10 Things You Should Know About Gender in Spanish

10 Things You Should Know About Gender in Spanish Here are 10 facts about Spanish gender that will be useful as you learn the language: 1. Gender is a way of classifying nouns into two categories. Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine, although there are a few that are ambiguous, meaning that Spanish speakers are inconsistent in which gender is applied to them. Also, some nouns, particularly those that refer to people, can be masculine or feminine depending on whether they refer to a male or female, respectively. The grammatical significance of gender is that adjectives  and articles referring to nouns must be of the same gender as the nouns they refer to. 2. Spanish also has a neuter gender that applies to one definite article and a few pronouns. By using the definite article lo, it is possible to make an adjective function as if it were a neuter noun. The neuter pronouns generally are used to refer to ideas or concepts rather than to things or people. They can also be used to things whose identities arent known, as in  ¿Quà © es eso? for What is that? 3. Except when referring to people and some animals, the gender of a noun is arbitrary. Thus, things associated with females can be masculine (for example, un vestido, a dress). And things associated with males (for example, virilidad, masculinity) can be feminine. In other words, there is no way to predict a nouns gender from its meaning. For example, silla and mesa (chair and table, respectively) are feminine, but taburete and sof (stool and couch) are masculine. 4. Although feminine words as a general rule refer to females, and masculine words to females, it is possible to do the opposite. The words for man and woman, hombre and mujer, respectively, are the gender youd expect, as are words for girl and boy, chica and chico. But it is important to remember that the gender of a noun attaches to the word itself rather than to what it refers. So persona, the word for person, is feminine regardless of who it refers to, and the word for baby, bebà ©, is masculine. 5. Spanish grammar has a preference for the masculine gender. The masculine might be considered the default gender. Where masculine and feminine forms of a word exist, it is the masculine that is listed in dictionaries. Also, new words that enter the language are typically masculine unless theres a reason to treat the word otherwise. For example, the imported English words marketing, suà ©ter (sweater), and sndwich are all masculine. Web, referring to a computer network, is feminine, probably because it as a shortened form of pgina web (web page), and pgina is feminine. 6. Many words have separate masculine and feminine forms. Most if not all of these are used for referring to people or animals. In most cases for singular nouns and adjectives, the feminine form is made by adding an a to the masculine form or changing an ending e or o to a. A few examples: amigo (male friend), amiga (female friend)profesor (male teacher), profesora (female teacher)sirviente (male servant), sirvienta (female servant) A few words have irregular differences: tigre (male tiger), tigresa (female tiger)rey (king), reina (queen)actor (actor), actriz (actress)toro (bull), vaca (cow) 7. There are a few exceptions to the rule that words ending in o are masculine and many exceptions to the rule that words ending in a are feminine. Among the feminine o words are mano (hand), foto (photo), and disco (disco). Among the masculine a words are numerous words of Greek origin such as dilema (dilemma), drama, tema (subject), and holograma (hologram). Also, many a words that refer to occupations or types of people - among them atleta (athlete), hipà ³crita (hypocrite), and dentista (dentist) - can be either masculine or feminine. 8. As the culture in which Spanish is spoken changes, so is the way the language treats gender as it applies to people. For example, at one time la doctora almost always referred to a doctors wife, and la jueza referred to the wife of the judge. But these days, those same terms usually mean a female doctor and judge, respectively. Also, it is becoming more common to use terms such as la doctor (rather than la doctora) and la juez (rather than la jueza) when referring to female professionals. 9. The masculine form is used to refer to mixed groups of males and females. Thus, depending on the context, los muchachos can mean either the children or the boys. Las muchachas can refer only to the girls. Even padres (padre is the word for father) can refer to parents, not just fathers. However, the use of both masculine and feminine forms - such as muchachos y muchachas for boys and girls rather than just muchachos - is growing more common. 10. In colloquial written Spanish, it is becoming more common to use as a way of indicating that a word can refer to either males of females. In traditional Spanish, if you were writing a letter to a group of friends, you might open with the masculine form, Queridos amigos, for Dear friends even if your friends are of both sexes. Some writers these days would use Querids amigs instead. Note that the at symbol, known as the arroba in Spanish, looks something like a combination of an a and an o.

agustus essays

agustus essays Augustuss approach to change was effective in many ways that differenced from Julies Creasers. He was the general who dominated the strongest army that ruled the state. Augustus saw how diverse to the Roman polity civil war was. He understood that control of the legions by the civil government was necessary for the establishment of peace and order throughout the Roman Empire. He wanted to make some gradual change to make sure it wouldnt rise again. Augustus used a good approach when he chose to change the length of military service. The Roman legion became a specialized, long service force with an espirit decorp that earlier legions did not have. An officer witch Augustus personally appointed commanded to each legion, and the legionnaires pledged their allegiance to Augustus leader. Furthermore, Augustus recruited soldiers from the Roman provinces. Augustus reformed the provincial administrative system by creating a large civil service whose members came from a group of capable administrators that he had picked himself. Augustus had these new governors hold long terms of office in order to have sufficient long-term reforms. In order to hold back corruption, Augustus saw that the governors were paid fairly for their work. Their big financial problems problem facing Augustus was how to raise money for military wages and pensions. This financial problem was solved when he obtained Egypt as his personal possession. All the wealth of Egypt went directly to the imperial treasury. Therefore, Augustus directly controlled the imperial treasury. There was reliability on Augustus that funds would be paid. He also created new taxes to boost the government's income: a sales tax, and inheritances tax and slaves tax. Therefore, Augustus gradual change placed a big importance on the traditional religion of Rome. He believed that prosperity and peace in the state relied on ...

SWOT Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

SWOT Analysis - Essay Example Valley National Bank (VNB), as one of the leading regional banks, offers better opportunities for professionals in banking for building their career. In the context of opportunities available in Valley National Bank, there are diverse job opportunities such as Benefit Specialists, Branch Sales Manager, Consumer Loans Quality Analyst, Loan Review Manager, Secondary Marketing Manager and Senior Attorney. Valley National Bank presently employs over 56 staff members in a variety of positions. The bank also provides salaries and package benefits to permanent employees. It can also be observed that Valley National Bank provides certain permanent and wide ranging employment positions. Valley National Bank is considered as one of the recognized leaders in financial services due to its outstanding performances, enhanced customer services and diversified products. The bank offers wide ranging products having an asset of over US$16 billion and 211 branches along with a diverse set of customers. There are different benefits offered by the bank in the sector of health and welfare. Moreover, Valley National Bank provides high priority on customer offering services through commercial and wealth management (CareerBuilder, LLC, â€Å"Overview†). ... An association with the bank in a wide range of functionalities and positions would help an individual to growth his/her future by a considerable extent (CareerBuilder LLC, â€Å"Overview†) With these considerations, the paper intends to prepare a SWOT analysis of the organization and comprehend the prevailing employment opportunities for an individual within the premises. SWOT ANALYSIS OF VALLEY NATIONAL BANK Valley National Bank is an association of banking that has been chartered in 1927, within the laws incorporated in the United States. It is headquartered in New Jersey. The bank is operating in around 198 full service offices all over central and northern along with central part of New Jersey and city of New York in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. The bank facilitates a variety of commercial, retail and wealth management services. Other services that are offered by the bank are internet banking, telephones, automatic teller machines facilities of safe and night deposits, letter of credit, foreign exchange and foreign banking account maintenance. The bank provides various affluent services to the customers for 24 hours in a day and for 7 days in a week (Form 10-K, â€Å"Business†) With regard to strengths of the organization i.e. Valley National Bank, it can be stated that the staff and managers in the organization are skillful and the operational activities are handled according to the guidelines of the organization. The managerial skills that are persuaded by management facilitate in maintaining efficiency in the activities performed in the bank. Moreover, it can be observed that the employees who are employed in the bank possess a great learning experience as valuable

Self-Projection Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Self-Projection Project - Essay Example This has helped me explore a deeper side of myself that I never knew was possible. It has helped me see how others view myself, and that is one of the most valuable lessons that I take away from this. I tend to think that I know myself well. I have a very good sense of self. I know what I am good at and what needs improvement. I am constantly making self-improvements. To a certain extent, I really motivate others, and it has been shown through the interviews that I have garnered from friends, family, and colleagues, that I excel in almost anything I do. I guess one might say that I am a very high-strung (at times) individual, but that I make sure to keep all of my commitments. I have several hard and soft skills which I feel will serve me well in the future. One of my best assets is my leadership. I have good leadership skills which set me apart from the crowd. I also have amazing public speaking skills and can dazzle a crowd with my linguistic stylings. Really, it depends upon the p articular audience, but I know how to adapt myself to almost any setting and it shows. I am somewhat of an extroverted person; I enjoy making new friends and acquaintances, and am somewhat of a socially motivated person in that sense. I don’t pull any punches and am very honest with people about what I expect of them and how I expect to be treated in return. Another great feature I like about myself is that I have been able to use my outgoing nature to win friends, make money, and influence people. Meeting new people and seeing the world is part of what makes me who I am today. I have a real zest for life and believe you shouldn’t take life for granted. So, I eat life for breakfast, and I don’t mean the cereal! (Lol.) It is totally possible to learn something new from anyone that I meet and therefore, in business as well as in my leisure time, I always make sure to develop a solid list of contacts and social networks, since social networking is the wave of the f uture. I know that I can count on my friends and family to be there for me when things get difficult. Something else about me is that I am a very positive person. This has served me well in the past, as I definitely believe in karma and the phrase, â€Å"What goes around comes back around† (Janin, 2004, pp. 152). Like Anne Frank, I believe in the general goodness inherent in people. Everyone should be able to help everyone else out. Currently, one of the books I am reading is very inspiring. It’s called Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning. It talked about how Frankl survived Auschwitz, one of the worst concentration camps, by using logotherapy—also known as talk therapy. Frankl talks about the importance of prisoners to maintain their human dignity in the face of conditions that were worse than inhumane. I am the sort of person who likes solving problems, yet at the same time, I don’t have patience for things like crossword puzzles and so forth. I enjoy challenges, but sometimes I admit I can be a bit intellectually lazy, not fully taxing my mental capacities to their hilt because I am reserving brainpower for truly important and difficult tasks. I don’t like to use my energy unnecessarily; therefore, I keep a very tight rein on my time and how I control it. I always make sure that I know who I am going to be spending time with and what I should do to manage this time. My ability to tackle challenges, combined with the fact that I am a positive person, helps me to avoid bad situations and difficult people. This is part of what breeds success in my life and in my living environment. About me, I am definitely a team player, which has always been a strength of

Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 18

Accounting - Essay Example In order to consider this option, Reading therefore may need to assess as to whether the overall revenue and profitability of the division will increase if this transaction is carried out. The key influence of this on the attitude of Reading on intra-company business will therefore be reshaped by the way its profitability as well as the revenue is increased besides registering a substantial increase in the overall capacity. Another important aspect of this whole transaction may be based on the assumption that during the intra-company business, Reading may not have to incur any selling expenses therefore this may result into substantial savings for it in terms of cost reduction. If Reading adapts the second option of charging the standard full manufacturing cost plus 15%, as proposed by the Finance Manager, the overall loss will be approximately $1.68 per unit. The calculations are as under: The above option therefore suggest that adapting the option of standard manufacturing cost plus mark-up can certainly reduce the overall per unit loss when compared with the market price of the component. This option clearly reduces the loss per unit for Reading (if compared with the market price of the component) therefore adapting such option may offer more leverage to Reading in terms of its ability to further increase its profitability while at the same time reducing the costs. If this option is carried out, Reading will further be able to sell its variable selling expenses therefore this cost reduction may further allow to become more profitable. It is also important to note that the overall selling price of the component, as offered by Reading, is $13.00 therefore if compared with the original market selling price, the per unit loss will be $2.88. This will however, be lower than the loss which could be incurred under first option. Considering above, the suggestions proposed by the Finance Manager therefore may significantly increase the overall profitability

Effect of Schemas on Understanding the Social World

Effect of Schemas on Understanding the Social World Zoe Crackett WITH REFERENCE TO RELEVANT RESEARCH STUDIES EVALUATE THE EXTENT TO WHICH OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOCIAL WORLD IS CONSTRAINED BY OUR SCHEMAS This[p1] essay looks to assess the degree to which our perception of the social world is driven by how our knowledge is brought together and presented to ourselves. Bartlett (1932) used the concept of schema, which has been defined for this essay, to explain how people can call on subconscious categorisations. Buchanan et al (2009) claim that schematic processing is both efficient and an effective method of understanding but pre-existing schema can mean that the processing is constrained. Cognitive psychologists are concerned with how people perceive others, situations and events within their own social world. To explore the claim the essay uses studies where schema and expectations have been tested such as Bartlett (1932) ‘War of the Ghosts’ story as well as how what we expect can be wrong. Fritz Heider was one of the first psychologists to study social cognition in terms of (how) understanding how people make sense of the social world relates to (concatenation – not sure what this word is) of events. Heider and Simmel (1944) used a series of cartoons to demonstrate how cause and effect works. In the study participants were asked to describe what they saw in the cartoons. In the first group participants were asked just to describe what they saw whilst the other two groups were asked to describe what they saw as if the objects were people. The third group saw the cartoons played backwards. Heider and Simmel found that all but one of the participants in the first group described the cartoons using human terms. In this way Heider claims that people act as â€Å"naà ¯ve psychologists† by trying to make sense of events or people by looking for predictability using cause and effect (Heider and Simmel, cited in Buchanan et al, 2009, p60-61). The term schema defines a type of cognitive structure that may present itself as a typical object or event that a person has knowledge of; this allows the person to process the object or event and act or react accordingly. A person uses schema when they perceive situations and other people to aid them in responding to them. Bartlett (1932) used the term schema when describing how English people retold a Native American folk tale but each time the tale was retold it would change to be more ‘English’. Detail from the original tale would be omitted where it may be thought of as not relevant or altered to something more familiar that the teller was able to relate to (Bartlett, cited in Brace and Roth, 2009, pp131-132[p2]). Social psychologists have identified person,role and event schema. These are mental structures that a person uses that hold knowledge on different types of people, expected behaviour and social situations respectively. The knowledge allows for generalisation of the object or event. For example in Buchanan et al (2009) reference is made to a TV commercial taken with four different camera angles. In the first shot a white youth with a shaven head wearing combat trousers and Doc Marten boots is seen running. From the first shot the assumption of ‘skinhead’ can be used as the description is that which would be attributed to a skinhead. This in turn would lead to thoughts relating to criminal behaviour such as aggression and violence. The second shot shows the youth running towards a man who is smartly dressed. Through the final two shots the viewer is given two more camera angles and sees further information. By the time the viewer sees the fourth shot they may have already formed the opinion that the youth is going to assault the smartly dressed man. However the fourth shot shows the full picture to the viewer; the youth was not running towards the man to assault him but is intent on pushing him out of the way of a pallet of bricks that is about to fall and injure him (Buchanan et al, 2009 p63–64). Buchanan et al (2009) have described schema as generalised representations. In the case of the ‘skinhead’ youth in the above example the generalisation has also invoked stereotypical perceptions that people project on to others. Buchanan et al claim these generalisations leave room for some form of variation however it is not explained how stereotypes are learned. Sometimes how something is perceived can be inaccurate. Tajfel stated that it is possible to over generalise and as a result have a tendency to stereotype (Buchanan et al p66[p3]). An integral feature of schema is that the knowledge they contain is defined as shared knowledge in other words it is not just particular to a person or event. Schema needs knowledge to be shared in order that it is effective. Schema is self-confirming. By providing expectations based on what a person thinks they know or understand to be true, what is actually presented can be distorted, as in the Bartlett experiment. By self-confirming it supports the claim that schema constrain peoples understanding of the social world (Buchanan et al, 2009, pp65-68). In an experiment by Darley and Gross (1983) college students were shown a video tape of a character called Hannah and asked to critique her academic ability. The students were introduced to her as being either from a high or low socio-economic status. Some students were also shown a video of ‘Hannah’ answering a set of questions in an oral exam. Whilst there was no apparent pattern as to whether ‘Hannah’ was answering more questions correctly or incorrectly those that saw Hannah as higher socio-economic status as well as the exam judged her to have higher academic ability. Darley and Gross surmised that although the information can be the same information is processed according to expectations (Darley and Gross, cited in Buchanan et al, 2009). The Darley and Gross study demonstrates how schema can simplify lots of information, this also allows relevant information to be extracted more quickly. A person simply needs to access processing knowledge in order for that person to understand what is happening however as demonstrated by the tv commercial showing the youth if only one part is shown the subsequent response can be inaccurate and the person may look for sign posts from within their own expectations rather than taking cues from their present environment. As such that person makes a fundamental attribution error (FAE) (Buchanan et al p75). Kahneman and Tversky (1973) explored how FAEs can be made easily. They used short vignettes to describe a seemingly random person. The participants were given deliberately vague descriptions of a person and they were asked to judge the likelihood that the person described was a lawyer. Participants were told that the person described had come from a room of people where either seventy or thirty per cent were lawyers. In both conditions the participants gave the probability the person described was a lawyer was fifty per cent. The participants ignored relevant information that they had been given and focused on the descriptions they read (Kahneman and Tversky cited in Buchanan et al, 2009) In conclusion schema assists a person to cut out a lot of irrelevant information and process other detail quickly, however as a result other important information can be accidentally discarded. For schema to work they require knowledge to be shared with others so that everyone is able to respond. People make assumptions based on what they think they know and apply it to the situations they see. As demonstrated by the TV commercial unless a person sees the all the information at the same time their judgements can be wrong but also it demonstrates, through the extra pieces of information on each shot, that they can be changed. Generally schema can work well as left to their own devices it is possible for a person to make errors in judgement. The claim made by Buchanan et al (2009) is that a person is compelled to make a judgement in the social world based on pre-existing patterns of thought is to some extent correct, however the person also has the ability to change. 1329 words References Brace, N. and Roth, I. (2009) ‘Memory: structures, processes and skills’ in Miell, D., Phoenix, A. and Thomas, K. (eds) Book 1 Introduction and Chapters 6 – 9 DSE212 Mapping Psychology. Milton Keynes, Open University pp 111 – 170 Buchanan, K., Anand, P., Joffe, H. and Thomas, K. (2009) ‘Perceiving and understanding the social world’ in Miell, D., Phoenix, A. and Thomas, K. (eds) Book 1 Introduction and Chapters 6 – 9 DSE212 Mapping Psychology. Milton Keynes, Open University pp 57 – 109 1 [p1]An effective introduction which states the issue and states how you mean to tackle the essay [p2]Good use of evidence to support your point here. [p3]Good use of this example to illustrate how schematic processing can produce generalisations and stereotyping.

Arts and Politics :: Arts Politics Essays

Arts and Politics Many artists tend to overwork themselves and get frustrated. Even if they were to work 18 hours a day on a project, many of them still wouldn’t be able to pat themselves on the shoulder and say â€Å"You’ve done a great job! You should be happy!† Of all the times they say it, they rarely feel it. But when you get down to the bottom of it, they absolutely love to do it! Just like that, Emilie gets neurotic when she works, and hence she prefers to work alone at night. Upon my insistence she reveals some of the secret characteristics of her artist persona: she gazes at the drawing, moves back, gazes some more, moves closer, speaks to herself and works for long hours until the picture in her head comes alive. It’s rarely the exact same picture, but sometimes it’s â€Å"even better†. She’s sharing her studio with two friends this year. As a result, she prefers to work at home even though she misses the times when she pulled all-nighters in Johnson and turned the lights off as the sun came up. Even though she works like a zombie in order to avoid human presence, the result inevitably begs for the daylights due to its political subject matter. Emilie doesn’t do art for art’s sake. She has a purpose: to make the viewer think. â€Å"It’s really important to know what you think about everything.. ‘Cause if you don’t know, then what are you bringing to the table?.. In order to be a complete person you need to have complete opinions about a wide spectrum of things.† Unlike some political art that’s shoved into your face, Emilie tries to be subtle. She likes to put things out there and leave the interpretation to the viewer. Her work mainly deals with gender, popular culture, and western mentality. â€Å"I’m a woman, I’m American, I’m middle upper class, I’m a consumer, I’m privileged. But I’m also influenced by the struggles of the other class-lower class†¦ I’m fascinated by the concept of the exotic and how western communities turn that into a commodity. The consumption by the west of the east..† she says as she sips on Red Bull, takes another drag from her cigarette, the count of which I lost a while ago, and puts on some techno/pop music on the computer. But that’s not all. Despite her interest and respect in political art, she immediately sits up when asked her favorite artist and speaks the name James Turrell.