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Making English Grammar Meaningful and Useful Mini Lesson #11
No full textNouns, English Grammar, Simple Determiners, Definite Determiner, Possessive Determiners, Place Determiners, Quantifying DeterminersThis lesson was developed by John Nelson and Tymofey Wowk, 2012
Making English Grammar Meaningful and Useful
Mini Lesson #11
Determiners: Little Words, Big Problems
The purpose of this lesson is to outline the Determiner System of English with reference to the 3 kinds of English Nouns.
English Nouns are nearly always preceded by a specific kind of word which is sometimes referred to as a Determiner. Singular Nouns must always have a Determiner, the most common one of which is the word ‘a’ („an‟ with nouns beginning with vowel sounds). Plural and N-N Nouns do not always require a Determiner, but they usually are accompanied by one, the most common being the word ‘some’.
English has 5 kinds of Determiners: Simple Determiners (usually referred to as Indefinite Articles), Definite Determiners (usually called Definite Articles), Possessive Determiners (usually called Possessive Adjectives), Place Determiners (often referred to as Demonstratives), and Quantifying Determiners (often called Quantifiers). SIMPLE DETERMINERS: The Simple Determiners are 'a', 'an' and ‘some’. They are given the title ‘simple’ because they do not have a specific meaning except to determine the kind of noun they are used with. Other simple determiners include ‘another’, ‘each’ and ‘every’ for Singular Nouns; ‘other’, ‘some other’ and ‘all’ for Plural and N-N Nouns. All Singular Nouns must have a Simple Determiner unless another kind of Determiner is used. Most Plural and N-N Nouns are also accompanied by Simple Determiners unless another kind of Determiner is used with them. DEFINITE DETERMINERS: The most common English Definite Determiner is the word 'the'. It is called the Definite Determiner because when it is used, it enables to speaker to refer to a particular thing with a definite reference. ‘The’ can be used with all 3 kinds of Nouns. The uses of 'the' in English are quite numerous and in some cases, somewhat unpredictable.
POSSESSIVE DETERMINERS: Possessive Determiners refer to the person to whom a Noun belongs. They are all pronouns, and each Possessive Determiner can be used with all 3 kinds of Nouns.
PLACE DETERMINERS: English has 4 Place Determiners, ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ and ‘those’. Their use is determined both by Noun type and the proximity to the speaker either in location or reference. ‘This’ is used with Singular and N-N Nouns to refer to things physically near the speaker or things the speaker has recently made reference to. ‘These’ is the corresponding Place Determiner for Plural Nouns. ‘That’ refers to things physically distant from the speaker or something other than what the speaker has made verbal reference to. It is used with Singular and N-N Nouns. ‘Those’ is the corresponding Place Determiner for Plural Nouns.
This lesson was developed by John Nelson and Tymofey Wowk, 2012
QUANTIFYING DETERMINERS: English has several Quantifying Determiners, each with specific and sometimes restrictive uses.
3 Quantifying Determiners are used with Singular Nouns: ‘one’, ‘no’ and ‘any’. One is self-explanatory. „No’ and ‘any’ are interesting because they can be used with all 3 kinds of Nouns. ‘Any’ can be used in questions and negative sentences. „No’ gives a negative meaning in a grammatically positive sentence.
“Is there any book on the table?” “No, there isn‟t any.” “No, there is no book there.”
“Are they any books on the table?” “No, there aren‟t any.” “No, there are no books there.”
“Is there any dust on the table?” “No, there isn‟t any.” “No, there is no dust there.”
The Quantifying Determiners with Plural and N-N Nouns are used in several, specific ways. They are often contrasted with each other. The quantifiers ‘many’, ‘much’ and ‘a lot of’ (‘lots of’) all refer to a large quantity or amount of something. Many is used with Plural Nouns, and much is used with N-N Nouns. Both of these quantifiers are used in questions and negative sentences. Strangely, neither is used regularly in simple, positive contexts. By contrast, a lot of is used with both Plural and N-N Nouns, and it is used in both positive and negative sentences and in questions.
“Are there many restaurants in town?” “Yes, there are a lot of restaurants in town.”
“Is there much crime in the area?” “Yes, unfortunately there is a lot of crime in the area.”
‘Some’ is often used as a Simple Determiner as mentioned above. It is also used as a Quantifying Determiner as well. It is used with both Plural and N-N Nouns, and it gives the meaning of a significant number or amount, but fewer or less than a lot of. When used to express a quantity, the word is usually pronounced with some stress.
“We have had some rain this summer. We usually do.” (no stress on „some‟)
“We have had some rain this summer, but not very much.” (Stress on „some‟)
‘Few’ and ‘a few’, ‘little’ and ‘a little’ refer to quantities or amounts that are not large. Both few and a few are used with Plural Nouns; little and a little are used with N-N Nouns. What is difficult for ELLs to understand is that few and little (often preceded by the word „very‟) emphasize the smallness of the quantity or amount, while a few and a little in contrast are used to express the significance of the quantity or amount. The meanings are almost the opposite in the intent that the speaker is trying to convey.
“The man has very few friends and very little money.” (He is lonely and poor.)
“The man has a few friends and a little money.” (He is not lonely and not poor)
These 5 kinds of Determiners in one way or another accompany nearly every English Noun. Simple Determiners, Definite Determiners and Quantifying Determiners are particularly difficult for ELLs to master
MODEL STUDIES OF POTENTIAL INTERMOLECULAR HEMOGLOBIN CROSS-LINKING REAGENTS
No full textThe search for a safe and effective alternative to whole blood or packed red blood cells (RBC) has long been of interest in the medical and scientific communities. Hemoglobin (Hb) is the oxygen-carrying protein found within RBCs, and blood substitutes based on stroma-free hemoglobin (SFHb) have been modified by cross-linking reagents so that the hemoglobins can function outside the RBC. The drawbacks of SFHb include its (1) short retention time of SFHb in circulation, (2) facile dissociation into dimers which lead to renal toxicity, (3) nitric oxide (NO) scavenging, and (4) too high oxygen affinity. A reagent that is able to intermolecularly join several intramolecularly cross-linked Hb molecules in a well-defined and predictable fashion is of particular interest as it would provide the desired large size, homogeneity, as well as specificity for the modified SFHb for use as a safe and effective blood substitute. We have discovered a novel conjugated Michael acceptor system containing a 4-nitrocinnamyl moiety, which is capable of reacting specifically with thiols, in the presence of other nucleophiles, including amines and alcohols. Since the surface of Hb has only two exposed and available cysteine residues per molecule: B1-B2Cys93, whose thiol group can function as a Michael donor, making the reaction with our intermolecular linkers well-defined and specific. My model studies involved the construction of a dimeric intermolecular linker 1, containing two of these 4-nitrocinnamyl Michael acceptor sites, bound by a long tether, and its subsequent testing with prototypical thiols to confirm its specificity toward reaction with thiols, representative of the surface of Hb. As expected, reactions with prototypical amines did not proceed to form Michael adducts. A tetrameric linker 2, containing four Michael acceptor sites, was also synthesized. This dissertation also describes the successful synthesis of a water-soluble tetrameric linker, 15, which presents a novel notion of reversing the roles of electrophile and nucleophile between linker reagent and hemoglobin. The advent of these novel acceptor models represents an important step in the ultimate goal of synthesized blood
REACTIONS TO THE SURGEON GENERAL'S CALL TO ACTION TO PROMOTE SEXUAL HEALTH: A SEXUAL HEALTH DISCUSSION
No full textThe Surgeon General's Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior (SGCTA) was released in July, 2001. The SGCTA highlighted serious sexual health challenges facing Americans, emphasizing high rates of unintended pregnancy, abortion, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), sexual abuse, and sexual assault. The SGCTA contains many recommendations and guidelines to promote sexual health. The current study examined ways that university students agree and/or disagree with the SGCTA. In a content analysis of 87 student responses collected in 2001 and 95 student responses collected in 2011 to an open ended question, seven agreement and three disagreement themes emerged. A majority, 82% of 2001 students' statements and 81% of 2011 students' statements were agreements to the SGCTA. Findings are discussed with respect to a sexual rights approach to sexual health
Development of a low-cost, high-sensitivity, and highly accurate sensor for dissolved CO2 measurements in natural waters based on the change in fluorescence of the pH sensitive indicator 8 - Hydroxypyrene - 1,3,6 - trisulfonic acid(HPTS) due to the diffusion of CO2 across a gas permeable membrane
No full textThe topic of climate change garners much attention in society; however, most discussions on the subject refer only to global warming and its effects on sea levels, increases in tropical diseases, or increases in severe weather events. These mentioned effects are only one side of a multi-faceted phenomenon. Another equally important facet is the effect it can have on the oceans. At current atmospheric CO2 levels, it is thought that the oceans absorb approximately 40% of the fossil fuel related CO2 emissions. According to several models, we are poised to change the ocean's pH more in the next 300 years than in the last 300 million years. Although there are several devices and technologies that can monitor dissolved oceanic CO2, there are none that are small or affordable enough to deploy in appropriate numbers to adequately monitor the earth's oceans. This fact coupled with the lack of sufficient oceanic data for dissolved CO2 mandates another sensor's development - ours. Our sensor is based on the change in fluorescence of the pH sensitive indicator 8 - Hydroxypyrene - 1,3,6 - trisulfonic acid, trisodium salt (HPTS) in solution due to the diffusion of dissolved CO2 across a gas permeable Teflon AF membrane. Our device, which in controlled settings has approached the +/- 2 ppm limit required by the Large-Scale CO2 Observing Plan: In Situ Oceans and Atmosphere mandate, was kept affordable and small by employing emerging fabrication technologies in microfluidics and our partnership with Fluorometrix (Stowe, MA) , a leader in uFluorometer technologies
Privacy Protection in Mobile Advertising
No full textWith the pervasiveness of mobile devices in our daily life continues increasing, mobile advertising is becoming an important and feasible marketing strategy. However, there have been growing concerns about users' privacy issues in mobile advertising due to its intrusive nature and practice, which can affect consumers' acceptance and effectiveness of mobile ads. Aiming to gain a deeper understanding of not only users' concerns of privacy intrusion, but also potential solutions to addressing those concerns in mobile advertisement, I conducted an empirical survey in this research. The findings of this study provide a few useful insights for researchers, advertisers, and businesses into both the importance and methods of privacy protection in mobile advertisement from a user perspective
Towards Implementation of a Pattern Recognition System based on a Working Theory of the Learning Rule for Dendritic Integration
No full textMy goal is to develop a working theory of the learning rule for dendritic integration by performing appropriate neurophysiological experimentation, and to then implement a pattern recognition system based on that learning algorithm so that the algorithm can be evaluated for its generalization ability. This thesis is a first step toward reaching that goal in that it presents an implementation of Jeff Hawkins and Dileep George's Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM) pattern recognition system based on an existing theory of the learning rule for dendritic integration - spike-timing-dependent synaptic plasticity (STDP). I define probabilistic classification as the task of assigning a testing pattern a group of labels, where the pattern is classified correctly if its label is in that group, and classified incorrectly otherwise. I found that for visual pattern recognition, the STDP HTM system achieved much better overall probabilistic classification ability and far better generalization ability than the baseline HTM system
In Defense of Slavery: An Exploration of Queen Anne's County Slave Owners 1820-1840
No full textIn August 1831, Nat Turner's rebellion shocked slaveowners in the South, but the reverberations of his massacre were also felt throughout the Chesapeake region. Maryland slaveowners reacted to the rebellion through legislative action that limited the freedoms of slaves and free blacks in the 1830s. However, restrictive legislation that would have completely revoked slaveowners' rights to manumit their slaves did not pass. This thesis examines records from Queen Anne's County in order to explain why slaveowners would support the existence of manumission throughout their state. In this thesis, slaveowners' relationships to and uses of manumission are made clear using personal collections, newspapers, and land records. This thesis examines documents in the Poplar Grove Collection at the Maryland State Archives, to suggest the value of community studies and analysis of documents from a specific place and time. This thesis reveals the economic and social control manumissions provided for Maryland slaveowners, which was exerted over slaves and free blacks, in the aftermath of one of the most remembered slave rebellions in American history. Finally, Queen Anne's County records create a more nuanced picture of how Maryland slaveowners thought of freedom and citizenship, particularly through their use of paternalistic and proslavery rhetoric