For the two last Learning Express Library courses I had to do, I chose the Grammar Skills 4: Adjectives, Adverbs, & Confusing Words and 5: Written Communication
The first of them is quite interesting. It states the difference between adjectives and adverbs, which are both types of modifiers. It also helps how to discern confusing words, which is very helpful when writing a text. The course was not very hard, but it was a good opportunity to practice adjectives and adverbs to practice. I learned a few tips on how to avoid common modifier mistakes or use of wrong words. For example, the adjective fewer modifies plural nounds that designate things we can count, as opposed to less, which modifies singular nouns that represent something you can't count. Also, well is an adverd, so it can only modify verbs, while good is an adjective, which modifies nouns.
As this test was well made and helpful in practicing basic adverb/adjective skills, I'd rate it 7/10
The Written Communication course might be the best I have done. It was very interesting for me, as it speaks of ways to simplify and shorten sentences. It is particularly appropriate for me, since I believe my biggest problem in writing is that I write in a bit of a heavy and, some would say, pompous way. I tend to use too many words and complex sentence strucure for nothing. By taking this course, I learned ways to avoid this issue. There were also great tips on how to detect and avoid clichés. For these reasons, this course is very good and I'd recommend it to anyone. It is a common mistake to try doing too much. This course helps us keeping things simple. Since this test really helped me, I rate it 9/10.
5/8/09
5/6/09
Final writing test - Literary essay on 'A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess
Literary essay on A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Most people have seen the movie A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick; many have been shocked by the extreme violence shown in the film - it was rated X in the United States when it came out, and it was banned from movie theaters in the United Kingdom. Some people obviously didn’t understand the morale of the story; but maybe they would have if they had first read the novel by Anthony Burgess on which the movie was based. In A Clockwork Orange, Burgess points out how important is the freedom of choice. This is achieved first through the evolution of Alex, the main character and narrator of the book, and also by a few interventions of another character : the prison chaplain.
The main subject of interest in A Clockwork Orange is Alex’s evolution; it shows how you can choose, of be forced to do things. He is at first a teenager who lives in a futuristic and fascist England. He groups with his friends at night to commit violent crimes. They fight other gangs, beat up people, rape women and rob houses. At that point, he lives his life the way he has chosen to. He then gets caught by the police after killing a woman, so he is sent to prison. During the two following years, he starts acting good; however it is only in the hope of getting out faster. This allows him to be chosen to try a new reformation technique that the fascist government wants to use to empty the prisons and force criminals into the ‘’good way’’. After the treatment he can’t act violently anymore. As soon as he thinks of violence or sex, he feels unsustainable pain. At one point he even wants to commit suicide because his life has became unlivable; however he is not able to do it because of the treatment : he can’t be violent against anyone, not even himself. This shows that he can’t choose anymore; he is forced to be good and can do nothing against it. He does not even have the freedom to choose whether he wants to live or not. After becoming bad again near the end of the story, however, he meets one of his old friends who since then has got married and now lives a normal life. Alex then realizes that everything he has done before was bad, and suddenly sees the point in living the ‘’good way’’. This leads the reader to the conclusion that if you let one choose, he might not make the right choice from the first time, but he eventually will.
The exact message intended by the author is revealed by the prison chaplain. When the reader first meets him, Alex is in jail and appears to have turned to religion. When Alex tells the priest that he’d like to test the Ludovico technique, the holy man replies that Alex should be happy to redeem himself through religion. He also believes that the new treatment is inhuman because it does not leave any choice. He states that forced goodness might not be better than chosen depravity. His other important intervention in the story is when Alex is put as an example in front of representatives and serves as a demonstration of the new technique. After seeing him unable to act the way he should and obviously wants to, the priest comes up and asks a very relevant question : ‘’And what about choice?’’. He calls attention to the fact that Alex does not decide to be passive because he thinks violence is bad; he does it because he is afraid of physical pain. He also points out that by denying a man’s ability to make his own decisions, you also deny his very human nature. When one does not have complete control over his acts, he isn’t really alive, he just exists.
A Clockwork Orange is a good example of dystopian novels, which warn people against the threat of an oppressive regime. Anthony Burgess uses his book to show the importance of being free to make our own decisions and choices. The plot of the story – or more precisely the evolution in the main character – makes a great job of demonstrating the author’s point, which is also explicitly exposed by a character of the book, the prison chaplain, who is revolted by a new reformation technique that forces criminals to be good by using physical torture.
655 words
Most people have seen the movie A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick; many have been shocked by the extreme violence shown in the film - it was rated X in the United States when it came out, and it was banned from movie theaters in the United Kingdom. Some people obviously didn’t understand the morale of the story; but maybe they would have if they had first read the novel by Anthony Burgess on which the movie was based. In A Clockwork Orange, Burgess points out how important is the freedom of choice. This is achieved first through the evolution of Alex, the main character and narrator of the book, and also by a few interventions of another character : the prison chaplain.
The main subject of interest in A Clockwork Orange is Alex’s evolution; it shows how you can choose, of be forced to do things. He is at first a teenager who lives in a futuristic and fascist England. He groups with his friends at night to commit violent crimes. They fight other gangs, beat up people, rape women and rob houses. At that point, he lives his life the way he has chosen to. He then gets caught by the police after killing a woman, so he is sent to prison. During the two following years, he starts acting good; however it is only in the hope of getting out faster. This allows him to be chosen to try a new reformation technique that the fascist government wants to use to empty the prisons and force criminals into the ‘’good way’’. After the treatment he can’t act violently anymore. As soon as he thinks of violence or sex, he feels unsustainable pain. At one point he even wants to commit suicide because his life has became unlivable; however he is not able to do it because of the treatment : he can’t be violent against anyone, not even himself. This shows that he can’t choose anymore; he is forced to be good and can do nothing against it. He does not even have the freedom to choose whether he wants to live or not. After becoming bad again near the end of the story, however, he meets one of his old friends who since then has got married and now lives a normal life. Alex then realizes that everything he has done before was bad, and suddenly sees the point in living the ‘’good way’’. This leads the reader to the conclusion that if you let one choose, he might not make the right choice from the first time, but he eventually will.
The exact message intended by the author is revealed by the prison chaplain. When the reader first meets him, Alex is in jail and appears to have turned to religion. When Alex tells the priest that he’d like to test the Ludovico technique, the holy man replies that Alex should be happy to redeem himself through religion. He also believes that the new treatment is inhuman because it does not leave any choice. He states that forced goodness might not be better than chosen depravity. His other important intervention in the story is when Alex is put as an example in front of representatives and serves as a demonstration of the new technique. After seeing him unable to act the way he should and obviously wants to, the priest comes up and asks a very relevant question : ‘’And what about choice?’’. He calls attention to the fact that Alex does not decide to be passive because he thinks violence is bad; he does it because he is afraid of physical pain. He also points out that by denying a man’s ability to make his own decisions, you also deny his very human nature. When one does not have complete control over his acts, he isn’t really alive, he just exists.
A Clockwork Orange is a good example of dystopian novels, which warn people against the threat of an oppressive regime. Anthony Burgess uses his book to show the importance of being free to make our own decisions and choices. The plot of the story – or more precisely the evolution in the main character – makes a great job of demonstrating the author’s point, which is also explicitly exposed by a character of the book, the prison chaplain, who is revolted by a new reformation technique that forces criminals to be good by using physical torture.
655 words
3/18/09
Tryst Words
1. cad : man whose behaving is dishonorable
2. to woo : to sue for the affection of and usually marriage with.
3. to fleece : rip off
4. seamstress : someone who makes dresses
5. milliner store : place where hats are made and sold
6. brooch : decorative pin worn by women
7. to assert : to state firmly and insist
8. to gawp : look with amazement
9. blandishments : flattery intended to coax
10. to blanch : to turn pale
2. to woo : to sue for the affection of and usually marriage with.
3. to fleece : rip off
4. seamstress : someone who makes dresses
5. milliner store : place where hats are made and sold
6. brooch : decorative pin worn by women
7. to assert : to state firmly and insist
8. to gawp : look with amazement
9. blandishments : flattery intended to coax
10. to blanch : to turn pale
3/4/09
Mid-term writing test
Part A : Short-answer questions
1. What is Louis Mallard’s opinion of marriage? Indicate the paragraph that suggests it?
She does not have a very nice opinion of marriage. She believes that her husband imposed his will to her, like everyone tries to do with their husband or wife. We can observe this opinion of hers in the twelfth paragraph.
3. How does she feel about her future as a widow? Cite the line in the text, using just the first few words, then a series of dots …?
She feels quite confident that a bright future lies ahead of her : ‘’But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come …’’
5. Why is there so much description of what is outside the window when Louise is alone in her room?
The reason it is described so much is because it reflects the future that she is about to start imagining : it is a bright spring day, with life coming back to the nature. After the rainfall, patches of blue sky start to show through the clouds.
7. Explain how Louise can feel joy and sadness at the same time?
She feels sad because her husband is dead, and he might not have deserved it. He always treated her with love. On the other hand, she never really loved him, and his death will allow her to care for herself and to live her life free of any obligation.
Part B : Development question
One could wonder how a wife be happy that her husband his dead. Kate Chopin’s short story ‘’The Story of an hour’’ explores the subject. The author uses irony to tell her opinion of relationships. Irony is first used to show the contradiction in Louise Mallard’s feelings and the character’s opinion of marriage. It is also present at the very end, where we can imagine the huge difference between the wife and husband’s respective reaction to a similar situation.
At first, and for the biggest part of the text, irony resides in Louise Mallard’s contradictive feelings. When she learns the death of her husband, she falls in deep grief. After all, it was her husband, who always loved her; his death could not leave her indifferent. However, after the very strong initial shock, an obvious reality comes to her mind : she did not really love him, and now she has a whole new life in front of her. This can only make her happy. It is very ironic that such a grieving event as the death of her husband brings so much joy to a wife, while on the other hand, in the author and character’s point of view, it is very locigal. Men an women continuously try to impose their will to each other; when one dies, the other is allowed to grow free.
Irony is also used at the end of the story. Louise is so happy because of her husband’s death that she has an heart attack and dies. Brently Mallard, however, was not really dead, and when he comes home, he finds his wife dead. For Louise, Brently’s death meant the beginning of a new, better life. But the roles get inverted, and it is Brently who actually looses his wife. The little we know of him lets us think that he will be deeply grieved of her death : he ‘’had never looked save with love upon her’’. It is ironic that in a marriage – where, supposedly, the lovers are the most unite – the wife and the husband react in complete different ways to an identical situation.
This short story makes good use of irony from the beginning to the end, and it expresses an opinion of marriage. It is used to show that men and women tend to try to control the other. It also demonstrates how the reaction of two life partners to a same situation may differ completely. Kate Chopin seems to think that for these reasons, marriage is not a good thing.
430 words
1. What is Louis Mallard’s opinion of marriage? Indicate the paragraph that suggests it?
She does not have a very nice opinion of marriage. She believes that her husband imposed his will to her, like everyone tries to do with their husband or wife. We can observe this opinion of hers in the twelfth paragraph.
3. How does she feel about her future as a widow? Cite the line in the text, using just the first few words, then a series of dots …?
She feels quite confident that a bright future lies ahead of her : ‘’But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come …’’
5. Why is there so much description of what is outside the window when Louise is alone in her room?
The reason it is described so much is because it reflects the future that she is about to start imagining : it is a bright spring day, with life coming back to the nature. After the rainfall, patches of blue sky start to show through the clouds.
7. Explain how Louise can feel joy and sadness at the same time?
She feels sad because her husband is dead, and he might not have deserved it. He always treated her with love. On the other hand, she never really loved him, and his death will allow her to care for herself and to live her life free of any obligation.
Part B : Development question
One could wonder how a wife be happy that her husband his dead. Kate Chopin’s short story ‘’The Story of an hour’’ explores the subject. The author uses irony to tell her opinion of relationships. Irony is first used to show the contradiction in Louise Mallard’s feelings and the character’s opinion of marriage. It is also present at the very end, where we can imagine the huge difference between the wife and husband’s respective reaction to a similar situation.
At first, and for the biggest part of the text, irony resides in Louise Mallard’s contradictive feelings. When she learns the death of her husband, she falls in deep grief. After all, it was her husband, who always loved her; his death could not leave her indifferent. However, after the very strong initial shock, an obvious reality comes to her mind : she did not really love him, and now she has a whole new life in front of her. This can only make her happy. It is very ironic that such a grieving event as the death of her husband brings so much joy to a wife, while on the other hand, in the author and character’s point of view, it is very locigal. Men an women continuously try to impose their will to each other; when one dies, the other is allowed to grow free.
Irony is also used at the end of the story. Louise is so happy because of her husband’s death that she has an heart attack and dies. Brently Mallard, however, was not really dead, and when he comes home, he finds his wife dead. For Louise, Brently’s death meant the beginning of a new, better life. But the roles get inverted, and it is Brently who actually looses his wife. The little we know of him lets us think that he will be deeply grieved of her death : he ‘’had never looked save with love upon her’’. It is ironic that in a marriage – where, supposedly, the lovers are the most unite – the wife and the husband react in complete different ways to an identical situation.
This short story makes good use of irony from the beginning to the end, and it expresses an opinion of marriage. It is used to show that men and women tend to try to control the other. It also demonstrates how the reaction of two life partners to a same situation may differ completely. Kate Chopin seems to think that for these reasons, marriage is not a good thing.
430 words
2/25/09
LEL #1-2
I've just finished doing my first two Learning Express Library courses. I decided to do one of the Grammar Skills for Writing courses, and one of the Fundamentals of Writing.
The first one I did was Grammar Skills for Writing 1: Punctuation in Sentences. I chose because I wanted to learn the specific rules of punctuation. At first, I thought it was nice, but it quickly became boring and redundant. I found it quite easy; I knew pretty much all the stuff in the course, which be another reason why I did not really like it. I still learned a few rules :
- When the first word of a sentence is a number, you have to write it as a word;
- You have to put a comma before a conjunction when you link two independent clauses.
- You also can't join two independent clauses with a comma without a conjunction; you have to put a semicolon instead of the comma.
I'd rate this course 6/10, because punctuation is very important when writing. Although it was a bit boring, it can't be a bad thing to review the rules of punctuation.
The second LEL course I did was Fundamentals of Writing 2: Drafting. It was more interesting than the first one. I especially liked the lesson about writing an introduction, since the introduction is always the hardest part of an essay to write. The course was also more difficult than the course about punctuation. I learned four interesting tips on how to grab the attention of the reader : using a definition, or a quotation, asking a question, and stating a surprising fact. The course also had a part about writing a conclusion, which is also a difficult when writing an essay. I learned that a great way to start the conclusion is to return to your thesis statement without rewriting it in the same words.
I rate this course 8/10. It was really well made, and it could be a valuable tool when writting essays, since it features checklists of things to do and things to avoid.
2/4/09
Tell-Tale Heart
Considered the father of american litterature, Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1809. His parents died when he was very young, so he was raised by a rich merchant family, the Allan. He enlisted in the army when he was only 18 and he was discharged two years later. His first published work was a collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems, in 1927.
The short story The Tell-Tale Heart depicts a narrator who tries to insist on his sanity. During the whole story, he states proofs that he is not mad. He tells the story of how he murdered the old man whith whom he lives. The man's clouded, pale, ''vulture-like'' eye obsesses him, disturbs him so much that he plots a way to get rid of the eye - to murder the old man. For seven nights in a row, he very carefuly and slowly opens the old man's door, and send a ray of light to the eye to see if it is open. The eye, however, is always closed. On the following night, the old man wakes up and sits up in his bed while the narrator is opening the door. Both stay perectly still for an hour. The narrator can even hear the old man's heart beating louder and louder. He jumps in the room of and murders him before hiding the body beneath the floor.
A neighbor heard noise however, and the police comes. They search the house but find nothing suspicious. The narrator is so confident that he made the perfect crime that he even invites the policemen to take a cup of tea. But then, his twisted mind starts hearing the heart again, and he goes mad. He admits that he killed the old man.
The short story The Tell-Tale Heart depicts a narrator who tries to insist on his sanity. During the whole story, he states proofs that he is not mad. He tells the story of how he murdered the old man whith whom he lives. The man's clouded, pale, ''vulture-like'' eye obsesses him, disturbs him so much that he plots a way to get rid of the eye - to murder the old man. For seven nights in a row, he very carefuly and slowly opens the old man's door, and send a ray of light to the eye to see if it is open. The eye, however, is always closed. On the following night, the old man wakes up and sits up in his bed while the narrator is opening the door. Both stay perectly still for an hour. The narrator can even hear the old man's heart beating louder and louder. He jumps in the room of and murders him before hiding the body beneath the floor.
A neighbor heard noise however, and the police comes. They search the house but find nothing suspicious. The narrator is so confident that he made the perfect crime that he even invites the policemen to take a cup of tea. But then, his twisted mind starts hearing the heart again, and he goes mad. He admits that he killed the old man.
1/28/09
Movie questions 1
1. What questions.
What are you reviewing?
I am reviewing the movie Frost/Nixon
What is it about?
The movie is mostly about the Watergate scandal and the role that was played by Richard Nixon.
What is the plot or storyline?
Richard Nixon resigns from presidency in 1974 after the Watergate scandal. In 1977, he gives a series of interviews to David Frost hoping to give a new breath to his political career. The British host on the other hand whishes to get Nixon to admit his guilt. Both sides try to manipulate the interviews to their advantage.
What is the theme?
The theme of the movie is politics and corruption.
What is the director's purpose?
The purpose of the movie is to transfer a very good play to the big screen.
What genre or classification does it fit?
Frost/Nixon is a true story-based historical movie.
What is the tone?
The tone is very serious.
What is the point of view?
The narrator is omniscient. For example, while some scenes show David Frost trying to keep his project alive even if he has lost his sponsors, other scenes show Nixon walking back to his car after an interview with a satisfied look on his face.
What is the mood.
The mood is quite dramatic, maybe even solemn.
2. Who questions.
Who wrote, directed, or acted it?
The movie was written by Peter Morgan and directed by Ron Howard.
What else have they done?
Peter Morgan contibuted as writer in eight movies. He was also the executive producer of two other movies. He worked for several television series.
Ron Howard is an actor and director who also produced two movies. He played in a dozen of movies and directed over twenty, including Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code
Who are the main characters in the story?
The two main characters are Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) and David Frost (Michael Sheen)
Who is the intended audience?
The movie is rated ''R for some language''. It would entertain people who are interested about modern american history and politics.
Who has said what about this?Why?
Most reviews were positive. For example, Kenneth Turan from the L.A. Times says that Frost/Nixon is the best work of Ron Howard's career, basically because it is well written, well played, well directed and because it is thrilling and involving.
A few critics wrote somewhat negative reviews about the movie, however. Ty Burr of the Boston Globe notes the good acting from the co-stars, but he also says that ''In the name of dramatizing history, Frost/Nixon sacrifices it.'' He also deplores the fact that people keep ''kicking around'' Richard Nixon three decades after the events and 14 years after his death.
3. Where and when questions.
When does the action take place?
The action takes place in 1977, three years after Nixon's resignation.
Where does the action take place?
The action is mostly concentrated on the set where the interviews are shot.
What are you reviewing?
I am reviewing the movie Frost/Nixon
What is it about?
The movie is mostly about the Watergate scandal and the role that was played by Richard Nixon.
What is the plot or storyline?
Richard Nixon resigns from presidency in 1974 after the Watergate scandal. In 1977, he gives a series of interviews to David Frost hoping to give a new breath to his political career. The British host on the other hand whishes to get Nixon to admit his guilt. Both sides try to manipulate the interviews to their advantage.
What is the theme?
The theme of the movie is politics and corruption.
What is the director's purpose?
The purpose of the movie is to transfer a very good play to the big screen.
What genre or classification does it fit?
Frost/Nixon is a true story-based historical movie.
What is the tone?
The tone is very serious.
What is the point of view?
The narrator is omniscient. For example, while some scenes show David Frost trying to keep his project alive even if he has lost his sponsors, other scenes show Nixon walking back to his car after an interview with a satisfied look on his face.
What is the mood.
The mood is quite dramatic, maybe even solemn.
2. Who questions.
Who wrote, directed, or acted it?
The movie was written by Peter Morgan and directed by Ron Howard.
What else have they done?
Peter Morgan contibuted as writer in eight movies. He was also the executive producer of two other movies. He worked for several television series.
Ron Howard is an actor and director who also produced two movies. He played in a dozen of movies and directed over twenty, including Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code
Who are the main characters in the story?
The two main characters are Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) and David Frost (Michael Sheen)
Who is the intended audience?
The movie is rated ''R for some language''. It would entertain people who are interested about modern american history and politics.
Who has said what about this?Why?
Most reviews were positive. For example, Kenneth Turan from the L.A. Times says that Frost/Nixon is the best work of Ron Howard's career, basically because it is well written, well played, well directed and because it is thrilling and involving.
A few critics wrote somewhat negative reviews about the movie, however. Ty Burr of the Boston Globe notes the good acting from the co-stars, but he also says that ''In the name of dramatizing history, Frost/Nixon sacrifices it.'' He also deplores the fact that people keep ''kicking around'' Richard Nixon three decades after the events and 14 years after his death.
3. Where and when questions.
When does the action take place?
The action takes place in 1977, three years after Nixon's resignation.
Where does the action take place?
The action is mostly concentrated on the set where the interviews are shot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)