Kamis, 13 Juni 2013

Descriptive Paragraphs

WHAT IS A DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH?

Everyone loves to travel. Visiting new places is always interesting especially when you travel to different countries. However, the most frustrating part may be the time spent at the airports.  Crowd, chaos, people’s voice or announcements, smells from nearby restaurants can be annoying for people. Describing all these details to the reader is what a descriptive paragraph does.

      A descriptive paragraph describes how a person/thing looks or feels. In descriptive paragraphs, you can describe people, places, objects, or events. The main purpose is to create an image in reader’s minds. In short, it is a kind of painting with the words.

MODEL PARAGRAPH 1


MY FRIEND MARILYN

     My best friend Marilyn is a very nice girl whom I have known for ten years. One of the reasons why I like her so much is that she has such a nice appearance. She has beautiful long blonde hair and she has a nice haircut, too. Her big blue eyes are like a deep ocean. With her physical appearance, she looks like a movie star. Also, the freckles on her face make her so cute. They remind me of my aunt who passed away a few years ago. Secondly, I like her character a lot. She is a fair-minded person who treats everyone with equal respect. Furthermore, she is very calm and she can keep her temper in the most difficult situations. Lastly, she has some interesting hobbies and interests. She spends a lot of time working in the garden. She really likes planting different kinds of flowers or plants. In addition to this, she is fond of travelling. Although she is so young, she has already visited ten countries so far and she likes bringing souvenirs from these countries. As you can see, there are so many reasons why I like her so much. I hope we will be friends forever.

(Written by Inst. Seda Kızıldağ)



MODEL PARAGRAPH 2



COFFEE HOUSES IN TURKEY

     Coffee houses are essential places for lots of men who are over forty or retired. Although they are simply and colorlessly decorated, they have a special atmosphere. There are lots of brown wooden chairs and tables there; people chat when they drink tea or Turkish coffee. Some of them smoke and read newspaper; some of them play card games like “Elli Bir”, “Yanık”, or “Pişti”; some of them play “Tavla” or “Okey”. The waiters who always shout like “Is there anyone who wants one more?” are one of the symbols of these coffee houses. While playing games, two or three people sit around the table and they begin to follow the game. They are called “yancı” in Turkish. “Yancı” is the one who talks during the game, gives some clues to the players, and drink tea or coffee without paying. After the game ends, chatting or kidding goes on, and people have an enjoyable time together. In Turkey coffee houses are not just places; they are an important part of Turkish culture.

(Written by Inst. Serap Yılmaz)



USING FIVE SENSES

      We perceive the world around us with five senses which are sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. We see with our eyes, hear with our ears, taste with our tongues, smell with our noses, and touch with our skins/hands. Creating a sensory image in the readers’ minds will enhance your writing as it makes the topic specific and clearer for the reader.

Senses
I can…
Something may…
   sight Sight

See
people, a bird, a house,
river, baby, etc.
Look
beautiful, ugly, handsome, cute, thin, adorable, etc.
     hearing   Hearing
Hear
noise, cars,  music, etc.
Sound
loud, soft, noisy, etc.
       taste Taste
Taste
cake, coffee, soup, etc.
Taste
salty, delicious, bitter, sour, etc.
   smell  Smell
Smell
flowers, roses, meals, etc.
Smell
sour, spicy, sweet, etc.

   touch Touch

Touch
texture, skin, books, etc.
Feel
soft, gentle, hard, firm, cold, hot, etc.



USING ADJECTIVES

      A descriptive paragraph cannot be thought without adjectives. Most writers use variety of adjectives in order to make their writing more interesting. Thus, readers can have a clearer picture of what is being described.


  • An adjective modifies a noun. That is, it comes before the nouns. If it the noun is singular, do not forget to put a/an.
              Example: Jack brought beautiful flowers.
                                    She has just bought a beautiful jacket.

  • An adjective can come after certain verbs like be, seem, get, feel, look. Connect the adjectives with and if there is more than one.
              Example: Ted is ill today.
                         Your mother seems worried.
                                     The students got bored of the lesson.
                                     Garcia always feels lonely.
                                     You look fantastic!
                                     Helen is a talented and kind woman. 

  • The form of an adjective does not change. Use the same adjective with both singular and plural nouns.
              Example: She has got a gold ring.
                                    She has got three gold rings.
                                   She has got golds rings.

  • Colors and numbers are adjectives.
              Example: a yellow hat
                                     two cars

  • This/that/these/those are adjectives.
              Example: this book
                                    these books, etc.
               
  • Some/few/many/enough/less/more are all adjectives.
              Example: enough time
                        less money, etc.

  • Nouns can also function as adjectives.
              Example: costume party
                                    rose garden

  • You can write more than one adjective in order to describe a noun. However, the order of the adjectives must be kept in mind. Here is the order:

    Opinion-Size-Age-Shape-Color-Origin-Material-Purpose + Noun
       
                      Example: A beautiful ancient blue Ottoman vase 




DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION

  • Denotation: Denotation refers to the dictionary definition or the literal meaning of
  •                           a word.

  • Connotation: Connotation refers to the emotional suggestions related to a word.

  •        The writers should be careful with these two meanings as some words in English have positive and negative connotations. Your word choice here is very important because your readers shouldn’t be confused about what you mean. Therefore, what you need to do is to check both meanings from the dictionaries.

          Example:
                          The following words express praise or admiration (+)
                              Slim: pleasantly thin. It is often used to describe women who have
                                controlled their weight by diet or exercise.
                              Slender: a girl/woman who is thin and graceful.
                              Lean: a man who is thin and fit.

                           The following words are negative in meaning (-)
                               Skinny: very thin, often in a way that is not attractive.
                               Bony: it describes parts of the body when they are so thin that the bones 
                                          can be seen.                          
                      Gaunt: describes a person who is little too thin and looks sad or ill.
                               Underweight: it is used in medical contexts to describe people who are too 
                                                     thin because they are ill or have not had enough  
                                                     food.                      
                      Anorexic: a medical term but is now also used informally to describe a girl
                                                               or woman who is so thin that you are worried about them. 





    PREPOSITIONS OF LOCATION

          In a descriptive paragraph, writers mostly use space order. Space order is needed in order to create a picture in reader's minds. To do this, prepositions of location such as next to, between, above, etc., can be used.  When you give the location of something, it is easier for readers to follow what is being described.

    Common Prepositions of Location

    above            before             far from                  on

    across           behind             from                        on top of

    after             below              in                            opposite

    against          beneath           in back of                outside            
         
    ahead of       beside             in the middle of        over

    along             between          in front of               past

    among            beyond            inside                      throughout
      
    around           by                   near                         under    
      
    at                   close to           next to                    underneath
      

      
    Use and Punctuation Note
      
    • A prepositional phrase is a preposition followed by a noun.
                  Example: on the floor
                                 under the bed

    • Prepositional phrases can be put at the beginning or at the end of a sentence. When we use a prepositional phrase at the beginning, we use a comma. However, when it is at the end of a sentence, comma is not necessary.
              Example: In the living room, there was a cat.
                        There was a cat in the living room.

    • When you use a prepositional phrase at the beginning of a sentence with the verb be,invert the subject and the verb and remove the comma after the prepositional phrase. 
              Example: The bookshelf is next to the bed.
                                   Next to the bed is the bookshelf.
                                   Next to the bed, the bookshelf is. 

    • When you use a prepositional phrase at the beginning of a sentence with there is/are, you can drop there and remove comma after the prepositional phrase.
                  Example: In the bedroom, there is a DVD player.
                                 In the bedroom is a DVD player.

    Read More: http://ydyo.izmir.edu.tr/akademik-yazma-merkezi/for-students/paragraphs/2438-Descriptive-Paragraphs.html
                

    History of Adolf Hitler

    To avoid being arrested for evading military service in Austria-Hungary, Adolf Hitler left Vienna for Munich in May 1913 but was forced to return--then he failed the physical. He volunteered for the Bavarian army the following year and served during all of World War I on the Western Front. His experiences in the fighting affected his thinking about war thereafter.
    After World War I, Hitler came to control the National Socialist German Workers Party, which he hoped to lead to power in Germany. When a coup attempt in 1923 failed, he turned, after release from jail, to the buildup of the party to seize power by means that were at least outwardly legal. He hoped to carry out a program calling for the restructuring of Germany on a racist basis so that it could win a series of wars to expand the German people's living space until they dominated and exclusively inhabited the globe.
    He believed that Germany should fight wars for vast tracts of land to enable its people to settle on them, raising large families that would replace casualties and provide soldiers for the next war of expansion. The first would be a small and easy war against Czechoslovakia, to be followed by the really difficult one against France and Britain. A third war would follow against the Soviet Union, which he assumed would be simple and quick and would provide raw materials, especially oil, for the fourth war against the United States. That war would be simple once Germany had the long-range planes and superbattleships to fight a power thought inherently weak but far distant and possessing a large navy.
    Once Hitler had come to power in 1933, German military preparations were made for these wars. The emphasis in the short term was on weapons for the war against the western powers, and for the long term, on the weapons for war against the United States.
    In 1938 Hitler drew back from war over Czechoslovakia at the last minute but came to look upon agreeing to a peaceful settlement at Munich as his worst mistake. When he turned to the war against France and Britain, he could not persuade Poland to subordinate itself to Germany to ensure a quiet situation in the east; hence, he decided to destroy that country before heading west. He was determined to have war and initiated it on September 1, 1939. To facilitate the quick conquest of Poland and break any blockade, he aligned Germany with the Soviet Union, assuming that concessions made to that country would be easily reclaimed when Germany turned east.
    Hitler had originally hoped to attack in the west in the late fall of 1939, but bad weather--which would have hindered full use of the air force--and differences among the military led to postponement until the spring of 1940. During that interval, Hitler made two major decisions. Urged on by Admiral Erich Raeder, he decided to seize Norway to facilitate the navy's access to the North Atlantic and did so in April 1940. Urged by General Erich von Manstein, he shifted the primary focus of attack in the west from the northern to the southern part of the force that was to invade the Low Countries. They might then cut off Allied units coming to aid the Belgians and the Dutch.
    The new strategy at first appeared to work when the Germans in a few days broke through the French defenses and, within ten days, reached the Channel coast behind the Allied forces. Ordering their air force to destroy the cut-off Allied units, the Germans first wanted to turn south to prevent the buildup of a new defensive line, a decision on which the German commander, Gerd von Rundstedt, and Hitler agreed. As it became clear that many Allied soldiers might escape, the direction of the armor was reversed again, but too late to halt the evacuation of much of the British Expeditionary Force and many French soldiers. The thrust southward in early June 1940 brought a swift collapse of remaining French resistance, and this complete victory gave Hitler an aura of triumph, which assured him the enthusiastic support of almost all of Germany's military leaders, especially as he systematically tied them to himself by generous promotions and a system of mass bribery.
    Because it looked as if this war was over, Hitler and the military began planning for the wars against the United States and against the Soviet Union. On July 11, the resumption of construction of the navy to defeat the United States was ordered; by July 31, after first hoping to invade the Soviet Union in the fall of 1940, Hitler, on the advice of his military staff, decided to attack in the east in the late spring of 1941.
    As Britain refused to accept defeat, Hitler planned to combine three measures to knock it out of the war: the German air force would destroy the country's capacity to defend itself; there would be an invasion if Britain did not surrender; and the expected quick defeat of the Soviet Union would remove that country as a possible source of aid for Britain and, by ending any danger to Japan's rear, encourage that power to move in the Pacific and tie up the United States.
    Hitler wanted Japan to join in the war with Britain and promised to join Japan in war with the United States if that was thought necessary by Tokyo, assuming that this would be the other way for Germany to acquire the navy for war with the United States. A short campaign in the Balkans was to secure what he believed might be a vulnerable southern flank; the last step in this, the airborne seizure of Crete, proved so costly that the Germans attempted no major airborne operation thereafter.
    The German invasion of the Soviet Union, begun on June 22, 1941, seemed at first to work as planned but quickly ran into trouble. The initial blows, which were supposed to bring the Soviet Union crashing down in a few weeks, did not have that effect. Thereafter, the question always was which sector to attack and whether to retreat. In this, Hitler was at times at odds with some generals, but others always took his position. As the war turned increasingly against Germany, disagreements became more frequent. Hitler still expected to win while some generals were trying to find a less messy way of losing. None advised against going to war with the United States. For the 1942 offensive in the east, Hitler and his military leaders agreed on striking in the south; this project ended in disaster at Stalingrad. A new major offensive in 1943 not only ended in defeat at Kursk but also was followed by the first successful Red Army summer offensive.
    When retreats were advocated, Hitler was always concerned about the loss of mat[eacute]riel that could not be hauled back, about the need to reconquer whatever had been given up, and about shorter lines, which released Red Army units for new offensives. Some generals, Erwin Rommel and Walther Model, for example, occasionally acted without or against orders to pull back and were not punished. Others were sent home to collect their monthly bribes in retirement.
    As Hitler saw increasing danger from the western Allies, he relied more on Admiral Karl D[odie]nitz to hold them off by submarine warfare. When that effort was blunted in 1943, he both supported the building of new types of submarines and geared strategy on the northern portion of the Eastern Front to protection of the Baltic area, where new submarines and crews could be run in. Enormous resources were also allocated to new weapons designed to destroy London. It was Hitler's hope that the Germans could drive any Allied troops who landed in the west into the sea and then move substantial forces east in the interval before any second invasion. When this plan failed, Hitler turned to holding all ports as long as possible, to hamper Allied supply lines and to prepare for a counterstroke that would defeat the western Allies. This counterstroke, the Battle of the Bulge, would then provide the opportunity to move forces east after all.
    As the Allies closed in on Germany, Hitler increasingly hoped for a split in the alliance he had forged against himself. He believed Germany had lost World War I because of the collapse of the home front and therefore assumed that establishment of a dictatorship and the systematic killing of all Jews would guarantee victory this time. When the end was near, he married his mistress and then committed suicide with her.
    The term "Hitler's War," sometimes attached to World War II, is accurate at least to some extent; obviously, only the massive energies of the German people, harnessed to his will, made the war possible and made it last so long. But there cannot be any doubt that in harnessing that energy to extraordinary projects and horrible crimes, Hitler placed his stamp on that war and on the twentieth century.

    Reference: http://www.history.com/topics/adolf-hitler

    EXAMPLE OPINION

    Opinions in Politics

    One area where there is a lot of disagreements of opinion is in politics. For example:
    • Some people have the opinion that life begins at birth and that abortion should be illegal or restricted only to rare situations such as when the life of the mother is in danger. Other people have the opinion that abortion is a woman's health issue and that women should have the freedom to choose whether to abort a child or not.
    • Some people have the opinion that marriage should be for everyone, including homosexual couples, and that it is discriminatory not to permit gay marriage. Other people have the opinion that marriage is a longstanding and traditional institution between a man and a woman and that civil unions or other non-marriage solutions should be used for homosexuals. 
    • Some people have the opinion that low taxes are best for job growth and that people should be able to keep more of their own money. Others have the opinion that higher taxes are better in order to fund more government services. 
    • Some people have the opinion that the government is in the best position to solve many problems and so we should have bigger government. Other people have the opinion that government is often ineffective and wasteful and that the private sector is in a better position to find solutions. These people have the opinion that government should be smaller. 
    • Some people believe that over-regulation is stifling to progress and the economy and that the government should get out of the way. Other people believe that government regulation is necessary to protect consumers and level the playing field. 
    • Some people believe in equality of opportunity, giving everyone the same chances but not necessarily insuring the same outcome. Others believe in equality of outcome, which usually means they think everyone should do the work that they can do based on their abilities and that they should be provided with the things that they need on the basis of doing that work. 
    • Some people believe that government programs such as welfare foster dependence and destroy the incentive to work. Others believe that government benefits programs are always a good thing necessary to help those who are struggling. 
    The differences in political opinions create a great deal of controversy within the United States and lead to a polarized government. Because each different side has only opinions - or their own views of what is right and wrong - there is no way to conclusively prove that either side is right or wrong.

    Read more:  http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples/opinion-examples.html

    How To Make Fried Rice




    • 4 cups white or brown rice, previously cooked
    • 2 carrots
    • 1 medium yellow onion
    • 1 clove garlic
    • 1 tsp. fresh ginger
    • 1 cup bean sprouts
    • 3 eggs
    • 1 pinch black pepper
    • 1 pinch salt
    • 4 tbsp. soy sauce
    • 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, plus 2 tbsp. additional sesame oil
    • Green onion for garnish
    • Shrimp, chicken, pork or tofu, already cooked (optional)

    Turkey PM gives protesters ‘last warning’

    ANKARA — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday issued a “last warning” for thousands of protesters to evacuate an Istanbul park at the center of mass anti-government demos, ratcheting up tensions in two weeks of deadly unrest.
    A day after meeting with protest leaders and offering to hold a referendum on plans to redevelop Gezi Park, Erdogan resumed his combative stance on the environmental protest that has morphed into the biggest challenge to his Islamic-rooted government’s decade-long rule.
    “I’m making my last warning: mothers, fathers please withdraw your kids from there,” Erdogan said in a live television broadcast. “Gezi Park does not belong to occupying forces. It belongs to everybody.”
    Demonstrators have been camping out in the park since May 31, when police cracked down heavily on a small campaign to save the site’s 600 trees from being razed.
    The crackdown sparked an outpouring of anger across the country against Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted government, seen as increasingly authoritarian after more than a decade in power.
    Erdogan inflamed tensions on Tuesday, when riot police stormed Istanbul’s Taksim Square, the focal point of two weeks of protests, prompting a day of violent clashes with tens of thousands of protesters. The intervention fuelled fears that the adjoining Gezi Park would be cleared next.
    “Don’t sadden us anymore, let us clean Gezi park and return it to its rightful owners… the people of Istanbul,” Erdogan said, urging environmental protesters to withdraw so that police could clear the site of “illegal organizations.”
    The ultimatum came after Erdogan on Wednesday made his first concession yet by offering to hold a popular vote on plans to build a replica of Ottoman-era military barracks in the park.
    Demonstrators, many still reeling from Tuesday’s violence that sent clouds of acrid tear gas into their tents, have reacted coolly to the referendum idea and criticized the government for cherry-picking the representatives invited to the talks.
    “We don’t agree (with the referendum). We are angry that Tayyip spoke to people who don’t represent us,” said 29-year-old Iskender Sisman, sitting outside a tent in Gezi Park.
    “Tayyip must apologize for everything, for the park, for the tear gas,” he added.
    Erdogan, who has branded the protesters “extremists” and “looters,” has faced international condemnation over his handling of the crisis.
    Four people have been killed and nearly 5,000 demonstrators during the unrest, tarnishing Turkey’s image as a model of Islamic democracy.
    The United States said it had been following the events with “great concern” and cautioned the authorities in Turkey, a key regional ally, against seeking to punish demonstrators for exercising their right to free speech.
    Overnight, police again fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse some 2,000 demonstrators in the capital Ankara.
    The mood was more subdued in Taksim, where demonstrators gathered peacefully around a piano for a live concert, sporadically chanting: “Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance!” as riot police looked on.
    By Thursday afternoon, there was a much smaller police presence on the square and traffic was flowing freely, with no sign of fresh protests.
    ‘It’s not just about the trees’
    Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said that protests in the park were “no longer sustainable” and urged the thousands camped out there “evacuate the grounds to avoid further tensions” with the police.
    Hundreds of determined protesters still swarmed the area however, voicing caution over the Erdogan olive branch.
    “We don’t trust the government… We will stay in the park. It’s not just about the trees,” said interior designer Uzay, 25, accusing Erdogan of polarising the country and curbing personal freedoms.
    Opponents accuse Erdogan of repressing critics — including journalists, minority Kurds and the military — and of pushing conservative Islamic values on the constitutionally secular nation.
    But Erdogan, in power since 2002, remains the country’s most popular politician and has urged loyalists to respond to the demonstrators by voting for his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) in local polls next year.
    His AKP has won three elections in a row and took nearly half the vote in 2011, having presided over strong economic growth in the predominantly Muslim country of 76 million people.
    The first campaign rallies will be staged in Ankara and Istanbul this weekend and are expected to gather tens of thousands of party faithful.

    Selasa, 11 Juni 2013

    GSM Arena's Review of The Nokia Lumia 928

    Screen Shot 2013-06-10 at 13.41.22
    Reference: http://mynokiablog.com/2013/06/10/gsm-arenas-review-of-the-nokia-lumia-928/

    What is Grammar?



    Think of grammar as a signpost.
    Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe grammar as the "rules" of a language; but in fact no language has rules*. If we use the word "rules", we suggest that somebody created the rules first and then spoke the language, like a new game. But languages did not start like that. Languages started by people making sounds which evolved into words, phrases and sentences. No commonly-spoken language is fixed. All languages change over time. What we call "grammar" is simply a reflection of a language at a particular time.
    Do we need to study grammar to learn a language? The short answer is "no". Very many people in the world speak their own, native language without having studied its grammar. Children start to speak before they even know the word "grammar". But if you are serious about learning a foreign language, the long answer is "yes, grammar can help you to learn a language more quickly and more efficiently." It's important to think of grammar as something that can help you, like a friend. When you understand the grammar (or system) of a language, you can understand many things yourself, without having to ask a teacher or look in a book.
    So think of grammar as something good, something positive, something that you can use to find your way - like a signpost or a map.
    * Except invented languages like Esperanto. And if Esperanto were widely spoken, its rules would soon be very different.