Definition and Examples of Abstract Nouns in English

Definition and Examples of Abstract Nouns in English In English grammar, an abstract noun  is a  noun or noun phrase  that names an idea, event, quality or concept - for example, courage, freedom, progress, love, patience, excellence and friendship.  An abstract noun names something that cant be physically touched. Contrast that with a  concrete noun. According to A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, abstract nouns are typically non-observable and nonmeasurable.†Ã‚  But, as James Hurford explains, the distinction between abstract nouns and  other common nouns is relatively unimportant, as far as grammar is concerned. (James Hurford, Grammar: A Students Guide. Cambridge University Press, 1994) Examples and Observations Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.(Robert Frost)Her face, which was long and dark chocolate brown, had a thin sheet of sadness over it, as light but as permanent as the viewing gauze on a coffin.(Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, 1969)Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.(Erich Fromm)Silence can be  a source of great strength.Men say they love independence in a woman, but they dont waste a second demolishing it brick by brick.(Candice Bergen, quoted by Catherine Breslin in The Mistress Condition. Dutton, 1976)When love is gone, theres always justice.And when justice is gone, theres always force.And when force is gone, theres always Mom.Hi, Mom!(Laurie Anderson, O Superman. 1981)Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.(Bertrand Russell, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish. Unpopular Essays. Simon Schuster Inc., 1950) More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.(Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates. The New York Times, 1979) The Nature of Abstract Nouns Abstract and concrete are usually defined together or in terms of each other. The abstract is that which exists only in our minds, that which we cannot know through our senses. It includes qualities, relationships, conditions, ideas, theories, states of being, fields of inquiry and the like. We cannot know a quality such as consistency directly through our senses; we can only see or hear about people acting in ways that we come to label consistent. (William Vande Kopple, Clear and Coherent Prose. Scott Foresman Co., 1989) Countable and Uncountable Abstract Nouns Although abstract nouns tend to be uncountable (courage, happiness, news, tennis, training), many are countable (an hour, a joke, a quantity). Others can be both, often with shifts of meaning from general to particular (great kindness/many kindnesses).(Tom McArthur, Abstract and Concrete. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press, 1992) Inflection of Abstract Nouns [M]any abstract nouns are generally not inflected for number (lucks, nauseas) or they do not occur in the possessive (the commitments time). (M. Lynne Murphy and Anu Koskela, Key Terms in Semantics. Continuum, 2010) The Grammatical Unimportance of Abstract Nouns [R]ecognizing abstract nouns is relatively unimportant, as far as grammar is concerned. This is because there are few, if any, particular grammatical properties that affect just the set of abstract nouns. ... One suspects that the reason for the recurrent mention of abstract nouns is the clash between their (abstract) meanings and the traditional definition of a noun as the name of a person, place or thing. The existence of obvious nouns such as liberty, action, sin and time is a sore embarrassment to such a definition, and the pragmatic response has been to apply a distinctive label to the problematic words. (James R. Hurford, Grammar: A Students Guide. Cambridge University Press, 1994) The Lighter Side of Abstract Nouns It represents Discipline, said Mr. Etherege. ... And to the uninstructed mind, Uniformity. His abstract nouns were audibly furnished with capital letters. But the latter notion is fallacious.No doubt, said Fen. He perceived that this incipient homily required punctuation rather than argument.Fallacious, Mr. Etherege proceeded, because the attempt to produce Uniformity inevitably accentuates  Eccentricity. It makes Eccentricity, as it were, safe. (Bruce Montgomery [aka Edmund Crispin], Love Lies Bleeding. Vintage, 1948)

The 1860s Boshin War in Japan

The 1860s Boshin War in Japan When  Commodore Matthew Perry  and the American black ships showed up in Edo Harbor, their appearance and subsequent opening of  Japan  set off an unpredictable chain of events in  Tokugawa Japan, chief among them a civil war that broke out fifteen years later: the Boshin War. The Boshin War lasted only two years, between 1868 and 1869, and pitted Japanese samurai and nobles against the reigning Tokugawa regime, wherein the samurai wanted to overthrow the  shogun  and return political power to the emperor. Ultimately, t he militant pro-emperor samurai of Satsuma and Choshu convinced the emperor to issue a decree dissolving the House of Tokugawa, a potentially fatal blow to the former shoguns family. First Signs of the War On January 27, 1868, the shogunates army - numbering over 15,000 and primarily comprised of traditional samurai  - attacked the troops of Satsuma and Choshu at the southern entrance to Kyoto, the imperial capital. Choshu and Satsuma had only 5,000 troops in the fight, but they had modern weaponry including rifles, howitzers, and even Gatling guns. When the pro-imperial troops won the two-day-long fight, several important daimyo switched their allegiance from the shogun to the emperor. On February 7, the former shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu left Osaka and withdrew to his own capital city of Edo (Tokyo). Discouraged by his flight, the shogunal forces gave up their defense of Osaka Castle, which fell to imperial forces the following day. In another blow to the shogun, foreign ministers from the western powers decided in early February to recognize the emperors government as the rightful government of Japan. However, this did not prevent samurai on the imperial side from attacking foreigners in several separate incidents as anti-foreigner sentiment was running very high. A New Empire is Born Saigo Takamori, later famed as the Last Samurai, led the emperors troops across Japan to encircle Edo in May of 1869 and the shoguns capital city surrendered unconditionally a short time later. Despite this apparently quick defeat of the shogunal forces, the commander of the shoguns navy refused to surrender eight of his ships, instead heading north, hoping to join forces with the Aizu clans samurai and other northern domain warriors, who were still loyal to the shogunal government. The Northern Coalition was valiant but relied on traditional fighting methods and weaponry. It took the well-armed imperial troops from May to November of 1869 to finally defeat the stubborn northern resistance, but on November 6, the last Aizu samurai surrendered.   Two weeks earlier, the Meiji Period had officially begun, and the former shogunal capital at Edo was renamed Tokyo, meaning eastern capital.   Fallout and Consequences Although the Boshin War was over, fallout from this series of events continued. Die-hards from the Northern Coalition, as well as a few French military advisers, tried to set up a separate Ezo Republic on the northern island of Hokkaido, but the short-lived republic surrendered and winked out of existence on June 27, 1869. In an interesting twist, Saigo Takamori of the very pro-Meiji Satsuma Domain later regretted his role in the Meiji Restoration. He ended up being swept into a leadership role in the doomed Satsuma Rebellion, which ended in 1877 with his death.

Lower Limb Prosthetics Evolution Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lower Limb Prosthetics Evolution - Article Example Presently, there has been the use of Carbon fiber springs in the prostheses that allows improved shock absorption and mobility without increasing any weight. Additionally, the carbon fiber have allowed active amputees to wear limbs that can help in the absorption of two to four times their total body weight. In 2004, the esteemed international event aided the drive of development of lighter and more functional devices such as the gait-adaptive knee and an artificial limb that can be modified for its users2. There has been the advancement of the technology today where scientists and developed with the advent of microprocessors, robotics and computer chips have allowed amputees to get back to their accustomed lifestyle. United States., United States., & United States. (1984). Journal of rehabilitation research and development. Washington, D.C: Veterans Administration, Dept. of Medicine and Surgery, Rehabilitation R & D

Critical Response on the story The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe Essay - 1

Critical Response on the story The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe - Essay Example â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart† depicts the extent to which a human being can go and the narrative serves to explain the reader that the narrator is not as mentally sound as he argues that he is. It also presents the complexity of the feelings of the narrator where he is unsure of his own feelings for the old man. The story begins with the explanation of the narrator that he is a perfectly well being but he deeply wishes to kill the old man that he lives with because of the fact that he has a pale blue eye. At the same time he also admits the fact that it is just the eye that is driving him angry and has made him desire to kill this man despite of the fact that the old man has never wronged him. He clearly explains that he has no desire for the old man’s money and nor is there any other motive behind the killing apart from the old man’s eye. He also claims the fact that he loves the old man and hence this serves to provide an explanation that the narrator is in a very complex state of mind and cannot identify his own feelings and perceptions about the world. His strong dislike for the eye can be seen when he says, â€Å"I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.† These lines explain the fact that the human soul does not matt er to him and just for the fact that he hates the old man’s eye, he wants to kill him. The narrator plans to carry out the murder and he designs a plot and strategy for that. He explains the fact that since he planned the murder so well, he cannot be called insane as no insane person would be so intelligent. Though he claims that he is mentally well, but his acts in the story clearly present the reality that he is not well. He is obsessed with killing the old man and he has a desire to kill him while he is awake so that before his killing he can see his eye which is the main motive behind the murder. He waits complete seven days only for the fact that the old man opens his eye so that

Playground Payback - Original Essay -- Papers

Playground Payback - Original Essay In the far hills of North Carolina, there was a school called Blue Creek Elementary. It was half a century old, and you could definitely tell. The yellow stained walls of the classrooms had marks from play dough and crayon. The chalk board was cloudy with dust from a thousand words before. The smell of each room was basically the same, chalk clappers and weak tea, and the colour of autumn leaves was present throughout the year. It was January 2002. The climbing frame in the playground was rust incrusted, and the paint was crumbling off, but still was in use as if it was new everyday. No one child was dissatisfied with their school life, they could see nothing wrong with the way they were ruled, the rota they followed or the order they had come to be in for so many years. They were treated equally as each other, by the council they had elected. Every new school year in September there would be an election. Any volunteers would under go a number of campaigns to become the new king of the playground. For the last three years no one had been a match for King Rob. In the last year no one was even prepared to challenge Rob Jenkins, but it wasn’t because they were scared, no, quite the opposite. There was nothing wrong with the way he ruled them. He took care of them; he was their agony aunt to their problems, a King Solomon in his own day. He brought them new games, fought for new rights and changed the word recess itself. But all this was about to change, something, or someone was just around the corner. PJ, Felicity, Pikes, Jennie and Russ were playing kickball, a game Jennie ruled without a dou... ... the crowd a few seconds to mull over the information they had just been given, and then spoke once more, â€Å"So I ask you, are you regretful? Are you sorry? But most of all, do you want King Rob back?† the crowd gave no pause, just a dramatic, deafening â€Å"YES!† Prince (or Jack) was expelled from Blue Creek Elementary for stealing. He and his family moved to Alabama. King Rob was restored to his throne. The Jaimes were given luxuries to go in their clubhouse. The gang were labelled playground heroes, and Pikes was given an honorary stationary kit because of his bravery in City Hall. As for PJ, he was given the job of Royal Assistant. He monitored Jack’s movement in Alabama, and checked out any new kids. Blue Creek Elementary was back to where it started, but with more trust, guidance and hope for the future- High School.

Exercises from Financial Management Book, Chapter14

Solutions to Exercises Session 2 (Capital Structure) 14-1QBE = [pic] QBE = [pic] QBE = 500,000 units. 14-4From the Hamada equation, b = bU[1 + (1 – T)(D/E)], we can calculate bU as bU = b/[1 + (1 – T)(D/E)]. bU = 1. 2/[1 + (1 – 0. 4)($2,000,000/$8,000,000)] bU = 1. 2/[1 + 0. 15] bU = 1. 0435. 14-8Facts as given: Current capital structure: 25% debt, 75% equity; rRF = 5%; rM – rRF = 6%; T = 40%; rs = 14%. Step 1:Determine the firm’s current beta. rs= rRF + (rM – rRF)b 14%= 5% + (6%)b 9%= 6%b 1. 5= b. Step 2:Determine the firm’s unlevered beta, bU. bU= bL/[1 + (1 – T)(D/E)] 1. 5/[1 + (1 – 0. 4)(0. 25/0. 75)] = 1. 5/1. 20 = 1. 25. Step 3:Determine the firm’s beta under the new capital structure. bL= bU[1 + (1 – T)(D/E)] = 1. 25[1 + (1 – 0. 4)(0. 5/0. 5)] = 1. 25(1. 6) = 2. Step 4:Determine the firm’s new cost of equity under the changed capital structure. rs= rRF + (rM – rRF)b = 5% + (6%)2 = 17%. 14-9a. a. If net income = $1,000,000 and dividend payout ratio = 40%, then the total amount of dividend paid in Year 0 was 40% x $1,000,000 = $400,000. Therefore, the current dividend per share, D0, = $400,000/200,000 shares = $2. 0. D1 = $2. 00(1. 05) = $2. 10. Therefore, P0 = D1/(rs – g) = $2. 10/(0. 134 – 0. 05) = $25. 00. b. Step 1:Calculate EBIT before the recapitalization: The firm is 100% equity financed, so there is no interest expense. (EBIT = EBT NI = EBT – Taxes = EBT – EBT(T) = EBT (1-T) ? EBIT = EBT = NI/ (1-T) = $1,000,000/(1 – T) = $1,000,000/0. 6 = $1,666,667. Step 2:Calculate net income after the recapitalization: EBT = EBIT – Interest expense = $1,666,667 – 11%($1,000,000) $1,666,667 – $110,000 = $1,566,667 NI = EBT (1–T) = $1,566,667(. ) = $934,000 Step 3:Calculate the number of shares outstanding after the recapitalization: The company takes out a $1,000,000 to repurchase stock currently prices at $25. Number of shares after recapitalization: 200,000 – ($1,000,000/$25) = 160,000 shares. Step 4:Calculate D1 after the recapitalization: Given the 40% payout ratio: D0 = 40%($934,000/160,000) = $2. 335. D1 = $2. 335(1. 05) = $2. 45175. Step 5:Calculate P0 after the recapitalization: P0 = D1/(rs – g) = $2. 45175/(0. 145 – 0. 05) = $25. 8079 ( $25. 81.

The Portrayal of Blindness in The Outsider and Oedipus the...

The Portrayal of Blindness in The Outsider and Oedipus the King A primitive motif in Oedipus the King by Sophocles and The Outsider by Albert Camus is blindness. The protagonists in the novels are blinded to a personal truth, and are physically blinded as well. In The Outsider, Meursault’s blindness is metaphorical, as he is negligent to his own absurdity, which he later becomes categorized as. On the other hand, Oedipus’s blindness is literal, as he is ignorant to the truth of his life; and the fact that he is incapable of escaping the destiny that the Gods have set out for him, which resulted in him gorging his eyes out. The characters suffer an emotional and physical blindness, which leads to tragic irony in Oedipus the King†¦show more content†¦Salamano himself is not incomparable to his dog as he has â€Å"ended up looking like his dog with reddish scabs on his face and his hair is thin and yellow† (p.30). Salamano mistreats his dog and swears at it until it cringes in fear, to the point where they both â€Å"stop on the pavement and stare at each other, the dog in terror, the man in hatred† (pg.31). Ironically, Meursault is blind and disregardful towards their desolate world and never comments on how miserable and unfeeling their situation is. Akin to Meursault, Oedipus is also blind towards accepting and understanding his life, and where he originated from. Astonishingly, given that Oedipus is given many hints that could lead him towards understanding his life, he still fails to detect them. The most distinct ironies in the two novels come from the blind prophet, as he is literally blind and yet he understands a great deal more than Oedipus, who was not physically blind at the time. Teiresias points this out to Oedipus very bluntly by saying â€Å" you have taunted me with blindness, you have your sight yet you cannot see where, nor with whom, you live, nor in what horror (411-413).† In The Outsider, the blinding light is constantly portrayed, and the main purpose of this would have been to highlight Meursault’s mental blindness. The light is usually brought about in the parts of