15 Figures of Speech to Color Your Characters

15 Figures of Speech to Color Your Characters 15 Figures of Speech to Color Your Characters 15 Figures of Speech to Color Your Characters By Mark Nichol Figures of speech can create vivid images in readers’ minds when they read about characters in your works of fiction. By â€Å"figures of speech,† however, I don’t mean simply the contemporary techniques of metaphor or hyperbole. I refer, instead, to the classical figures of etymology, orthography, syntax, and rhetoric, which often have applications in both everyday and elegant language. I shared a list of rhetorical terms some time ago, but here I present specific devices (including some of those I listed before) for suggesting character traits or implying dialect by altering the spelling or form of words or the construction of sentences. These techniques help convey a character’s voice and/or personality whether they’re highbrow or lowbrow, pretentious or unaffected, eloquent or inarticulate: 1. Apheresis: elision at the head of a word, such as in ’gainst, (against), often to alter poetic meter. 2. Apocope, or apocopation: elision at the tail of a word, such as ad (advertisement), for colloquial convenience, or th’ (the), to indicate dialect. 3. Archaisms: old-fashioned phrasing for nostalgic or literary effect, such as â€Å"ye old antique shoppe†-type constructions, or obsolete words such as dight (adorn) or yclept (named). 4. Dissimulation: mispronunciation of a word that involves suppressing one of two instances of the r sound, as in the erroneous Febuary (February). 5. Ellipsis: omission of implied words, whether mundane, as in â€Å"He was the only person (who) I saw,† or poetic, as in â€Å"Wrongs are engraved on marble; benefits (are engraved) on sand.† 6. Enallage: substitution for poetic effect of a correct form of a word with an incorrect form, as in â€Å"Sure some disaster has befell.† 7. Epenthesis: insertion of a consonant (called excrescence) or vowel (known as anaptyxis) into the middle of a world, as in drawring (drawing), often to illustrate a speaker’s substandard dialect. 8. Hyperbaton: transposition of words, as in â€Å"Happy is he who is simple.† 9. Mimesis: malapropisms and mispronunciations for humorous effect, as â€Å"very close veins† instead of â€Å"varicose veins.† 10. Paragoge: attachment of a superfluous suffix to a root word to indicate dialect, as in withouten (without), or to emphasize a stereotypical foreign accent, as in an Italian person’s supposed inclination to end all English words with a vowel sound in a sentence like â€Å"He’s a very-a rich-a man.† 11. Pleonasm: redundancy for literary effect, as in â€Å"He that has ears to hear, let him hear.† 12. Prosthesis: attachment of a superfluous prefix to a root word, as in â€Å"She were aborn before your time.† 13. Syneresis: folding of two syllables into one, as in everyday contraction like I’ll (â€Å"I will†) or archaic forms like â€Å"Seest thou?† (â€Å"Do you see?†). 14. Syncope: elision of letters within a word, as in e’en (even), to affect meter in poetry or otherwise allude to a classical frame of mind. 15. Timesis: insertion of a word between the elements of an open or closed compound, whether in contemporary slang (abso-frickin’-lutely) or classical usage (â€Å"So new a fashioned robe.†) 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 Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Royal Order of Adjectives A While vs Awhile30 Words for Small Amounts

Mercer University Example Graduate School Admission Essay

Mercer University Example Graduate School Admission Essay Free Online Research Papers Mercer University Example Graduate School Admission Essay Until a couple years ago, I didn’t know if I would ever be a college graduate. I made many mistakes at IU around 1994-95 that I thought cost me a degree and a bright future. The motivation to succeed in college really wasn’t there from the get-go. I was young and probably not ready to leave for a new home 300 miles away. I did â€Å"ok† in the beginning, but then it all fell apart. Those pre-approved credit cards kept coming in the mail; I kept accepting them. Eventually, I had about $20,000 in credit card debt alone, plus student loans. I bought things I had no reason buying, things that kept me away from studying, such as a big stereo, television, and computer. I was real lazy when it came to schoolwork. I felt the television set was much more interesting, or was it the girl next door, or was there a soccer game to play? Eventually IU dismissed me, and since I already had a part-time job at IU, I just changed to full-time. I continued to be unmotivated as far as finishing school is concerned. I didn’t love the job, but I didn’t hate it, either. At the end of 97, I started working full-time with benefits at the IU Library. In 4 1/2 years, I received 2 promotions, so life was good there. My girlfriend (future wife) was going to grad school, so I needed to keep the job to support us and for insurance. The major turning point in my life was definitely marrying Heather. I met her at IU in 1994 when she came in my dorm room looking for a screwdriver (for her TV). Ever since then we stayed very good friends and in 2001, we got married. She has turned myself around 180 degrees and has shown me the potential I have to succeed and be happy in life. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology, so unfortunately (or fortunately), she knows me inside and out and she knows how to motivate me. She received a Master of Library Science degree and obtained a job in Sarasota in late 2001. I stayed in Tallahassee because of my job and we agreed that I would move down when I found a job down there. In March of 2002, I was hired at St. Petersburg College doing pretty much what I did at IU, but with a pay cut. I took the job anyway; we were unhappy being so far apart from each other. Shortly after moving, we had a talk about where we wanted to be in 5 years. She had me write down pros and cons of my current working/schooling situation. It turns out there are so many more cons when you write it down and spend hours on it instead of thinking for a few seconds and blowing off the question totally like I used to do when we would have this discussion. Finally all the nagging of Heather, not to mention my parents and even her parents, and the fact that she was going to go back to school for a third degree, got me to do some research and I went and talked to some counselors at work and mapped out a plan to obtain my A.A. It wasn’t as far off as I thought. The college even pays for my classes; how can you beat that? In August of 2002, I started classes at SPC. I went real easy the first semester and only took 2 classes, both online. My grades were decent (AB), so I kept going. Eventually, I was attending school full-time while I was working full-time. It has definitely been a strain on my relationship with my wife, and my body as well, however, I have worked up to the point where I actually have fun going to school. The short term and long term rewards are well worth the extra stress. I can’t wait to take tests and do homework, because it is fun to get those good grades back for doing the work. I am not used to all these good grades in college. I even framed my report card from last summer when I got a 3.92 GPA. I was telling all my friends about it, and Heather’s friends about it, too. Eventually, Heather told me I was getting annoying, so I stopped bragging. My introduction to the pharmacy field came from a childhood friend of Heather’s, Jennifer. Jennifer graduated a few years ago from pharmacy school and told Heather how much she enjoys her job, so Heather told me about it. I did some research for myself to find out what it takes to become a pharmacist and what it is all about. I already have the people skills from my 10 years at IU and 2 at SPC, all in public service, I definitely have the motivation to succeed and science and math are my strong suits. I would love to be a pharmacist because of the interaction with people and the praise you get for helping them (in the traditional pharmacy setting), the salary, the wide availability of jobs all around the country, and job security. It’s nice to know that you can pretty much pack up and move anywhere and someone there is in need of a pharmacist, just like a librarian. It’s also great to know that if we want to start a family sometime, I would be able to suppo rt us both without her having to work. If given the opportunity to continue my studies in pharmacy school, I would certainly not let the university down. After all, I have to answer to my wife, my friends, my family, and biggest of all, myself. The reasons I picked Mercer University to apply to are twofold. First, I was doing some research on the Internet to rank possible pharmacy schools, and I found that Mercer was one of the top schools as far as preparing its students for their careers. I also liked the Indian Health Service Program as described on Mercer’s website. It sounds like a really interesting experience to prepare me for later. The second reason I picked Mercer to apply to was its location. I currently live in the Tampa area with my wife and Atlanta isn’t too far away as far as visiting each other is concerned. Since it is a hub for Delta, it wouldn’t cost that much time or money to fly back and forth occasionally. I have always wanted to live in Atlanta, as well. My love for the Braves goes back to the days of Dale Murphy and I am also a big fan of The Varsity eatery. I’m sure it would be difficult for my wife and I if I were to move there, but the rewards afterwards are so great that I know we would get through it. 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Introduction to business, macro environmental factors (PESTLE) Essay

Introduction to business, macro environmental factors (PESTLE) - Essay Example This structure was a result of various acquisitions that have taken place over the period of time. Detailed analysis of the history of Borders Group and its subsequent liquidation indicated that failure to adapt to market changes and technological advancement coupled with faulty investments and financial decisions lead to the demise of this once glorious chain of bookstores. The founders of this group are also the pioneers when it comes to superstores in published books industry after Barnes & Noble (Peterson, 2011). The traditional image of small-scale alley shops was replaced by Tom and Louis Borders in 1971 when they opened major stores in different states. In addition to many published books available under one roof, their Book Inventory System which was originally designed to support their sales and inventory management, also formed a major part of the products that they were offering. Following Borders group’s stake in published books market, it was purchased by Kmart ho wever the deal was not as successful as expected and later on lead to divestment in 1995. After this separation, Borders group expanded its operations internationally in Europe, Australia and Singapore (Fundinguniverse, 2011). ... blishing self-owned stores however due to excessive market competition in physical book stores and also other market players like Amazon, Borders group faced aggressive competition. Due to this market condition, Borders group sustained immense losses and filed for bankruptcy in United States followed by subsequent closure of over 30 stores only in UK. As of now, all the directly or partly owned stores of Borders groups have been sold or closed down (Fundinguniverse, 2011). It is important to note that Borders group’s problem was not the changing market space and consumers’ demand but its rather sluggish approach towards the adaptation of changes. With major capital invested in physical stores, the cost of running the stores became extremely high. It did try to create an online presence in 2001 after emergence of Amazon.com and other e-book retailers however the results were not encouraging enough. Where Amazon was in the market after 1995 and had a stable establishment by 2000, it was already too late for Borders group to compete with the diverse and highly personalized nature of service offered by it (Wasserman, 2012). After being unable to have a successful presence, Borders group formed an alliance with Amazon which proved fatal in the long-run. The alliance ended in 2007 with another attempt of forming online presence in 2008 however increasing overhead, operations and interest expenses along with many changes taking place in organization’s management, the group was struggling to stay liquidated which further resulted in further bankruptcy of the group in 2011. Although over the period of time, Borders group added many features to its stores in the form of espresso bars and personalized service of its employees (who were already learned individuals with

Senses and the endocrine system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Senses and the endocrine system - Essay Example These abnormalities that occur sometimes have no effect on the systems while in other cases the effects are detrimental. One of the common seen abnormalities as people age is the formation of cataracts. Cataracts are a clouding of the lenses in the eye to where light becomes hard to pass through. As a result of the light not being able to penetrate, problems with vision occur. Cataracts can form in a person’s eyes as the result of multiple conditions. Exposure to ultraviolet light can cause proteins to denature, which can lead to the condition. Certain diseases such as diabetes have been known to cause this to occur. Eye trauma and genetic issues can also be accounted for with the development of cataracts (Goldstein, 2010). Cataracts are an abnormality that is forming which affects the visual field of the individual. This is because the lenses in eyes are biologically centered around having a clear lens that is adjusted by the retina to allow light in depending on the light le vel. Even though aging of biological components is inherent as humans age, the formation of cataracts is often caused or started by external or internal determinalistic factors that cannot be accounted for. As a result, these are biological factors, which represent an abnormality to normal human physiology.

Signification of Professionalism in Nursing Essay Example for Free

Signification of Professionalism in Nursing Essay Historically, one’s perception of a nurse could be represented by mental images of conformity. Dressed in crisp, pallid uniforms; individuals projected a polished and poised appearance lacking the embodiment of unique qualities. Regardless of their disciplined nature, a nurse may have only been considered an altruist servant of to their community or as an assistant to a physician. Rarely were they considered a professional. Modern advancements in academia have secured nurses a respected position within the professional community. What in particular contributes to professionalism? LaSala and Nelson state that: â€Å"appearance, behavior, and communication have a cumulative effect on the professional image† (2005). A professional appearance reflects an impressionable message in which a patient may feel more secure in your ability to care for them, as it appears you are able to care for yourself. Professional behavior is necessary in order to convey a role of influence. In order for a nurse to effectively educate, she herself must model positive health promotional practices and avoid damaging convention. Additionally, â€Å"posture and body language are one influence on others’ perception of competence† (LaSala, Nelson, 2005). Professional communication is vital to a nurse’s credibility. Whether spoken or written, â€Å"An individual who uses language skillfully and appropriately reflects intelligence and knowledge† (Arnold and Boggs, 2004). The significance of professionalism in appearance, behavior, and communication is essential to understand. Positive, professional influence will enable a nurse to develop trusting relationships with their patients, which in turn, will ensure competent care and the ability to maintain the respect earned as professionals. Works Cited LaSala, K. B., Nelson, J. (2005). What contributes to professionalism? Medsurg Nursing, 14(1), 63-7. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/230521474?accountid=89121 Arnold, E., Boggs, K.U. (2004). Interpersonal relationships: Professional communication skills for nurses. St. Louis: Saunders

Effects Of Divorce On Children :: essays research papers

Since there is a lot discussion of the effects of divorce on children, I choose this to be my topic. In 1991 Amato and Keith (researchers) examined the results of 92 studies using 13,000 children ranging from preschool to young adults to determine what the overall results indicated. The overall result of this study was that children from divorced families are on "average" somewhat worse off than children who have lived in nuclear families. These children have more trouble in school, more behavior problems, more negative self-concepts, more problems with peers, and more trouble getting along with their parents. Overall, the children are more alike than different. Amato tells us that average differences do not mean that all children in divorced families are worse off than all children in intact families. One way to examine this issue is illustrated by findings of Mavis Hetherington. Hetherington, like many others, finds these average differences, but she also looked at some of her measures and examined the degree to which children in divorced and intact families were more severely impaired. Here we find some important differences. On a measure of behavioral problems, Hetherington reports that 90% of adolescent boys and girls in intact families were within the normal range on problems and 10% had serious problems that we would generally require some type of help. The percentages for divorced families were 74% of the boys and 66% of the girls in the normal range and 26% of the boys and 34% of the girls were in the negative scale. The differences between children in different kinds of families are parental Loss, economic loss, more stress, poor parental adjustment, and exposure to interparental conflict. All experts will agree that any life altering change is effective on a child's life.

Resistance coursework Essay

My Investigation: I choose to do a nichrome wire because during my preliminary work nichrome shows more resistance compared to nickel and copper wire. This is because the electrons collide with the material of the nichrome wire. Measurements: The things I will have to measure are: the volts and amps and on each interval I take to take readings. I will have to take 5 reading of each volts and amps, so I can work out the resistance, and then I will have 5 resistance readings, from this I will work out an average resistance. Also I will be measuring the wire from 100cm down to 10cm. Diagram: This is how I will set up my circuit: There are particular factors that we have to keep the same in order not to alter the correct results.   Do not alter the positions of the devices during the experiment.   Make sure the total length of wire is exactly 1m.   Record the current and voltage accurately, using the correct units. Always place the crocodile clips on the right measurement.   Before you start the experiment, test the devices being used. If any are faulty, change them.   Leave the power pack set at the same voltage for the whole of the experiment. The surrounding room temperature must be kept, otherwise the particles in the wire will move faster (if the temperature increases). Therefore, this will have an effect on the resistance.   The wire along the metre ruler must be straight and exactly 1m long. Bends in the wire may affect the resistance. The reading of the voltage should be taken promptly after the circuit is connected. This because as soon as a current is put through the wire, it will get hotter. I want to test the nichrome wire when heat is affecting it the least. Safety: This experiment is not too dangerous but it could be if not handled with caution and care. Make sure that the electricity is off at the plug socket when connecting and altering the circuit.   Be careful of any sharp edges on the crocodile clips or on the wire cutters or on the wire once cut. If you cut your self make sure you wash the wound and see a medical nurse if needed. If a fire breaks out switch off the power and use a near by fire extinguisher that is not H2O (because of the electricity) to safely stop the fire.   Make sure the coils in the resistance wire don’t touch and short circuit because this will ruin the experiment and may heat up the wire and catch fire. Do not set the power pack voltage to more than 2V. This is a safety hazard.   If you smell burning, promptly switch off the power pack from the mains.   Make sure that when the power pack is switched on, the near by taps are switched off. If there is any water spilt near by the sockets or surrounding areas, wipe it before you start the experiment.   Make sure the power pack cable or the conducting wires aren’t frayed. Reliability and Accuracy: Reliability: I can rely on my results because I have taken 5 different readings and then taken an average. This is so if one of my results goes wrong then I have four other ones to compare it with so I know if a result is abnormal. I am using an Ammeter to get an accurate current reading and not relying on the approximate readings on the power packs variable controls. Accuracy: I will coil the wire so that there are no short circuits in the wire. I will do this by spacing out the coils and checking it regularly throughout the experiment. This is because if the wire does short-circuit then you will be measuring the resistance of the length of that short-circuited piece of wire and not the whole length of wire. I will also take the reading on the voltmeter as soon as possible so the heat does not affect the resistance. Obtaining My Evidence: During the investigation, I changed the length of the wire by 10cm to see if it affects the resistance and the amount of current I was going to use. Initially I had decided to use 2 amps but I changed it to 1 amp because I felt by using a low current I may not get a very good reading voltage and resistance. The Analysis: Explanation of results- As the length of wire increased, the current decreased. As the length of constantan wire increased, so did voltage. Resistance increased as the length of wire did. The longer the length of the wire, the higher the resistance because of the amps. The current flowing the p. d. across it providing the temperature is constant. V=Ii R or I=V/R or R=V/I From the graph which I have produces I conclude that the higher the length of the wire the higher the resistance. The thin wire in 1 amp tends to resist the movement of electrons init. We say that the wire has a certain resistance to the current. The greater the resistance the more voltage is needed to push the current through the wire. The resistance is calculated by Resistance-P. d across the wire/Current through the wire (1) I conclude that as the length of a wire doubles, the resistance also doubles (provided the thickness of the wire is kept constant0. I also conclude that as the cross-sectional area of the wire doubles; the resistance halves (provided the length of the wire stays constant. I conclude this because my graph shows that resistance is inversely proportional to 1 (thickness2) so the theories behind these conclusions are: As the length doubles the resistance doubles. Resistance is caused by electrons bumping into ions. If the length of the wire doubles, the electrons bump into the ions twice as much so the resistance will double. In my investigation I found out that as the length of the wire increased the resistance and voltage increased as well. The only thing that decreased was the current. I think this because the resistance and the voltage has no longer a distance to travel so more volts/amps are needed where as the current has a shorter distance to travel each time so as the same amount of amps are being used they are building up more. From the graph that I have done, I have found a pattern. This pattern draws me to a conclusion that the higher the length of the wire the higher the resistance. I had also stated this in my prediction, in the earlier stages of my experiment, so this means that my prediction was correct. The thin wire I (amps) a lamp tends to resist the movement of electrons in it we say that the wire has a certain amount of resistance to the current. The greater the resistance the more voltage is needed to push a current through the wire. The Ohms law calculates the resistance of a wire by: Resistance (R) = potential difference across the wire (V) Current through the wire (I) There is a resistance in a wire because the electrons bump in to each other in the nichrome wire. So the high resistance is because of the high length of the wire and because of the electrons bumping in the wire. My predictions match my results because I predicted that resistance would increase as the length of the wire increased and that is what happened. I worked it out by using my head. I started to think about this experiment then I thought that the current would have a longer distance as the length increased and that would make the resistance longer. I also found out that the resistance of one amp carries a current of one amp if there is a potential difference of one volt across it. Judging from my results, I can safely say that the majority of my prediction was right. The resistance did change in proportion to the length of wire. This is because as the length of wire increased, the electrons that made up the current had to travel through more of the fixed particles in the wire causing more collisions and therefore, a higher resistance. A thinner wire also means more resistance. Resistance is known to be inversely proportional to the cross- sectional area (diameter). I. e. if the diameter is increased, the resistance decreases. A wider wire means less chance of the free electrons having collisions into atoms and losing energy. Another point of my prediction was that as the length of wire doubles so does the resistance. This proved to be true. I can show this in my graph. The straight line indicates it. I can also see these in my results. E. g. 30cm=0. 95? and 40cm=1. 124 ?. The theories behind these conclusions are: As the length of the wire doubles, the resistance also two folds. Resistance is caused by electrons bumping in to ions. If the length of the wire doubles, the electrons bump into the ions twice as much so the resistance will double. I also want to state the fact that as the length of a wire doubles the resistance also doubles, however providing the thickness of the wire is kept constant. I conclude that, as the cross sectional area of the wire doubles the resistance halves providing the length of the wire stays constant. Evaluating my Evidence: I believe I carried out my investigation very well. I used all the equipment I was supposed to. I set the experiment correctly. Most of my results are accurate. I managed to get reading off both the volt meter and ammeter for each length five times and I used the correct safety precautions. I believe most of my results are accurate. Not all of the readings are correct as at the end the wire got very warm and gave faulty readings. After studying my results, I realise there is one anomalous result. It occurs in the voltage on the sixth voltage. It looks as if the volt meter had some interruptions such as the heat of the wire or the heat of the surrounding area. However this did not affect my predictions as I predicted the longer the wire the higher the resistance and this is what had happened but it had less resistance for that particular one than I had expected. It did not alter the increasing pattern in resistance. I believed that my investigation and the results are mainly accurate because my investigation was carried out very well. I believe that if I had to use my results as evidence I think they show that the longer the nichrome wire the more resistance and the shorter the less. I assume this because my graph shows at 10cm of nichrome wire there is 0. 592(ohms) and at 100cm of nichrome wire there is 2. 386(ohms) there is a difference of 1. 794(ohms) which proves longer the wire the more resistance. I can prove that my experiment was successful because of the graph I drew. It showed length of wire against resistance. If I had to further improve my investigation I would carry it out again and I would do it with a much longer piece of wire at a higher current. If I had to do this experiment again I will probably measure the wire every 5cm’s instead of 10cm’s to make sure it’s accurate and use a more accurate volt meter to get the best and accurate results. . I could also investigate how the diameter of a wire affects the resistance. An extra investigation I can carry out or perform to receive more proof and evidence would be to investigate and look into is the thickness of a wire and evaluate or match up with the length of the wire. Also I could examine if the specific metal materials or properties makes a change in the resistance. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section.