An Englishman in New York †The Problem Of UK-US English in Freelance Writing

An Englishman in New York – The Problem Of UK-US English in Freelance Writing An Englishman in New York The Problem Of UK-US English in Freelance Writing An Englishman in New York The Problem Of UK-US English in Freelance Writing By Colin Some people see the differences between American English and British English as a problem. I see them as an interesting challenge. And although the title to this article might indicate that I’m English, I am in fact, a British Scot. I am also fully aware there is more to the United States of America than the wonderful state of New York, but I felt it made a good title, so I went with it. Why Has This Difference Come About? The English language arrived in the Americas with the advent of British colonization in the early 17th century. As the British Empire grew, so too did the language, which by 1921 had incorporated around a quarter of the world’s population (approximately 470–570 million people). Since that time, the form of English used in the Americas (particularly in the USA) and that used in the UK, have diverged in many subtle ways, leading to the individual dialects now more commonly known as American English and British English, or on Microsoft Word, as US English and UK English. What Are The Differences? The main differences that have developed between the two strains of English include pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, idioms, and date formatting. A few words have even developed completely different meanings, which can mean something in one dialect, but be a source of embarrassment or insult in the other. Some words may not even be used or are unknown to the other. What Is The Impact? As a freelance writer working from home, I am frequently assigned jobs by companies and individuals, more often than not, from the USA. Telecommuting is an area of freelance writing that I enjoy; working with a local Bed and Breakfast on an advertising leaflet one day, and writing a press release for a US-based dot com client the next. It’s exciting and provides a great way to earn a living. But as this kind of work increases, more often than not I am asked to write articles or essays in the target audience’s own version of the English language. In most cases, this means adapting my work into US English. Is There A Right One Above All Others? No. Clearly it depends on several factors, such as intended readership or editorial preference. A freelance writer should take guidance from both the publication type and the editor when deciding which to use. Where the issue becomes cloudy is when you have a large company with a global audience, or with a company that has separate websites covering different geographical locations. I’ve worked with clients in the past that required two separate articles to be submitted for every one assignment, i.e., one copy of an article in US English for their .com website, and the other in UK English for their .co.uk website. Websites such as our very own Daily Writing Tips, has a global readership, yet the difference in language expectation is highlighted where one readership is of greater number than the other. And so an article written naturally in UK English may stand out against the eye of the US English reader. What Then, For The Freelance Writer? Make a judgment call based on the publication’s intended readership. If there is no information available or it’s too hard to pinpoint, ask the editor. Always remember, though, in the world of freelance writing for the Internet, you won’t be able to please all the people all of the time. But above all, make sure the content is interesting and topical, because if it isn’t relevant, no one will even read it to spot where the differences are. Footnote: Did anyone notice this article was written in US English purely for the benefit of DWT’s US-English speaking readership? Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Types of Narrative ConflictThe Possessive Apostrophe25 Idioms About Bread and Dessert

Analysis and Assessment of Baumgartner Jones Agendas and Instability in American Politics essays

Analysis and Assessment of Baumgartner Jones Agendas and Instability in American Politics essays I find a certain amount of difficulty when I attempt to offer an assessment of Baumgartner and Jones work, Agendas and Instability in American Politics. The reason for this is because the book is written in such a manner that it is enormously difficult to offer a conflicting argument to the model they use to describe how issues become part of agenda, the power of interest groups, policy monopolies, how power shifts, and other issues related to the aforementioned. For this reason, I must say that I find their model to be on solid ground. The previous reading assignments in this course which where mostly based on the writings of C. Wright Mills and his protg Robert Dahl read like the thoughts of writers who were desperately trying to convince the reader that they are right. To the contrary, Baumgartner and Jones made no real attempts to sell their research and rather presented their findings and beliefs in a way that seems to say to the reader that this is the way things are. Examples of legislative activity that seem to conform to their model offered to the readers of Baumgartner and Jones are presented in a way that basically shows the reader how their model translates into real life as opposed to an offering of evidence to bolster the correctness of their assertions. The notion of policy monopolies I find to be a very believable concept when describing the formulation, definition and promotion of issues in the American political agenda. Making an issue a taboo or untouchable or dangerous to national security, thus ensuring its longevity, perhaps even immortality. This phenomenon is most visible in the issues of Medicare and Social Security. Both programs are in deep financial trouble, but anyone who advocates even the slightest bit of change in either program is immediately labeled an extremist who lacks compassion for our nations senior cit...

The Realization of Speech Act Requests encountered by Iraqi Learners Dissertation

The Realization of Speech Act Requests encountered by Iraqi Learners of English in Australian Universities - Dissertation Example The direct strategies will compare the respondents on the basis of imperative, performative, statements of obligation & necessity, statements of speaker’s needs and demands, and statements of speaker’s wishes and desires. The conventionally indirect strategies will focus on the suggestory formulae, the hearer’s ability when preparing a query and the hearer’s will when preparing a query. This is followed by the permission requests which are again query preparatory in the conventionally indirect strategies. The non-conventionally indirect strategies include the grounders, the feasibility for the requested act and the availability. At first the respondents were asked specific questions based on the ways in which they behave with other people when communicating or asking for particular requests in order to fulfill their requirements in one way or the other. This distribution clearly shows that the Iraqi learners living in Australia are more conservative and us e the conventionally indirect approach when asking other people for something or requesting other people for help in any of their quests. Most of them rely on the ability of the person they are talking to for their desired queries. This is followed by the ones who put in a permission request in order to satisfy their needs. 4.1 Choice of Strategy in High Power Settings: Question 1: The first question shows that the order questions made by the Iraqi people who have been in Australia for a shorter span of time will be focusing more on the permission request strategy which is conventionally indirect in the Australian English. These people are the ones who have been in Australia for a few months and others and have not been able to adapt the culture and the way Australians behave in a proper way. Almost 31.2% of the Iraqi people living in Australia will follow permission strategy which is followed by the hearer’s ability as 25.74% Iraqi’s were more inclined to use this as part of the request for the query that they may seek to ask for anything they have to. This is followed by the imperative style which takes in 22.86% of the answers of the Iraqi’s. This shows that they will be asking in a demanding way. There was equal distribution of respondents in their perspectives of the needs of speaker’s needs and demands and the speaker’s wishes and desires. This toll was around 8.57% of the 35 Iraqi respondents who were available for this survey. This shows that the Iraqi speakers will make some same and some different choices in terms of strategy compared to Vietnamese and the Australian speakers. Most of the Australian speakers use the permission and the ability strategy in order to make a request. The Vietnamese speakers will also use the imperative strategy along with the permission and the ability strategy. The rate at which they use the permission strategy is the same as compared to the rate of imperative strategy. Comparatively, t he Iraqi people will look forward to the permission strategy mostly, followed with the hearer’s ability when forming the strategy. They will also use the imperative strategy when it is needed but to a lesser extent compared to that of the Australians and the Vietnamese. Question 2: The second question was based on a situation in which one is an office manager who is looking for a document. The document is to be seen immediately after the meeting

The Natural Disaster of Hurricane Katrina Research Paper

The Natural Disaster of Hurricane Katrina - Research Paper Example Before Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, there was a positive impact on the development in education, cultural and economic sectors. For instance, the teachers introduced digital directions in school curriculum and developed school systems that facilitated innovation and industrial revolution. In addition, demographers say that there was an influx of the college-educated newcomers in New Orleans and the number of people joining the university slots remained high. There was the competition for senior schools. Towards the anticipation of the Hurricane Katrina, teachers some of the teachers were making preparations to teach students during their leisure days. The congress disclosed in a report that the education system was running smoothly at the time, with and that it had given about $235 to be used in schools to educated the students. The district before the Hurricane Katrina had enough money to finance the school systems while keeping the ir budgets solvent (Waller, 2013).Furthermore, there was cultural diversity in the areas that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. For instance, the demographic statistics indicate that out of 484, 000 populations of people who were living in the cities, 28 percent were the whites while 67 percent comprised the African-Americans. In additional, there were cherished institutions in New Orleans that was the home to the cultural artifact and the history of the region such as The Camella Grill.

Decision theory Essay Example for Free

Decision theory Essay How could companies use Second Life for new product or service decision making? Companies use second life which includes meeting with the sales manager, discussing about new sales techniques, building a new world where members of second life talk together about product or services and testing the new designs for new product or service before it is released to the world. Thus by taking feedback from all members companies take decisions. . How could financial companies use neural networks in Second Life to help their businesses? Neutral networks are those which involve in pattern or image recognition. This helps companies to get the required information for processing in second life. 3. How could a company such as Nike use decision support systems on Second Life to help its business? Nike uses decision support system (DSS) for information that helps to take decision. But DSS has three main models in it. They are: -Sensitivity: observe changes when variable is changed -What- if? checked what is the impact if variable changed -Goal seeking: seeking to reach goal by making changes. 4. How could an apparel company use Second Life to build a digital dashboard to monitor virtual operations? Apparel uses second life in digital dashboard to monitor virtual operations as it tracks everything in the store which includes number of customers, time spent, items purchased etc. Company also gave a special offer to the second life residents that they get promotional cards if they are shopping in inline-world apparel. Describe how the DoD is using AI to improve its operations and save lives. By using AI the DoD is able to make operations like resupply missions more efficient because human drivers and troops to protect the supply line aren’t needed. AI would also be able to perform dangerous missions without endangering troops. 2. Explain why the DoD would use an event, such as the DARPA Grand Challenge, to further technological innovation. The DARPA Grand Challenge produces lots of different ideas from diverse sources which will produce more efficient technology. The contest is also at a relatively low cost to the DoD because it would cost more than $2 million dollars to produce and test so many models on their own. 3. Describe how autonomous vehicles could be used by organizations around the world to improve business efficiency and effectiveness. If businesses were able to transport their goods without human transportation controllers it would cut costs and eliminate some of the risks from human error. 4. The Ansari X is another technological innovation competition focusing on spacecraft.

Characters, Symbolism, and Themes in The Lord of The Flies Essay

The Lord of the Flies is a story about a stranded group of boys on a deserted island after their plane crashes. It is about an adventure at the start of a new World War. The boys try to create a society by selecting a leader and doing everything they can to survive. It is all a game without adult supervision until the island becomes a nightmare and their imaginations come to life. Everything becomes more realistic when the twins, Sam and Eric, find the body of the dead parachutist hanging from a tree on the island. Then the boys declare that there is some type of beast on the island and they must kill it to stay alive. Soon the boys turn on each other and kill Simon because he is mistaken for the beast. Jack then, takes over the group of boys and hunts down Piggy and Ralph. Then Roger pushes a boulder off the cliff and kills Piggy. The boys follow Ralph, which is the main character and the boys began to set the jungle on fire in attempt to smoke Ralph out. Ralph then discovers that h e is back on the beach after collapsing from exhaustion. After looking up, he then finds a Naval officer standing over him. The officer saw the raging fire in the jungle from his ship at sea. Overwhelmingly Ralph explains what happened to the officer. He and the boys begin to cry because they realize that they are finally being rescued and are going home. Symbolism is shown throughout the story, by the little things like the conch shell and Piggy’s glasses. The pig’s head is a huge symbol, showing that the boys believe in a power of evil. In this book the main theme is civilization vs. savagery. The boys lose their civilized being and innocence ways as they become savages and kill Simon and Piggy. In The Lord of The Flies, Golding analyzes characters, ... ...Cathy Falk. Vol. 58. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 19 Jan. 2012. Slayton, Paul. "Teaching Rationale for William Golding's Lord of the Flies." Censored Books: Critical Viewpoints. Ed. Nicholas J. Karolides, Lee Burress, and John M. Kean. The Scarecrow Press, Inc, 1993. 351-357. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 19 Jan. 2012. SparkNotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb 2012. 98. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 19 Jan. 2012. Townsend, R. C. "Lord of the Flies': Fool's Gold." The Journal of General Education. Vol. 16. University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1964. 153-160. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz and Cathy Falk. Vol. 58. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 19 Jan. 2012.

Facebook Brings More Good Than Harm

Stress is the body natural response to the changes which occurs in live. Stress is the combination of psychological,physiological and behavioral reaction. Stresss can be good or bad. Stress can affect both your body and your mind. Stress occurs when an individual is confronted by a situation that they perceive as overwhelming and cannot cope up with. The effect of stress is health problem,impact on students academic performance and changes in personal behavior. Firstly,effect of stress can lead to health problem. It can cause headaches, nausea, rise in blood pressure, pains in the chest, and insomnia.When people feel stressed by something going on around them, their bodies react by releasing chemicals into the blood. These chemicals give people more energy and strength, which can be a good thing if their stress is caused by physical danger. But this can also be a bad thing, if their stress is in response to something emotional and there is no outlet for this extra energy and strength . People under large amounts of stress can become tired, sick, and unable to concentrate or think clearly. Sometimes, they even suffer mental breakdowns. But beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to your health,Moreover,stress can give impact on students academic performance. The pressure to perform well in the examination or test and time allocated makes academic environment very stressful. However, academic work is never without stressful activities. Stress is defined as the physical pressure, pull, or other force exerted on one thing by another; strainIn conclusion, stress could cause depression, hopelessness, psychiatric disorders, behavioral changes and the weakening of the immune system. These effects are not all inclusive but these are the ones that most commonly effect people. Finally,stress can lead to changes in personal behavior.Students will become irriatable. His relationship between college mates and lecturers could be damag ed. Futhermore,this changes could make him depressed and leads him to violent behavior. Students are the future leaders of tomorrow and anything that interferes with their well being should be termed as denying the society their future leaders. University should conduct stress reduction sessions to the students, and lecturers too should be encouraged to advise their students where necessary. Students in Universities and colleges should control their stress and hence minimize the possibilities of psychiatric disorders and suicides. (379 words)