But to some extent, oil price hike also bring benefits to our economy in a form of forcing our federal government to find ways of providing alternative sources of energy aside from crude oil like bio-fuel. If it not for the price hikes of petroleum products in the market for the past decades, authorities would make no effort to find other sources of energy especially one that would serve as substitute for crude oil. After a few more decades, prices of petroleum products will start to decline as a consequence of emerging alternative sources of energy like bio-fuel as what I have said a while ago. Answer #2 One of the best examples of monopolists that currently exist in the market would be Microsoft Company. Microsoft Company serves to be the sole provider of Windows – software being used by almost all of personal computers around the globe. In this regard, the absence of other provider of Windows other than Microsoft makes the latter a monopolist catering for a large pool of buyers. Moreover, since Microsoft is the sole provider of Windows which we are all using nowadays, there is a great possibility for Microsoft to charge higher prices due to the absence of substitute goods for Windows. Furthermore, monopolists, because of its large market influence, can easily prevent new players to enter the industry of Software production giving them enough room to enjoy sole player in the market. Answer #3 Based from the negative effects that monopolists imposes not only to consumers but also to other market players, the federal government made necessary laws that would restrict the action of monopolists in the market creating enough way to protect the welfare of the consumers and other market players. One of the said laws could be the Anti-Trust Law. Anti-Trust Law is a bulk of laws that forbid unfair market competitions and anti-competitive behaviour of monopolists through illegalizing some practices of the latter that believed to hurt either or both businesses and consumers (U. S. Department of Justice, 1996). As for the case of labor monopolization of giant unions, I think we could also consider them as a source of potential negative effects just like of Microsoft as well as the misallocation of economic resources. The main reason here would be that, having a giant union monopolizing laborers in the market, there is a tendency that they will have a higher bargaining power on private firms of various industries, such as salary increase, which imposes negative effects on the operation of the businesses. At the end of the day, it is the consumers who will suffer from the actions of giant unions since the tendency of the private firms is to pass what ever the added costs they will incur from the said increase of bargaining power of labor unions. Answer #4  Another type of market structure aside from monopoly would be oligopoly. Oligopoly is a type of market structure wherein there is a few sellers and many buyers in market. As compared to monopoly, there exist market competition in oligopoly which improves the quality and quantity of goods and services in the market and so with the consumer welfare. One possible example of oligopoly would be Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a retail stores and tagged as â€Å"the Giant Store† which leads the industry of retailing due to its large size relative to other retail stores in the industry. The only down turn here in oligopoly would be the possibility of collusion between those â€Å"few sellers† in the market in order for them to minimize competition and have control on the price level in the market. The said collusion of oligopolists is called cartel and this act in the market just like a monopoly. This is the reason why federal government is keeping an eye on oligopolists to prevent such scenario since cartel is no difference with monopoly. Answer #5 Yes, the local phone service market, which was dominated before by Bell, has a great possibility of reaching competitive market due to the forces of competition. With the existence of competition, the local phone service industry members would have to compete to one another in order to attract more customers in terms such as higher service quality and lower price. Those improvements in the service quality and lower price of local phone service would make the said industry competitive since consumer welfare will surely improve; and at the end of the day, societal welfare will start to improve along side with the local phone service industry itself. Answer #6  One of the ways for us to determine if the product differentiation of competitive firms us wasted or not would be to know if the consumers possess brand loyalty which is the main target of differentiating product from one another. Product differentiation serves as the â€Å"identity† of any firm belonging to the competitive market and that identity will stand as the â€Å"brand† for the private firm. Now, if consumers in the market do not have the sense of â€Å"brand loyalty†, then, there is a big possibility that the product differentiation of private firms will be deemed unsuccessful in penetrating its target consumers. Answer #7  OPEC has been successful in controlling the production of oil since it has a bargaining power superimpose on the government of various countries that supplies oil in the market. OPEC determines the market demand and supply existing in the world market and either they increase or decrease the oil supply depending on the season, economic stability of their member countries and volume of supply of oil-producing countries to the organization, moreover, there are times that OPEC regulated the supply of oil for precautionary reasons like during the times of war and during the times of potential shortage in the coming period. The only negative effect of OPEC’s intervention on our welfare, especially during the times when they cut the supply of oil in the world market, would be the high prices of petroleum products on our domestic market. Therefore, the reason why there is existing oil price hike in the market would be either OPEC cut the supply of oil in the world market which creates pressure for the prices of petroleum products to increase, or because of the economic and political instability of oil-producing countries which creates threats for oil supply shortage in the world market. At the end of the day, consumers will carry the burden of that economic and political instability of other country through the intermediation of OPEC in the world market for petroleum products. Answer #8 The reason behind the success of Wal-Mart for the past years lies on its market share and size which provide rooms for further lowering down the prices of their goods relative to their competitors. Because of the large market size and share of Wal-Mart, they have been able to have more bargaining power to their suppliers in a form of price discounts since once Wal-Mart buys products to their suppliers; millions of volumes of goods are at stake. This is the reason why suppliers would want to supply Wal-Mart due to large volume of order that they can get once they were able to close a deal with the management of the Giant. At the end of the day, those price discounts that Wal-Mart was able to receive from their suppliers will give them enough room to further set the prices of their products lower as compared to their competitors, thereby, attracting more customers which eventually lead to experiencing high company growth in terms of profitability and sales volume.

Is Music a Good Tool for Health

In the article â€Å"Is Music a Good Tool for Health† by Elizabeth Scott, M. S. , she states that music has a powerful energy and affects our body and mind. And music therapy is a benefit to patients. I agree with the author’s opinion. Research shows that our body will be affected when we are listening to music. Our breathing and heart rate will slow down. This means music can help us reduce stress and depression. After we calm down, we can begin to solve the problem. When I have a trouble, I always lose my head and I have no idea how to deal with it. Then I sit down, and listening to music. After I calm down, I can think about the problem and figure out the way to solve it. Music therapy is a growing field of health care. Many hospitals have already begun to use music to help patients. According to the article, â€Å"Hospitals are beginning to use music therapy to help with pain management, depression, to promote movement, to calm patients, to ease muscle tension, and other benefits. † As we can see, music is not only for relaxed, but also health. Many people like to listen to music when they are nerves and depression. Most people will feel better after they listen to music. Some people will ask how music can affect our body and mind. There is other research that shows brainwaves can be synchronized by music with a strong beat. Different speed beats have different effects in our brain. According to the article, â€Å"Faster beats bring sharper concentration and more alert thinking. Slower beats promote a calm, meditative state. † I think this is the reason why music can affect our body and we feel better after we listen to music. Music is a benefit to us, and music therapy will be growing in popularity. Is Music a Good Tool for Health In the article â€Å"Is Music a Good Tool for Health† by Elizabeth Scott, M. S. , she states that music has a powerful energy and affects our body and mind. And music therapy is a benefit to patients. I agree with the author’s opinion. Research shows that our body will be affected when we are listening to music. Our breathing and heart rate will slow down. This means music can help us reduce stress and depression. After we calm down, we can begin to solve the problem. When I have a trouble, I always lose my head and I have no idea how to deal with it. Then I sit down, and listening to music. After I calm down, I can think about the problem and figure out the way to solve it. Music therapy is a growing field of health care. Many hospitals have already begun to use music to help patients. According to the article, â€Å"Hospitals are beginning to use music therapy to help with pain management, depression, to promote movement, to calm patients, to ease muscle tension, and other benefits. † As we can see, music is not only for relaxed, but also health. Many people like to listen to music when they are nerves and depression. Most people will feel better after they listen to music. Some people will ask how music can affect our body and mind. There is other research that shows brainwaves can be synchronized by music with a strong beat. Different speed beats have different effects in our brain. According to the article, â€Å"Faster beats bring sharper concentration and more alert thinking. Slower beats promote a calm, meditative state. † I think this is the reason why music can affect our body and we feel better after we listen to music. Music is a benefit to us, and music therapy will be growing in popularity.