Sigmund Freud Essay Example for Free

Sigmund Freud Essay Sigmund Freud was an Austrian physician, neurologist, and founder of psychoanalysis, who created an entirely new approach to the understanding of human personality. Through his skill as a scientist, physician and writer, he combined ideas prevalent at the time with his own observation and study to produce a major theory of psychology (Encarta, â€Å"Sigmund Freud†). Sigmund Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression. He is also renowned for his redefinition of sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life which is directed toward a wide variety of objects; as well as his therapeutic techniques, including his theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship and the presumed value of dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires. II. Psychoanalysis Freuds account of the sexual genesis and nature of neuroses led him naturally to develop a clinical treatment for treating such disorders. This has become so influential today that when people speak of psychoanalysis they frequently refer exclusively to the clinical treatment; however, the term properly designates both the clinical treatment and the theory which underlies it. The aim of the method may be stated simply in general terms to re-establish a harmonious relationship between the three elements which constitute the mind by excavating and resolving unconscious repressed conflicts (http://www. iep. utm. edu/f/freud. htm). a. The Id, Superego, and Ego The mind is broken down into three divisions: the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id is the component of the personality that is completely unconscious and contains all the instincts. The Id is what Freud referred to as the basic animalistic drive that a person is born with. It satisfies the wants of hunger, thirst, elimination, sex and reproduction (libido). Freud referred to the libido as the psychic energy associated with the sexual instinct. He later expanded the concept to include the energy associated with all the life instincts. The Superego is the moral component of the personality. It likes to feel in control. This is what predicts the consequences of the actions you are thinking about making. The Superego develops its morals through socialization. The Ego is the mediator between the Id and Superego. It allows the Id to experience enough pleasure so it doesn’t become anxious and also so that the Superego won’t give the Id too hard of a guilt trip. Adolescents who have weak ego strength tend to have behavioral problems. b. The Conscious, Subconscious, and Unconscious The conscious is the part of your mind that is what you are currently thinking. This is how you are able to see the professor and associate him with his voice. The subconscious is the level where information is stored that you don’t use all the time. Information at this level can be retrieved easily though. The unconscious is where dramatic information is stored so that a person will not remember it. It is constantly pushing this information out of the unconscious level into the conscious level. c. Defense Mechanisms Defense mechanisms are the rational approaches of the ego to reduce or remove anxiety. All of the following mechanisms have two things in common. The first common thing is that all of the ego-defense mechanisms are all unconscious and the person is unaware that they are doing this. The second is that they falsify or distort reality. i. Repression Repression is the mechanism by which the ego prevents anxiety-provoking thoughts from being entertained on the conscious level. For Freud, the mechanism of repression was of vital importance because repressed thoughts do not stop having an influence on our personality, but they are simply not readily available in the consciousness. The recognition of the wider needs and scientific issues which his empirical study of mens unconscious motives brought to light, together with the increasing realization of the therapeutic difficulties involved in many of his cases, doubtless augmented Freuds determination to search out to the utmost every indication of repressed sexuality, . and this brought him much criticism, which was only relatively sound (Putnam, 153). ii. Displacement Displacement is the substitution of one need satisfier for another. For example, the ego may substitute an available object for one that is not available, or it may substitute a non anxiety-provoking object or activity for one that does cause anxiety. With displacement, what a person truly desires is repressed and is replaced with something safer. iii. Identification Identification can be used to describe the tendency to increase personal feelings of worth by affiliating oneself with psychologically with a person, group, or institution perceived as illustrious. iv. Denial of Reality Denial of Reality is the mechanism that involves the denial of some fact in one’s life despite abundant evidence for its reality. A person using this mechanism is not in touch with at least some part of reality and this could impair normal functioning. An example would include the refusal to believe a loved one has died due to their negative attributes. v. Projection Projection is the mechanism by which something that is true of the person and would cause anxiety if it were recognized is repressed and projection onto someone or something else instead. It is the repressing anxiety-provoking truths about oneself and seeing them in others instead. This is most commonly seen. There are some people who will refuse to blame themselves for their failures; instead they put the blame on someone or something else. vi. Undoing Undoing is when a person commits an unacceptable act, or thinks about doing so, and then engages in ritualistic activities designed to atone for or undo the unacceptable act or thought. An example of this can even be read in the Bible, when Pontius Pilate â€Å"washes his hands clean† after condemning Jesus to be crucified, knowing full well he was innocent. vii. Reaction Formation Reaction formation is the inhibition of an anxiety-provoking thought by exaggerating its opposite. People who tend to display reaction formation are more intense and extravagant in their emotions. viii. Rationalization Rationalization is the mechanism when a person gives a rational, logical, however incorrect, excuse for behavior or thoughts that otherwise would cause anxiety. ix. Intellectualization Intellectualization is the defense mechanism that minimizes the negative emotions that are associated with an event by detached, logical analysis of the event. x. Regression Regression is the mechanism of returning to an earlier stage of development when stress is encountered. This is most commonly seen when a person is fixated in one of the earlier stages of psychosexual development, which will be discussed later in this paper. xi. Altruistic surrender Altruistic surrender is a defense mechanism postulated by Anna Freud by which a person internalizes the values of another person and lives his or her life in accordance with those values. xii. Identification with the aggressor Identification with the aggressor was another mechanism postulated by Anna Freud by which the fear caused by a person is reduced or eliminated by internalizing the feared person’s values and mannerisms. III. Psychosexual Theory Freud believed every child goes through a sequence of developmental stages, and the child’s experiences during these stages determine adult personality characteristics. In fact, Freud believed that for all practical purposes, the adult personality is formed by the end of the fifth year of life (Hergenhahn, 40). The psychosexual theory, Freud believed, is made up of five main parts: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, and Genital. During each of these five stages, a person is said to have a specific erogenous area, which is the body part that is the source of pleasure. If a child is either over gratified or under gratified during the stage they are in, they then develop a certain fixation. A fixation is identified as the point to which an adult regresses under stress. A fixation is more likely to occur during the first three stages. It is the libido which undergoes a process of historical development in each human from infancy through adolescence to adulthood in a series of â€Å"plateaus† which Freud called Psychosexual Stages of Development. But just what happens to the libido as it passes through the various stages of psychosexual development led Freud to a more generalized theory of the Neuroses, and to his first clear-cut affirmation of the philosophy of Dualism (Pasotti, 46). a. Oral The oral stage was said to occur between birth and around twelve to eighteen months. The erogenous area during this stage is the mouth. At this point, the infant is pure id that just has two simple fears: falling and abandonment. They are dependent on other people to fulfill their pleasure. This first stage can be broken down into two stages: Oral Incorporative and Oral Sadistic. The Oral Incorporative stage occurs during the first six months of life. The Id experiences pleasure by sucking, tasting, swallowing, and getting a full stomach. It is crucial that the child experiences enough pleasure without becoming frustrated. If the child gets anxiety without getting pleasure, it will then fixate here since it has not received enough pleasure. This can be witnessed in adults who are smokers and those who are in constant need of liquids. The Oral Sadistic stage occurs during the last five to six months of the oral stage. The Id now experiences its pleasure through chewing. It also doesn’t like to experience pain. This is why infants like teething rings, so that they can bite down on them to decrease the pain they are feeling. It also gets pleasure at gnawing on whatever it can. Those who are fixated here are often seen chewing on either pen caps, toothpicks, and their nails. b. Anal The anal stage was said to occur between twelve to eighteen months until three years. It experiences pleasure through the urge and feeling of needing to go to the bathroom. For them it is as near to feeling back in the womb as anything else. During this stage is when a person has their first encounter with the Superego. This occurs when the parents say that you are no longer allowed to go to the bathroom in your diapers. Some parents tend to get potty training done quickly and too early. These parents usually ridicule their child if they are unable to get it right and are often too rigid. Other parents can also be really relaxed when it comes to training their children and it occurs too late and with little control. There are two possible outcomes if a child becomes fixated during the anal stage of development. The anal-retentive personality is the fixation of the children whose parents were too strict during their potty training. These people have the constant need for control; they must have everything under control, organized, in order, and pay excessive attention to detail. The opposite fixation results in an anal-expulsive personality, as a result of their parents being too relaxed with their potty training. These people have a lack of self control, and usually tend to be messy and careless. A good example of these opposites can be seen when you watch the television show The Odd Couple. Felix would be the example of the anal-retentive personality, while Oscar is the example of a person who has an anal-expulsive personality. c. Phallic The phallic stage occurs between three to either five or six years of age. The pleasure during this stage is an emotional sexual reaction, which occurs through the attachment to the parent of the opposite sex. For boys during this stage it is referred to as the Oedipal stage. For girls during this stage it is referred to as the Electra complex. During the Oedipal stage, the boys show sexual emotional attachment with their mothers that result in them to become resistant to their fathers. During the Electra complex, girls show sexual emotional attachment toward their fathers that result in them to feel resentment towards their mothers, who are accused of robbing them of their time with their fathers. Freud thought this to be a natural process. This lays the foundation for how they will function with the opposite sex down the road. Fixation occurs when the boys feel that they are not close enough to the mother, which cause trouble with women later. If the mother had avoided him he will feel that all women will avoid him. However, if the mother is too attached the boy will feel that no other woman can compare to her. Fixation in girls occurs when they are not close enough to the father, resulting in trouble trusting men later if her father avoided her. If the father is too close, however, the girl will marry someone who is like her father, but doesn’t compare to him. Boys suffer a castration anxiety, where the son believes his father knows about his desire for his mother and hence fears his father will castrate him. He thus represses his desire and defensively identifies with his father. Girls suffer a penis envy, where the daughter is initially attached to her mother, but then a shift of attachment occurs when she realizes she lacks a penis. She desires her father whom she sees as a means to obtain a penis substitute (a child). She then represses her desire for her father and incorporates the values of her mother and accepts her inherent inferiority in society. (http://changingminds. org/explanations/learning/freud_stage. htm) d. Latency This stage occurs between the ages of six and twelve years of age. During this stage sexual feelings are repressed and are substituted with other activities. This is the time where the boys become close friends with their fathers and when the girls become closer with their mothers. During this stage, Freud said, is when they are learning how they should act when they become an adult. e. Genital This stage begins at puberty, around the age of twelve, and continues throughout the rest of life. Around the age of twelve the reproductive organs will finish developing. The child grows out of their selfish, pleasure-seeking needs and becomes a realistic adult that is a part of society. IV. Dream Analysis Dream analysis, which Freud talked about in his book The Interpretation of Dreams, is what most people believe to be his most important contribution. According to him, a dream is caused when the events of the day activate unacceptable impulses in the unconscious mind, causing them to seek conscious expression. The two most important types of dream work are condensation and displacement. Condensation occurs when a dream element represents several ideas at the same time, for example one person in a dream can represent multiple people in the dreamer’s waking life. Displacement occurs when an unacceptable dream-thought is replaced by a thought that is symbolically equivalent but is considered more acceptable. By general consensus â€Å"The Interpretation of Dreams† was Freud’s major work, the one by which his name will probably be longest remembered. Freuds own opinion would seem to have agreed with this judgment. As he wrote in his preface to the third English edition, Insight such as this falls to ones lot but once in a lifetime. It was a perfect example of serendipity, for the discovery of what dreams mean was made quite incidentallyone might almost say accidentallywhen Freud was engaged in exploring the meaning of the psychoneuroses (Jones, 350) V. Conclusion Today, Freud’s method is only one among many types of psychotherapy used in psychiatry. Many objections have been leveled against traditional psychoanalysis, both for its methodological rigidity and for its lack of theoretical rigor. A number of modern psychologists have pointed out that traditional psychoanalysis relies too much on ambiguities for its data, such as dreams and free associations. Without empirical evidence, Freudian theories often seem weak, and ultimately fail to initiate standards for treatment (Columbia Encyclopedia, â€Å"Psychoanalysis†). VI. Works cited Books †¢ Hergenhahn, B. R, An Introduction to Theories of Personality, Seventh Edition. Upper Saddle Ridge, New Jersey: Prentice Hall 2007. †¢ Jones, Ernest, â€Å"The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud: The Formative Years and the Great Discoveries,† 1856-1900 Vol. 1. 1953. †¢ Pasotti, Robert N, The Major Works of Sigmund Freud: A Critical Commentary. New York, New York: Monarch Press 1974. Journals/Magazines †¢ Putnam, James J, â€Å"The theories of Freud, Jung and Adler: 1. The work of Sigmund Freud,† Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 12, Issue 3. August 1917, pp. 145-160 †¢ Renterghem, A. W. Van, â€Å"Freud and his school: New paths of psychology,† Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 9, Issue: 6, February 1915. pp. 369-384 Encyclopedias †¢ Encarta, â€Å"Sigmund Freud,† 2007. †¢ The Columbia Encyclopedia, â€Å"Psychoanalysis,† 2007. Internet †¢ http://changingminds. org/explanations/learning/freud_stage. htm †¢ http://www. iep. utm. edu/f/freud. htm

Various Components Of Computer Network Structure Information Technology Essay

Various Components Of Computer Network Structure Information Technology Essay What are the various components of Computer Network structure. Explain in brief. Write down the differences between connection oriented and connectionless services. Explain in brief the topologies that are used for broadcasting type of communication. Television channels are 6MHz wide. How many bits/sec. can be sent if four levels digital signals are used? Assume a noiseless channel. Which of the OSI layer handles each of the following: Breaking the transmitted bit stream into frames. Determining which route through the subnet to use. Providing compatibility in data and text. Providing terminal compatibility. Providing facility for remote login. Sketch the Manchester and Differential Manchester encoding for the following bit stream: 0111000111001101 For differential Manchester encoding assume the line is initially in the low state. UPTU 2007-08 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) What do you mean by a computer network? Explain in detail various goals and applications in real life of computer networks. Give different categorization of the computer networks. What are internetworks? How you will categorize internetworks using above categories of computer networks. Give a detail description of the functionality of different layer of OSI model. UPTU 2008-09 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) (i) What do you mean by network topology? Explain in brief any three such network topologies. (ii) What is difference between TCP/IP and OSI model? What are channel types in ISDN to construct the transmission structure of any access link? Explain them. Which types of transmission media are used at physical layer transmission? Give a comparative study of different transmission media in guided media. When unguided media is suitable for transmission? UPTU 2009-10 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) What are the reasons for using layered protocol? A system has an n-layer protocol Hierarchy. Applications generate messages of length M bytes. At each of the layers, an h-byte header is added. What fraction of the network bandwidth is filled with headers? (i) If a binary signal is sent over a 3-kHz channel whose signal-to-noise ratio is 20 dB, what is the maximum achievable data rate? (ii) What is the percent overhead on a T1 carrier; that is, what percent of the 1.544 Mbps are not delivered to the end user? Explain the advantages and disadvantages if any of the following topologies: (i) star (ii) ring (iii) bus (iv) mesh UNIT II UPTU 2006-07 Attempt any four parts of the following: (54=20) Suppose that the string 0101 is used as the bit string to indicate the end of a frame and the bit stuffing rule is to insert a 0 after each appearance of 010 in the original data; thus 010101 would be modified by stuffing to 01001001. In addition, if the frame proper ends in 01, 0 would be stuffed after the first 0 in the actual terminating string 0101. Show how the following would be modified by this rule? 11011010010101011101 Measurements of an infinite user slotted ALOHA channel show that 10% of the slots are idle: (i) What is the channel load, G? (ii) What is throughput? (iii) Is the channel underloaded or overloaded? Consider an error free 64-Kbps satellite channel used to send 512 byte data frames in one direction, with very short acknowledgement coming back the other way. What is the maximum throughput for window sizes of 01 and 07? A bit stream 10011101 is transmitted used the standard CRC method. The generator polynomial is x3 + 1. Show the actual bit string transmitted. Suppose the third bit from the left is inverted during transmission. Show that this error is detected at the receivers end. Explain Basic-Bit-Map (a collision free protocol) used at MAC sublayer. Sixteen stations, numbered 1 through 16, are contending for the use a shared channel by using the adaptive Free Walk Protocol. If all the station whose addresses are prime number suddenly becomes ready at once, how many bit slots are needed to resolve the contention? UPTU 2007-08 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) What is Hamming code? For the following word pattern (message) find out the number of check bit and the bit at eleventh position. If any error is detected, show it. M = 1111 1010 0000 1110 What are medium access control (MAC) protocols? Discuss salient feature of CSMA/CD protocol. Describe the bit stuffing rule used the HDLC protocol. Consider a CSMA/CD network running at 200 Mbps over a 1 Km cable with no repeaters. The signal speed is 2 * 108 m/sec. Compute the minimum frame size. UPTU 2008-09 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) What do you mean by ALOHA? How does slotted ALOHA improve efficiency? SEC(7,4) hamming code can be converted into a double error detecting and single error correcting code (8,4) by using an extra parity check. Construct the generator matrix for the code and show that the code is quasi perfect. Design a decoder for the code. Explain the IEEE 802.3 MAC sublayer frame format. What is the binary exponential back off algorithm? UPTU 2009-10 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) A large population of ALOHA users manage to generate 50 requests/sec, including both originals and retransmissions. Time is slotted in units of 40 msec. What is the chance of success on the first attempt? What is the probability of exactly k collisions and then a success? Explain the working of CSMA/CD protocol. Why there is a minimum frame length restriction in CSMA/CD? Explain the working of GO-BACK N ARQ protocol. How it is different from selective repeat ARQ? UNIT III UPTU 2006-07 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) Write and explain the kinds of shortest path routing Algorithm in brief. Find the shortest path in the following subnet using Dijsktra Algorithm, when the source is fixed but destination is not fixed. Describe the choke-packet method of congestion control. You are also required to explain the variation in the above mentioned algorithm. Explain the concept of Tunnelling in Internetworking. Write down the difference in IPv4 and IPv6. UPTU 2007-08 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) Answer the following question: How is IPv6 different from IP protocol? Convert IP address whose hexadecimal representation is C22F1582 to dotted decimal notation. A class B class network on the internet has a subnet mask of 255.255.240.0. What is the maximum number of hosts per subnet? Explain the purpose of subnetting. What is Link Control Protocol? Give the format of LCP packet. Also how authentication is supported in PPP? Explain. (i) A computer on a 6-Mbps network is regulated by a token bucket. The token bucket is filled at a rate of 1 Mbps. It is initially filled to a capacity with 8 megabit. How long can the computer transmit at the full 6 Mbps? (ii) Discuss the token passing technique used in FDDI. UPTU 2008-09 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) What is the congestion in network layer? Differentiate and explain Leaky-Bucket algorithm and Token Bucket algorithm? What is the role of routing algorithm? Explain the working of Distance Vector Routing algorithm with the help of a suitable example. (i) Explain various phases through which a PPP connection goes using transition state diagram. (ii) What is the significance of IP address classification? What problems of IPv4 are being addressed by IPv6? UPTU 2009-10 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) A computer on a 6-Mbps network is regulated by a token bucket. The token bucket is filled at a rate of 1 Mbps. It is initially filled to capacity with 8 megabits. How long can the computer transmit at the full 6 Mbps? Give a classification of IP addresses used in the Internet. Suppose that instead of using 16 bits for the network part of a class B address originally, 20 bits had been used. How many class B networks would there have been? (i) The protocol field used in the IPv4 header is not present in the fived IPv6 header. Write your justification. (ii) IPv6 uses 16-byte addresses. If a block of 1 million addresses is allocated every picosecond, how long will the addresses last? UNIT IV UPTU 2006-07 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) Describe Transmission Control Protocols (TCP) Transmission policy. Explain the Remote Procedure Call with suitable diagram. You are also required to explain the use of RPC in Transport layer. Imagine that a two-way handshake rather than a three-way handshake were used to set up connections. Are deadlocks now possible? Give an example or how what none exist. UPTU 2007-08 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) Why does UDP exist? Would it not have been enough to just let user processes send raw IP packets? What are two army problem and a three way handshake? State the elements of transport protocol. Describe the feature of the following devices: Routers Bridges Gateway UPTU 2008-09 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) A TCP connection is using a window size of 1000 B and the previous acknowledgement no was 22,001. It receives a segment with acknowledgement no 24,001. Draw a diagram to show the situation of the window after and before the acknowledgement is received. If the window size is change to 11000B and 9000B separately, than what will be the situation? Discuss the issue to be considered in designing different layers. (i) What is user datagram protocol? Give its datagram format. (ii) Would it not have been enough to just let user processes send raw IP packets? Give reason in support to your answer. UPTU 2009-10 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) Draw the TCP header format and explain its various fields. A TCP machine is sending full windows of 65,535 bytes over a 1-Gbps channel that has a 10-msec one way delay. What is the maximum throughput achievable? What is the line capacity? Explain Connection Management at the transport layer in detail. UNIT V UPTU 2006-07 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) Explain the architecture of Electronic Mail (i.e. E-mail). Describe the concept of Domain name System in brief. Explain the working of server side in the architectural overview of World-Wide-Web (WWW). UPTU 2007-08 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) One secret key encryption method involves the permutation of bits. For example an 8 bit plain text is permuted, bit 8 becomes bit 3, bit 1 becomes bit 2 and so on. Draw a diagram to show the mapping of each bit to its new designation. Scramble the bits as you please. What is encryption and decryption algorithm? What do you mean by following : HTTP SNMP How MPEG file format is different from JPEG file format? Encode the following message using Huffman coding: INDIAN INNING Write short note on one of the following : Network security and cryptography Electronic mail and FTP. UPTU 2008-09 Attempt any two parts of the following: (102=20) One secret key encryption method involves the XOR operation. A bit patter (plaintext) of a fixed size in XORed with a block of bits of the same size to create to fixed sized cipher text. What is the encryption algorithm here? What is the decryption algorithm here? Remember that an XOR algorithm is a reversible algorithm. (i) Why do we need Domain name space when we can directly use an IP address? (ii) What is trivial file transfer protocol? How it is different from simple FTP? (i) What is the role of digital signature in cryptography? (ii) What is JPEG standard? How it is different from JPEG 2000? UPTU 2009-10 Attempt any four parts of the following: (54=20) Can a query message in DNS have one question section but the corresponding response message have several answer sections? Describe the addressing system used by SMTP. Describe the functions of the two FTP connection. What is anonymous FTP? Compare the way SMTP and HTTP transfer images. Which one do you think is more efficient? Why? The Diffie-Hellman key exchange is being used to establish a secret key between Alice and Bob. Alice sends Bob (719, 3, 191). Bob responds with (543). Alices secret number, x, is 16. What is the secret key? Can IPsec using AH be used in transport mode if one of the machines is behind a NAT box? Explain your answer.

The History Of American Football Physical Education Essay

The History Of American Football Physical Education Essay American football  resulted from several major divergences from rugby, most notably the rule changes instituted by  Walter Camp, considered the Father of American Football. Among these important changes were the introduction of the  line of scrimmage  and of  down-and-distancerules.  In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments by college coaches such as  Eddie Cochems,  Amos Alonzo Stagg,  Knute Rockne, and  Glenn Pop Warner  helped take advantage of the newly introduced  forward pass. The popularity of  collegiate football  grew as it became the dominant version of the sport in the United States for the first half of the twentieth century.  Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for collegiate teams. Bolstered by fierce  rivalries, college football still holds widespread appeal in the US. The origin of  professional football  can be traced back to 1892, with  William Pudge Heffelfingers  $500 contract to play in a game for theAllegheny Athletic Association  against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. In 1920 the American Professional Football Association was formed. This league changed its name to the  National Football League  (NFL) two years later, and eventually became the  major league  of American football. Primarily a sport of Midwestern industrial towns in the United States, professional football eventually became a national phenomenon. Footballs increasing popularity is usually traced to the  1958 NFL Championship Game, a contest that has been dubbed the Greatest Game Ever Played. A rival league to the NFL, the  American Football League  (AFL), began play in 1960; the pressure it put on the senior league led to a  merger  between the two leagues and the creation of the  Super Bowl, which has become the most watched television event in t he United States on an annual basis. First games Although there are mentions of  Native Americans  playing ball games, modern American football has its origins in traditional ball games played at villages and schools in Europe for many centuries before America was settled by Europeans. There are reports of early  settlers  atJamestown, Virginia  playing games with inflated balls in the early 17th century. Early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional mob football played in England, especially on  Shrove Tuesday. The games remained largely unorganized until the 19th century, when  intramural  games of football began to be played on college campuses. Each school played its own variety of football.  Princeton  students played a game called ballown as early as 1820. A  Harvard  tradition known as Bloody Monday began in 1827, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes.  Dartmouthplayed its own version called Old division football, the rules of which were first published in 1871, though the game dates to at least the 1830s. All of these games, and others, shared certain commonalities. They remained largely mob style games, with huge numbers of players attempting to advance the ball into a goal area, often by any means necessary. Rules were simple and violence and injury were common.  The violence of these mob-style ga mes led to widespread protests and a decision to abandon them.  Yale, under pressure from the city of  New Haven, banned the play of all forms of football in 1860, while Harvard followed suit in 1861. Boston game While the game was being banned in colleges, it was growing in popularity in various  east coast  prep schools. In 1855, manufactured inflatable balls were introduced. These were much more regular in shape than the handmade balls of earlier times, making kicking and carrying easier. Two general types of football had evolved by this time: kicking games and running (or carrying) games. A hybrid of the two, known as the Boston game, was played by a group known as the  Oneida Football Club. The club, considered by some historians as the first formal  football club  in the United States, was formed in 1862 by schoolboys who played the Boston game on  Boston Common. They played mostly between themselves, though they organized a team of non-members to play a game in November 1863, which the Oneidas won easily. The game caught the attention of the press, and the Boston game continued to spread throughout the 1860s. The game began to return to college campuses by the late 1860s. Yale, Princeton,  Rutgers, and  Brown  all began playing kicking games during this time. In 1867, Princeton used rules based on those of the English  Football Association.  A running game, resembling rugby, was taken up by the  Montreal Football Club  in Canada in 1868. Intercollegiate football Rutgers v. Princeton (1869) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2f/Firstfootballgame.jpg/200px-Firstfootballgame.jpg On November 6, 1869,  Rutgers University  faced  Princeton University  in a game that is often regarded as the first game of  intercollegiate football.  The game was played at a Rutgers field under Rutgers rules. Two teams of 25 players attempted to score by kicking the ball into the opposing teams goal. Throwing or carrying the ball was not allowed. The first team to reach six goals was declared the winner. Rutgers won by a score of six to four. A rematch was played at Princeton a week later under Princeton rules (one notable difference was the awarding of a free kick to any player that caught the ball on the fly). Princeton won that game by a score of eight to zero.  Columbia  joined the series in 1870, and by 1872 several schools were fielding intercollegiate teams, including  Yale  and  Stevens Institute of Technology. Rules standardization (1873-1880) On October 19, 1873, representatives from Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers met at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in  New York City  to codify the first set of intercollegiate football rules. Before this meeting, each school had its own set of rules and games were usually played using the home teams own particular code. At this meeting, a list of rules, based more on soccer than on rugby, was drawn up for intercollegiate football games. Harvard, which played the Boston game, a version of football that allowed carrying, refused to attend this rules conference and continued to play under its own code. While Harvards voluntary absence from the meeting made it hard for them to schedule games against other American universities, it agreed to a challenge to play  McGill University, from  Montreal, in a two-game series. The McGill team traveled to  Cambridge  to meet Harvard. On May 14, 1874, the first game, played under Boston rules, was won by Harvard with a score of 3-0. The next day, the two teams played rugby to a scoreless tie. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/1882RutgersFootballTeam.jpg/180px-1882RutgersFootballTeam.jpg The  Rutgers College  football team of 1882, wearing uniforms typical of the period Harvard quickly took a liking to the rugby game, and its use of the  try  which, until that time, was not used in American football. The try would later evolve into the score known as the  touchdown. In late 1874, the Harvard team traveled to Montrà ©al to play McGill in rugby, and won by three tries. A year later, on June 4, 1875, Harvard faced  Tufts University  in the first game between two American colleges played under rules similar to the McGill/Harvard contest, which was won by Tufts 1-0.  The first edition of  The Game-the annual contest between Harvard and Yale-was played on November 13, 1875, under a modified set of rugby rules known as The Concessionary Rules. Yale lost 4-0, but found that it too preferred the rugby style game. Spectators from Princeton carried the game back home, where it also became popular. On November 23, 1876, representatives from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia met at the Massasoit House in  Springfield, Massachusetts  to standardize a new code of rules based on the rugby game first introduced to Harvard by McGill University in 1874. The rules were based largely on theRugby Football Unions code from England, though one important difference was the replacement of a kicked goal with a touchdown as the primary means of scoring (a change that would later occur in rugby itself, favoring the  try  as the main scoring event). Three of the schools-Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton-formed the  Intercollegiate Football Association, as a result of the meeting. Yale did not join the group until 1879, because of an early disagreement about the number of players per team. Walter Camp: Father of American football Walter Camp  is widely considered to be the most important figure in the development of American football. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Walter_Camp_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_18048.jpg/180px-Walter_Camp_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_18048.jpg Walter Camp, the Father of American Football, pictured here in 1878 as the captain of the Yale football team As a youth, he excelled in sports like  track,  baseball, and soccer, and after enrolling at Yale in 1876, he earned varsity honors in every sport the school offered. Camp became a fixture at the Massasoit House conventions where rules were debated and changed. He proposed his first rule change at the first meeting he attended in 1878: a reduction from fifteen players to eleven. The motion was rejected at that time but passed in 1880. The effect was to open up the game and emphasize speed over strength. Camps most famous change, the establishment of the  line of scrimmage  and the  snap  from  center  toquarterback, was also passed in 1880. Originally, the snap was executed with the foot of the center. Later changes made it possible to snap the ball with the hands, either through the air or by a direct hand-to-hand pass. Camps new scrimmage rules revolutionized the game, though not always as intended. Princeton, in particular, used scrimmage play to slow the game, making incremental progress towards the end zone during each  down. Rather than increase scoring, which had been Camps original intent, the rule was exploited to maintain control of the ball for the entire game, resulting in slow, unexciting contests. At the 1882 rules meeting, Camp proposed that a team be required to advance the ball a minimum of five yards within three downs. These down-and-distance rules, combined with the establishment of the line of scrimmage, transformed the game from a variation of rugby or soccer into the distinct sport of American football. Camp was central to several more significant rule changes that came to define American football. In 1881, the field was reduced in size to its modern dimensions of 120 by 53 1/3 yards (109.7 by 48.8 meters). Several times in 1883, Camp tinkered with the scoring rules, finally arriving at four points for a touchdown, two points for  kicks after touchdowns, two points for safeties, and five for  field goals. In 1887, gametime was set at two halves of 45 minutes each. Also in 1887, two paid officials-a  referee  and an  umpire-were mandated for each game. A year later, the rules were changed to allow tackling below the waist, and in 1889, the officials were given whistles and stopwatches. After leaving Yale in 1882, Camp was employed by the New Haven Clock Company until his death in 1925. Though no longer a player, he remained a fixture at annual rules meetings for most of his life, and he personally selected an annual  All-American team  every year from 1898 through 1924. TheWalter Camp Football Foundation  continues to select All-American teams in his honor. Rules Field and players http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/AmFBfield.svg/250px-AmFBfield.svg.png The numbers on the field indicate the number ofyards  to the nearest end zone. American football is played on a field 360 by 160 feet (109.7 by 48.8 m). The longer boundary lines are  sidelines, while the shorter boundary lines are  end lines. Sidelines and end lines are out of bounds. Near each end of the field is a  goal line; they are 100  yards (91.4  m) apart. A scoring area called an  end zone  extends 10  yards (9.1  m) beyond each goal line to each end line. The end zone includes the goal line but not the end line.  While the playing field is effectively flat, it is common for a field to be built with a slight crown-with the middle of the field higher than the sides-to allow water to drain from the field. Yard lines  cross the field every 5  yards (4.6  m), and are numbered every 10 yards from each goal line to the 50-yard line, or midfield (similar to a typical  rugby league  field). Two rows of short lines, known as inbounds lines or  hash marks, run at 1-yard (91.4  cm) intervals perpendicular to the sidelines near the middle of the field. All plays start with the ball on or between the hash marks. Because of the arrangement of the lines, the field is occasionally referred to as a gridiron. At the back of each end zone are two  goalposts  (also called  uprights) connected by a crossbar 10  feet (3.05  m) from the ground. For high skill levels, the posts are 222  inches (5.64  m) apart. For lower skill levels, these are widened to 280  inches (7.11  m). Each team has 11 players on the field at a time. However, teams may substitute for any or all of their players, if time allows, during the break between plays. As a result, players have very specialized roles, and, sometimes (although rarely) almost all of the (at least) 46 active players on an NFL team will play in any given game. Thus, teams are divided into three separate units: the  offense, the  defense  and the  special teams. Start of halves Similarly to  association football, the game begins with a  coin toss  to determine which team will kick off to begin the game and which goal each team will defend.  The options are presented again to start the second half; the choices for the first half do not automatically determine the start of the second half. The referee conducts the coin toss with the captains (or sometimes coaches) of the opposing teams. The team that wins the coin toss has three options: They may choose whether to kick or receive the opening kickoff. They may choose which goal to defend. They may choose to  defer  the first choice to the other team and have first choice to start the second half. Whatever the first team chooses, the second team has the option on the other choice (for example, if the first team elects to receive at the start of the game, the second team can decide which goal to defend). At the start of the second half, the options to kick, receive, or choose a goal to defend are presented to the captains again. The team which did not choose first to start the first half (or which deferred its privilege to choose first) now gets first choice of options. Game duration A standard football game consists of four 15-minute quarters (12-minute quarters in high-school football and often shorter at lower levels),  with a 12 minute  half-time  intermission after the second quarter.  The clock stops after certain plays; therefore, a game can last considerably longer (often more than three hours in real time), and if a game is broadcast on  television,TV timeouts  are taken at certain intervals of the game to broadcast  commercials  outside of game action. If an NFL game is tied after four quarters, the teams play an additional period lasting up to 15 minutes. In an NFL overtime game, the first team that scores wins, even if the other team does not get a possession; this is referred to as  sudden death. In a regular-season NFL game, if neither team scores in overtime, the game is a tie. In an NFL playoff game, additional overtime periods are played, as needed, to determine a winner. College overtime rules are more complicated and are descr ibed in  Overtime (sport). http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/NSU_Football.jpg/180px-NSU_Football.jpg A  line of scrimmage  on the 48-yard line. The offense is on the left. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Nate_Longshore_prepares_to_pass_at_ASU_at_Cal_2008-10.04.jpg/180px-Nate_Longshore_prepares_to_pass_at_ASU_at_Cal_2008-10.04.jpg A  quarterback  searching for opportunity to throw a pass. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/2006_Pro_Bowl_tackle.jpg/180px-2006_Pro_Bowl_tackle.jpg A  running back  being tackled when he tries to run with the ball. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Shea_Smith-edit1.jpg/180px-Shea_Smith-edit1.jpg A quarterback preparing to throw a pass. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/01/Orton_To_Wolfe.jpg/180px-Orton_To_Wolfe.jpg Forward pass in progress, during practice. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Alabama_Field-Goal.JPG/180px-Alabama_Field-Goal.JPG A kicker attempts an extra point. Advancing the ball Advancing the ball in American football resembles the  six-tackle rule  and the  play-the-ball  in  rugby league. The team that takes possession of the ball (the  offense) has four attempts, called  downs, in which to advance the ball at least 10  yards (9.1  m) toward their opponents (the  defenses) end zone. When the offense succeeds in gaining at least 10 yards, it gets a  first down, meaning the team has another set of four downs to gain yet another 10 yards or to score. If the offense fails to gain a first down (10 yards) after 4 downs, the other team gets possession of the ball at the point where the fourth down ended, beginning with their first down to advance the ball in the opposite direction. Except at the beginning of halves and after scores, the ball is always put into play by a  snap. Offensive players line up facing defensive players at theline of scrimmage  (the position on the field where the play begins). One offensive player, the  center, then passes (or snaps) the ball backwards between his legs to a teammate behind him, usually the  quarterback. Players can then advance the ball in two ways: By running with the ball, also known as  rushing. By throwing the ball to a teammate, known as a  forward pass  or as  passing  the football. The forward pass is a key factor distinguishing American and Canadian football from other football sports. The offense can throw the ball forward only once during a down and only from behind the line of scrimmage. The ball can be thrown, pitched, handed-off, or tossed sideways or backwards at any time. A down ends, and the ball becomes dead, after any of the following: The player with the ball is forced to the ground (a  tackle) or has his forward progress halted by members of the other team (as determined by anofficial). A forward pass flies beyond the dimensions of the field (out of bounds) or touches the ground before it is caught. This is known as an  incomplete pass. The ball is returned to the most recent line of scrimmage for the next down. The ball or the player with the ball goes out of bounds. A team scores. Officials blow a whistle to notify players that the down is over. Before each down, each team chooses a  play, or coordinated movements and actions, that the players should follow on a down. Sometimes, downs themselves are referred to as plays. Change of possession The offense maintains possession of the ball unless one of the following things occurs: The team fails to get a first down- i.e., in four downs they fail to move the ball past a line 10 yards ahead of where they got their last first down (it is possible to be downed behind the current line of scrimmage, losing yardage). The defensive team takes over the ball at the spot where the 4th-down play ends. A change of possession in this manner is commonly called a  turnover on downs, but is not credited as a defensive turnover in official statistics. Instead, it goes against the offenses 4th down efficiency percentage. The offense scores a touchdown or field goal. The team that scored then kicks the ball to the other team in a special play called a  kickoff. The offense punts the ball to the defense. A  punt  is a kick in which a player drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground. Punts are nearly always made on fourth down (though see  quick kick), when the offensive team does not want to risk giving up the ball to the other team at its current spot on the field (through a failed attempt to make a first down) and feels it is too far from the other teams goal posts to attempt a field goal. A defensive player catches a forward pass. This is called an  interception, and the player who makes the interception can run with the ball until he is tackled, forced out of bounds, or scores. An offensive player drops the ball (a  fumble) and a defensive player picks it up. As with interceptions, a player recovering a fumble can run with the ball until tackled, forced out of bounds, or scores. Backward passes that are not caught do not cause the down to end like incomplete forward passes do; instead the ball is still live as if it had been fumbled. Lost fumbles and interceptions are together known as  turnovers. The offensive team misses a field goal attempt. The defensive team gets the ball at the spot where the previous play began (or, in the NFL, at the spot of the kick). If the unsuccessful kick was attempted from within 20  yards (18.3  m) of the end zone, the other team gets the ball at its own 20 yard line (that is, 20 yards from the end zone). If a field goal is missed or blocked and the ball remains in the field of play, a defensive player may pick up the ball and attempt to advance it. While in his own end zone, an offensive ball carrier is tackled, forced out of bounds, loses the ball out of bounds, or the offense commits certain fouls. This fairly rare occurrence is called a  safety. An offensive ball carrier fumbles the ball forward into the opposing end zone, and then the ball goes out of bounds. This extremely rare occurrence leads to a  touchback, with the ball going over to the opposing team at their 20 yard line (Note that touchbacks during non-offensive speplays, such as punts and kickoffs, are quite common). Scoring A team scores points by the following plays: A  touchdown  (TD) is worth 6 points.  It is scored when a player runs the ball into or catches a pass in his opponents end zone.  A touchdown is analogous to a  try  in rugby. Unlike rugby, a player does not have to touch the ball to the ground to score; a touchdown is scored any time a player has possession of the ball while the ball is on or beyond the opponents goal line (or the plane above it). After a touchdown, the scoring team attempts a  try  (which is also analogous to the  conversion in rugby). The ball is placed at the other teams 3-yard (2.7  m) line (the 2-yard (1.8  m) line in the NFL). The team can attempt to kick it over the crossbar and through the goal posts in the manner of a field goal for 1 point (an  extra point  or  point-after touchdown (PAT)[19]), or run or pass it into the end zone in the manner of a touchdown for 2 points (a  two-point conversion). In college football, if the defense intercepts or recovers a fumble during a one or two point conversion attempt and returns it to the opposing end zone, the defensive team is awarded the two points. A  field goal  (FG) is worth 3 points, and it is scored by kicking the ball over the crossbar and through the goal posts (uprights).  Field goals may be placekicked (kicked when the ball is held vertically against the ground by a teammate) or  drop-kicked  (extremely uncommon in the modern game, with only two successes in sixty-plus years in the NFL). A field goal is usually attempted on fourth down instead of a punt when the ball is close to the opponents goal line, or, when there is little or no time left to otherwise score. A  safety, worth 2 points, is scored by the opposing team when the team in possession at the end of a down is responsible for the ball becoming dead behind its own goal line. For instance, a safety is scored by the defense if an offensive player is tackled, goes out of bounds, or fumbles the ball out of bounds in his own end zone.  Safeties are relatively rare. Note that, though even more rare, the team initially on offense during a down can score a safety if a player of the original defense gains possession of the ball in front of his own goal line and then carries the ball or fumbles it into his own end zone where it becomes dead. However, if the ball becomes dead behind the goal line of the team in possession and its opponent is responsible for the ball being there (for instance, if the defense intercepts a forward pass in its own end zone and the ball becomes dead before the ball is advanced out of the end zone) it is a touchback: no points are scored and the team last in pos session keeps possession with a first down at its own 20 yard line. In amateur football, in the extremely rare instance that a safety is scored on a try, it is worth only 1 point. Kickoffs and free kicks Each half begins with a  kickoff. Teams also kick off after scoring touchdowns and field goals. The ball is kicked using a kicking tee from the teams own 30-yard (27  m) line in the NFL and college football (as of the 2007 season). The other teams kick returner tries to catch the ball and advance it as far as possible. Where he is stopped is the point where the offense will begin its  drive, or series of offensive plays. If the kick returner catches the ball in his own end zone, he can either run with the ball, or elect for a  touchback  by kneeling in the end zone, in which case the receiving team then starts its offensive drive from its own 20 yard line. A touchback also occurs when the kick goes out-of-bounds in the end zone. A kickoff that goes out-of-bounds anywhere other than the end zone before being touched by the receiving team is a foul, and the ball will be placed where it went out of bounds or 30  yards (27  m) from the kickoff spot, depending on which is mo re advantageous to the opposite team.  Unlike with punts, once a kickoff goes 10 yards and the ball has hit the ground, it can be recovered by the kicking team.  A team, especially one who is losing, can try to take advantage of this by attempting an  onside kick. Punts and turnovers in the end zone can also end in a  touchback. After safeties, the team that gave up the points must  free kick  the ball to the other team from its own 20 yard line. Penalties Fouls (a type of rule violation) are punished with  penalties  against the offending team. Most penalties result in moving the football towards the offending teams end zone. If the penalty would move the ball more than half the distance towards the offenders end zone, the penalty becomes half the distance to the goal instead of its normal value. Most penalties result in replaying the down. Some defensive penalties give the offense an automatic first down.  Conversely, some offensive penalties result in loss of a down (loss of the right to repeat the down).  If a penalty gives the offensive team enough yardage to gain a first down, they get a first down, as usual. If a foul occurs during a down, an official throws a yellow  penalty flag  near the spot of the foul. When the down ends, the team that did not commit the foul has the option of accepting the penalty, or declining the penalty and accepting the result of the down. Variations Variations on these basic rules exist, particularly  touch  and  flag football, which are designed as non-contact or limited-contact alternatives to the relative  violence  of regular American football. In touch and flag football, tackling is not permitted. Offensive players are tackled when a defender tags them or removes a flag from their body, respectively. Both of these varieties are played mainly in informal settings such as  intramural  or youth games. Another variation is wrap, where a player is tackled when another player wraps his arms around the ball carrier. Professional, intercollegiate, and varsity-level high school football invariably use the standard tackling rules. Another variation is with the number of players on the field. In sparsely populated areas, it is not uncommon to find high school football teams playing  nine-man football,  eight-man footballor  six-man football. Players often play on offense as well as defense. The  Arena Football League  is a league that plays eight-man football, but also plays indoors and on a much smaller playing surface with rule changes to encourage a much more offensive game. Another variation often played by American children is called Catch and Run. In this game, the children split into two teams and line up at opposite sides of the playing field. One side throws the ball to the other side. If the opposing team catches the ball, that player tries to run to the throwing teams touchdown without being tagged/tackled. If no one catches the ball or if the player is tagged/tackled, then that team has to throw the ball to the opposing team. This repeats until the game (or recess period) is deemed over.

Manipulation of Syntax in Hills Like White Elephants, by Ernest Hemingw

Ernest Hemingway has a superbly unique style of writing in Hills Like White Elephants. His short, to the point syntax and sentence style plays a great role in helping readers understand the theme of this short story. The critique M.A.K. Halliday observed, â€Å"The story is frequently generated by the repetition of words, clauses, and groups of related words or ethical sets† (Link, Alex). The first set of dialogue that can be pulled from this story is story is short and to the point. The American states, â€Å"We can have the whole world.† Jig replies with â€Å"No, we can’t† (Hemingway, Ernest). The sentence length is very short, yet there is a hidden meaning behind the small talk. Jig is referring to not having the baby. She can have everything, but her will to decide things. She can’t have a baby due to unloving pressure from the American. It is in sync with the tone of the story perfectly. The tone is forward, direct, and shallow. Tha t is exactly what happens in this dialogue. There is no emotion, just pure sarcasm on a huge topic. Abortion to this couple is nothing more then a qui...

Staphylococcus aureus Essay -- Essays Papers

Staphylococcus aureus Life History and Characteristics: Staphylococcus aureus is a gram positive bacterium that is usually found in the nasal passages and on the skin of 15 to 40% of healthy humans, but can also survive in a wide variety of locations in the body. This bacterium is spread from person to person or to fomite by direct contact. Colonies of S. aureus appear in pairs, chains, or clusters. S. aureus is not an organism that is contained to one region of the world and is a universal health concern, specifically in the food handling industries. Diseases: The most common health concern associated with S. aureus is food poisoning caused by the release of enterotoxins, even in small doses, into food. Release of less than 1 microgram of toxin is sufficient to contaminate food enough to illicit symptoms of food poisoning. The infective dose of toxin is generally present when food is contaminated with an excess of 100,000 bacteria per gram of food. The intensity and variety of symptoms resulting from S. aureus food poisoning differ from individual to individual, but some of the most common symptoms are nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, and prostration (complete physical or mental exhaustion). It usually takes 2 or 3 days to recover from S. aureus food poisoning, but in some instances individuals will require more time to fully recover. Even though S. aureus is mainly associated with food poisoning, the bacterium can penetrate the skin or other mucous membranes to invade a range of tissues which will cause a variety of infections. Superficial infection of the skin can cause boils, impetigo, styes (infection of the glands or hair follicles of the eyelids), folliculitis, and furnacles. All of these infections are charac... ...ood to above 60 degrees C and storing food below 7.2 degees C are two effective ways of controling S. aureus growth in food. The most important recent epidemiological information concerning this organism involves the increasing resistance to antibiotics. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is the most common of these antibiotic resistant organisms. The effects of MSRA are the same as any other S. aureus infection, however, MSRA infections are a difficult to treat because there are few effective antibiotics available. MSRA infections are generally not life threatening, however in some extreme cases death can occur. References: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/Aresist/mrsa.htm http://www.bact.wisc.edu/Bact330/lecturestaph http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap3.html http://www.bacteriamuseum.org/species/staphaureus.shtml http://www.dermnetnz.org/index.html

Role-Reversal in Macbeth

When Macbeth first receives the prophecy predicting he will be king and Banquo's heirs will be kings, he is satisfied with the idea of being king. Banquo's heirs do not concern him at this point. Once he assassinates Duncan and is crowned king, however, this isn't enough. Now he wants his heirs to be king. He asks himself, why should he have taken all this risk just to put Banquo's heirs on the throne? Unsatisfied with just ruling himself, he plots to kill not only Banquo, but Fleance. His ambition has grown and become even more menacing.Banquo's murder without consulting his wife because he wants to protect her from the corruption that he has involved himself with. His role is now completely changed and there is no turning back for him. Macbeth's evil deed causes him to suffer from fear and guilt, which leads to even more evil crimes. Then Macbeth becomes paranoid, suffering from hallucinations and sleeplessness. He becomes less human as he tries over and over to establish his manho od. His ruthlessness in killing Banquo and Macduff's family shows how perverted his idea of manliness really is.As Macbeth goes off on his own course during this time, Lady Macbeth's guilt is overwhelming and, cut off from him, she descends into madness. Her guilt emerges in Act III, Scene ii when she says she would rather be dead, and it grows from then on until her death. Lady Macbeth's character change is also evident in Act III, Scene ii when she backs out of Macbeth's mysterious murder plan and tells him, You must leave this. The relationship between the couple is being torn apart by this time. And Macbeth allows the witches to take the place of his wife by allowing them to boost his ego, thinking he cannot be harmed by any man.Macbeth is, of course, mistaken about the witches' prophecies, but this just that he now allows his evil nature to control his actions. By the end, Macbeth has degenerated into evil personified, totally inhumane When Macbeth first receives the prophecy p redicting he will be king and Banquo's heirs will be kings, he is satisfied with the idea of being king. Banquo's heirs do not concern him at this point. Once he assassinates Duncan and is crowned king, however, this isn't enough. Now he wants his heirs to be king. He asks himself, why should he have taken all this risk just to put Banquo's heirs on the throne?Unsatisfied with just ruling himself, he plots to kill not only Banquo, but Fleance. His ambition has grown and become even more menacing. in his actions. They are headed in separate directions – Macbeth towards a life of evil and Lady Macbeth towards insanity and grief. As Shakespeare developed the characters of Macbeth and his wife, their changing roles ironically ended up resembling the other one's role. At the beginning of the tragedy, Macbeth was the hesitant character with a strong conscience, respected general, a devoted husband, and a loyal subject of the king while Lady Macbeth was powerful and firm.However, by the time these two characters were completely changed, Macbeth ended up being decisive and greedy, as Lady Macbeth turned out to be weak since her guilty conscience drove her insane. Shakespeare's exchange of roles in Macbeth is clever yet unusual, but after all, things aren't always what they seem. In Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, the characters and the roles they play are critical to its plot and theme, and therefore many of Shakespeare's characters are well developed and complex. Two of these characters are the protagonist, Macbeth, and his wife, Lady Macbeth.They play interesting roles in the tragedy, and over the course of the play, their relationship changes and their roles are essentially switched. At the beginning of the play, they treat each other as equals. They have great concern for each other, as illustrated when Macbeth races to tell Lady Macbeth the news about the witches and she immediately begins plotting how to gain for her husband his desire to be king. At this point, Lady Macbeth is the resolute, strong woman, while Macbeth is portrayed as her indecisive, cowardly husband.He does have ambition, but at this point, his conscience is stronger than that ambition. Lady Macbeth explains this characteristic of her husband in Act I, Scene v, when she says, Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' th' milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. The next stage of change developing in the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is in Act II. This is the act in which Macbeth kills King Duncan. Macbeth's character change is apparent because it is obvious that he has given in to his ambition and has murdered the king.He is not entirely changed, though, because he is almost delirious after he has committed the crime. He exclaims, Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red. He believes that instead of the ocean cleaning his hands, his hands would turn the ocean red. Macbeth's role has changed somewhat but not entirely, since he has committed the crime but his conscience is still apparent after the murder. Lady Macbeth's role similarly changes somewhat in Act II.The reader sees a crack in her strong character when she tells Macbeth in Scene ii of Act II that she would have murdered Duncan herself if he had not resembled her father as he slept. Her boldness is still evident, though, when she calms Macbeth after the murder and believes a little water clears us of this deed. Unlike the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, their relationship remains unchanged from Act I to II. Their relationship is still very close as seen through Duncan's murder – a product of teamwork.At the end of Act III, both the roles and the relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have reached the final stage of their change. Now that Duncan is dead and Macbeth is hopelessly headed toward a life of immorality, Lady Macbeth fades into the background. Macbeth takes it upon himself in Act III to plot Banquo's murder without consulting his wife because he wants to protect her from the corruption that he has involved himself with. His role is now completely changed and there is no turning back for him.As Macbeth goes off on his own course during this time, Lady Macbeth's guilt is overwhelming and, cut off from him, she descends into madness. Her guilt emerges in Act III, Scene ii when she says she would rather be dead, and it grows from then on until her death. Lady Macbeth's character change is also evident in Act III, Scene ii when she backs out of Macbeth's mysterious murder plan and tells him, You must leave this. The relationship between the couple is being torn apart by this time in Macbeth. They are headed in separate directions – Macbeth towards a life of evil and Lady Macbeth towards insanity and grief.As Shakespeare developed the characters of Macbeth and his wife, their changing roles ironically ended up resembling the other one's role. At the beginning of the tragedy, Macbeth was the hesitant character with a strong conscience, while Lady Macbeth was powerful and firm. However, by the time these two characters were completely changed, Macbeth ended up being decisive and greedy, as Lady Macbeth turned out to be weak since her guilty conscience drove her insane. Shakespeare's exchange of roles in Macbeth is clever yet unusual, but after all, things aren't always what they seem.

Business Communication Essay

To communicate with others, to convince and to find the compromise, to listen and speak – those are what the life consists of and the business life especially. Without those important skills no success may be reached, and people gain these skills and improve them during their whole life. I think nobody can remain indifferent to the relations between people, their behaviour and their individuality. It is no matter who are you – the manager of giant corporation or, let’s say, a low-paid employee in a small office – if you are involved into some kind of business activity and have some goals and wishes – you are compelled to have a deal with others, without possibility to stand out from communication. Business communication involves exchange of information within an organizational setup. It is a continuous process. The more the business expands, the greater is the pressure on the business to find more effective means of communication both with the employees and with the society at large. Business communication is both written and oral. Written communication is important to fix accountability and responsibility of people in organization. This requires more of written communication (much of paper work). Everything should be communicated in written form by the manager to the people in the organization. Written messages can be saved for future references and cannot be denied. Written communication has great significance in today’s business world. It is an innovative activity of the mind. Effective written communication is essential for preparing worthy promotional materials for business development. Speech came before writing. But writing is more unique and formal than speech. Effective writing involves careful choice of words, their organization in correct order in sentences formation as well as cohesive composition of sentences. Also, writing is more valid and reliable than speech. But while speech is spontaneous, writing causes delay and takes time as feedback is not immediate. The object of this course paper is written business communication. The subject is grammatical and stylistic peculiarities of business written interaction. The aim is to explore the peculiarities of business communication in wide meaning in order to understand all the peculiarities of such type of communication and its necessity in modern world. In accordance with the aim of investigation the following tasks were set: âÅ"“ To define the concept of business communication; âÅ"“ To analyze the most frequent types of written business communication and to explore them; âÅ"“ To subscribe linguistic and sociocultural peculiarities of the style of business documents. Chapter I Characteristic Features of Business Communication 1. Functional Styles and their Classification Functional styles of language are a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication. Functional styles are thus to be regarded as the product of a certain concrete task set by the sender of the massage. Functional Styles appears mainly in the literary standard of a language. The literary standard of the English language, like that of any other developed language, is not so homogeneous as it may seem. In fact the standard literary English language in the course of its development has fallen into several subsystems each of which has acquired its own peculiarities which are typical of the given functional style. The members of the language community, especially those who are sufficiently trained and responsive to language variations, recognize these styles as independent wholes. The peculiar choice of language means is primarily predetermined by the aim of the communication with the result that a more or less closed system is built up. One set of language media stands in opposition to other sets of language media with other aims, and these other sets have other choices and arrangements of language means. Functional styles are also called registers or discourses. In the standard  literary English we distinguish the following major functional styles are distinguished: 1. The language of belles – letters. 2. The language of publicistic literature. 3. The language of newspapers. 4. The language of scientific prose. 5. The language of official documents. As it has already been mentioned, functional styles are the product of the development of the written variety of language. Each functional style may be characterized by a number of distinctive features, leading or subordinate, constant or changing, obligatory or optional. Most of the functional styles however, are perceived as independent wholes due to a peculiar combination and interrelation of features common to all (especially when taking into account syntactical arrangement) with the leading ones of each functional style. Each functional style is subdivided into a number of substyles. Each variety has basic features common to all the varieties of the given functional style and peculiar features typical of this variety along. Still a substyle can, in some cases, deviate so far from the invariant that in its extreme it may even break away. We clearly perceive the following substyles of the fire functional style given above. The belles-lettres functional style is subdivided into: a) the language style of poetry; b) the language style of emotive prose; c) the language style of drama. The publicistic functional style comprises the following substyles: a) the language style of oratory; b) the language style of essays; c) the language style of feature articles in newspapers and journals. The newspaper functional style falls into: a) the language style of brief news items and communiques; b) the language style of newspaper headings; c) the language style of notices and advertisements. The scientific prose functional style also has three divisions: a) the language style of humanitarian sciences; b) the language style of â€Å"exact† sciences; c) the language style of popular scientific prose. The official document functional style can be divided into four varieties: a) the language style of diplomatic documents; b) the language style of business documents; c) the language style of legal documents; d) the language style of military documents. The classification presented here is by no means arbitrary. It is the result of long and minute observations of factual material in which not only peculiarities of language usage were taken into account but also extralinguistic data, in particular the purport of the communication. The classification of functional styles is not a simple matter and any discussion of it is bound to reflect more than one angle of vision. Thus, for example, some stylicists consider that newspaper articles (including feature articles) should be classed under the functional style of newspaper language, not under the language of publicistic literature. Others insist on including the language of everyday – life discourse into the system of functional styles. Prof. Budagov singles out only two main functional styles: the language of science and that of emotive literature. It is inevitable, of course, that any classification should lead to some kind of simplification of the facts classified, because items are considered in isolation. More over, sub-styles assume, as it were, the aspect of closed systems. But no classification, useful though it may be from the theoretical point of view, should be allowed to blind us as to the conventionality of classification in general. 1.2 Peculiarities of the Style of Official Documents The style of official documents aims at establishing, developing and controlling business relations between individuals and organizations. Like their styles of language, this style has a definite communicative aim and, accordingly, has its own system of interrelated language and stylistic means. The main aim of this type of communication is to state the conditions binding two parties in an undertaking. These parties may be: this state and a citizen, or citizen and citizen; a society and its members (statute or ordinance); two or more enterprises or bodies (business correspondence or  contracts); two or more governments (pacts, treaties); a person in authority and a subordinate (order, regulations, instructions, authoritative directives); a board or presidium and an assembly or general meeting (procedures acts, minutes). The aim of communication in this style of language is to reach agreement between two contracting parties. Even protest against violations of statutes, contracts, regulations, can also be regarded as a form by which normal cooperation is sought on the basis of previously attained concordance. The most general function of the style of official documents predetermines the peculiarities of the style. The most striking, though not the most essential feature, is a special system of clichà ©s, terms and set expressions by which each sub-style can easily be recognized. For example: I beg to inform you, provisional agenda, the above – mentioned, on behalf of, private advisory, Pear Sir, we remain, your obedient servants†¦ In fact, each of the subdivisions of this style has its peculiar terms, phrases and expressions, which differ from the corresponding terms, phrases and expressions of other variants of this style. Thus in finance we find terms like extra revenue, taxable capacities liability to profit fax. Terms and phrases like high contracting parties, to ratify an agreement, memorandum, protectorate, extra – territorial status will immediately brand the utterance as diplomatic. In legal language, examples are: to deal with a case, summary procedure; a body of judges; as laid down in. Like wise, other varieties of official language have their special nomenclature, which is conspicuous in the text and therefore easily discernible as belonging to the official language style. Besides the special nomenclature characteristic of each variety of the style, there is a feature common to all these varieties – the use of abbreviations, conventional symbols and contractions, for example: Ltd – Limited, B/E – bill of exchange, Gvt – government, Appx – appendix, $ – dollar, â‚ ¤ – pound†¦ Words with emotive meaning are not to be found in the style of official documents. Even in the style of scientific prose some words may be found which reveal the attitude of the writer, his individual evaluation of the facts and events of the issue. But such words are not to be found in official style, except those which are used in business letters as conventional phrases of greeting or close, as Dear Sir, yours faithfully. Almost every official document has its own compositional design. Pacts and statutes, orders and minutes, notes and memoranda – all have more or less definite forms, and it will not be an exaggeration to state that the form of the document is itself informative, inasmuch as it tells something about the matter dealt with (a letter, an agreement, an order†¦) Chapter II Peculiarities of Written Interaction 2.1 Types of Written Business Communication Written communication involves any type of interaction that makes use of the written word. Communication is a key to any endeavor involving more than one person. Communicating through writing is essential in the modern world and is becoming ever more so as we participate in what is now commonly called the information age. In fact, written communication is the most common form of business communication. It is essential for small business owners and managers to develop effective written communication skills and to encourage the same in all employees. The information age has altered the ways in which we communicate and placed an increasing emphasis on written versus oral communications. The ever-increasing use of computers and computer networks to organize and transmit information means the need for competent writing skills is rising. Dr. Craig Hogan, a former university professor who now heads an online school for business writing, receives hundreds of inquiries each month from manager s and executives requesting help with improving their own and their employees’ writing skills. Dr. Hogan explains, in an article entitled â€Å"What Corporate America Can’t Build: A  Sentence,† that millions of people previously not required to do a lot of writing on the job are now expected to write frequently and rapidly. According to Dr. Hogan, many of them are not up to the task. â€Å"E-mail is a party to which English teachers have not been invited. It has companies tearing their hair out.† Survey results from The National Commission on Writing study back up this assessment. They found that a third of employees in the nation’s â€Å"blue chip† companies write poorly and are in need of remedial writing instruction. The need to develop good writing skills is only highlighted by the fact that in the information age, it is not uncommon to have business relationships with customers and suppliers that are established and maintained exclusively through the use of written communications. In this environment, â€Å"the words we write are very real representations of our companies and ourselves. We must be sure that our e-mail messages are sending the right messages about us,† explained Janis Fisher Chan, author of E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide-How to Write and Manage E-Mail in the Workplace, in an article appearing in Broker Magazine. The key to communication, of course, is to convey meaning in as accurate and concise a manner as possible. People do not read business memoranda for the pleasure of reading. They do so in order to receive instructions or information upon which to base decisions or take action. Therefore, highly literary prose is not desirable in business writing. Overly formal prose may also be counterproductive by seeming stand-offish or simply wordy. A style of writing that is too informal can also convey an unintended message, namely that the subject matter is not serious or not taken seriously by the sender. A straightforward, courteous tone is usually the best choice but one that may not come naturally without practice. Advantages and disadvantages of written communication Written communication has great significance in today’s business world. It is an innovative activity of the mind. Effective written communication is essential for preparing worthy promotional materials for business development. Speech came before writing. But writing is more unique and formal than speech. Effective writing involves careful choice of words, their organization in correct order in sentences formation as well as cohesive composition of sentences. Also, writing is more valid and reliable  than speech. But while speech is spontaneous, writing causes delay and takes time as feedback is not immediate. Written forms of communication have several advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that written messages do not have to be delivered on the spur of the moment; instead, they can be edited and revised several times before they are sent so that the content can be shaped to maximum effect. Another advantage is that written communication provides a permanent record of the messages that have been sent and can be saved for later study. Since they are permanent, written forms of communication also enable recipients to take more time in reviewing the message and providing appropriate feedback. For these reasons, written forms of communication are often considered more appropriate for complex business messages that include important facts and figures. Other benefits commonly associated with good writing skills include increased customer/client satisfaction; improved interorganizational efficiency; and enhanced image in the community and industry. There are also several potential pitfalls associated with written communication, however. For instance, unlike oral communication, wherein impressions and reactions are exchanged instantaneously, the sender of written communication does not generally receive immediate feedback to his or her message. This can be a source of frustration and uncertainty in business situations in which a swift response is desired. In addition, written messages often take more time to compose, both because of their information-packed nature and the difficulty that many individuals have in composing such correspondence. Many companies, however, have taken a proactive stance in addressing the latter issue. Mindful of the large number of workers who struggle with their writing abilities, some firms have begun to offer on-site writing courses or enrolled employees in business writing workshops offered by professional training organizations, colleges, and community education programs. 2.2 Business Letters, their Types and Components Business communication is a permanent means of communication and is much easier understanding then oral means of communication. Good written communication contributes to success of an organization. It helps in  building goodwill of an organization. Written business communication includes letters, memoranda, agenda, manuals, reports etc. 1. Business Letters: A very large part of the business of the world is conducted by means of correspondents. Therefore it is extremely important to be able to write good business letters – letters that represent one’s self and one’s organization to best advantage. Writing good business letter is a matter of detailed and often quite specialized technique, which is not so complicated as you may have been let to fear. All you need is a supply of visiting cards, some good paper, a pen, a computer and a little good will. It must have a good appealing layout. The content of the letter should be clear in mind of the writer. The letter must be divided into paragraphs. It must have subject written and should be enclosed in an envelope. It should be surely used for future reference. It should be carefully written as it has an impact on goodwill of the organization. Examples of Business letters are – sales letters, information letters, problem letters etc. 2. Memoranda: Memos are generally short means of written communication within an organization. They are used to convey specific information to the people within an organization. 3. Reports: A report is prepared after lot of investigation. Whatever observations are made, an account of them is written in the report. Reports are important for analyzing the performance of the organization. It helps in taking important decisions within an organization. 4. Agenda: Agenda is an outline about all the contents of the meeting. It tells what is the purpose of the meeting and where are the participants heading. While designing an agenda one should be very specific. Designing an agenda beforehand helps the people to come prepared for the meeting. 5. Electronic Mail. Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the same time, in common with instant messaging. Today’s email systems are based on a store-and-forward model. Email servers accept, forward, deliver and store messages. Neither the users nor their computers are required to be online simultaneously; they need connect only briefly, typically to an email server, for as long as it takes to send or receive messages. The most popular type of written business communication is letter. Letter writing is an art. A letter on one topic can be written in different styles with the help of various formats. Writing a letter is a difficult task for some because of format used for writing. The letter has to have following parts. They are date, name and address of sender and receiver, salutation, main body and complimentary closure. When all these parts are combined together then you will get a well drafted letter. Writing as well as receiving a letter is always special. A Letter is a platform where you can express your innermost feelings in a straightforward manner. Business letters and personal letters are two types of letters. For all official and formal situations, you write business letter whereas letters written to friends, relatives, acquaintances are personal letters. Both follow the same format only the difference lies in the language used for writing. In business letters, formal language is used and situations discussed are work related. In personal letters language is informal and you discuss personal and intimate topics. A commercial business letter is a letter written in formal language, usually used when writing from one business organization to another, or for correspondence between such organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties. The overall style of letter will depend on the relationship between the parties concerned. There are many reasons to write a business letter. It could be to request direct information or action from another party, to order supplies from a supplier, to identify a mistake that was committed, to reply directly to a request, to apologize for a wrong or simply to convey goodwill. Even in our modern days, the business letter is still very useful because it produces a permanent record, is confidential, formal and delivers persuasive, well-considered messages The most common types of business letter include: 1. Acknowledgement Letter: This type of letter is written when you want to acknowledge some one for his help or support when you were in trouble. The letter can be used to just say thanks for something you have received from some one, which is of great help to you. 2. Apology Letter: An apology letter is written for a failure in delivering the desired results. If the  person has taken up a task and he fails to meet the target then he apologizes and asks for an opportunity to improve in this type of letter. 3. Appreciation Letter: An appreciation letter is written to appreciate some one’s work in the organization. This type of letter is written by a superior to his junior. An organization can also write an appreciation letter to other organization, thanking the client for doing business with them. 4. Complaint Letter: A complaint letter is written to show one that an error has occurred and that needs to be corrected as soon as possible. The letter can be used as a document that was used for warning the reader. 5. Inquiry Letter: The letter of inquiry is written to inquire about a product or service. If you have ordered a product and yet not received it then you can write a letter to inquire when you will be receiving it. 6. Order Letter: This letter is as the name suggests is used for ordering products. This letter can be used as a legal document to show the transaction between the customer and vendor. 7. Letter of Recommendation: This type of letter is written to recommend a person for a job position. The letter states the positive aspects of the applicant’s personality and how he/she would be an asset for the organization. Letter of recommendation is even used for promoting a person in the organization. There are several points that will help one in drafting a busines s letter: †¢ Make sure that you type the letter. It should not be handwritten. †¢ Always use a letter head to write a formal letter. †¢ If you don’t have a letter head, then type your name, designation and address at the top of the page. †¢ Mentioning the date in a letter is a must as it serves the purpose of reference in further letter regarding the same topic. †¢ After the date, you need to write the full name, designation and full address of the recipient. †¢ Then you need to insert greeting to the person whom the letter is written. You have to use formal language. Take a look at this example: Dear Mr. Brown, †¢ Now, you can actually begin to write the main message of the letter. In the first paragraph, you have to introduce yourself if the receiver does not know you. You could begin with a sentence like â€Å"We had recently met in a conference†, or â€Å"I had purchased a SIP from your company two months back.† †¢ After that you have to clearly mention the purpose of the letter. The purpose may  be to lodge a complaint, request for information, compliment a product or service provided, discussing a business deal etc. You have to be brief and precise. †¢ In the end of the letter, you have a complimentary close. The words that are included: Sincerely, thanking you, regards, etc. †¢ The last thing is you need to type your name and sign the letter. †¢ The letter should be printed in a readable font. Business letter has a specific format. The letter is different from other forms of communication because of the format in which it is presented. The letter has a beginning, middle and an ending. All the areas of the letter have to be organized logical so that the letter is clear, complete and cohesive. A letter has different parts. All the parts have to be neatly drafted so that a meaningful letter is created. The block format is the most popular format of the business letter where all the matter is aligned to the left side and uses single spacing. The letter includes the following parts: †¢ Letterhead: The formal business letter should always begin with letterhead. Every organization has a letterhead used for all official correspondence. One have to begin the letter on the letter head of the company. The letter head gives the receiver an idea about who has sent the letter. †¢ Date: The date has to be written exactly below the letter head. The date is important part of a letter and can be used as a reference. The date has to be written in full with day, month and year. For example: 25 December 2011 or December 20, 2011 †¢ Receiver’s Address: The next important part is the receiver’s address. One need to include the name of the receiver, his designation and complete address. The inside address and the address on the envelope should always be same. †¢ Salutation: This is the opening line of the letter. It should begin with a greeting. In a formal business letter, one need to write dear followed by Mr./Ms with his or her name. It looks unprofessional, when a writer includes only the first name of the person. †¢ Body: In the first line itself, a writer has to mention the message of his letter. The letter should be able to convey the message directly to the reader. The letter has no place for unnecessary words. It has to be concise but informative. The letter should consist of paragraphs. Each new point should have separate paragraph. The last paragraph should sum  up the letter and ask the receiver to do an action based on the letter. †¢ Complimentary Closure: In the end of the letter one have to use complimentary close. One can use words like â€Å"Yours faithfully†, â€Å"Yours sincerely†. Comma has to be included after the close. A writer has to insert his/her full name at the end leaving few spa ces to sign the letter. After this is done a writer can include the enclosures. Stylistic and Lexical Peculiarities of Business Letter The layout of the business letter differs in some respect from that of the personal letter. Not only the sender’s address is given (as in personal letter) but also the name and address of the person or organization to which the letter is being send. This is written on the left-hand side of the page against the margin slightly lower than the date (which is on the opposite side). It should be the same as the name and address on the envelope. A letter written to a man should be add – reseed to, for example, Mr. D. Smith or to D. Smith Esq. (Esquire). A letter to a woman, should be addressed to, for example, Mrs. C. Jones or Mrs. C. Jones. If you do not know the name of the person for from your letter is intended you may address it directly to the company, e.g.: The Branded Boot Co. Ltd., 5 Rubberheel Road, Wellingborough, Northants, England. Co. and Ltd. Are the usual abbreviations for Company and Limited. However it’s better to address your letter to some individual – The Managing Director, the Personnel Manager, The Secretary, The Branch Manager, The Export Manager – followed by the name of the company. If the person you are writing to is known to you, you should begin with, for example, Dear Mr. Thompson, Dear Mrs. Warren, etc. Otherwise you should begin Dear Sir (S), Dear Madam, or Gentlemen. The body of the business letter usually includes: a) Reference, b) Information, c) Purpose, d) Conclusion. You should begin your letter with a reference to a letter you have received, an advertisement you have seen, or an even which has prompted the writing of your letter. It is sometimes necessary to add some detailed information related to the reference, in a subsequent paragraph. The generally accepted way of writing the data is the following: October 17,200__ 17 October,200__ October 19th ,200__ 19th October,200__ The subject line is typed immediately below the salutation in the center. It helps to ensure that the letter is passed without delay to the right person or department : Dear Sir, Your order # 0072/98 Purpose is the most important part of the letter, where you are expected to state clearly and concisely all the questions that you have been asked. As business letter are written on behalf of a firm, use ‘we’ and ‘our’ instead of ‘my’ and ‘I’. Do not use the short forms ‘we’ll’ ,’we’ve’ in all formal and business letters. Extra spacing is used between paragraphs to separate different points more effectively. Try to use short sentences and short paragraphs because it is easier to read and understand . Conclusion usually consists of some polite remark to round the letter off. Then usually follows the complimentary close. If you begin your letter with Dear Sir (s) or Dear Madam you may and it with the words â€Å"Your faithfully†. If you address a person by name the words â€Å"Yours sincerely † are preferable. There is a modern tendency however to use â€Å"Yours sincerely † even to people you have never met. The signature: sing you name clearly, in full, as it should appear on the envelope of the letter addressed to you. If there are enclosures, the word ’Encl:’ is typed at the bottom left-hand corner, with a short description of the enclosure. The postscript (P.S.) should be avoided. But sometimes ‘it has a definite, planned function. It is designed to draw special attention, to emphasize a  point made elsewhere in letter, or to make a special offer. Sometimes it may serve as a reply to a further letter that has come in after the letter had been completed. 2.3 Modern Means of Business Communication People have always tried to convey information. Now, they send letters and documents by post, by fax, by computer and they make phone calls from home or the office or, thanks to mobile phones, from wherever they happen to be. The list of services, thanks to advanced technology, is long and presumably will grow. People can phone and fax from trains and planes. They can buy things, carry out financial transactions, get information – all without leaving their chairs. This is the global information age. The worldwide computer network known as the Internet connects millions of people worldwide. It connects many computer networks and uses common addressing system. The most popular Internet service is e-mail. Using e-mail, you can send messages to anyone with an internet account. Most businesses today have electronic address because e-mail provides cheap and rapid communication. Since the mid-1990s electronic commerce has become one of the most rapidly growing retail sectors involving the use of computer telecommunication networks for maintaining business relationships and selling information, services and commodities. Although e-commerce usually refers only to the trading of goods and services over the Internet, it actually includes broader economic activity such as business-to-consumer and business-to-business commerce as well as internal organizational transactions that support these activities. A new form of collaboration known as a virtual company is flourishing now. This type of company is actually- a network of firms, each performing some of the processes needed to manufacture a product or deliver a service. E-mail is cheap and easy to use. E-mail is the transmission and distribution of information through personal computers linked to the telephone system, which allows subscribers to send a message directly to another subscriber that will appear in their electronic mail box. Computer use continues to grow and develop in all spheres of our life. Its applications have had a great impact on the business world. Computers have helped society by increasing productivity and simplifying many services, such as checking,  credit cards, and telephone service. Electronic Mail Once a person gets comfortable with e-mail, it may seem like the only communication method needed. However, written media are preferred and necessary in many cases as previously described. In many ways, e-mail messages are formatted and look similar to memos. Most of the e-mail heading portion is quite simple, most of it being handled by the e-mail program itself. The address of the recipient is filled in; addresses for those to receive copies are filled in; and a brief phase indicating the contents or purpose is added. After typing in the body of the message, an additional formatting element to add to a professional e-mail communications is a â€Å"signature†. Construct a signature containing your full name, title, company name, e-mail addresses, regular mailing address, telephone number, and other such detail. As for style in e-mail messages, here are some suggestions: 1. Typos and Mistakes. There is some controversy about how much to worry about writing mistakes in e-mail. Except for very formal electronic communications, most people disregard or even expect occasional writing glitches in the e-mail they send or receive. However, e-mail messages can be proofread and edited as easily as most other written documents. Sloppiness in writing can become a bad habit. 2. Formality. The tone of e-mail communications is generally informal. E-mail messages are normally rather short, for example, under a dozen lines, and the paragraphs are short as well. No one likes having to do a lot of extended reading on a computer screen. 3. Specific Subject Lines. If you want your e-mail to be read and have the impact you intend, make the subject line specific and compel ling. It is not uncommon for people to log-in and find 50 messages waiting. 4. Format. Whenever possible, break the message into paragraphs of less than six or seven lines and skip an extra line between them. Use only the characters on the keyboard; anything else may not format properly when the recipient views it. Use headings to identify and mark off the various subtopics. If there is a series of points, use the various forms of lists that are available. 5. Automatic Replies. The reply function in e-mail is a wonderful time-saver. However, e-mail is often addressed to multiple recipients. Know for sure that you want all listed recipients to receive the message. Particularly be careful with replying to group list-serves. It can be highly embarrassing for a sensitive message to go to unintended parties. Thus, sensitive topics probably should not be discussed via e-mail. Remember that e-mail can be quickly forwarded to a huge audience. Memoranda A memorandum can be used for most communications internal to an organization with the exception of possibly a full formal report. A memo might contain a status or progress report on a project; it might be a request to an employee to provide information; or it might be the employee’s response to a request for information. Thus, a memo can be very much like a business letter, or it can be very much like a short report. The key is the memorandum format. The memo format is commonly used for progress reports that are required in some engineering courses at ASU. These progress reports in memo format may have attachments as with a business letter. If longer than one page, memo progress reports should have subheading to help organize and present the information. For example, a progress report on a design project might have subheadings for an introduction, accomplishments, future work, and problems. The main header words in the memorandum format are usually in al l capital letters and are now commonly shown in bold type for appearance. 1. MEMO Heading. In most cases, the word â€Å"MEMORANDUM† is placed at the top, center of the first page. The font size is usually slightly larger than that of the text and other header words, and some provide a space between each letter of the word. 2. DATE Heading. The date used for the memo should be somewhere in the header. The example shown by Figure No. 3 shows the date as the first line, but in some designs, it may be a subsequent line. 3. TO Heading. The name of the recipient or the group name is shown following the TO: heading. Use appropriate names and titles, such as â€Å"Susie†, â€Å"Susie Jacques†, or â€Å"Mrs. Susie Jacques, Executive Secretary†, depending on your familiarity with the recipient and the formality of the situation. 4. COPIES Heading. If copies are sent to others, this heading should also be used. List the names and titles of those receiving copies of the memo. 5. FROM Heading. The sender’s name or the name of the group is placed on this line. The familiarity with the recipient and the sense of the formality dictate how the sender is addressed. In many organizations, the writer of the memo places their initials or first name just after the typed name. 6. SUBJECT Heading. A brief phrase that encapsulates the topic and purpose of the memo is placed in this space. Generally, the first letter of each word in the phrase is capitalized, and there is no punctuation at the end. The actual label for this element varies; some styles use â€Å"RE:† or â€Å"SUBJ:† Most of the rules that apply to business letters also apply to the body of a memo. For example, text should be single spaced with double spacing between paragraphs. In more formal styles of memoranda, writers actually insert the same kind of complimentary close and signature block as used for  business letters. For continuing pages, some type of header is appropriate with the name of the recipient, date, and page number shown. Conclusion So, we defined the concept of business communication and we can surely say, that it takes a huge part in our life. Business communication is very important for every businessman, because communication with business partners, employees, clients is the ground of their success. Written communication is more frequently used type of communication in business life. An exceptional business writing skill is very important in any type of business. Clients frequently base the company’s credibility on the quality of their business communications. These people tend to have negative view of businesses that disseminate written materials with errors or businesses that use vague phrases and misspell names. Written communication allows businesses to communicate developments, expectations and legalities to employees and contacts in the outside world. While traditional hard copies of written communication in business are still prevalent, email and online communication has become increasingly common. In this course paper we studied and described the peculiarities of business writing – letters, e-mail, memoranda. We clarified the main structural parts of business writing documents, which always are bound by certain accepted standards. Good business letter must be well-planed and built. It is very important to follow the standardized structure of the letter and corresponding language.