Have a look at this slide show
You suck at PowerPoint
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Sunday, 13 November 2011
useful writing tips
How to Style Compounds After the Noun
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-style-compounds-after-the-noun/
Most but not all phrasal adjectives (two words that combine to modify a noun — hence the alternate name, compound modifiers) are hyphenated, which is confusing enough — though easily resolved: If a permanent compound is listed in the dictionary as open, no hyphen is necessary; otherwise, hyphenate. But that applies only before the noun.
What happens after the noun is a whole other matter: Usually, phrasal adjectives and similar (or similar-looking) constructions are left open in that position. Here’s a rundown on hyphenation rules for various types of compounds:
Categories
Age compound: “The eighteen-year-old (boy),” but “He is eighteen years old.”
Color compound: “The sky-blue paint,” but “The paint is sky blue.”
Fraction compound: “A half-mile walk,” but “a walk of a half mile.”
Number, spelled out: “Fifty-one,” “five hundred,” five hundred one,” “two thousand twenty-two.” (Hyphenate tens-ones figures in isolation and in larger figures, but leave open all other combinations of places.)
Number plus noun: “A five-year plan,” but a plan that will take five years”; “a four-and-a-half-inch gap,” but “a gap of four and a half inches”; “the fourth-floor office,” but “an office on the fourth floor.”
Number plus superlative: “The third-tallest player,” but “a player who is third tallest.”
Time: “They’re going to the eight o’clock screening” and “The meeting starts at six (o’clock)”; “I have a five-thirty plane to catch,” but “I’ll meet you at five thirty” (always open when time is on the hour, and hyphenated before the noun but open after when time is between hours).
Parts of Speech
Adjectival phrase: “His matter-of-fact manner,” but “His manner was matter of fact.”
Adjective plus noun: “A low-class joint,” but “The joint is low class.”
Adjective identifying origin or location plus noun: “An Indo-European language” and “the French-Spanish border,” but “She is a Japanese American” and “the latest Middle East crisis” (open unless the first term is a prefix or there is a sense of a distinction between the elements).
Adjective plus participle or adjective: “His long-suffering wife,” but “his wife is long suffering.”
Adverb ending in -ly plus participle or adjective: “Her rapidly beating heart” (always open).
Adverb not ending in -ly plus participle: “The little-read novel,” but “The novel is little read.” (See “More About Adverbs,” below.)
Noun phrase: “A feather in your cap,” but “He’s a jack-of-all-trades” (open unless hyphenated in the dictionary).
Noun plus adjective: “The family-friendly restaurant,” but “The restaurant is family friendly.”
Noun plus gerund: “A note-taking lesson,” but “a lesson in note taking.” (But beware of closed noun-plus-gerund compounds like matchmaking.)
Noun plus noun, the first one modifying the second: “A tenure-track position,” but “She’s on the tenure track.” (But leave permanent compounds like “income tax” open even before a noun, and check for closed noun-plus-noun compounds like bartender.)
Noun plus noun, equivalent: City-state, nurse-practitioner (always hyphenated).
Noun plus letter or number: “A size 34 waist,” “the type A personality” (never hyphenated).
Noun plus participle: “A problem-solving exercise,” but “time for some problem solving.”
Participle plus noun: “Working-class families,” but “members of the working class.”
Participle plus prepositional adverb plus noun: “Turned-up nose,” but “Her nose was turned up.”
More About Adverbs
When less or more modifies an adjective, such as in “a less frequent occurrence”/“an occurrence that is less frequent” or “a more qualified candidate”/“a candidate who is more qualified,” the phrase is not hyphenated either before or after a noun. The same is true of least and most unless ambiguity is possible.
For example, “a lesser-known rival” is a rival who is not as well known, but “a lesser known rival,” by contrast, might be a known rival of lesser consequence. Likewise, “the most-quoted orators” and “the most quoted orators” refer, respectively, to orators most frequently quoted and a majority of quoted orators. Again, however, the hyphenated version would be left open when it follows a noun, and would likely be worded differently than its counterpart that is not hyphenated before the noun, either.
Also, when an adverb that is part of a modifying phrase is modified by another adverb, as in “a very much praised debut,” the phrase is not hyphenated at all, even though a hyphen would appear in “a much-praised debut.”
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-style-compounds-after-the-noun/
Most but not all phrasal adjectives (two words that combine to modify a noun — hence the alternate name, compound modifiers) are hyphenated, which is confusing enough — though easily resolved: If a permanent compound is listed in the dictionary as open, no hyphen is necessary; otherwise, hyphenate. But that applies only before the noun.
What happens after the noun is a whole other matter: Usually, phrasal adjectives and similar (or similar-looking) constructions are left open in that position. Here’s a rundown on hyphenation rules for various types of compounds:
Categories
Age compound: “The eighteen-year-old (boy),” but “He is eighteen years old.”
Color compound: “The sky-blue paint,” but “The paint is sky blue.”
Fraction compound: “A half-mile walk,” but “a walk of a half mile.”
Number, spelled out: “Fifty-one,” “five hundred,” five hundred one,” “two thousand twenty-two.” (Hyphenate tens-ones figures in isolation and in larger figures, but leave open all other combinations of places.)
Number plus noun: “A five-year plan,” but a plan that will take five years”; “a four-and-a-half-inch gap,” but “a gap of four and a half inches”; “the fourth-floor office,” but “an office on the fourth floor.”
Number plus superlative: “The third-tallest player,” but “a player who is third tallest.”
Time: “They’re going to the eight o’clock screening” and “The meeting starts at six (o’clock)”; “I have a five-thirty plane to catch,” but “I’ll meet you at five thirty” (always open when time is on the hour, and hyphenated before the noun but open after when time is between hours).
Parts of Speech
Adjectival phrase: “His matter-of-fact manner,” but “His manner was matter of fact.”
Adjective plus noun: “A low-class joint,” but “The joint is low class.”
Adjective identifying origin or location plus noun: “An Indo-European language” and “the French-Spanish border,” but “She is a Japanese American” and “the latest Middle East crisis” (open unless the first term is a prefix or there is a sense of a distinction between the elements).
Adjective plus participle or adjective: “His long-suffering wife,” but “his wife is long suffering.”
Adverb ending in -ly plus participle or adjective: “Her rapidly beating heart” (always open).
Adverb not ending in -ly plus participle: “The little-read novel,” but “The novel is little read.” (See “More About Adverbs,” below.)
Noun phrase: “A feather in your cap,” but “He’s a jack-of-all-trades” (open unless hyphenated in the dictionary).
Noun plus adjective: “The family-friendly restaurant,” but “The restaurant is family friendly.”
Noun plus gerund: “A note-taking lesson,” but “a lesson in note taking.” (But beware of closed noun-plus-gerund compounds like matchmaking.)
Noun plus noun, the first one modifying the second: “A tenure-track position,” but “She’s on the tenure track.” (But leave permanent compounds like “income tax” open even before a noun, and check for closed noun-plus-noun compounds like bartender.)
Noun plus noun, equivalent: City-state, nurse-practitioner (always hyphenated).
Noun plus letter or number: “A size 34 waist,” “the type A personality” (never hyphenated).
Noun plus participle: “A problem-solving exercise,” but “time for some problem solving.”
Participle plus noun: “Working-class families,” but “members of the working class.”
Participle plus prepositional adverb plus noun: “Turned-up nose,” but “Her nose was turned up.”
More About Adverbs
When less or more modifies an adjective, such as in “a less frequent occurrence”/“an occurrence that is less frequent” or “a more qualified candidate”/“a candidate who is more qualified,” the phrase is not hyphenated either before or after a noun. The same is true of least and most unless ambiguity is possible.
For example, “a lesser-known rival” is a rival who is not as well known, but “a lesser known rival,” by contrast, might be a known rival of lesser consequence. Likewise, “the most-quoted orators” and “the most quoted orators” refer, respectively, to orators most frequently quoted and a majority of quoted orators. Again, however, the hyphenated version would be left open when it follows a noun, and would likely be worded differently than its counterpart that is not hyphenated before the noun, either.
Also, when an adverb that is part of a modifying phrase is modified by another adverb, as in “a very much praised debut,” the phrase is not hyphenated at all, even though a hyphen would appear in “a much-praised debut.”
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
describing graphs
Here's the link to the website that shows and explains expressions used to describe graphs and trends.
Describing graphs
Describing graphs
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Plurals
The Many Forms of Plurals
Link
Plurals take many (sometimes curious or counterintuitive) forms. Here is an outline of how to form various types of plurals according to the word form or ending:
For words ending in
nonsibilant, or voiceless, consonants: add -s (dogs).
voiced, or sibilant, consonant blends: add -es (riches).
vowels: add -s (knees).
-f: delete -f and add -ves (loaves) or -s (chiefs).
-x: add -es (foxes).
-y: delete -y and add -ies (bodies).
For words of Latin or Greek origin ending in:
-a: add -s or -e, depending on context (formulas/formulae).
-ex: add -es or delete -x and add -ces, depending on context (indexes/indices).
-ies: leave as is (species).
-is: change to -es (axis).
-ma: add -s or -ata, depending on context (stigmas/stigmata).
-um: add -s (aquariums), delete -um and add -a (curricula), or either depending on context (mediums/media).
-us: delete -us and add -i (alumni), -ii (radii), -era (genera), or -ora (corpora), or leave -us and add -es (octopuses) or use another form, depending on context (cactuses/cacti).
Types of irregular forms include:
ablaut, or mutated, plurals, with changes in the midst of a word (tooth/teeth; louse/lice).
identical singular and plural forms (deer, spacecraft).
-en and -ren endings (oxen, children).
Some words have more than one plural form, one of which may be archaic (cows/kine) or reserved for a distinct meaning (dice/dies).
One problematic category is in referring to fish in general and specific varieties of fish in particular: “Look at all the fish!” but “Gars are long, slender, predatory fishes.” Also, some types are given a distinct plural form (sharks, barracudas), though for others, the plural form is identical to the singular one (salmon, sturgeon).
Plurals of letters, numbers, or abbreviations are generally formed simply by adding -s, although occasionally, the otherwise incorrect use of an interceding apostrophe is warranted (“Mind your p’s and q’s”). Usually, however, pluralizing names of letters requires no special treatment, especially when the letter is italicized, as here: “There are five es in beekeeper.” Initialisms and acronyms also require only an -s: “Many NGOs are headquartered here,” “It’s like having two NASAs.”
The singular forms of some words are, because they end in -s, sometimes mistaken as plurals, and the letter is then incorrectly deleted to create a false singular form. Examples include gyros, kudos, and biceps (as well as triceps and quadriceps). The plural forms are the same, although the latter examples are also pluralized by adding -es. For other words, the original singular has been supplanted by a plural form used in both cases (alga by algae; graffito by graffiti).
Link
Plurals take many (sometimes curious or counterintuitive) forms. Here is an outline of how to form various types of plurals according to the word form or ending:
For words ending in
nonsibilant, or voiceless, consonants: add -s (dogs).
voiced, or sibilant, consonant blends: add -es (riches).
vowels: add -s (knees).
-f: delete -f and add -ves (loaves) or -s (chiefs).
-x: add -es (foxes).
-y: delete -y and add -ies (bodies).
For words of Latin or Greek origin ending in:
-a: add -s or -e, depending on context (formulas/formulae).
-ex: add -es or delete -x and add -ces, depending on context (indexes/indices).
-ies: leave as is (species).
-is: change to -es (axis).
-ma: add -s or -ata, depending on context (stigmas/stigmata).
-um: add -s (aquariums), delete -um and add -a (curricula), or either depending on context (mediums/media).
-us: delete -us and add -i (alumni), -ii (radii), -era (genera), or -ora (corpora), or leave -us and add -es (octopuses) or use another form, depending on context (cactuses/cacti).
Types of irregular forms include:
ablaut, or mutated, plurals, with changes in the midst of a word (tooth/teeth; louse/lice).
identical singular and plural forms (deer, spacecraft).
-en and -ren endings (oxen, children).
Some words have more than one plural form, one of which may be archaic (cows/kine) or reserved for a distinct meaning (dice/dies).
One problematic category is in referring to fish in general and specific varieties of fish in particular: “Look at all the fish!” but “Gars are long, slender, predatory fishes.” Also, some types are given a distinct plural form (sharks, barracudas), though for others, the plural form is identical to the singular one (salmon, sturgeon).
Plurals of letters, numbers, or abbreviations are generally formed simply by adding -s, although occasionally, the otherwise incorrect use of an interceding apostrophe is warranted (“Mind your p’s and q’s”). Usually, however, pluralizing names of letters requires no special treatment, especially when the letter is italicized, as here: “There are five es in beekeeper.” Initialisms and acronyms also require only an -s: “Many NGOs are headquartered here,” “It’s like having two NASAs.”
The singular forms of some words are, because they end in -s, sometimes mistaken as plurals, and the letter is then incorrectly deleted to create a false singular form. Examples include gyros, kudos, and biceps (as well as triceps and quadriceps). The plural forms are the same, although the latter examples are also pluralized by adding -es. For other words, the original singular has been supplanted by a plural form used in both cases (alga by algae; graffito by graffiti).
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
interesting terminology for those of you intending to go to the USA
7 Subjects of Academic Terminology
Go to the head of the class by observing these rules, recommendations, and conventions about scholastic terminology:
1. Courses
Specific course names are capitalized but not enclosed in quotation marks: “Every section of Introduction to Psychology is closed.” A numbered course, even a conjectural one, is also capitalized: “The senator obviously failed Economics 101 [or “Econ 101”].” Generic references, however, should be lowercased: “She was late to her engineering class.”
2. Degrees
A reference to an academic degree is best spelled out, and should be lowercased:
“She earned a bachelor’s degree in English.”
“A master’s degree usually requires completion of a master’s thesis.”
“All earned their doctoral degrees [or “doctorates”] at prestigious universities.”
This form simplifies matters, because use of initials is complicated by a couple of factors: First, not all universities style degrees with the abbreviations BA, MA, or PhD; some reverse the letter order in the first two cases. (PhD, for “doctor of philosophy,” is already reversed, so it’s inconsistent, but let’s just let that long-standing convention go.)
Furthermore, distinct abbreviations exist for a bachelor’s degree in divinity (BD), fine arts (BFA), music (BM), and science (BS). The same holds true for some master’s degrees. For simplicity, use the generic phrase “bachelor’s degree” or “master’s degree.
Also, people are divided on whether to include periods after each initial; if you must use abbreviations, omitting periods is the simplest solution (especially if you use plural forms).
Note that unless the name of the major is a proper noun, such as the name of a language, it should be lowercased: “Every applicant has a master’s degree in business administration.” (Anyone who has attained this degree may also be referred to as a master of business administration, but that unusual usage seems pretentious.)
3. Divisions
The lowercase form of an academic discipline is distinct from that employed for a specific reference to an academic department, such as “She has taught in the Department of Business Administration [or “the Business Administration Department”] for seventeen years.” But initial caps are not called for if the reference is casual, as in “She has taught business administration for seventeen years.”
Names of schools or colleges within a university are capitalized: “the School of Business,” “the College of Fine Arts.”
4. Grades
Letter grades should not be emphasized with quotation marks or with italics (unless distinguishing them as terms, as here). The forms for various usages follow: A, B+, Cs, D-plus, F-minuses. (Some publications use an en dash for a minus sign.) Although the plural form of the optimum letter grade could conceivably be misconstrued as the word as, be consistent in omitting apostrophes as well.
5. Honors
When a person is generically referred to as having received an academic fellowship, lowercase fellow; when the fellowship is specifically named, capitalize the word: “For you to qualify to be a Stegner Fellow, we do not require any degrees or tests for admission.” Other specific references should be capitalized, as in “He is a former National Merit Scholarship Merit Scholar.”
“Cum laude,” “magna cum laude,” and “summa cum laude” are lowercased and need not be italicized, because they are Latin terms widely adopted into English. Honors and superlative forms are not capitalized, either.
6. Levels
Class levels are always lowercased: freshman, sophomore, and so on, as well as in phrases like “postgraduate studies,” “postdoctorate research,” and “premedical [or “premed”] studies.”
Numbered class-level grades can be spelled out or rendered in numeral form according to a publication’s style, but it’s best to be consistent. For example, if your publication adheres to The Associated Press Stylebook, instead of spelling out grades up to nine and then using numbers for ten and above, use numerals for “1st grade” through “12th grade.”
Hyphenate “fourth grade” and the like only when the term modifies a noun: “fourth-grade student.” No hyphen is necessary for “fourth graders” and similar constructions, either.
Indicate grade ranges, as any number range, by linking the low and high numbers with an en dash, not a hyphen (unless en dash style for a Web site is a hyphen, as here). Variations from “students in grades 6-8” are “students in sixth through eighth grades” and, less gracefully, “sixth- to eighth-grade students.” Some publications spell out isolated grades but use numbers in ranges.
For schools with prekindergartners and/or kindergartners, the number-range style is “P-5” or “PK-5” (and, occasionally and clumsily, “preK-5”), or “K-5. When spelling early grades out, do not capitalize kindergarten or prekindergarten; also, it’s kindergartner, not kindergartener.
7. Titles
A first reference to an academician should capitalize the title before the person’s name: “Associate Professor Jane Doe is teaching the course next semester.” But subsequent references to the person need not repeat her job title: “Doe taught it last year, but it was not offered in the fall.”
As with any other job title, an academic title is usually lowercased in isolation (“The professor looked askance at the late arrival.”) or in apposition (“Jane Doe, associate professor of business administration, is teaching the course next semester.”) The exceptions are for what are called named, or endowed, professorships or chairs: “She was named the John Doe Professor of Life Sciences”; “He is Mary Smith Chair of Social Sciences at Jones University.”
It is widely considered bad form to use the abbreviation Dr. to identify someone who has earned a doctorate; this title is best reserved for medical doctors.
Note that the general preference for minimization of capitalization can be relaxed in special circumstances such as lists or other display text, such as a roster of honorees or a caption below a photograph.
www.dailywritingtips.com/7-subjects-of-academic-terminology/
Go to the head of the class by observing these rules, recommendations, and conventions about scholastic terminology:
1. Courses
Specific course names are capitalized but not enclosed in quotation marks: “Every section of Introduction to Psychology is closed.” A numbered course, even a conjectural one, is also capitalized: “The senator obviously failed Economics 101 [or “Econ 101”].” Generic references, however, should be lowercased: “She was late to her engineering class.”
2. Degrees
A reference to an academic degree is best spelled out, and should be lowercased:
“She earned a bachelor’s degree in English.”
“A master’s degree usually requires completion of a master’s thesis.”
“All earned their doctoral degrees [or “doctorates”] at prestigious universities.”
This form simplifies matters, because use of initials is complicated by a couple of factors: First, not all universities style degrees with the abbreviations BA, MA, or PhD; some reverse the letter order in the first two cases. (PhD, for “doctor of philosophy,” is already reversed, so it’s inconsistent, but let’s just let that long-standing convention go.)
Furthermore, distinct abbreviations exist for a bachelor’s degree in divinity (BD), fine arts (BFA), music (BM), and science (BS). The same holds true for some master’s degrees. For simplicity, use the generic phrase “bachelor’s degree” or “master’s degree.
Also, people are divided on whether to include periods after each initial; if you must use abbreviations, omitting periods is the simplest solution (especially if you use plural forms).
Note that unless the name of the major is a proper noun, such as the name of a language, it should be lowercased: “Every applicant has a master’s degree in business administration.” (Anyone who has attained this degree may also be referred to as a master of business administration, but that unusual usage seems pretentious.)
3. Divisions
The lowercase form of an academic discipline is distinct from that employed for a specific reference to an academic department, such as “She has taught in the Department of Business Administration [or “the Business Administration Department”] for seventeen years.” But initial caps are not called for if the reference is casual, as in “She has taught business administration for seventeen years.”
Names of schools or colleges within a university are capitalized: “the School of Business,” “the College of Fine Arts.”
4. Grades
Letter grades should not be emphasized with quotation marks or with italics (unless distinguishing them as terms, as here). The forms for various usages follow: A, B+, Cs, D-plus, F-minuses. (Some publications use an en dash for a minus sign.) Although the plural form of the optimum letter grade could conceivably be misconstrued as the word as, be consistent in omitting apostrophes as well.
5. Honors
When a person is generically referred to as having received an academic fellowship, lowercase fellow; when the fellowship is specifically named, capitalize the word: “For you to qualify to be a Stegner Fellow, we do not require any degrees or tests for admission.” Other specific references should be capitalized, as in “He is a former National Merit Scholarship Merit Scholar.”
“Cum laude,” “magna cum laude,” and “summa cum laude” are lowercased and need not be italicized, because they are Latin terms widely adopted into English. Honors and superlative forms are not capitalized, either.
6. Levels
Class levels are always lowercased: freshman, sophomore, and so on, as well as in phrases like “postgraduate studies,” “postdoctorate research,” and “premedical [or “premed”] studies.”
Numbered class-level grades can be spelled out or rendered in numeral form according to a publication’s style, but it’s best to be consistent. For example, if your publication adheres to The Associated Press Stylebook, instead of spelling out grades up to nine and then using numbers for ten and above, use numerals for “1st grade” through “12th grade.”
Hyphenate “fourth grade” and the like only when the term modifies a noun: “fourth-grade student.” No hyphen is necessary for “fourth graders” and similar constructions, either.
Indicate grade ranges, as any number range, by linking the low and high numbers with an en dash, not a hyphen (unless en dash style for a Web site is a hyphen, as here). Variations from “students in grades 6-8” are “students in sixth through eighth grades” and, less gracefully, “sixth- to eighth-grade students.” Some publications spell out isolated grades but use numbers in ranges.
For schools with prekindergartners and/or kindergartners, the number-range style is “P-5” or “PK-5” (and, occasionally and clumsily, “preK-5”), or “K-5. When spelling early grades out, do not capitalize kindergarten or prekindergarten; also, it’s kindergartner, not kindergartener.
7. Titles
A first reference to an academician should capitalize the title before the person’s name: “Associate Professor Jane Doe is teaching the course next semester.” But subsequent references to the person need not repeat her job title: “Doe taught it last year, but it was not offered in the fall.”
As with any other job title, an academic title is usually lowercased in isolation (“The professor looked askance at the late arrival.”) or in apposition (“Jane Doe, associate professor of business administration, is teaching the course next semester.”) The exceptions are for what are called named, or endowed, professorships or chairs: “She was named the John Doe Professor of Life Sciences”; “He is Mary Smith Chair of Social Sciences at Jones University.”
It is widely considered bad form to use the abbreviation Dr. to identify someone who has earned a doctorate; this title is best reserved for medical doctors.
Note that the general preference for minimization of capitalization can be relaxed in special circumstances such as lists or other display text, such as a roster of honorees or a caption below a photograph.
www.dailywritingtips.com/7-subjects-of-academic-terminology/
Sunday, 14 August 2011
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