Saturday, May 23, 2020

Definition and Examples of Euphuism (Prose Style)

Euphuism is an elaborately patterned prose style, characterized in particular by the extensive use of similes and metaphors, parallelism, alliteration, and antithesis. Adjective: euphuistic. Also called  Asianism and aureate diction. Euphuism is about infinite expansion, says Katharine Wilson. A  single thought can breed analogies, anecdotes, intellectual choices, and printed pages (Turne Your Library to a Wardrope: John Lyly and Euphuism in  The Oxford Handbook of English Prose 1500-1640, 2013).The term euphuism (from the Greek, to grow, bring forth) is derived from the name of the hero in  John Lylys ornately florid Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit (1579).Euphuism is not related to euphemism, a more common term. Commentary The freshest colours soonest fade, the teenest razor soonest turneth his edge, the finest cloth is soonest eaten with moths, and the cambric sooner stained than the coarse canvas: which appeared well in this Euphues, whose wit, being like wax, apt to receive any impression, and bearing the head in his own hand, either to use the rein or the spur, disdaining counsel, leaving his country, loathing his old acquaintance, thought either by wit to obtain some conquest, or by shame to abide some conflict; who, preferring fancy before friends and his present humour before honour to come, laid reason in water, being too salt for his taste, and followed unbridled affection, most pleasant for his tooth. (John Lyly, from Euphues, 1579)Nothing daunted at the staunch refusal of different divines, whose modest walk was interrupted by their bold assertion of loathsome rights, they moved on, while laughs of hidden rage and defeat flitted across their doll-decked faces, to die as they next accosted so me rustic-looking critics, who, tempted with their polished twang, their earnest advances, their pitiful entreaties, yielded, in their ignorance of the ways of a large city, to their glossy offers, and accompanied, with slight hesitation, these artificial shells of immorality to their homes of ruin, degradation and shame. (Amanda McKittrick Ros, Delina Delaney, 1898) Euphuism and Rhetoric The historians tell us that Euphuism is older than Euphues, but they have failed to notice that the English study of rhetoric provides a much better indication of its origin than do the imagined influences of Italy and Spain. ... Now, the recipe, so to speak, of Euphuism is to be found in The Arte of Rhetorique [1553]. By this is not meant that we claim that [Thomas] Wilsons book taught Lyly his secret; only that it was through the fashionable study of rhetoric in the literary coteries of the time that this manner of writing was evolved. Examples of what is meant abound in this book. (G.H. Mair, introduction to Wilsons Arte of Rhetorique. Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1909) Euphuism and Tacit Persuasion Patterns The locus classicus for the tacit persuasion patterns we have been discussing is a linguistically lunatic Elizabethan short novel, John Lylys Euphues. ... The book consists mostly of moralizing speeches, couched in a style so full of antithesis, isocolon, climax and alliteration that it comes to be about tacit persuasion patterns. ...[A] reader of Lyly is so conditioned to antitheses that he starts to make them at the least suggestion. Chiasmus as well as double-isocolon has become a way of perceiving. ...[Lyly] didnt have anything new to say. In his moral world, nothing new was left to say. How make a splash, then? You let the tacit persuasion patterns generate the meaning for you. Finding yourself with nothing to say, you deliver yourself methodically into the arms of chance. And so Euphues, whatever help it may provide for prodigal sons, comes to be a pattern-book of tacit persuasion. ...We see better illustrated here than in any other prose style I know the back-pressure form exe rts on thought. Vernon Lee, an acute student of English style, once called syntax the cast left by long repeated acts of thought. Lyly stood this observation on its head, thought becoming the cast left by infinitely repeated tacit persuasion patterns. (Richard A. Lanham, Analyzing Prose, 2nd ed. Continuum, 2003)

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Biography of Elijah McCoy, American Inventor

Elijah McCoy (May 2, 1844–October 10, 1929) was an African-American inventor who received more than 50 patents for his inventions during his lifetime. His most famous invention was a cup that fed lubricating oil to machine bearings through a small tube. Machinists and engineers who wanted genuine McCoy lubricators might have used the expression the real McCoy—a term meaning the real deal or the genuine article. Fast Facts: Elijah McCoy Known For: McCoy was an African-American inventor who improved steam engine technology by designing an automatic lubricator.Born: May 2, 1844 in Colchester, Ontario, CanadaParents: George and Mildred McCoyDied: October 10, 1929 in Detroit, MichiganAwards and Honors: National Inventors Hall of FameSpouse(s): Ann Elizabeth Stewart (m. 1868-1872), Mary Eleanor Delaney (m.1873-1922) Early Life Elijah McCoy was born on May 2, 1844, in Colchester, Ontario, Canada. His parents—George and Mildred McCoy—were former slaves who had fled Kentucky for Canada on the Underground Railroad. George McCoy enlisted in the British forces, and in return, he was awarded 160 acres of land for his service. When Elijah was 3, his family moved back to the U.S. and settled in Detroit, Michigan. They later moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan, where George opened a tobacco business. Elijah had 11 brothers and sisters. Even as a young child, he enjoyed playing with tools and machines and experimenting with different ways to fix and improve them. Career At the age of 15, McCoy left the United States for a mechanical engineering apprenticeship in Edinburgh, Scotland. After becoming certified, he returned to Michigan to pursue a position in his field. However, McCoy—like other African-Americans at the time—faced racial discrimination that prevented him from earning a position appropriate to his level of education. The only job he could find was that of a locomotive fireman and oiler for the Michigan Central Railroad. The fireman on a train was responsible for fueling the steam engine and the ​oiler lubricated the engines moving parts as well as the trains axles and bearings. Because of his training, McCoy was able to identify and solve the problems of engine lubrication and overheating. At that time, trains needed to periodically stop and be lubricated to prevent overheating. McCoy developed a lubricator for steam engines that did not require the train to stop. His automatic lubricator used steam pressure to pump oil wherever it was needed. McCoy received a patent for this invention in 1872, the first of many he would receive for his improvements to steam engine lubricators. These advancements improved transit by allowing trains to travel farther without pausing for maintenance and re-oiling. McCoys device not only improved train systems; versions of the lubricator eventually appeared in oil-drilling and mining equipment and construction and factory tools. According to the patent, it did so by provid[ing] for the continuous flow of oil on the gears and other moving parts of a machine in order to keep it lubricated properly and continuous and thereby do away with the necessity of shutting down the machine periodically. As a result, the lubricator improved efficiency in a variety of fields. In 1868, Elijah McCoy married Ann Elizabeth Stewart, who died four years later. A year later, McCoy married his second wife, Mary Eleanora Delaney. The couple had no children. McCoy continued to improve upon his automatic lubricator design and make designs for new devices. Railroad and shipping lines began using McCoy’s new lubricators and the Michigan Central Railroad promoted him to an instructor in the use of his new inventions. Later, McCoy became a consultant to the railroad industry on patent matters. McCoy also obtained patents for some of his other inventions, including an ironing board and a lawn sprinkler, which he had designed to reduce the work involved in his household tasks. In 1922, McCoy and his wife Mary were in a car accident. Mary later died from her injuries, and McCoy experienced severe health problems for the rest of his life, complicating his professional obligations. The Real McCoy The expression the real McCoy—meaning the real thing (not a fake or inferior copy)—is a popular idiom among English-speakers. Its exact etymology is unknown. Some scholars believe it comes from the Scottish the real McKay, which first appeared in a poem in 1856. Others believe the expression was first used by railroad engineers looking for the real McCoy system, i.e. a lubricator equipped with Elijah McCoys automatic drip cup rather than a poor knockoff. Whatever the true etymology, the expression has been associated with McCoy for some time. In 2006, Andrew Moodie developed a play based on the inventors life called The Real McCoy. Death In 1920, McCoy opened his own company, the Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company, to produce his products himself rather than licensing his designs to existing companies (many of the products he designed did not feature his name). Unfortunately, McCoy suffered in his later years, enduring a financial, mental, and physical breakdown that landed him in the hospital. He died on October 10, 1929, from senile dementia caused by hypertension after spending a year in the Eloise Infirmary in Michigan. McCoy was buried in Detroit Memorial Park East in Warren, Michigan. Legacy McCoy was widely admired for his ingenuity and accomplishments, especially in the African-American community. Booker T. Washington—an African-American educator and leader—cited McCoy in his Story of the Negro as the African-American inventor with the greatest number of patents. In 2001, McCoy was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. A historical marker stands outside his old workshop in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and the Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Detroit was named in his honor. Sources Asante, Molefi Kete.  100 Greatest African Americans: a Biographical Encyclopedia. Prometheus Books, 2002.Sluby, Patricia Carter.  The Inventive Spirit of African Americans: Patented Ingenuity. Praeger, 2008.Towle, Wendy, and Wil Clay.  The Real McCoy: the Life of an African-American Inventor. Scholastic, 1995.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Essay on Social Networking Sites Free Essays

Essay on Social Networking Sites Social networking sites peaked the year 2007. These sites encouraged online social connections. Early sites such as SixDegrees. We will write a custom essay sample on Essay on Social Networking Sites or any similar topic only for you Order Now com and Friendster allowed people to manage a list of friends. One drawback to these sites was that they did not offer users the ability to publish content like blogs. Social networking sites begin with a group of founders sending out messages to friends to join the network. In turn the friends send out messages to their friends, and the network grows. When members join the network, they create a profile. Depending on the site, users can customize their profile to reflect their interests. They also begin to have contact with friends, acquaintances, and strangers. Founded in 2002, Friendster used the model of friends inviting friends to join in order to grow its network. It quickly signed on millions of users. Unfortunately, as the site grew larger, technical issues surfaced. Painfully slow servers made it difficult for users to move around the site. Additionally, management enforced strict policies on fake profiles. These false profiles, or â€Å"fakesters,† as they were known, were deleted by the site. This approach turned off users. Eventually, Friendster began to lose members in the United States. Fellow networking site SixDegrees. com closed its doors after the dot-com bust in 2000. Within a few years, these early social networking sites found their popularity declining. At the same time, a new social networking site called MySpace was beginning to take off. THE RISE OF MYSPACE MySpace brought together the social features of networking sites and the publishing capabilities of blogs. The combination of the two tools struck a home run with teens. Young people were looking for a more social way to blog. MySpace provided the solution. In 2003 Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe launched MySpace in Santa Monica, California. As music fans, the pair designed the site as a place to promote local music acts. They also wanted to be able to connect with other fans and friends. On MySpace, users created a Web page with a personal profile. Then they invited other users to become their friends. According to DeWolfe, the bands were a great marketing tool in the beginning. He said: â€Å"All these creative people became ambassadors for MySpace by using us as their de facto promotional platform. People like to talk about music, so the bands set up a natural environment to communicate. â€Å"1 Anderson and DeWolfe were determined to keep MySpace an open site. Anyone could join the community, browse profiles, and post whatever they wanted. User control was one of their founding principles. It also made initial financing hard to find. According to Anderson: â€Å"We’d get calls from investor types who wanted to meet us. They would say ‘Your site isn’t professional. Why do you let users control the pages? They’re so ugly! ‘†2 In the meantime MySpace continued to sign people up. Teens and young adults loved the site. They flocked to create their own profiles. The ability to customize pages, load music, and share videos added to the MySpace appeal. Unlike other early social networking sites, MySpace gave users a media-rich experience. Users could express themselves on their Web page by adding music and video clips. At the same time, they could socialize with friends. MySpace made social contact easier with tools such as e-mail, comment posts, chat rooms, buddy lists, discussion boards, and instant messaging. MySpace brought together the ability to express oneself and to socialize in one place. The timing was perfect. Over the next two years, MySpace grew at a tremendous pace. The site’s success brought attention from investors. Rupert Murdoch, famous for his media empire, wanted to buy MySpace. Murdoch had interests in television, film, newspapers, publishing, and the Internet. In 2005 Murdoch purchased MySpace for an amazing $580 million. By early 2008 MySpace had grown to a mind-blowing 110 million active users. It signed an average of thirty thousand people up every day. One in four Americans was on MySpace. The Web site had become the giant among social networking sites. It was the most trafficked site on the Internet. MySpace’s influence traveled outside of the United States. The company built a local presence in over twenty international territories. MySpace could be found in places such as the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, and Latin America. In a few short years, MySpace had become a worldwide cultural phenomenon. SOCIAL NETWORKING BEYOND MYSPACE The success of MySpace in the social networking arena spurred the development and redesign of many other online social networks. Some sites appealed to a general audience. Others, such as Black Planet, LinkedIn, and MyChurch, sought to serve a niche market. Facebook was one site that emerged as an alternative to MySpace. In February 2004 Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook. The site began as a closed network for college students. Closed networks only allow users to join if they meet certain criteria. In contrast, sites such as MySpace and Friendster were open social networking sites. Anyone could sign up for an account. Open and closed social networks have advantages and disadvantages. Open networks foster interaction between adults and teens. Parents can check up on their teen’s profile and decide if they are comfortable with their child’s online image. On the other hand, open access means that profiles are completely public and can attract unwanted attention. Closed networks are generally smaller. As such, there is a greater chance a user will know other members both online and offline. But a closed network blocks parents from reading their teen or college student’s profile. Being closed also limits a social network’s ability to grow and attract new users. As a closed college network, Facebook grew by adding more colleges to its network. By the end of 2004, Facebook had almost 1 million active users. As Facebook’s popularity grew, it expanded beyond colleges to high school and international school users. At this point, however, the site was still restricted to a limited pool of student users. In 2006 Facebook made a pivotal decision. It opened the network to the general public, expanding beyond its original student base. By May 2008 Facebook boasted over 70 million active users. At that time, it was the second-most trafficked social networking site behind MySpace and the sixth-most trafficked site on the Web. As an alternative to MySpace, Facebook’s social network gained popularity with business professionals and colleagues. Facebook’s purpose was to help users connect online with people that they already knew offline. Unlike the wild-looking pages found on MySpace, Facebook promoted a clean, orderly online experience. VIDEO- AND PHOTO-SHARING SITES Online social networking evolved into a full multimedia experience with the arrival of video- and photo-sharing Web sites. Users could upload visual content to share with friends and other users. Photo-sharing sites such as Flickr enabled users to transfer digital photos online to share with others. Users decided whether to share their photos publicly or limit access to private groups. Users could also use the site’s features to organize and store pictures and video. One of the most popular video-sharing Web sites was YouTube. The site, founded in 2005, used Adobe Flash technology to display clips from movies and television, music videos, and video blogs. Users could upload, share, and view video clip topics from the latest movies to funny moments captured on film. Not everyone wanted to create a profile, write a blog, or upload pictures and video. Other social networking tools allowed these users to participate online. E-mails sent messages to a friend’s electronic mailbox. Instant messaging was a real-time conversation between two people online at the same time. Comment posting allowed users to interact and talk about a friend’s blog, profile, or pictures. Even online gaming was a form of social networking, allowing players to meet other people with similar interests online. WHY IS ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING SO POPULAR? The popularity of online social networking has prompted researchers to explore the similarities between online social networks and tribal societies. According to Lance Strate, a communications professor at Fordham University, social networks appeal to people because they feel more like talking than writing. â€Å"Orality is the base of all human experience,† said Strate. â€Å"We evolved with speech. We didn’t evolve with writing. â€Å"3 Irwin Chen, an instructor at Parsons design school, is developing a new course to explore oral culture online. He agrees with Strate. â€Å"Orality is participatory, interactive, communal and focused on the present,† he says. â€Å"The Web is all of these things. â€Å"4 Michael Wesch teaches cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. He studied how people form social relationships while living with a tribe in Papua New Guinea. He compared the tribe to online social networking. â€Å"In tribal cultures, your identity is completely wrapped up in the question of how people know you,† he said. â€Å"When you look at Facebook, you can see the same pattern at work: people projecting their identities by demonstrating their relationships to each other. You define yourself in terms of who your friends are. â€Å"5 Despite the connections between social networks and tribal cultures, significant differences exist. In tribal societies relationships form through face-to-face contact. Social networks allow users to hide behind a computer screen. Tribal societies embrace formal rituals. Social networks value a casual approach to relationships. Millions of people across the world have joined online social networks. Perhaps their popularity stems from our innate desire to be part of a community. According to Strate, social networking â€Å"fulfills our need to be recognized as human beings, and as members of a community. We all want to be told: You exist. â€Å"6 How to cite Essay on Social Networking Sites, Essay examples

Friday, May 1, 2020

Essentials of Business Communication-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Communication in Business. Answer: For running a business, sharpening some skills is very important. The most important skills that needs practise are the communication skills and the literature or academic development skills (Kaul 2014). Increasing my literature skills throughout the trimester, I got more realistic opinions about what is needed to keep in mind while running a business. The ideas I got through the enhancement of my literature skills helped me to know the inner perspectives of the business world and the competitors. The achievement of this knowing skill has enhanced my sense of thinking in a way the businesspersons think. While enhancing my literature skills I have seen the collections of things that a business includes growing in my head and which resulted in the increase of business ideas. During my trimester, I covered the challenges that one faces during running of a business and the importance of communication in the business world. I also research on the development of interpretation skills and a bout the business ethics and communication requirements. All of the above dealt with the improvement that, I required, and are the reflections of the communication and skills that I have grown during my trimester. The communication factor is very important part of business. Communication is a must element needed to maintain success in business along with providing unrestricted environment for work (Beattie and Ellis 2017). While I run a business, I have to communicate with the employees working for me, which will result in a positive and efficient working environment. An organized communication skill will help the business get the maximum production with putting less effort. Communication will not only help the organization in gaining information and profit maximizing but also helps in taking decisions and implementing the same for the sake of improvement of the company. The communication process will also help me in developing good relation with my employees and clients, which will result as the good will of the company (Jenifer and Raman 2015). The good communication process will provide the organization with devoted employees. The efficiency of communication will decline any kind of misunde rstanding between my employees and me as a management body. Through me trimester I have learned that external connections are always necessary for business and this connections can only be established through communication. A good communication process will offer the business with a global connection (Guffey and Loewy 2012). While researching about business ethics I came through the importance of business connections with the outer world, the clients, retailers, agents and manufacturers as well. The communication skill always plays a vital role in planning and handling the business issues. I have learned that without communication, running a business is almost impossible. I came up with several guidelines, throughout my research that states that the presence of a perfect communication system would make the business grow more rapidly. Not even a single business can run without communication. While running a business I will need to motivate my employees in order to make them comfortab le and this can only be done if I communicate with the employees. I have learnt that, useful business communication is the breath of every organization, without which the business world will stop proceeding I have learnt that having good literature skill is very important. While running a business we come across lot of people who belong to the same field. In order to manage the business being in communication with them is must (Singh 2013). Throughout my trimester, I came up with another literature skill, Creativity. In business world, there is always a tough competition. Keeping up in this competitive world may sometime seem hard but having good creative power can melt the ice. If I have good inventiveness and risk management skill then I will be able to compete with others. The unique selling proposition of any business is the creative power of the management (Griffin 2013). New ideas and innovative concepts results in better relation with the clients. The skills of managing time and utilizing it properly and maintaining my leadership skills will directly enhance the business to another level. My company will initiate training sessions to train the employees with the required academic skills. The training of my workers will provide the business with increase in customer satisfaction, gaining productivity and reduce production mistakes. My business will gain more profit if my workers are aware of the literature skills and as a businessperson money is another main thing that has to be kept in mind. Academic skills are very important for the foundation of any business that not only involves the reading but also the interpretation of information (Chmielecki 2015). There is a problem among many businesses that a huge number of workers are not qualified for their jobs. The reasons of that can be either literacy or their less skill power. This reason leads to less productivity of the business (Blume and Board 2013). I will take care of the fact that the workers working under me have enough skill power and if not I will train them with those skills. There are many literature skills that I will train my workers with, they are, reading, the use of documents, writing, increase in their power of oral communication, aware of using computers and improved thinking power, co-operative in nature so that they do not have any problem while working with others and interested in learning. I as a businessperson will set schedule to stop the workers from sitting idle without realizing the work pressure. If I set a schedule then that will help the workers to work properly maintaining time and this will fulfil their part of the time management. I will also come up with their communication skills so that they can directly communicate with some of the companys clients and this will keep up their interest in the work and also enhance their communicative power from time to time. If I let the workers approach directly to the companys clients that will also enhance their thinking power and encourage them to argue on something that can bring bad impact about the company. I will take care of the fact that the workers of my company have constructive criticism power so that they can have a healthy argument with the competitors as well. In the present era, business communication is an uprising element that is required to gain organizational success (Bodie 2012). The communication of any business is the communication flow between the internal body and the external body of the organizations (Ruck and Welch 2013). Formal communication reduces the communication gap and is applicable among both ends of management system of the business. If I train the workers with formal way of communication then, that will enhance professionalism in the environment of the business. The formal communications also has some shortcomings like inflexibility in the way of communication. Free flow of communication does not take place in the formal way of communication (Bodie 2012). If I only maintain the formal way of communication then, the workers under me will have a problem of communicating freely regarding their issues. I have to maintain informal communication with my workers along with formal one because the employees will have a platfo rm to express about their opinion with me and maintain a good attitude towards the business. The shortcoming of informal communication is that it has a lack of reliability. This will sometime make the company stand in front of many challenges and decisions for those unreliable informations. My leadership should have more focus on treating the employees equally. This will solve many problems of the employees (Northouse 2015). After discussing so many things it can be stated that communication is a very important part and pillar of business. It can be hence concluded that, the focus and control are the main elements needed for an effective communication process. The communication process will definitely have a lot of problems but still communication skill is the key factor necessary for running a business (Pagani 2013). If my communication skill is proper and well then my business will be an effective on in competing with other businesses. The main communication process I will follow is the informal one but I will not only focus on that. I will also follow to some extent the formal communication so that the workers can take the work seriously and manage their role well. I will also initiate creativity in my business in order to advance innovative ideas and techniques that will enhance the growth of the business and make more profit. The academic skills of my employees will be a vital part for improving the position of the business. References: Beattie, G., and Ellis, A. W. (2017).The psychology of language and communication. Routledge. Blume, A. and Board, O., (2013). Language barriers.Econometrica,81(2), pp.781-812. Bodie, G.D., (2012). Listening as positive communication.The positive side of interpersonal communication, pp.109-125. Chmielecki, M., (2015). Factors Influencing Effectiveness of Internal Communication.Management and Business Administration,23(2), pp.24-38. Griffin, R. W. (2013).Fundamentals of management. Cengage Learning. Guffey, M.E. and Loewy, D., (2012).Essentials of business communication. Cengage Learning. Jenifer, R.D. and Raman, G.P., (2015). Cross-cultural communication barriers in the workplace.Internafional Journal of Management,6(1), pp.348-351. Kaul, A., (2014).Effective business communication. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.. Northouse, P.G., (2015).Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications. Pagani, A., (2013) increased coupling by using horizontal and vertical communication channels. U.S. Patent Application 13/801,354. Ruck, K. and Welch, M., (2013). Valuing internal communication; management and employee perspectives.Public Relations Review,38(2), pp.294-302. Singh, M.N., (2013). Evidence from education and corporate sector'.International Journal of Social Science and Management,1(11), pp.39-42.