Short Story on Entrapment. 8:00 Sharp

Salina Kumbu English Coursework Zahra Fontenelle 8:00 Sharp 10 seconds to go…5…4…3…2…1…8:00. Every room in the orphanage lit up with the echoing 8:00 chime until the house fell silent. I lay on my bed slowly sinking into the silence until a great bang woke the house. Scratching, growling and panting noises grew louder and louder from the top of the hallway, from The Red Door; the door no one ever used. However even though it scared me, I was not surprised; every night we had to be in our rooms by 8:00 sharp for fear of running into the monster. The orphanage owner, Ms Kravon was a small, chubby woman. She constantly smelt of wet dog, which was weird because we were not allowed pets. She told us daily she was protecting us but every night I felt more trapped than ever. Girls had gone missing in the night. No one knew what the animal looked like; all we knew was that we would go to sleep with its roars ringing in our ears. “Everybody up NOW!” howled Ms Kravon. Her sudden outburst woke me up instantly. With a sigh, I stumbled out of bed. Another day at the orphanage. I walked to the old wardrobe and picked out my everyday checked dress that only got washed once a fortnight. After getting changed I stumbled downstairs to the cramped dining room full of 15 of us girls all wearing the same grey checked dresses. I had been the first orphan to be

  • Word count: 1675
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"I always considered it my duty to develop a good accent and command of language" Stevens' Language in 'The Remains of the Day.'

"I always considered it my duty to develop a good accent and command of language" Stevens' Language in 'The Remains of the Day.' Language is immensely important, by listening to a person speak just a few words we assume a great deal about their economic and social background assigning them a stereotype and life. In 'The Remains of the day' we are presented with a first person narrative of Stevens an old English Butler quite archaic for his time. His language is adopted and his mannerisms reflect that of the Victorian society from which his language was formed. Stevens' use of language is vital in the story as the narrator his unreliable and self deluding, as readers we see this early on in the novel and learn to look for subtle hints from the narration as to what is happening. We analyse Stevens' language in order to extract truth and reason in his narrative. In order for us to understand the novel we find ourselves playing psychiatrist, with Stevens lying on our couch we examine his narration, his language, and his mannerisms and try to offer explanations for his actions. I think Stevens' language is extremely important in understanding his character, as it is self-styled and conscious, therefore he uses this language for a reason however, the unconscious and social effects it has on Stevens carry equal importance when summarizing his character. People often adopt a

  • Word count: 2963
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"Immigrant" becomes dirtiest word as Americans are told to speak English"

i "Immigrant" becomes dirtiest word as Americans are told to speak English" A recent article from the Independent Newspaper's correspondent in New York brings to our attention "the current mood of xenophobia" in the USA. After approximately two centuries of welcoming immigrants from around the world, it would seem that the Americans have begun to mistrust and to some extent, even fear the very people that have historically given them such a dynamic and diverse country, namely, foreign immigrants. There are several reasons for this recent shift in perspective, two of which are, recent terrorist attacks on American servicemen in Saudi Arabia and an explosion on an American airline flight, that foreign terrorists caused some people suspect. Historian, Arthur Schlesinger has spoken on "the tribalization of American life" and appears to be suggesting that the different ethnic groups in America are arranging themselves into their own groups and not crossing ethnic boundaries. One symptom of this seems to be the gang culture that exists, where each gang is alleged to be made up from members of the same ethnic group. A key factor in this is language, generally people who only speak one language find it difficult to mix with other ethnic groups or cultures, or indeed find it difficult to understand other cultures viewpoint. As a result of all of these difficulties, the

  • Word count: 623
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"It's easy to become a football hooligan!" - Discuss

Year 11 Football/Soccer Assignment "It's easy to become a football hooligan!" By: Akashay Agarwal 11D In our Football Assignment, we have been given the task to research on Football Hooligans, in depth information on Hooligans and use the statistics and information obtained to prove the statement, "It's easy to become a football hooligan". Below are Theories and Research related to Hooliganism: Hooliganism Hooliganism is termed to be a social problem that relates to crowd trouble and conflicts that occur in stadiums, nearby places where matches (esp. football matches) are going on. Certain people in the crowd fight against rivalry team crowd supporters. Being part of football violence, its basic aim is to disrupt the game, spread violence and fear amongst people, take revenge, etc. The game of football has been associated with violence since its beginnings in the 13th Century. During that period of football matches hundreds of players were involved and there were essentially pitched battles between the young men of rival villages and towns - often used as opportunities to settle old feuds (rivalry), personal arguments and land disputes. Who are the Hooligans and their Purpose? Hooligans are people who are in their late teens-twenties (though some might be older, esp. leaders). They are generally people who either earn low wages or are unemployed. They wear exclusive

  • Word count: 3405
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Dutch Difficulties with English Dialects.

Dutch Difficulties with English Dialects Knowledge of the Dutch language is not sufficient to be understood all over the world. Therefore, many Dutch people have taken the effort to acquire a level of near-native proficiency of the English language. However, there are several varieties of English, for example Irish and Scottish dialects. Nevertheless, the majority of the Dutch have learnt British English instead of Scottish, Irish. Why would this be the case? Although the Irish and Scottish dialects are closely related to the British English language, it remains more difficult for Dutch people to acquire this language. This can be explained by the fact that British tradition is more integrated in the Dutch culture, and RP is more often heard in the media than Scottish and Irish pronunciation. Also, the use of Scottish and Irish is diminishing, because an international pressure to create uniformity in the English language forces dialects to disappear gradually. Dutch learners have better opportunities to acquire British English instead of Scottish or Irish dialects. The British tradition is more integrated in the Dutch culture than Scottish. Of all the major modern Germanic languages, Dutch is the closest relative of English. The Dutch language contains many French loanwords, though not as many as the English. The German language contains less French loanwords than English or

  • Word count: 1191
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The topic of religious language has many facets for exploration. The area of research for this coursework revolves around a recording taken in the due course of an evangelical church service. This section is known as the sermon.

Introduction The topic of religious language has many facets for exploration. The area of research for this coursework revolves around a recording taken in the due course of an evangelical church service. This section is known as the sermon. The recording was drawn from the first part of the sermon. In this, the pastor, the leader of the service, set up the ideas of what the talk would involve and made reference to various texts from the Christian religion's book of authority, the Bible. Parts of the transcription are spoken from notes, others from memory or improvisation, while other parts are read aloud from a written text. The differences between these are of interest as they incur changes and variations in tone, emphasis, speed, volume and other areas of prosodics. Factors inherent to the type of language, audience and purpose will be the focus of the study. It will also be necessary to include comments on persuasion, inference and the overall aim of the sermon. All these will be able to be identified from the various grammatical, lexical and phonological markers. I decided to use this topic as the basis of my work as I am interested both in the content of religious language and the transmission of such. I have spent several years hearing sermons by varying speakers and have found that the styles and techniques, although different, primarily result in comparable

  • Word count: 5293
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Is language used to label thoughts or are thoughts molded by the formation of language?

Benjamin Meza Period 7 1/05/01 Topic #2: To what extent do the names and labels we use in the pursuit of knowledge affect the conclusions we reach? Is language used to label thoughts or are thoughts molded by the formation of language? In the pursuit of knowledge we formulate our ideas by attaching names and labels to the thoughts we conceive. This dependence on language is common to both thought and communication. As a form of communication, language is restricted to those universal terms, which can be understood by all people in their limited scope of perception. Therefore, a precipice is reached where the limitations of language affect formulated concepts, confining them to the minute window of understanding which all humans share. George Steiner explained it best when he wrote: "Language can only deal meaningfully with a special, restricted segment of reality. The rest, and it is presumably the much larger part, is silence."1 In defining concepts, language also ties meaning to other preconceived definitions and from this there evolves a impedance to true accuracy. Therefore, it is possible to say that despite the attempt by all languages to describe all possible realities, in the rendering of thoughts the use of names and labels skews to a great extent the realm of possible meaning, often times diverging from one's original intent. In order to develop the way

  • Word count: 1693
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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" All of the other ways of knowing are controlled by language." What does this statement mean and do you think it is a fair representation of the relationship between perception, emotion, reason and language?

" All of the other ways of knowing are controlled by language." What does this statement mean and do you think it is a fair representation of the relationship between perception, emotion, reason and language? To interpret the world and to gain knowledge, people have developed several ways of knowing. These are considered to be perception, emotion, language and reason. The question "all of the other ways of knowing are controlled by language" is a statement that requires further investigation and reflection. Is this really a fair representation of the relationship between these four factors? In a way these four; perception, emotion, language and reason are closely tied together. Perception is often influenced by emotions (which plays a great part in human behaviour), the impressions are then expressed through language, and language is used to communicate thoughts and to reason with people or simply to seek clarity and order. By assuming that the essay question is right, one automatically puts language above the three other ways of knowing. One would claim that without language knowing would be impossible, that only language could create reality. Does language direct perception, emotions and reason or simply that these are interdependent to some extent? To begin with language can be defined as 'use of words in agreed way as means of human communication, communication of

  • Word count: 1087
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"Anita and me" Meera Syal - Examine the ways in which the relationship between Meena and Anita changed during the course of the novel.

Examine the ways in which the relationship between Meena and Anita changed during the course of the novel. "Anita and me" is a novel by Meera Syal which partly reflects her own childhood. It is about a young Asian girl, who goes through many experiences to be accepted into English society. These incidents help her to discover her true identity, and accept that she is an Asian girl in an English culture. In the end she realises that she is too desperate to be accepted. Meena's relationship with Anita goes through several stages: when Meena thinks of Anita as a role model; when they become like strangers; and finally when Meena becomes an independent 'woman'. I will be explaining how this happened during the course of the novel. The first stage of Meena's and Anita's relationship is when Meena thinks of Anita as a role model and copies her style. The first time Meena follows her, she starts to idolise her. When Meena steals the sweets from Mr Ormerod's shop, Anita takes them. Meena sees this as a good opportunity to become good friends with her. She feels this is how she can become involved with the English culture. "Yow coming then?" pg 38 Meena is really happy and is extremely glad that an English girl has started to talk to her. She finally feels as if she can fit in with the British culture. Meena truly feels Anita is great. Meena is a young mischievous girl but becoming

  • Word count: 882
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"At some point unknown to us, and probably desired to remain unknown an ancestor had the "I am" thought, the human species now had a mind, but more. Knowledge of Mind-All else follows

"At some point unknown to us, and probably desired to remain unknown an ancestor had the "I am" thought, the human species now had a mind, but more. Knowledge of Mind-All else follows. However, such a thought and its consequences could only have been possible because of language." All else followed- what followed? Since the dawn of Humanity, people have been going through life fulfilling their essential needs; eating, sleeping and mating. It is still very much the same today, but there has been a significant amount of change in the way we think and act. Nowadays I think I can confidently presume that we are all aware of ourselves as intelligent, rationally thinking human beings. It cannot always have been like that, there must have been a moment in time when the first human suddenly perceives himself as; not only a living being with constant needs, but a being with a mind that can think independently. I am not disputing that before this point humans did not have minds, I am merely pointing out the difference between an intelligent mind that is able to observe its surroundings intelligently and an ignorant one that just lives from one minute to the next harbouring only short- term thoughts. This revolutionary moment in time has had an incredible impact on the world. This was the historical breakwater between ignorance and intellect. We are of course

  • Word count: 1134
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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