The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne - 1760 Words

In Isaiah 30:15 it says, â€Å"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: â€Å"In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.† Hester would have none of it. Hester never repented for committing adultery with Dimmesdale, even after Dimmesdale repented for his sins. Therefore, she never had the salvation that was offered by the Lord. The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, who is well known for his other works such as, The House of Seven Gables and, Young Goodman Brown. He was also a Romantic and an Anti-Transcendentalist. The Scarlet Letter is about a woman named Hester Prynne, who is living in Boston during the 1640’s. She is publicly shamed in front†¦show more content†¦Hester’s repentance is one of the main questions the reader is left with at the end of The Scarlet Letter. Hester never repented for her sins. Hester saw DImmesdale repent for his sins bu t, she didn’t repent for her own. Hester was never allowed the opportunity to repent for sins in the stuffy Puritan community. She also believed that moral difficulties in a situation weren’t resolved by repentance, and instead, they were resolved by moving somewhere else or by a new description of oneself. Hester is also only a human being and not God, so, therefore, she isn’t perfect. Hester was never allowed to repent for her sins in the stuffy Puritan community. (The Atlantic) The Puritans have roots going back to the 1530’s when King Henry of England split from the church of Rome and started the Church of England. (History.com) Then in 1620’s, after much persecution, many Puritans decided to sail to the New World. The most famous group is the Pilgrims that settled Plymouth in 1620. The Puritans began to migrate to the New World,being commonly made up of families. They set up small towns on the East coast of the New World, one of those towns was Boston. Boston, 1640, is where The Scarlet Letter begins. Hester is being publicly shamed in front of everyone on the scaffold in the town square with her baby, Pearl. Hester is to stand in front of the leaders of the town and

The Indigo Spell Chapter Twenty Free Essays

string(39) " just kind of want to be a part of it\." IAN WOKE ME THE NEXT MORNING with a super-early phone call. At first, I thought maybe he hoped to sneak in before the other Alchemists woke up, but it turned out he just wanted to get breakfast beforehand. Seeing as he’d managed to get me access, I couldn’t very well refuse. We will write a custom essay sample on The Indigo Spell Chapter Twenty or any similar topic only for you Order Now He’d originally wanted to go to the facility in the late morning, but I talked him into going closer to noon. It meant lingering longer over breakfast, but it was worth the sacrifice. However, I was strictly back to khakis and a linen top. Espionage aside, cocktail dresses and breakfast buffets just didn’t mix. As a concession, however, I unbuttoned two buttons at the top of my shirt. Openly wearing that into the facility was practically R-rated, and Ian seemed thrilled by the â€Å"scandalous† act. Sunday at the facility was much quieter than the previous night. Although Alchemists never really got a break from their duties, most of the center worked normal weekday business hours. I had no difficulties checking in through the main reception again, but as predicted, we had a small delay in getting to the secure area. The guy on duty wasn’t the friend who owed Ian a favor. We had to wait for him to come out from the back room, and even then, it took Ian a bit of cajoling to convince his colleague to let me in. I think it was obvious to both of them that Ian was just trying to impress me, and finally, the first guy relented to what seemed like a harmless errand. After all, I was a fellow Alchemist, and I was only going on a tour of a library. What could possibly go wrong? They searched my purse and made me walk through a metal detector. I had two spells in mind that I could perform without physical components, so at least I didn’t have to explain any crystals or herbs. The trickiest part was a thumb drive I’d hidden in my bra. They might not have questioned me carrying one in my purse, but I hadn’t wanted to risk it being called out. That being said, if the thumb drive did show up on the scan, I was going to have a much more difficult time explaining why I was hiding it. I tensed as I stepped under the scanner, bracing myself to either run or attempt a Wolfe move. But, as hoped, it was too small to find, and we were waved through. That was one obstacle down, though it didn’t make me any less tense. â€Å"Did you end up trading this for the money he owed you?† I asked once Ian and I were descending toward the archives. â€Å"Yeah.† He made a face. â€Å"I tried to just swap it out for half of what he owed, but it was all or nothing for him.† â€Å"So how much is this trip costing you?† â€Å"Fifty dollars. It’s worth it, though,† he added quickly. Dinner had cost about the same. This was turning into an expensive weekend for Ian, particularly since I was the only one truly reaping the rewards. I couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty and had to remind myself again and again that this was for an important cause. I would’ve offered to pay him back for it all, but something told me that would counteract everything I’d been working to achieve with my â€Å"womanly charms.† The archives were sealed with electronic locks that opened when Ian scanned his card key. As we stepped inside, I nearly forgot that coming in here was just a cover for the larger plan. Books and books and books surrounded me as well as scrolls and documents written on parchment. Old and delicate items were sealed under glass, with notes and signs against a far wall on how to access digital copies of them on computers. A couple of Alchemists, young like us, worked at tables and were transcribing old books into their laptops. One of them looked excited about her job; the other guy looked bored. He seemed to welcome the distraction of us entering. I must have worn an appropriately awed expression because when I turned to Ian, he was watching me with pride. â€Å"Pretty cool, huh?† Apparently being a glorified librarian had just become a much more exciting job for him. â€Å"Follow me.† He didn’t have to tell me twice. We began by exploring the full extent of the archives room, which stretched back much farther than I initially realized. The Alchemists prized knowledge, and it was obvious from this collection, which dated back centuries. I lingered at the shelves, wanting to read every title. They came in different languages and covered a full range of topics useful to our trade: chemistry, history, mythology, the supernatural . . . it was dizzying. â€Å"How do you organize it?† I asked. â€Å"How can you find anything?† Ian pointed to small placards on the shelves that I hadn’t noticed. They bore alphanumeric codes that were part of no filing system I recognized. â€Å"These catalog it all. And here’s the directory.† He led me to a touch screen panel embedded in the wall. I pressed it and was presented with a menu of options: AUTHOR, TIME PERIOD, SUBJECT, LANGUAGE. I touched SUBJECT and was led through a series of more and more specific topics until I finally realized I’d been searching for â€Å"Magic† in the supernatural section. It gave me a list of titles, each with its own code in the organizational system. To my surprise, there were actually a number of books on magic, and I burned with curiosity. Did the Alchemists have records of witches? Or was it all speculation? Most likely these were moral books preaching the wrongness of humans even considering such feats. â€Å"Can I browse some of the books?† I asked him. â€Å"I mean, I know I can’t sit and read all afternoon, but there’s so much history . . . I just kind of want to be a part of it. You read "The Indigo Spell Chapter Twenty" in category "Essay examples" I’d be so, so grateful.† I really didn’t think that would work twice, but it did. â€Å"Okay.† He pointed toward a small office in the back. â€Å"I need to catch up on a few things. Do you want to meet back here in an hour?† I thanked him profusely and then returned to the touch screen. I yearned to investigate the magic books but had to remind myself why I was here. As long as I was in the archives, I might as well do some research that would help our cause. I flipped through the menus until I located the section on the Alchemists’ early history. I’d hoped to find a reference to vampire hunters in general or the Warriors specifically. No luck. The best I could do was follow the codes to shelves and shelves detailing our group’s formation. Most of the books were dense and written in an antiquated style. The really old ones weren’t even in English. I skimmed a few and soon realized a task like this would take longer than an hour. The newer books had no mention of the Warriors, which didn’t surprise me, seeing as that information was now covered up. If I was going to locate any references to vampire hunters, it would be in the oldest books. They didn’t have much in the way of tables of contents or indices, and there was no way I could do a full read. Remembering my real mission here, I put the books away after about ten minutes and sought out Ian. That earlier tension returned, and I began to sweat. â€Å"Hey, is there a restroom in here?† I prayed there wasn’t. I’d seen one down the hall when we’d come to this level. Part of my plan depended on getting out of the archives. â€Å"Down the hall, by the stairs,† he said. Some work issue had required his attention, and if my luck held, it would keep his eyes off the clock. â€Å"Knock on the door when you get back. I’ll tell the scribes to let you in.† I’d had a knot of anxiety in my stomach all day that I’d been trying to ignore. Now there was no getting around it. It was time for the unthinkable. Subtlety had no role in Alchemist security. The hallway contained cameras at each end. They faced each other, providing a long, continuous shot of the corridor. The restrooms were located at one end of the hall, almost directly under a camera. I went inside the ladies’ room and verified there were no other people – or cameras – within. At least the Alchemists allowed some privacy. Casting the invisibility spell was easy. Getting out was a little more difficult. The cameras’ position made me think the restroom door was too flush with the wall for either camera to really get a good look at it. The door opened inward, so I was able to slip out and feel confident no camera had picked up a ghostly door opening. The door to the stairs was the real beast. It was in the range of one of the cameras. Ms. Terwilliger had told me the invisibility spell would protect me from video and film. So, I had no fear of being spotted. I simply had to take the risk of the camera recording the door opening by itself. Although I knew security guards watched live feeds of the cameras, there were too many for them to scrutinize every second. If no sudden movement appeared on this one, I doubted any guard would notice. And if things stayed tame on this level, no one would have any reason to review the footage. But the operations level . . . well, if everything went according to plan, this sleepy Sunday was about to get a lot more exciting there. I slipped in and out of the stairwell, opening the door with absolutely as little space as possible. The operations level was even more secure than the archives, with heavy, industrial-looking doors that required both key cards and codes. I had no illusions about cracking any of it. Entry into the security office, much like the rest of this task, relied on an odd mix of logic and luck. The one thing you could count on with Alchemists was reliability. I knew how schedules tended to work. Lunch breaks were taken on the hour at typical lunch times: eleven, twelve, and one. This was why I’d asked Ian to schedule our visit to this time, when I could be relatively certain workers would be moving in and out of the room. Noon was five minutes away, and I crossed my fingers someone would exit soon. As it turned out, someone entered. A man came whistling down the hall. When he reached the door, the smell of fast-food hamburgers gave away his lunch choice. I held my breath as he scanned his card and punched in the numbers. The lock clicked, and he pushed the door open. I scurried in behind him and cleared the door without having to catch it or open it farther. Unfortunately, he came to a halt sooner than I expected, and I brushed against him. I immediately shrank away, and he scanned around, startled. Please don’t think there’s an invisible person here. How terrible would that be to have made it this far, only to be detected now? Fortunately, magical subterfuge wasn’t the first thing Alchemists turned to as a reason for anything. After a few more puzzled moments, he shrugged and called a greeting to one of his coworkers. Wade had described the room perfectly. Monitors covered one wall, flipping back and forth between different camera views. A couple of guards kept an eye on the footage, while others worked away at computers. Wade had also told me which workstation contained the files I needed. I approached it – careful to avoid any other contact mishaps. A woman was already seated at the station. â€Å"I was thinking of Thai carryout,† she told one of her coworkers. â€Å"I’ve just got to finish this report.† No! She was about to take her lunch break. For my plan to work, that couldn’t happen. If she left, she would lock her computer. I needed it accessible for this plan to work. She was running late on her lunch, which meant I had to act now. This room wasn’t exempt from surveillance. Even the watchers had watchers. Fortunately, there was only one camera. I selected an empty computer with a screen facing the camera and stood behind it. Wires and cords snaked out of the computer’s panel, and the fans whirred steadily inside. I rested my hand on the panel and did one more quick assessment. The computer’s back was out of the camera’s view, but it would do no good if it was in the middle of someone else’s line of vision. Everyone seemed preoccupied, though. It was time to act. I created a fireball – a small one. I kept it in the palm of my hand and rested it right next to the panel. Despite its size, I summoned as much heat as I could. Not quite blue, but getting there. It took effect quickly, and within seconds, the cords and panel began to melt. The scent of burnt plastic rolled over me, and smoke drifted upward. It was enough. I let the fireball fade, and then I sprinted away from the computer just in time. Everyone had now noticed the burning computer. An alarm went off. There were cries of surprise, and someone yelled for a fire extinguisher. They all rose from their chairs to hurry over and look – including the woman who’d been at the computer I needed. There was no time to waste. I sat immediately in her chair and plugged in the thumb drive. With gloved hands, I grabbed hold of the mouse and began clicking through directories. Wade hadn’t been able to help much at this point. We’d just hoped finding the files would be intuitive. All the while, I was conscious of the time – and that someone might notice a mouse moving by itself. Even after they put out the fire, the Alchemists hovered around the smoking computer, trying to figure out what had happened. Overheating wasn’t uncommon, but a fire happening that quickly definitely was. And these were computers that contained highly sensitive information. I felt like there were a million directories. I checked a few likely candidates, only to hit a dead end. Each time I hit a dead end, I would silently swear at the wasted time. The other Alchemists weren’t going to stay away forever! Finally, after more stressful searching, I found a directory of old surveillance footage. It contained folders linked to every camera in the building – including one marked MAIN CHECKPOINT. I clicked it open and found files named by date. Wade had told me that eventually these files were cleared and moved to archives, but the day I needed was still here. The cameras recorded one frame every second. Multiplied by twenty-four hours, that made for a huge file – but not nearly the size continuous filming would create. The file would fit on my thumb drive, and I began copying it over. The connection was fast, but it was still a big transfer. The screen told me it had ten seconds to go. Ten seconds. The computer’s owner could be back by then. I allowed myself another peek at the Alchemists. They were all still puzzling out the mystery. The thing about scientists like us was that a technological failure like this was fascinating. Also, it never occurred to any of them to look for a supernatural explanation. They tossed around theories with each other and started to take the melted computer apart. My file finished copying, and I sprang out of the chair, just as the woman began walking back toward it. I’d been fully prepared to risk another â€Å"ghost door† while they were distracted, but the fire alarm had summoned others in the hallway. People moved in and out with such frequency that I had no trouble holding the door open just long enough for me to sneak through. I practically ran back to the archives level and had to calm myself when I reentered the restroom. I uncast the invisibility spell and waited for my breathing to slow. The thumb drive was back in my bra, the gloves back in my purse. Studying myself in the mirror, I decided that I looked innocent enough to return to the archives. One of the scribes let me in. It was the engrossed girl, and she gave me a look that said opening the door was a waste of her time. Ian still appeared to be engulfed with work in the back, which was a relief. I’d been gone far longer than a bathroom trip would require and had worried he’d wonder where I was at. Things could’ve gone badly if he’d sent the girl to find me, both because I wasn’t in the restroom and because she’d be really annoyed at the interruption. Over in the history section, I sat on the floor with a book picked at random, which I only pretended to read. I was too anxious and keyed up to parse the words, no matter how many times I tried to reassure myself. There was no reason for the Alchemists to suspect me of causing the fire. There was no reason for them to think I’d stolen data. There was no reason for them to think I was connected to any of this. Ian found me when the hour was up, and I feigned disappointment at having to leave. In reality, I couldn’t get out of this building fast enough. He drove me to the airport and chattered nonstop about the next time we’d get to see each other. I smiled and nodded appropriately but reminded him our work had to come first and that my post was particularly consuming. He was obviously disappointed but couldn’t deny the logic. The Alchemist greater good came first. Even better, he didn’t try one of those awful kisses again – though he did suggest we set up some times for video chatting. I told him to email me, secretly vowing I’d never open up any message from him. I didn’t relax until the plane took off, when the potential for an Alchemist raid seemed pretty low. The most paranoid part of me worried there could be a party waiting for me at the Palm Springs airport, but for now I had a few hours of peace. I’d just assumed I’d deliver the drive to Marcus and leave it at that. But now, with it in my possession, my curiosity got the better of me. I had to get to the bottom of this mystery. Was the Z. J. who’d visited the Alchemists really Master Jameson? With fresh coffee in hand, I opened the file on my laptop and began to watch. Even with one frame per second, the footage went on forever. Most of it was nothing but a quiet checkpoint, with the most exciting parts being when the guards changed position or took breaks. Plenty of Alchemists passed in and out, but relative to the overall time span, they were few and far between. Ian actually showed up once, off to start his shift. I wasn’t even halfway through when the plane began its descent. Disheartened, I resigned myself to an evening of more of the same when I got back to the dorm. At least I’d be able to make some decent coffee to get me through. I was almost tempted just to push the file off on Marcus tomorrow and let him deal with reviewing it . . . but that nagging voice urging me to find out for myself won. It wasn’t just because of my curiosity either. I didn’t really think Marcus would fabricate anything, but if I could see for sure that – There he was on the screen. He wasn’t in those over-the-top robes, but there was no mistaking Master Jameson’s old-fashioned beard. He wore business casual clothing and seemed to be smiling at something a man beside him was saying. The man had a lily on his cheek but was no one I knew. Master Jameson. With the Alchemists. Marcus and his Merry Men’s conspiracy had panned out. A suspicious part of me wanted to believe this was a setup, that maybe they’d altered and planted this. But, no. I’d taken it myself, off an Alchemist server. It was possible Marcus had more insiders running errands for him, but this hadn’t been easy for me, even with magical assistance. Besides, why would Marcus go to so much trouble to make me believe this? If it was some twisted way to get me to join him, there were a million other ways he could have attempted it, with evidence much easier to fake. Something in my gut told me this was real. I hadn’t forgotten the similarities in our rituals or how the Warriors had wanted our groups to merge. Maybe the Alchemists and the Warriors weren’t best friends yet, but someone had at least humored Master Jameson with a meeting. The question was, what had happened at that meeting? Had the Alchemist in the footage sent Jameson packing? Were the two of them together right now? Regardless of the outcome, this was undeniable proof that the Alchemists and Warriors were still in contact. Stanton had told me we merely kept an eye on them and had no interest in hearing them out. Once again, I had been lied to. How to cite The Indigo Spell Chapter Twenty, Essay examples

Problems Facing Healthcare Management

Table of Contents Introduction Financial Challenges and Healthcare Reform Patient Safety and Quality Government Mandate Conclusion References Introduction The health sector has experienced many challenges that threatened to cripple hospitals in the country. Some of the major problems identified by the American College of Healthcare Executives which include: financial challenges, healthcare reform implementation, government mandates, and patient safety and quality (American College of Healthcare Executives [ACHE], 2011).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Problems Facing Healthcare Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Challenges facing the health sector seem to increase since the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. So far, implementation of the act poses serious challenges which threaten to cripple operations in hospitals and other healthcare institutions. Financial Challeng es and Healthcare Reform According to ACHE, â€Å"financial challenges again ranked No 1 on the list of hospital CEOs’ top concerns in 2011†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (ACHE, 2011). Increasing the number of insured adults is a good source of revenue for healthcare providers especially after â€Å"they backed the president’s sweeping law and agreed to accept $155bn in cuts in government reimbursements over 10 years to pay for it† (Kirchgaessner, 2012). This left various health institutions with little finances to support their daily operations. As a result, hospitals are now forced to adjust their expenses and renegotiate new contracts with their suppliers. So far, a number of Republican governors have refused to carry out the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in their states. Limited finances given to healthcare providers lock out uninsured people from accessing health services. This is â€Å"devastating for hospitals who are legally obliged to treat these patients † (Kirchgaessner, 2012). Patient Safety and Quality Since the government enacted financial cuts in healthcare reimbursement, healthcare providers cannot guarantee patient safety and quality. The situation is becoming worse due to the rising cost of medical supplies. Healthcare providers frequently review contracts with their suppliers as well as cut the number of staff to fit their budgets. Contract reviews affect the supply of medical products paralyze activities in the hospital. Reducing medical staff increases the pressure on staff to keep up the required patient safety and quality standards. All healthcare institutions aim at providing the highest quality services according to the hospital’s mission and vision. With reduced finances, these institutions are not able to meet their visionAdvertising Looking for essay on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Government Mandate The Patient Protection an d Affordable Care Act gives everybody medical insurance as part of the broader Medicare coverage. This act aims at increasing the number of insured people in the country. This blanket insurance cover has led to a debate whether the federal government should enact it on all its citizens. According to a report published by Health Care Management Review, research shows that â€Å"mandatory individual insurance coverage in Massachusetts was followed by a significant near-term drop in hospital productivity† (Wolters Kluwer Health, 2012). The government believes that â€Å"individual insurance† is justified to compensate healthcare providers for the cuts in government reimbursements. According to the research, patient safety and quality will drop drastically if the number of insured people increases. Currently, the Affordable Care Act law poses a major challenge to the government, healthcare institutions and the public due to the standoff in its implementation. A number of g overnors argue that, â€Å"those provisions of the law represented brazen intrusions into the sovereignty of the state† (Kirchgaessner, 2012). In the end, it’s the hospitals which suffer since they are not able to get the necessary finances to give quality services. Conclusion Most of the problems facing healthcare institutions are as a result of political differences. If the health institutions are able to receive the required funds, they will give quality healthcare for all. For this to succeed, government and states should streamline their policies to enable healthcare providers give quality Medicare for all. References American College of Healthcare Executives (2011). Top Issues Confronting Hospitals:2011. Web. Kirchgaessner, S. (2012). US Hospitals Face Financial Problems. Web.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Problems Facing Healthcare Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Wolters Kluwer Health: Lippincott Williams Wilkins (2012). In Massachusetts, ‘individual mandate’ led to decreased hospital productivity. Web. This essay on Problems Facing Healthcare Management was written and submitted by user Arnav Banks to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Hardest SAT Reading Questions Ever

The Hardest SAT Reading Questions Ever SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you're aiming for a really high SAT score, you'll need to learn how to beat the most difficult questions on every section of the test. Here, I’ll go through a few of the most difficult questions I’ve seen on the SAT Critical Reading section and how to solve them. Why exactly are they so hard? How do you tackle them? How well will you do? Challenge yourself for that top score. Question Type 1: Sentence Completion Sentence completion questions are tough because you can’t always rely on context to answer the question if you don’t know the word.The hardest sentence completion questions include difficult vocabulary in both the sentence itself and the answer choices, so you’re stuck in a Catch-22.If you can’t be sure what the sentence is asking for, you’re going to have a rough time choosing the right word or even guessing it. Here’s a single blank sentence completion question that I think is one of the hardest on the publicly available SAT practice tests: Fred often used ___________ to achieve his professional goals, even though such artful subterfuge alienated his colleagues. A. chicaneryB. diligenceC. bombastD. disputationE. consensus This question includes difficult vocabulary in both the sentence (artful, subterfuge, alienated) and the choices (almost all of them).You can understand from the sentence that the word you’re looking for is a synonym for â€Å"artful subterfuge†, but what does THAT mean? And even if you do know what it means, the words in the answer choices are also pretty high-level; you might know what diligence and consensus mean, but the other three words are more difficult. So how would you solve this question? First, let’s see what we can get from the sentence.Even if you don’t know what â€Å"artful subterfuge† means, it must be something negative because it â€Å"alienated his colleagues†. If you don't know what "alienated" means, you might be able to infer it from breaking down the word: "alienated" has the word "alien" in it, so it looks like it means "to make alien," which is probably not a good thing. You’re looking for an answer choice with a negative connotation.This Fred guy is clearly bad news.You can also infer that â€Å"artful† means something like â€Å"crafty†, or in this case (with the negative connotation), â€Å"underhanded†.You need a word that means a dishonest method of achieving goals. Ok, now we will look at the answer choices. Diligence and consensus are both words you probably know, and neither of them is negative, so you can cross those out. This is where it gets really difficult - the three choices that are left are words you might not know. Disputation sounds like a dispute. That’s pretty negative, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with being tricky or underhanded. Bombast sounds like something that would be loud or big, not artful or tricky, but you might not be sure. Chicanery could be right. It has the same ending as â€Å"trickery†, and it sounds lighter than bombast (in that the word "bomb" is not in it). It seems like we can narrow it down to bombast or chicanery. Chicanery appeared more likely, so A is the answer we’re going to choose (and the right answer!). This question might seem impossible on the test if you don’t know the words, but if you make some smart inferences about the sentence and the meanings of the answer choices, you still have a good shot of answering correctly without knowing any exact definitions. It's not a sure thing (our assumptions about chicanery above were pretty flimsy even if they turned out to be right) (which they did), but you always have a good chance on these questions if you can narrow your answer down to a couple of likely choices. Fred. Now let’s look at a really hard double blank sentence completion question: Favoring economy of expression in writing, the professor urged students toward a _____ rather than an ______ prose style. A. spare...ornateB. terse...opinionatedC. personal...academicD. baroque...embellishedE. repetitive...intricate This isn't as difficult in the vocabulary department, but it has confusing answer choices and sentence phrasing that requires a high-level understanding of expressions. How do we solve this question? We know from the phrase â€Å"rather than† that the two words we use to fill in the blanks must be opposites - that’s important!The professor favors â€Å"economy of expression†, so the first word is going to reflect this type of writing style, while the second will be its opposite. What does â€Å"economy of expression† mean? We can infer from what we know about â€Å"economy† that it probably means something like not being wasteful with words.So the first word should describe an efficient writing style and the second word should describe a more flowery one. Now for the answer choices - I think this is the really hard part of this particular question.You have to remember that both words MUST FIT EXACTLY. First, let’s look at all the first words in the answer choices and see which ones match up with our determination of what the first word must describe.Spare does, terse pretty much does, hmm not sure about baroque, keep that one for now.Personal and repetitive are definitely wrong, so we can cross out choices C and E. It doesn't matter what the second word is if we know the first one is wrong. Let's move on to the second words in choices A, B, and D. A. spare...ornateB. terse...opinionatedC. personal...academicD. baroque...embellishedE. repetitive...intricate Spare and ornate are opposites, so A seems to work pretty well.Terse and opinionated don’t work together, because opinionated is definitely not the opposite of terse, so we can cross out choice B.Baroque and embellished (choice D) is a tough one. Embellished definitely works as the opposite of what the professor wants, but we're still not totally sure what baroque means. So it’s either A or D. At this point, we know that A seems to work, so we should go with that choice even if we are not sure about D.As it turns out, baroque refers to a style characterized by ornate detail (which it to say, not efficient), so A is in fact the correct answer! With this question, we can see how important it is to verify that both parts of a two part answer fit the sentence. Even with very difficult double blank sentence completion questions, if you break down the answers carefully you can arrive at the correct choice. Baroque art: proof that people had way too much free time before the advent of modern technology Question Type 2: Passage-Based Now let’s look at some of the hardest passage-based reading questions. I’ll break them down by category. Author Technique Author technique questions ask about why the author of the passage used a certain emphasis or device in his or her writing.These questions can be very difficult because you need to have a deep understanding of the author’s viewpoint and how different writing techniques work to develop arguments. Here’s one of the most difficult author technique questions I have seen: In lines 27-30, the author uses the word "conventional" several times in order to: A. reveal the performers' frustration with modern theatersB. disparage the present-day treatment of the artsC. parody the creative efforts of contemporary artistsD. emphasize the absurdity of a purely aesthetic approach to the artsE. exaggerate the importance of tradition in the arts The question refers to these lines in the passage: The trend toward preservation is significant not only because it is saving and restoring some superior buildings that are testimonials to the creative achievements of other times, but also because it is bucking the conventional wisdom of the conventional power structure that provides the backing for conventional culture centers to house the arts. I think this question is so difficult because it requires a very specific and nuanced understanding of the author’s goals and technique. It also provides answer choices that are overall pretty confusing. Let’s figure out how to solve it! First, we need to understand the question. Why does the author use the word â€Å"conventional† so many times in this paragraph?What’s the viewpoint she is trying to support? Clearly she is pro-preservation of historic architecture (she describes the buildings that preservation saves as "superior" and "testimonials to the creative achievements of other times", which are both good things), and conventional is being used negatively to describe the systems in place that would dismantle these cultural monuments.She is trying to emphasize how important it is not to allow the â€Å"conventional† ideas, systems, and centers to completely take over the arts. Now let’s look at the answers, remembering to be very picky and specific about eliminating any answers that are even a little bit wrong! Choice A:reveal the performers’ frustration with modern theaters True, the phrasing does convey a certain frustration, but is it used to reveal the performers’ frustration? Is it specifically about modern theaters? Nope. This answer makes itself too specific by mentioning performers and modern theaters, so it’s gotta be wrong. Choice B:disparage the present-day treatment of the arts This seems correct. â€Å"Conventional† is definitely being used as an insult (to â€Å"disparage† something).And it's insulting the attitudes and structures that surround contemporary treatment of the arts in public life. This one’s a winner! Choice C:parody the creative efforts of contemporary artists No, this looks like an irrelevant answer. Contemporary artists are not criticized and certainly not parodied by the repeated use of â€Å"conventional†.There’s no mention of contemporary artists at all! Cross it out! Choice D:emphasize the absurdity of a purely aesthetic approach to the arts Hmm...a â€Å"purely aesthetic approach† would mean an approach that only takes into account outside appearance.The author does seem like she might reject that sort of approach, but make sure you stick to the question. Is that why she repeatedly used â€Å"conventional†? Pure aesthetics isn’t what she's directly criticizing. It’s more the unfeeling bureaucratic mindset (the "power structure") that pervades today’s decisions about public cultural and artistic matters. This answer is slightly off from the author’s point, so it’s not going to work! Choice E:exaggerate the importance of tradition in the arts Again, this does seem like something the author would do - she clearly values cultural history - but is it what she’s actually doing here?In this case, â€Å"conventional† is used repeatedly to put down the current mindset surrounding the arts, not to raise up the author’s point. It’s part of a negative argument, not a positive one. This is an example of a weird type of opposite answer. Choice B is correct! This question was really hard because it gave a few answer choices that made some sort of sense with regards to the author’s viewpoint but that didn’t directly answer the question.This is why you need to always be sure to keep reminding yourself what you are being asked: to avoid just choosing an idea you saw in the passage but that doesn’t answer the specific question. If you think it will help, write down a paraphrased wording of what the question is asking that's easier for you to understand so you can stay focused while you look at the different answer choices. Example of an American cultural monument, am I right? Analogy Analogy questions are also really tough. They require you to make a comparison between something in the passage and something unrelated to the passage that exemplifies a parallel relationship or theme. This means first understanding an abstract concept in the passage and then matching it to one of five other abstract concepts that sound similar. Let’s take a look at one of the hardest analogy questions: The "mystery" discussed in lines 10-13 is most analogous to that encountered in which of the following situations? A. Being unable to locate the source of materials used to construct an ancient palaceB. Being unable to reconcile archaelogical evidence with mythical descriptions of an ancient cityC. Being unable to explain how ancient peoples constructed imposing monuments using only primitive technologyD. Being unable to understand the religious function of a chamber found inside an ancient templeE. Being unable to discover any trace of a civilization repeatedly mentioned by ancient authors Here’s the part of the passage we need to refer to: But finding Machu Picchu was easier than solving the mystery of its place in the rich and powerful Inca empire. The imposing architecture attested to the skill and audacity of the Incas. But who had lived at this isolated site and for what purpose? First, let’s figure out what the question is asking. Which situation in the answer choices is most similar to the â€Å"mystery† described in the passage?So we need to figure out what the mystery is based on the passage. Going from the first sentence, the mystery is the role Machu Picchu played in the Inca empire.We also should note descriptions of Machu Picchu in the passage to make as direct a comparison as possible. We know it had â€Å"imposing architecture† and was â€Å"isolated† but no one knows who lived there or why it existed. Ok, let’s find the most similar answer choice now! Choice A: Being unable to locate the source of materials used to construct an ancient palace The mystery in the passage is about the purpose of Machu Picchu in the context of the Incan Empire.It doesn’t involve any confusion about HOW the city was created.This answer doesn’t fit because the mystery has nothing to do with the origin of Machu Picchu, it has to do with its function. Get rid of it! Choice B:Being unable to reconcile archaeological evidence with mythical descriptions of an ancient city This one doesn't work either. The content doesn't match with the mystery in the passage because there were no mythical descriptions of Machu Picchu. The mystery isn't about any sort of mismatch between the archeological reality of Machu Picchu and how it was described. It's about the fact that its purpose in the Incan empire wasn't described at all. Cross this one out! Choice C:Being unable to explain how ancient peoples constructed imposing monuments using only primitive technology This one is tricky, because the mystery does involve not being able to explain Machu Picchu’s existence.BUT the mystery is not about the logistics of its construction - it’s about the WHY, while this situation is about the HOW. This one is also incorrect! Choice D: Being unable to understand the religious function of a chamber found inside an ancient temple This answer looks promising - it talks about being unable to explain function, and the mystery is the role of Machu Picchu - synonyms!Explaining the religious function of a chamber found inside a temple is analogous to explaining the function of Machu Picchu in the Incan Empire. How does one part function in the context of the whole it belongs to? This answer seems correct. Choice E: Being unable to discover any trace of a civilization repeatedly mentioned by ancient authors This answer again presents a mismatch between evidence and reality (similar to choice B) when no such conflict exists in the mystery of Machu Picchu - there’s simply no evidence at all. Another wrong answer! Choice D is the one we want! Analogy questions like this require you to think at a pretty high level in terms of inferences because you need to make a connection to something totally outside of the passage. However, this doesn’t change the rule about looking for direct evidence for your answers. Notice how in this question we focused on the fact that the mystery was about the role of Machu Picchu.By using this evidence, we were able to find the most direct connection in the answer choices by noting that role and function are synonyms. Machu Picchu - I think I need to go there. Paired Passages Paired passage questions contain some of the most difficult questions on the SAT Critical Reading section because they ask you to look at arguments from different viewpoints and make inferences about the views of passage authors. It's a real mental challenge when these questions ask you to put yourself in someone else's shoes (especially someone whose opinion is different from your own or unfamiliar to you) and then take it one step further and analyze another person's opinion from that viewpoint. Here’s one of the hardest paired passage questions I’ve seen: Based on lines 63-67 ("nobody...sheep"), the author of Passage 2 would most likely appear to the author of Passage 1 as A. a neutral observer of animal behaviorB. well informed concerning research into animal intelligenceC. having a deep fondness for border collies and therefore overestimating themD. having little respect for traditional scientific researchE. having a narrow understanding of what constitutes intelligence Here’s Passage 1: And here are the lines referenced in Passage 2: â€Å"nobody could believe dispassionately in the totality of positive and negative reinforcement after seeing the pure intelligence shining in the face of a border collie intent upon helping a shepherd herd sheep† How should we go about solving this question? This is the type of SAT Critical Reading question where it actually is important to read and absorb the whole passage.We need to have a strong idea of how the author of Passage 1 feels about canine intelligence. From reading the passage, it’s clear that the author of Passage 1 takes a more cynical view of the issue. People are inclined to believe that dogs are intelligent because we are always around them and they are good companions, but this has no basis in scientific fact. What does this mean about the author of Passage 1’s opinions on the author of Passage 2 based on the quote? Well, it seems like he or she would probably think the author of Passage 2 was naive and falling into the trap of wishful thinking.The quote cites unscientific, emotional evidence of the intelligence of a particular dog breed. Ok, now let’s look at our choices! Choice A:a neutral observer of animal behavior Hmm no, I don’t think so. This is almost an opposite answer. Clearly the author of Passage 2 is biased towards believing dogs are intelligent. There's no way the author of Passage 1 would think of her as a neutral observer based on her statement about border collies. Cross it out! Choice B:well informed concerning research into animal intelligence Nothing in the quote says anything about research, so it wouldn’t make sense for the author of Passage 1 to consider the author of Passage 2 well informed about animal intelligence research based on the excerpt. This is definitely an irrelevant answer - get rid of it! Choice C:having a deep fondness for border collies and therefore overestimating them Hmm, this seems possible. The author's point in Passage 1 was that people’s emotional attachment to dogs causes them to overestimate their intelligence. In Passage 2, the author is clearly citing her own positively biased observations of border collies as evidence of their intelligence. The author of Passage 1 would definitely think she was overestimating border collies because of how much she likes them. This answer makes sense. Choice D:having little respect for traditional scientific research This one isn't going to work - it makes too many assumptions. The quote doesn’t indicate anything about the author of Passage 2’s feelings towards scientific research.There’s no reason the author of Passage 1 would make this specific judgment based on the excerpt. This is a pretty tricky answer choice. It would make some degree of sense for the author of Passage 1 to believe this about the author of Passage 2 since she's citing anecdotal evidence rather than scientific facts to back up her point about border collies. However, this answer is too nonspecific to be correct. There's nothing that directly points to the fact that the author of Passage 2 doesn't respect traditional scientific research. She certainly does respect her own (perhaps biased) judgments that aren't based in science, but that doesn't mean that she looks down on real scientific research. Eliminate it! Choice E:having a narrow understanding of what constitutes intelligence If anything, the author of Passage 2 adopts a wider understanding of animal intelligence than the author of Passage 1 because she entertains the notion that dogs are more intelligent than scientists believe.There’s no reason why the excerpt would cause the author of Passage 1 to believe the author of Passage 2 had a narrow understanding of intelligence. This one’s wrong too! Choice C is correct! I thought this question was particularly tricky because it asked you to do some high-level inference work and provided a correct answer that might at first have seemed too specific. It also gave some other answer choices that appeared plausible but didn't fit with any evidence in the quote from Passage 2. In these types of questions, it’s important not to doubt yourself and to use process of elimination very strictly. Even if you're being asked to infer something about one passage author from the point of view of another, your inference will still be based on direct evidence from the passages. In related news, border collies are too cute to handle. Review The most difficult sentence completion questions on SAT Critical Reading will expect you to understand high-level vocabulary in both the sentence itself and the answer choices. Even if you don’t know specific definitions of all the words, process of elimination can help you get down to one or two answer choices.Remember to look for connotation in the sentence and note relationships between words and phrases so you know exactly what you’re looking for. The most difficult passage-based questions on SAT Critical Reading will ask you to understand and compare abstract concepts and points of view. It's important to always be clear on what the question is asking first.Some choices might be relevant to information in the passage without being a direct answer to the question. Above all, BE PICKY. The hardest questions are relying on your inability to eliminate slightly incorrect answers.If you can’t find direct evidence for a choice, you have to get rid of it. Even the hardest Critical Reading questions can be answered confidently with enough practice! What's Next? Want more tips on how to master the SAT Critical Reading section? Check out our article on how to get an 800! Also, take a look at these articles for more tips if you're still struggling with running out or time or reading the passageson for Critical Reading. Finally, here are six strategies you can use to improve your score.Take a practice test to get started! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

The Matter of Detail in a Descriptive Essay

The Matter of Detail in a Descriptive Essay The Matter of Detail in a Descriptive Essay Descriptive essays are essay writings that tend to create deeply involved and vivid reader’s experience. The best essays of this form achieve this open effect by the use of detailed observations and descriptions and not through facts and statistics. These forms of essays are meant to outline the reality with the help of words. Identifying an Idea and Describing It It is normally important to identify exactly what one wants to describe. In addition, mostly descriptive essays tend to focus on the following elements: Experience A certain place A memory A specific object The ultimate focus of descriptive writing is to give details about above-mentioned topics for the reader to clearly imagine the picture in his/her head. Reasons for Writing a Descriptive Essay First, descriptive essays depict what one observes as its core reason. They are normally based on certain agendas and events. Understanding this helps one to focus on the description and imbue ones language with a particular emotion. While writing a descriptive essay one should show the imagery of an idea without telling it. The following examples give the difference between showing and telling. I got tired of taking banquet. As I rested my head against the pinnacle of the chair, my eyelids started to get heavy, and the ends of the empty plate in front of me was blurred with the white table cloth. The initial sentence tells the reader what you got tired of, which was dinner. The second shows exhaustion. The most efficient descriptive essays are gauged by how they effectively show an action the way it happened. This is because they enable readers and the audience to imagine and experience the act matching the description. What is more, it is normally important to focus on the five senses that are closely connected with the detailed side when writing a captivating essay. These include: Sight Sound Smell Touch Taste When one writes his/her descriptions based on the five senses they provide a clear and precise picture to the readers rather than telling them their intentions and thoughts. Quick Guidelines for Writing a Descriptive Essay Jotting down a descriptive essay can seem like an easy task but it can be quite complicated. So it’s normally important to have a quick checklist of questions to guide you through when arranging, drafting, and modifying your essay work. Preparation of a Descriptive Essay Identify the description you want to give. Enlist your reasons for the description. Decide on areas to implore emphasis on. Draft Your Descriptive Essay Choose the senses and textures that are significant for developing the description. Include details that will enable the readers to have a clear impression of your emotion and point of view during your description. Revise Your Description Essay Check for minor details that might have been left out but are vital. Remove any unnecessary wordings in the essay. Check to see whether each paragraph deals with a distinct aspect of the description. Always revise your choice of words to ensure that they describe your intended emotions. Evaluate whether sufficient detail has been included to enable the readers to get a clear and precise picture of your description. To sum up the guidelines given above, it is necessary to mention the importance of detailed writing in descriptive essays. With the help of a thorough depiction of things, readers have the opportunity to picture them in their minds and that is the main purpose of descriptive writing. At you can buy a descriptive essay online, 100% custom written from scratch by top-rated academic experts. Place your order now!

The Theories of the Job Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Theories of the Job Design - Essay Example The various elements that consideration entails include job enlargement, job enrichment, job rotation and activities to be perfromed. Successful companies according to organizational psychology are companies which takes human capital as a critical and fundamental asset. As such, there is needed to come up with a management team whose role is to manage human captial with an intention of achieving competitive advantage and success in the organization. The human response tries to identify and exploit the employees’ talent in the organization through motivation and training. It also rewards the employees who have shown significant growth and development. The overal approach to management of human resource in a strategically is defined as strategic human resource management. The management is in line with the organization’s intention and its future projecction. It entails issues affecting the employees in long term basis and big isssues about quality, culture, structure, val ues and commitments that supports the organization’s futureachievments. The definition of culture according to hofdtede (2010) is a cummulative mind programming which identify a set of people from a group. It entials people’s way of understaning and their behaviours. Elements of job design There are three key elements of job design that affects any organizations ability to laverage its human resource. These are the task analysis, employee analysis amd environmental analysis. Task analysis The element entails all the tasks in the organization that needs to be done, hoiw each task will be performed and the connection of the task with the aim of forming a job. In the given case, it is evident that task anlysis is one of the factors that... This essya stresses that job enrichment- the element aims at enhancing a job position through opportunity addition meant for higher ranks of recognition and responsibilities via development of personal skills and acheivement. To ease the difficulties related to task management, Legacy Leisure Centre management need to implement planning and control features assignment to the workers. This report makes a conclusion that every organization’s aim is to constantly improve the business with a view of achieving competitive advantage. The neture of job design contributes significantly to achieving this goal since it has critical influence on maintaining organizational culture and corporate employees. The organization should take job design theory as a critical tool of achieving the business goals through employee satisfaction and elimination of boredom. When ther is stiff competition between different firms, the key assset of the company is the employees. It is therefore improtant to have in place a well established job design whose key responsibility is to embrace employee satisfaction by developing and motivating employees. In the modern, the culture that an organization has developed is an inherent aspect of an organization. The way a business firm organize itself to create a competitive advantage in a particular field very improtant int the company. The repor t has clearly potrayed how the relationship between human resource management, corporate culture and strategic objectives and goal in an organization.

Disscussion questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Disscussion questions - Essay Example Further, it also instills in the mind a keen familial bond with the innate family and even the motherland giving the person strong roots to stand firmly to find his appropriate place in the world. Something negative about this country is that it is not so much financially a strong country like the U.S. therefore its standard of living is not so much high. In global dimensions, in the field of assertiveness Indian people are moderately assertive in comparison to the people of U.S.A. However, from the Future Orientation dimension which stresses about the delay of the immediate gratification so that something maybe achieved in future, Indian people lead in comparison to U.S.A. This is because in this particular country the people think a lot and care a lot about their family. They are very family oriented therefore they tend to hoard money so that it can be invested in the future for the betterment of their family. Global Footprints,. (2007).  The global dimension in action A curriculum planning guide for schools  (1st ed.). Retrieved from