What Are Contractions in English Grammar

A contraction is a word or phrase that has been shortened by dropping one or more letters. In writing, an apostrophe is used to indicate the place of the missing letters.  Contractions are commonly used in  speech  (or written dialogue),  informal forms of writing, and where space is at a premium, such as in advertising. In very formal writing, such as academic papers, grant proposals, or other works that need to appear professional, you may not want to use contractions at all. Why Do We Use Contractions? We rely on contractions all the time in normal conversation. When people speak to each other, there is typically an expectation that they will use contractions (cant, wont, shouldnt) whenever they can, as doing so saves time. Some people are under the impression that contractions should never appear in writing, but this belief is mistaken. The use of contractions is directly related to tone. In informal writing (from text messages and blogs to memos and personal essays), we often rely on contractions to maintain a colloquial tone.  In more formal writing assignments (such as academic reports or term papers), avoiding contractions is a way of establishing a more serious tone. Before deciding whether to use contractions in a writing assignment, consider your audience and your purpose for writing. The Contractive  Apostrophe In telescoped words and phrases (e.g.,  doesnt, theres, souwester), an apostrophe marks the spot where one or more letters have been omitted. It is not necessarily where the words have been joined together. This apostrophe is also known as the contractive apostrophe. Some people, including the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, have been in favor of eliminating apostrophes entirely. Shaw called them uncouth bacilli, though its unlikely that Shaws analogy to bacteria will help the apostrophe go away anytime soon. Contracted Nouns and Pronouns In casual conversation, contractions involving  nouns  are fairly common (My  dadll  be home soon). In writing, however,  theyre  much rarer than contractions with  pronouns such as Ill, hed, and shes. You can contract proper nouns to mean is or has, such as in the sentence Shellys coming with us, or Jeffs bought a new computer. Watch out for the homonyms whos and whose; the contraction is who is or who has, and the whole word is possessive, as in Whose car is that?  And of course, if youre visiting the South, youll likely hear the colloquial yall for you all. Negative Contractions and Verb Contractions Contractions are often made with auxiliary, or helping, verbs, such as to be, do, have, and can. We can say it isnt raining or its not raining. But we cannot say itsnt raining. In negative clauses, we have a choice between using negative contractions like not  (nt) and contracting the pronoun and verb (its). But we cant do both. Contracting Not The contracted form of not (nt) can be attached to  finite forms  of the  helping verbs  be, do, and  have. However, amnt (mainly Scottish and Irish) is extremely rare, unlike the disparaged aint. The nt form can also be attached to most of the modal auxiliaries  such as  cant, couldnt, mustnt, shouldnt, wont, and wouldnt. Yet, you wont hear many Americans saying maynt or shant;  even those contractions are too formal. Contractions in  Tag Questions A tag question is a short question added to the end of a  declarative sentence, usually to make sure that something has been done or understood. For example, Its a tag question,  isnt it? Because of their  colloquial  nature, negative tags are commonly contracted:  didnt we? havent you? arent they?  This is much less formal than did not we? or did we not? Ambiguous Contractions Most contractions ending in  d  and  s  are ambiguous. The  d  can  represent either  had  or  would;  s  can represent either  has  or  is. All the same, the meaning of these contractions is usually clear from their  context. For instance, Sams  finished his term paper implies completion in the past  (Sam has finished), while  Sams  tired is in the present tense, meaning  Sam is. Multiple Contractions They may look odd in print, but certain multiple contractions such as  Idve  (or  Ida) and  wouldntve  are fairly common in speech. We like shortcuts, so its easy to say something like, If  Idve  told you the real reason, you probably  wouldntve  come back with me. Quite often, we dont even notice it.  The words just run together as we talk. Under the category of rarities, there are a few double and even triple contracted nautical terms. These include words like  bosn  (short for  boatswain) and  focsle  (a variant of  forecastle), words that landlubbers can probably live without. Before you start recklessly sprinkling apostrophes everywhere, make sure youre not putting an apostrophe plus s on something that should actually be plural: i.e., the  greengrocers apostrophe. Aphaeresis, Syncope, and Apocope Another common type of linguistic shortening (or  elision) is the omission of certain sounds or letters from an individual word. In phonetics, elision at the beginning of a word (for instance, gator from alligator) is called aphaeresis. In the middle of a word (maam from madam), it is a syncope. When it appears at the end of a word (ad from advertisement), we call it an apocope. Aphaeresis and apocope can occur together, as in  flu—a  clipped  form of  influenza. Standard Contractions in English In the following table, youll find a list of more than  70 contractions in English. aren't are not can't cannot couldn't could not could've could have didn't did not doesn't does not don't do not e'er ever hadn't had not hasn't has not haven't have not he'd he had; he would he'll he will; he shall he's he is; he has I'd I had; I would I'll I will; I shall I'm I am I've I have isn't is not it'd it would it'll it shall; it will it's it is; it has let's let us ma'am madam mightn't might not might've might have mustn't must not must've must have 'n' and needn't need not ne'er never o'er over ol' old oughtn't ought not shan't shall not she'd she had; she would she'll she will; she shall she's she is; she has shouldn't should not should've should have that'd that would that's that is; that has there'd there had; there would there'll there shall; there will there's there has; there is they'd they had; they would they'll they will; they shall they're they are they've they have 'twas it was wasn't was not we'd we had; we would we'll we will we're we are we've we have weren't were not what'll what will; what shall what're what are what's what is; what has; what does what've what have where'd where did where's where is; where has who'd who had; who would who'll who will; who shall who's who is; who has who've who have why'd why did won't will not wouldn't would not would've would have you'd you had; you would you'll you will; you shall you're you are you've you have

Solutions for Challenging Counting Problems

Counting can seem like an easy task to perform. As we go deeper into the area of mathematics known as combinatorics, we realize that we come across some large numbers. Since the factorial shows up so often, and a number such as 10! is greater than three million, counting problems can get complicated very quickly if we attempt to list out all of the possibilities. Sometimes when we consider all of the possibilities that our counting problems can take on, its easier to think through the underlying principles of the problem. This strategy can take much less time than trying brute force to list out a number of combinations or permutations. The question How many ways can something be done? is a different question entirely from What are the ways that something can be done? We will see this idea at work in the following set of challenging counting problems. The following set of questions involves the word TRIANGLE. Note that there are a total of eight letters. Let it be understood that the vowels of the word TRIANGLE are AEI, and the consonants of the word TRIANGLE are LGNRT. For a real challenge, before reading further check out a version of these problems without solutions. The Problems How many ways can the letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged?Solution: Here there are a total of eight choices for the first letter, seven for the second, six for the third, and so on. By the multiplication principle we multiply for a total of 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 8! 40,320 different ways.How many ways can the letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged if the first three letters must be RAN (in that exact order)?Solution: The first three letters have been chosen for us, leaving us five letters. After RAN we have five choices for the next letter followed by four, then three, then two then one. By the multiplication principle, there are 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 5! 120 ways to arrange the letters in a specified way.How many ways can the letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged if the first three letters must be RAN (in any order)?Solution: Look at this as two independent tasks: the first arranging the letters RAN, and the second arranging the other five letters. There are 3! 6 wa ys to arrange RAN and 5! Ways to arrange the other five letters. So there are a total of 3! x 5! 720 ways to arrange the letters of TRIANGLE as specified.How many ways can the letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged if the first three letters must be RAN (in any order) and the last letter must be a vowel?Solution: Look at this as three tasks: the first arranging the letters RAN, the second choosing one vowel out of I and E, and the third arranging the other four letters. There are 3! 6 ways to arrange RAN, 2 ways to choose a vowel from the remaining letters and 4! Ways to arrange the other four letters. So there are a total of 3! X 2 x 4! 288 ways to arrange the letters of TRIANGLE as specified.How many ways can the letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged if the first three letters must be RAN (in any order) and the next three letters must be TRI (in any order)?Solution: Again we have three tasks: the first arranging the letters RAN, the second arranging the letters TRI, and th e third arranging the other two letters. There are 3! 6 ways to arrange RAN, 3! ways to arrange TRI and two ways to arrange the other letters. So there are a total of 3! x 3! X 2 72 ways to arrange the letters of TRIANGLE as indicated.How many different ways can the letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged if the order and the placement of the vowels IAE cannot be changed?Solution: The three vowels must be kept in the same order. Now there are a total of five consonants to arrange. This can be done in 5! 120 ways.How many different ways can the letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged if the order of the vowels IAE cannot be changed, though their placement may (IAETRNGL and TRIANGEL are acceptable but EIATRNGL and TRIENGLA are not)?Solution: This is best thought of in two steps. Step one is to choose the places that the vowels go. Here we are picking three places out of eight, and the order that we do this is not important. This is a combination and there are a total of C(8,3) 5 6 ways to perform this step. The remaining five letters may be arranged in 5! 120 ways. This gives a total of 56 x 120 6720 arrangements.How many different ways can the letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged if the order of the vowels IAE can be changed, though their placement may not?Solution: This is really the same thing as #4 above, but with different letters. We arrange three letters in 3! 6 ways and the other five letters in 5! 120 ways. The total number of ways for this arrangement is 6 x 120 720.How many different ways can six letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged?Solution: Since we are talking about an arrangement, this is a permutation and there are a total of P( 8, 6) 8!/2! 20,160 ways.How many different ways can six letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged if there must be an equal number of vowels and consonants?Solution: There is only one way to select the vowels we are going to place. Choosing the consonants can be done in C(5, 3) 10 ways. There are then 6! ways to arrange the six letters. Multiply these numbers together for the result of 7200.How many different ways can six letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged if there must be at least one consonant?Solution: Every arrangement of six letters satisfies the conditions, so there are P(8, 6) 20,160 ways.How many different ways can six letters of the word TRIANGLE be arranged if the vowels must alternate with consonants?Solution: There are two possibilities, the first letter is a vowel or the first letter is a consonant. If the first letter is a vowel we have three choices, followed by five for a consonant, two for a second vowel, four for a second consonant, one for the last vowel and three for the last consonant. We multiply this to obtain 3 x 5 x 2 x 4 x 1 x 3 360. By symmetry arguments, there are the same number of arrangements that start with a consonant. This gives a total of 720 arrangements.How many different sets of four letters can be formed from the word TRIANGLE?Soluti on: Since we are talking about a set of four letters from a total of eight, the order is not important. We need to calculate the combination C(8, 4) 70.How many different sets of four letters can be formed from the word TRIANGLE that has two vowels and two consonants?Solution: Here we are forming our set in two steps. There are C(3, 2) 3 ways to choose two vowels from a total of 3. There are C(5, 2) 10 ways to choose to consonants from the five available. This gives a total of 3x10 30 sets possible.How many different sets of four letters can be formed from the word TRIANGLE if we want at least one vowel?Solution: This can be calculated as follows: The number of sets of four with one vowel is C(3, 1) x C( 5, 3) 30.The number of sets of four with two vowels is C(3, 2) x C( 5, 2) 30.The number of sets of four with three vowels is C(3, 3) x C( 5, 1) 5. This gives a total of 65 different sets. Alternately we could calculate that there are 70 ways to form a set of any four letters, and subtract the C(5, 4) 5 ways of obtaining a set with no vowels.

One More Show Essay - 792 Words

One More Show By age of seven I was sick of school and I wanted out by whatever means. I went Dorsa elementary school, a local school in East Side San Jose. Coming from a Latino background, I was at a disadvantage because English was not my first language. So fix this the principle Mrs. Rodriguez decided to have an after school program with the parents permission of course. This program was meant to keep non native-english speakers for an one to two hours after school. Being in class was hard enough because I didn’t understand what the teachers were saying, or cared about what we learning. I used to sit in the back small classroom, staring at the white board or wall, dazed into space. Sometimes I used to doodle on my class†¦show more content†¦After getting home I usually took a quick nap then enjoy the day watching cartoons. This cartoons where shows like Clifford, whats New Scooby Doo, Ed Edd n Eddy, Codename Kids Next Door, Johnny Bravo, Static Shock, Justice League Samurai Jack, Top Cat, Robot Boy etc. While watching the cartoons I used mimic what t he characters were saying. Some examples when I watch Ed Edd n Eddy I used say phrases like â€Å"dork,† â€Å"sockhead,† â€Å"Son of a Shepherd† †¦. Ironically this how I learned how to speak, write, and read English, as well as draw. Sometimes for the fun of it I used to draw cartoon characters because I like how they look. I sat down grabbed a random paper, crayons and draw what I remembered about a character. This where my passion for drawing came from. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with my method since they found it was considered ditching. I been sent multiple times to Mrs. Rodriquez office and she always ask me â€Å"Why do I ditch† or â€Å"How do it†. I replied I just climb the fence and because is boring. 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Advertising and Marketing Blog

Question: Discuss about the Advertising and Marketing Blog. Answer: Introduction: The five ethical principles of advertising industry are as follows: 1. Truth in advertising: According to law, there should be truth in every advertisement and varied bodies have been created to ensure the same. They should not be deceptive or unfair. Advertisers must ensure that they have the evidence to back up the advertisements and claims that they make. 2. Educating professionals: It is been stated that all marketing/ advertising professionals should be made aware, educated and trained to understand that the information provided to the public should be the truth in the best of its capacity and the information should not be misleading in any circumstance. 3. Distinguishing information: advertisers must ensure that they clearly distinguish the type of advertisement clearly before it is made public. There should be a clear distinction between editorial content, entertainment and news. This should be clear both offline and online. This should be done to ensure that the information is not confusing and misleading on part of the consumers. 4. Disclosure of information: Advertisers must ensure that they disclose every information relative to every advertisement at the time of showcase. All material information especially in case of endorsements should be done to avoid any problems. Transparency should be maintained in all circumstances i.e. even on social media. Authenticity of the advertisement should not be held in any case. 5. Personal Privacy should not be compromised: advertisers must ensure that they do not compromise on the privacy of the participants of an advertisements without taking consent from the people involved. This factor has to be specifically taken into consideration while marketing on social media and through online channels (MDG Advertising, 2011). Define what is meant by industry, services, products and organization within the advertising context. Then provide a list of real life example of an organization covering all the items. Item Definition Example Industry Industry specifically aimed at manufacturers who market or advertise their products so as to sell them to the consumers. Industry may also entail considering a particular group of firms that have the common objective. FMCG Services Services entail the provision of advertising the product or service of another firm. Services may mean the offerings of the advertising company or the offerings of the firm for which the advertising company may work. When an IT company advertises the Services it offers through Social Media such as Infosys Products Products are specifically the object that has to be advertised by a marketing agency to the target consumers and the formulate marketing strategies based on the advertisement of a particular product for a company. Shampoos Organization Organization is a company that hires an advertising agency for the purpose of advertising its products through varied means i.e. offline and online. An organization may hire one or more advertising companies to market the varied products that it offers to the different segments of consumers. Nestle List and describe five content of an advertising brief. Content Description of Importance 1. Background It is extremely important to understand the background of a particular product before the marketing of the product is carried out. This factor must primarily factors about the brand such as philosophy, personality, pricing, sales pitch and initial research (Crichton, 2013). 2. Competition It is vital to understand the number and nature of the competitors of the brand in question in the market. Products and services of the biggest and the smallest competitors should be accounted. Also, the future vision of the competitors must also be discussed. Examples and weblinks should be considered (Crichton, 2013). 3. What? This factor entails the understanding of the output expected by the customer. This means that the type of activity that the customer wants the advertising company to conduct in order to market the product in the best possible manner. Example, website, conference, event etc (Crichton, 2013). 4. Why? This factor explains the need to understand why the activity needs to be done. The objective in question must be well understood and outlined to ensure that the purpose of the advertisement is achieved in the best possible manner at the end of the day (Crichton, 2013). 5. Who? This factor helps in understanding the target audience of the organization, product or service for whom the campaign has to be made. It has to be understood if the consumers are individuals, businesses, children or elderly people. Based on this factor, the campaign can take a major change (Crichton, 2013). Define Campaign Objectives The Objectives of the Campaign are as follows: Specific: To make the brand more visible on Social Media Websites To increase the overall effectiveness of campaign on the sales and business of the company as a whole To enable the company get more interaction on part of the potential customers on social media To understand the requirements of customers to make feasible changes in the product in order to make it more saleable for the company To know about the requirements of the other customers across the globe. The objective will be completed based on the marketing of the company on varied social media channels Measurement: In order to meet the expectations of social media promotions, we will use infographics and varied types of content to promote the brand We will ask questions to the public, hold polls and share quizzes to get more interaction Achievable: The objectives can be easily met by the our team since we have the required amount of experience to take care of the objectives in question The company has been successful in similar projects in the past and has been able to provide the necessary types of results as the brand demands Relevant: Since social media is among the most preferred platforms for promotions today, it is one of the most reliable and relevant solutions for brands across the globe The company can increase sales by uploading products on Facebook and promoting the products on other channels such as Pinterest and Instagram. Other social media channels will be able to get feedback from customers while the promotions are in progress. Time Oriented: The plan is time oriented since social media promotions take time but showcase results from day one. The time we start the promotions of the products of the company, interactions will start coming in instantly. Hence the time orientation factor is stable and we are confident of providing the best results to the company within a time span of 3 - 4 months. Ensure Campaign Objectives are feasible, given the constraints of time, budget, product and market factors. The campaign objectives are feasible, economical and will fit the constraints of time since Social Media offers results from the first day itself. Since the products are already popular in some parts of the region, we shall be able to create a brand presence in the specific region first and then move onto other cities. The market factors are favorable since the product is a common product that is used by majority of the women and children in the region. State campaign objectives in measurable terms and identify the nature and extent of what the advertising is to accomplish The campaign objectives are measurable since there will be 1 posting each day about the varied products of the company. The postings will include graphics and relevant content that shall include a brief description about the product and why it should be used. Advertising is expected to help the company generate sales. Since we will be using the Boost Post feature with discounts and offers provided by the company, we are extremely confident that we will be able to achieve the objectives set in by the Brand in question. We cannot lay out the exact number of the sales of the products and the amount of revenue we shall be able to generate for the company; however, we are pretty confident about the fact that we shall be increasing the likes and followers of the product and brand on social media from time to time. Ensure campaign objectives take into consideration factors which may affect consumer responses. The factors that may affect the consumer responses include the pricing of the products and the external factors due to which the sale may not be achieved. Also, the delivery timing provided by the customer may prove to be a deterrent in the overall sales of the products through social media as well. References Crichton, C. (2013). How to Write a Marketing Brief in 10 Simple Steps. Watertight Marketing. MDG Advertising. (2011). Advertising and Marketing Blog: Eight Principles of Advertising Ethics.