Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Environmental Scanning and Organization †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Environmental Scanning and Organization. Answer: Introduction The present report focuses on the importance of strategic management in todays organization. Strategic management refers to the formulation as well as adoption of major initiatives and target taken by the enterprises management (Alkhafaji and Nelson 2013). This study analyzes on the strategic management of Australian Coles supermarket. Australian Coles Supermarkets,trading asColes, is one of the biggest supermarkets, consumer services chain and retail company, situated in Melbourne and owned by the parent organizationWesfarmers. Coles has near about 100,000 employees and with competitorWoolworths, it accounts for about 80 per cent of the market in Australia. For over the last few decades, this enterprise has continued to deliver exceptional customer service, good quality products and huge value to the people residing in this nation. Their long term commitment is to help this nation grow towards sustainable future, build relationship with the Aussie farmers and support local jobs within this food industry (Babatunde and Adebisi 2012). Their mission statementis to become innovative leaders in the industry and provide their consumers with convenience, value and good service. Their positioningstatementis to serve in better way by focusing on consumer proposition, operating excellence and innovation. In fact, they strive to provide value to their customers by reducing price of shopping basket, improving product quality through fresh manufacture and delivering easier as well as better shopping experience per week. The sector is one of the concentrated sectors in Australia, with Woolworths and Coles accounting for about 65% of sectors revenue i n present year. Huge growth of the existing companies over the last few years has considerably altered this industry (About Coles 2018). Small Supermarket Company struggles to compete in this increasingly price-intense sector. Recent facts reveals that sector-wide profit margins have declined over the last few years since players have decreased their prices and accepted low margins for staying competitive. One of the challenges that this industry has been facing is price deflation occurring from intense price competition. Macro environmental Analysis Macro environmental analysis is important for every business as it helps to observe certain factors that influence Coles business in Australian market. These external factors facilitate to identify several problems that Coles faces while operating in this industry. Moreover, this analysis is essential method of observing industry conditions that impacts the business. The macro environmental factors that affect this enterprise are explained below: The population in this nation increases by about 2% per year and most of these people reside in urban areas. The total population in Australia involves individuals belonging from various backgrounds as well as cultural groups. As the population in this country consists of large number of young customers, Coles faces challenges of innovating new products for matching up with youth customers. As high density regions are basically major cities in Australia, they face issues of attracting large number of customers. Thereby , Coles is targeting customers whose age is between 15 to 65 years in order to attract more customers (Eden and Ackermann 2013). Australia has all types of developed technologies to support requirements of Coles. Recent facts reflect that young aged population in this nation uses more internets with respect to other people. In fact, social media growth has turned television advertising media an obsolete technique. Moreover, enhanced environmental concern enforces Coles to utilize less energy and this creates issues within the business. In addition, Coles supermarket are adopting new marketing methods as well as introduces developed technology for meeting with varying requirements of these customers. Although integration of new technology creates several problems for Coles, it helped them to innovate new products. The Australian economy has been one of the most developed economic countries. Presently, fluctuation in foreign financial market has affected Australias economic condition. Moreover, Australians purchasing power also declined from past years owing to financial crisis and high unemployment rate. This decline in economic condition in Australia has increased competition level in this industry. As a result, Coles faces several challenges owing to this economic condition. The management of this enterprise thereby strategizes to lower their product price for making it affordable to their customers. Socio- cultural factor The Australians have become highly conscious about their heath as well as well-being. This trend also offers huge opportunity for this enterprise since there are less number of players in the industry that offers organic products. However, Coles benefits from this factor as the organic food sales increases over long term. On the contrary, it constitutes huge threat in niche supermarkets that specializes in these products. One of the influencing factors that control purchasing habit of customers in Australia is culture. As Australian consists of individuals belonging from ethnic backgrounds and various cultures, the purchasing habits of customers also varies. Due to this varying culture, Coles faces several issues regarding sell of their product. However, the management of this enterprise strategizes to diversify their product and offer wide product range to their customers for meeting this challenge. Thus, Coles faces huge difficulty in working in this multi- cultural environment of this nation. A considerable change in legal as well as political environment in Australia might affect Coles operations in this industry. The Australian government developed Australian Competition and Consumer Orientation( ACCC) for governing this industry. However, ACCC has adopted new policies, which in turn enhances the competition level in this industry. Variation in taxation policy as well as environmental regulations by Australian government makes it highly difficult for Coles to operate in this environment. Additionally, it also decreases the purchasing power of customers, which in turn influences revenue framework of this enterprise. Owing to this, Coles adopts flexible marketing strategy for meeting with changing political factors of this industry. Industry Analysis The retail industry life cycle stages mainly comprises of four distinct phases based on both the sales as well as profit growth. The theory of retail competition states that the retailing institutions such as the commodities they distribute mainly pass through identifiable cycle. This cycle is basically divided into four stages that involve- innovation, development, maturity and decline. Innovation stage- At this stage, the retail store tries to innovate new product in order to attract large number of customers. The firms in this industry implement new strategy for expanding the business in the global market. Few Retail experts have found out that the business owners often reenergizes their failing business by returning to this stage. Development stage- In this stage, the retail businesses starts to grow and attain higher profits in their business. In fact, the competitors create several challenges for new retail business (Stead and Stead 2014). The challenge that enterprise faces in this stage is to continuously innovate product in order to retain their customers in competitive marketplace. Maturity stage-At this maturity stage, the retail firms faces intense competition owing to overexpansion of industry. As a result, the firms face decreasing profits as well as declining customers loyalty. Owing to this condition, prices begin to decline since the rivalries strategize to retain their consumers with large deals. Decline stage-This is the last stage of this retail industry life cycle. The retail firms that fail to innovate new products or services enter this stage. Hence, they lose their share in the market and attain bad reputation. The attractiveness or the profitability of this industry at present times in analysed with the help of Porters five forces. This is followed by analysis of relative position of Coles in this sector. Buyers bargaining power- Although buyers bargaining power has been low in this industry, it might increase in future. As there are few players dominating this sector, the buyers bargaining power is low (Fung 2014). Aggressive policies by ACCC to reduce entry barriers facilitate to increase buyers bargain power in future owing to entry of new entrants. Moreover, their bargaining power might crease to reasonable level in future. Suppliers bargaining power- Bargaining power of the suppliers in this sector has been low owing to huge control of market share of Coles and Woolsworth. However, the suppliers have limited intermidiaries selection from this sector. These companies are the main purchasers in this industry and thus holds significant market share. The current change in policies by Federal government and ACCC helps to decrease entry barriers in this industry. It is predicted by some researchers that suppliers bargaining power might become moderate owing to huge intermediaries range that manufacturers might select from this industry. Threats of substitutes- Threats of substitutes in this industry are generally high. Coles lace several convenience stores, farmers stores and grocery stores. Indirect rivalries basically form threats of substitutes (Fung 2014). In addition, shift of customers preferences as well as tastes towards organic goods signifies that farmers market poses threat to this supermarket. Threats of new players- New entrants threats are also low in this industry. The agreements such as rent, ownership and zoning laws results in deficiency in the retail stores location. Despite reforms in laws adopted by ACCC, the new entrants threat might remain low in future. moreover, Coles, woolsworth will create challenge for the new entrant and thereby the new players might need huge investments(Gamble and Thompson 2014) Rivalry among competitors-Since there is near about 140000 retail stores, huge competition exists in this sector. Woolsworth, Aldi are some of the rivalries of Coles that operates in this market (Porter 2014). Coles faces huge competition from its rivalries in terms of product quality and pricing. Companys analysis The capability of Coles to outperform their rivalries as well as maintain competitive edge basically rests on the resources as well as capabilities. The three vital resources as well as capabilities of Coles involves- Effectual Supply chain-This Companys distribution network is basically a resource as well as capability in both in- bound and out- bound logistics (Grant 2016). This resource helps Coles to save cost throughout the network and compete with their rivalries. Brand Reputation- Coles has attained reputation in terms of quality food over the last few years. Their brand reputation helps them to give differentiation to their rivalries and contributes to customer satisfaction (Wheelen et al. 2017). Effective management-Despite increasing inflationary rates and recessionary pressures, Coles has attained high growth rate owing to effective implementation of strategy by their management (Lasserre 2017). The capability of Coles management steers them through present economic environment. Moreover, continuous attainment of high growth makes it highly valuable resource. Coles capabilities combining in unique as well as sustainable manner helps to generate core competencies for this enterprise. Some of the major competitors of Coles are Woolsworth, Aldi, Costco, IGA. These competitors have transformed this industry over the last few years. Costco and IGA are the new entrants in this industry and thus face huge competition from Coles, Woolsworth and Aldi. In fact, Coles faces difficulty while competing with Aldi in terms of product price since Aldi sales lower price as compared to Coles and wools worth. Coles thereby differentiate itself from producing innovative products at low cost in order to gain competitive advantage over its competitors (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson 2012). Strategic Analysis As this enterprise has been facing challenges from its rivalries regarding product pricing and varying demand as well as preferences of consumer, the management of Coles is adopting new strategies for gaining competitive advantage over its rivalries. Internal analysis signifies that Aldi poses threat to Coles regarding product pricing. Owing to this, Coles also strategizes to lower its product price in order to compete with Aldi. Financial analysis also signoifies that Coles profit margins has been under huge pressure owing to fierce marketing, Coles adopt new marketing techniques or campaigns for selling their product. Although these strategizes are adopted by Coles, it has not been working effectively. However, recommendations on further implementation of new strategizes will help Coles to mitigate challenges and attain higher profitability. Coles must build effective suppliers network and increase online sales in order to establish good brand image in the market Coles should also invests in innovative as well as sustainable ventures in order to remain ahead of increasing competition Coles should also implement low cost product pricing strategies in order to compete effectively with new entrants The marketing group of Coles should also interact with their customers for attaining their feedback about the product. This strategy will help them to create products based on their customers preferences. Conclusion Coles has been suggested to adopt online retail advancement of technology measurement. Moreover, they can increase online sales by matching online product price with that of stores. Additionally, varying digital interactions basically for online sites might help Coles to leverage customer loyalty program. Coles should also adopt hybrid cloud framework for attaining reduction in cost of product along with good information management. However, it is predicted that adoption of these strategies will help Coles to increase their sales and attain higher market shares in future. It will also help Coles to achieve success and expand business successfully. References About Coles. (2018).Coles.com.au. Retrieved 20 April 2018, from https://www.coles.com.au/about-coles Alkhafaji, A. and Nelson, R.A., 2013.Strategic management: formulation, implementation, and control in a dynamic environment. Routledge. Babatunde, B.O. and Adebisi, A.O., 2012. Strategic Environmental Scanning and Organization Performance in a Competitive Business Environment.Economic Insights-Trends Challenges,64(1). Coles careers (2018). Colescareers.com.au. Retrieved 20 April 2018, from https://www.colescareers.com.au/about-us/our-brands Drnevich, P.L. and Croson, D.C., 2013. Information technology and business-level strategy: Toward an integrated theoretical perspective.Mis Quarterly,37(2). Eden, C. and Ackermann, F., 2013.Making strategy: The journey of strategic management. Sage. Fung, H.P., 2014. Using porter five forces and technology acceptance model to predict cloud computing adoption among IT outsourcing service providers. Gamble, J. and Thompson, A.A., 2014.Essentials of strategic management. Irwin Mcgraw-Hill. Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014.Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. Grant, R.M., 2016.Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley Sons. Stead, J.G. and Stead, W.E., 2014.Sustainable strategic management. Routledge. Hill, C.W., Jones, G.R. and Schilling, M.A., 2014.Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning. Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D. and Hoskisson, R.E., 2012.Strategic management cases: competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning. Lasserre, P., 2017.Global strategic management. Palgrave. Madsen, T.L. and Walker, G., 2015.Modern competitive strategy. McGraw Hill. Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. and Bamford, C.E., 2017.Strategic management and business policy. pearson.

Sunday, April 26, 2020

The Good, the Bad and Mba School Essay Samples

The Good, the Bad and Mba School Essay Samples As part of an application stage, candidates are expected to present an MBA paper. Furthermore, on account of the capitalist economy is one with higher competition, education gets essential to success. A number of the students have a tendency to prevent doing home assignments and never attempt to dive into the difficult work. Students, parents and teachers have a simple time undertaking their responsibilities in instances where the students have a normal uniform. Picking a topic is a critical issue that partly estimates final success of the job. Opt for the subject, which you're interested in. The challenge was thus to accomplish a breakthrough with an array of limitations. Gun ownership ought to be tightly controlled. One of the most common arguments made with regard to charter school funding is that charter schools drain essential resources from public schools. Each building includes ten classes. It's critical that I master these skills since managing aspects of global business will be an essential component of my job as an entrepreneur. By comparison, money managers examine the recent attributes of securities and endeavor to predict their upcoming performance to make the most of return for investors. An excessive amount of money isn't a good thing. In most instances, states maintain a minimal threshold private schools must meet so as to get students participating in voucher programs. Some states have several chartering agencies, while others might only maintain one. The Downside Risk of Mba School Essay Samples Writing is truly a way for a man or woman to find out more about themselves and inform different people of who they are, it isn't an over structured pile of busy work designed to create students lives miserable. On the flip side, college is a selection. If teachers did teach the essay the manner that it was intended to be taught many students would have the capability to have a new sort of expression. Once student understand they will no longer fear the thing that is known as the essay. One more thing that has become more popular is the notion of youth courts. Adjust your paper accordingly in the event the reader found it hard to comprehend what question you addressed. One of my favourite things about writing is that there isn't any correct or wrong answer. Because, fun fact, nobody would like to read content that's JUST jargon and keywords. In the situation a family has a lot of children attending the exact same uniformed school it creates an extremely large cost for the family at the start of every school year. It's only through your course which I would have the ability to maximize my understanding of business and the area of finance, along with enable me to boost my existing skill collection. My job was supposed to motivate people. Now for those who have a severe difficulties, great help could possibly be needed. The Mba School Essay Samples Chronicles Stories are an essential component of the human experience. Pictures are a really good indicator of what content it's possible to see in a post. Teens ought to be able to pick their bedtime. They should be required to take parenting classes. Software development is an excellent mixture of art and science. Choose a subject, which may potentially demonstrate your very best qualities. These forms of essays are hard to write. Cell phones should not ever be used while driving. Such essays could also consist of failure essays or essays that ask you to speak about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced. Categories, essay topics could possibly be divided into. Writing is a sort of art and ought to be taught like that. If this is the case, you should take a look at our sample MBA Essay Guide.

Biblical Exegesis Topics For Research Paper

Biblical Exegesis Topics For Research PaperBiblical exegesis topics for research paper will help you to research in depth about the Bible. Read on to discover some of the biblical topics that you need to research.The first biblical topic, you need to research is the creation of the world and God's purpose. There are several ways of searching this topic. You can start with biblical information by reading the gospels, commentaries and translations, or even video clips from various experts.The second biblical topic, you need to research is the meaning of the time of Christ's birth. By looking up the Bible you will be able to discover the truth and what actually happened. In addition, you will be able to get an understanding of the first Christian era in which the word of God is spreading.The third biblical topics for research paper is the life of Jesus Christ. To research this topic, you will be able to read the gospels, many commentaries and translations, or watch YouTube videos.The fo urth biblical topics for research paper is the life of the Holy Spirit. These are not difficult but you will find them more challenging than other topics.The fifth biblical topics for research paper is the exodus from Egypt. If you are interested in history, you can study ancient civilizations that existed in Egypt or you can also look up current events that have been happening lately.The last biblical topics for research paper is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is very important and the discussion can teach us a lot.

Research Paper Topics Ideas For High School Students

Research Paper Topics Ideas For High School StudentsResearch paper topics ideas for high school students are easy to come up with if you know what to look for. These topics will help students understand how to write a paper, which also gives them an opportunity to learn about how to do it right.The first and most important research paper topics ideas for high school students are those related to how the topic will be used. Topics that are broad and general can turn into a paper that is nothing more than a list of facts or information. Using ideas that are specific and applied will lead to a better research paper. Some topics that have a direct impact on the audience can be used in a research paper.Other research paper topics ideas for high school students will help you become a better writer. Some examples of writing ideas include revising your essay, using alliteration to make your essay better, adding back stories, using quotes, using new information, making changes to your subject , and adding explanations. All of these ideas will help you create a better research paper.The next thing you will want to do is to develop a main idea and use it as a guide. You will need to look at your research paper topics ideas for high school students and make sure that you can use this main idea to help develop the other parts of your paper. The main idea can be what people will be reading, listening to, or thinking about when they read the paper.Think about how your readers will hear your paper and then think about how they will hear your words. Consider using alliteration and new information to help you develop a topic that will be interesting to read. There are many ways to use alliteration, for example you can use a different word every time. Another way to use alliteration is to add a new word to the end of a sentence.One more important research paper topics ideas for high school students is to use the idea of story. What you do when you use a story is not just writing a piece of research paper topics ideas for high school students but using a story to talk about the information you are writing. Use a story to make your paper easier to read and to be a little different. Creating a story that you can relate to and build upon can help make your research paper ideas for high school students work.So there are some tips to help you find research paper topics ideas for high school students. It can be easy to start writing papers if you know what you're looking for. If you know what you're looking for you can get a better understanding of what is required of you in order to complete your research paper.

Personality Theory Essay Topics

Personality Theory Essay TopicsWhat you have to do is get started and let your personality guide your way through all the personality theory essay topics that may be helpful to you. If you are one of those who like to think out-of-the-box, it may be a good idea to look at personality theory essay topics in order to uncover new ways to think about yourself.We'll take a look at a few personality theory essay topics that will help you get your head into gear and discover something new about yourself and your thoughts and behaviors. You may also want to use these personality theory essay topics when you're planning to do research for a career change or when you're looking to test drive some theories and methods for a career.The first of the four that I'll mention is emotional intelligence. This is the ability to use your emotions in a thoughtful way to function in the world. It can mean different things to different people and may include working with your feelings in the workplace to he lp you see your boss' viewpoint and come up with a plan to meet that viewpoint.Next on the list is goal setting. Some people like to see themselves as goal setting geniuses while others find it easier to focus on 'how to get along.' Whatever the case, goal setting seems to be a popular topic as a way to become more self-aware and emotionally intelligent.On the other end of the spectrum is perfectionism. Sometimes it is a good thing to be in a bit of a competition or overexerting yourself in a job. However, there are times that it can be rather annoying and can eat away at your confidence levels and self-esteem.These are only a few of the personality theory essay topics that are going to help you do what you need to do to better yourself and perhaps improve your current situations. The article was just meant to get you started with thinking about the topics that could interest you and get you started off on the right foot.As you can see, there are many questions to ask yourself about how you can make yourself a better person and how to better serve yourself in a world where there seems to be more stress than ever before. I hope this has given you a jumping off point for some further reading.

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Personal Essay for English Class free essay sample

Vigneswaralingam ENG4U1-06 Friday, February 22nd, 2013 Love Thy Stealing Neighbor Can you imagine your bicycle suddenly disappearing when you leave it out in front of your house for just a few minutes? Bicycles are convenient, and when I was young I was in that era where they were the most popular vehicles. If you brought your bicycle to school you automatically became the â€Å"coolest† kid in school. No matter how the bicycle was. It could’ve been old, new, expensive, pink, or had bright gold lightning bolts printed on the bars—you were still part of the â€Å"cool† kids squad. I remember reading that approximately one billion people in the world own a bicycle, that’s a lot considering that there is an estimated population of slightly over seven billion people on Earth. I was part of that one billion people in the world who owned a bicycle until my neighbor stole my bicycle. We will write a custom essay sample on Personal Essay for English Class or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Now only 999,999,999 people own a bicycle—drastic change isn’t it, just because my neighbor decided to steal my precious bike. I’ve had many bicycles in the past but none of them were like the one I had when I was only nine years old. It wasn’t luxurious or anything, just an old secondhand bicycle, but when I rode it I felt remarkable! It was spray painted with a dark metallic blue that shined in the night sky during late night rides. The bicycle handles had this bright yellow rubber star covers that contained bits of black, which would explain that it was old. The seat was just flawless, it was easy to get on and get off—it was snug and made me feel really high up from the ground. That bicycle I had was fantastic it really made me feel like a queen when I sat on it—but not even Queen Elizabeth could’ve possibly had the amazing bike I had. It was during perhaps early June when I was roughly nine years old, when my bicycle disappeared from my eyes. It was a hot summer day and I had just came home to grab a quick dinner after playing in the park with a couple friends. I recall there was a track where my friends and I would race each other on bicycles—I always came in first! So I reached my house to grab dinner and later my friends and I would return back to the park so I just left my bicycle out in the front of the house, leaning against my garage door. When I usually leave it out in the front my parents would always yell at me saying â€Å"one day someone’s going to steal your bicycle† and forced me to lock it up in the backyard—but I figured I was only going in for a couple minutes, nobody would steal it. I quickly gobbled down my dinner. As I finished and was about to head out the door I heard my favorite show’s theme song—who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob Squarepants! My sister was watching SpongeBob Squarepants in the living room with the volume really loud, how could I possibly refuse to watch my favorite show? So I threw my sneakers off and ran into the living room. A few minutes later my friend had called asking if we were still going back but she said that she was tired and that we will go back tomorrow. I was in full SpongeBob Sqaurepants zombie mode so all I was saying was â€Å"uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, okay bye. † As soon as the show finished I recalled I had left my bicycle out and in a few minutes my father would return from work and see it out there. I ran out to bring it to the backyard but as I walked up to the front of my garage it was gone! At that moment I had no idea what to do. I ran into my backyard to check if it was there because maybe my mother took it back for me—but no it wasn’t there. I knew someone stole my bicycle now, I thought maybe they couldn’t have gotten far. I had a one of a kind bicycle so it would be easy to find. So I ran towards the park to see if anyone was riding it and if anyone had it some little kid fights were going to go down—it wasn’t in the park either. I had to face the fact that it was gone—gone forever. I walked back from the park and all I could think about was how I would tell my parents and how they would respond. I pictured that they’d give my a huge hug and be like â€Å"aw, its okay! You’re the coolest kid and the coolest kid deserves another bicycle! † Well that’s not quite what happened. They were just pointing their fingers at me, blaming me for my bicycle being stolen. Their response was nothing like I pictured, â€Å"you’re a complete moron! How many times do we have to tell you not to leave your bike out! Now you have no bicycle and don’t think once that we would buy you a new one. † Why couldn’t they recognize the pain I was going through after losing my bicycle. Days had passed and I was still deprived of a bicycle. All my friends desired to do was ride their bicycles so I always felt left out. I stopped going out much because I couldn’t find much to do without a bicycle—I tried poking holes in the dirt with a stick but ended up flicking dirt into my face. There was absolutely nothing to do. One day as I was sitting eating dinner with my family my father mentioned how he saw my bicycle. Out of astonishment I spit out my food from my mouth, which landed into my sister’s plate, which she beat me up for after. I began to ask him the five w’s and a h questions. To sum up all those questions the answers all came to I. Saw. Our. Neighbor. With. Your. Bicycle. I was really surprised and I thought my father retrieved my bicycle back but to my surprise he didn’t because he thought it was my responsibility if I wanted it back. You know you live in a grim world when your neighbor steals your bicycle. I remember one day I was coming home from the park with my grandma and cousin and I saw my neighbor’s daughter. I ran the fastest I have ever ran—I could’ve even beat Canada’s women’s 1992 three thousand metres Olympic medalist Angela Chalmers, that’s how much adrenaline was running through me. I ran up to her, tapped her on the shoulder and as she turned around I tried to catch my breathe and began yelling. She looked confused and had a bit of fear on her face. I yelled saying that her father was a stealer who stole my bicycle and that I wanted it back. All she could reply to after all that yelling was â€Å"I don’t know what you’re talking about†. How could she not know what I’m talking about? I made it very clear her father stole my bike. She then replied, â€Å"my father didn’t steal your bicycle†. I was going to go on and yell some more but I noticed my grandma and cousin had caught up and was near by. My neighbor’s daughter left and my grandma caught up to me and asked â€Å"are you okay? † I replied, â€Å"I’m fine† but as we walked home everything in my mind was saying, â€Å"no I just want my bicycle back! † My neighbor’s daughter knew exactly what I was talking about. It was about a week after my bicycle was stolen when she came to school on my bicycle—my metallic blue spray painted with bright yellow rubber star covers, bicycle. She mentioned that her father had â€Å"bought† this bicycle for her, which only got me outraged because he stole it from me. I wanted to go up to her and take my bicycle back but for some reason I couldn’t. She wouldn’t believe it’s mine and give it back. Or her father wouldn’t admit he stole my bicycle and gifted it to his daughter. I just didn’t do anything and walked into school—but on the last day of school when I brought scrumptious chocolate chip cookies, I didn’t even give her one. That’s how evil I got. So I let her keep the bicycle, maybe she enjoyed it as much as I loved it. I was now one of the normal school kids who had no bicycle at school, or had no bicycle at all for my situation. It was hard for me to forget that bicycle but my life did go on and eventually my parents brought me a new bicycle. The new bicycle wasn’t as great as the one that got stolen or made me feel like a queen when I sat on it, but it was a bicycle. It got me to places I needed to go and I was up and racing in my friends’ bicycle races again. When looking at this memory now it still makes me mad. When re-living this memory in my head I can see my neighbor and I can see how much I hated him for stealing my bicycle. In the bible it says â€Å"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself†Ã¢â‚¬â€well even now I ain’t loving thy neighbor. I’ve moved houses a long time ago so I’ve never seen my old neighbor in years but if I could just ask one question to him it would be, â€Å"Why? Why did you think it was a good idea to steal my bicycle? † I just want the truth to that question because that bicycle meant a lot to me and we went through a lot together. One thing I’ve learned from this sad memory was not to leave my things hanging around. Since I left my bicycle out when I should’ve locked it in the backyard, it got stolen. Ever since that incident you could see I matured a bit at that time by not leaving my things out where it could get stolen. I’ve been much more careful with my belongings than I was about eight years ago. My bicycle I currently have is always locked up in my backyard or I lock it up in my garage so I don’t repeat the same episode again. I’m now back up and running as a person who owns a bicycle which brings the total of people who own bicycles on Earth to about a billion—I do make a difference to the number. This memory as a child will be with me forever as it made me learn to be more careful and secure with my things—especially with my neighbors.

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Definition and Examples of Parallelism in Grammar

Definition and Examples of Parallelism in Grammar In English  grammar, parallelism is the similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses. Also called parallel structure, paired construction, and  isocolon. By convention, items in a series appear in parallel grammatical form: a noun is listed with other nouns, an -ing form with other -ing forms, and so on. Kirszner and Mandell point out that parallelism adds unity, balance, and coherence to your writing. Effective parallelism makes sentences easy to follow and emphasizes relationships among equivalent ideas (The Concise Wadsworth Handbook,  2014). In traditional grammar, failure to arrange related items in parallel grammatical form is called faulty parallelism.   Etymology From the Greek, beside one another Examples and Observations Buy a bucket of chicken and have a barrel of fun.(Slogan of Kentucky Fried Chicken)How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live!(Henry David Thoreau, A Year in Thoreaus Journal: 1851)The loss we felt was not the loss of ham but the loss of pig.(E. B. White, Death of a Pig. The Atlantic, January 1948)When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.(Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Cant Wait. Signet, 1964)Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.(T.S. Eliot, Philip Massinger, 1920)It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well; to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion and generosity and truth. He changed laws, but he also changed hearts.(President Barack Obama, speech at the memorial service for former South African president Nelson Mandela, D ecember 10, 2013) After a few miles, we drove off a cliff.It wasn’t a big cliff. It was only about four feet high. But it was enough to blow out the front tire, knock off the back bumper, break Dad’s glasses, make Aunt Edythe spit out her false teeth, spill a jug of Kool-Aid, bump Missy’s head, spread the Auto Bingo pieces all over, and make Mark do number two.(John Hughes, Vacation 58. National Lampoon, 1980)New roads; new ruts.(Attributed to G. K. Chesterton)Hes quite a man with the girls. They say hes closed the eyes of many a man and opened the eyes of many a woman.(Telegraph operator to Penny Worth in Angel and the Badman, 1947)They are laughing at me, not with me.(Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)Voltaire could both lick boots and put the boot in. He was at once opportunist and courageous, cunning and sincere. He managed, with disconcerting ease, to reconcile love of freedom with love of hours.(Attributed to Dominique Eddà ©)Truth is not a diet but a condiment.(Attributed to Chri stopher Morley) Some of the people said that the elephant had gone in one direction, some said that he had gone in another, some professed not even to have heard of any elephant.(George Orwell, Shooting An Elephant. New Writing, 1936)Our transportation crisis will be solved by a bigger plane or a wider road, mental illness with a pill, poverty with a law, slums with a bulldozer, urban conflict with a gas, racism with a goodwill gesture.(Philip Slater,  The Pursuit of Loneliness. Houghton Mifflin, 1971)Unlike novelists and playwrights, who lurk behind the scenes while distracting our attention with the puppet show of imaginary characters, unlike scholars and journalists, who quote the opinions of others and shelter behind the hedges of neutrality, the essayist has nowhere to hide.(Scott Russell Sanders, The Singular First Person. The Sewanee Review, Fall 1998)O well for the fishermans boy,That he shouts with his sister at play!O well for the sailor lad,That he sings in his boat on the bay!(Alfred L ord Tennyson, Break, Break, Break, 1842) [Todays students] can put dope in their veins or hope in their brains. . . . If they can conceive it and believe it, they can achieve it. They must know it is not their aptitude but their attitude that will determine their altitude.(Rev. Jesse Jackson, quoted by Ashton Applewhite et al. in And I Quote, rev. ed. Thomas Dunne, 2003) Effects Created by Parallelism [T]he value of parallel structure goes beyond aesthetics. . . . It points up the structure of the sentence, showing readers what goes with what and keeping them on the right track.(Claire K. Cook, Line by Line. Houghton Mifflin, 1985) Several studies have shown that in conjoined structures, even without ellipsis, parallelism of many types is helpful to the processor,  in that the second conjunct is easier  to process if it is parallel to the first in some way . . ..(Katy Carlson,  Parallelism and Prosody in the Processing of Ellipsis Sentences.  Routledge, 2002) Parallelism has the potential to create rhythm, emphasis, and drama as it clearly presents ideas or action. Consider this long, graceful (and witty) sentence that begins a magazine article on sneakers: A long time ago- before sneaker companies had the marketing clout to spend millions of dollars sponsoring telecasts of the Super Bowl; before street gangs identified themselves by the color of their Adidas; before North Carolina States basketball players found they could raise a little extra cash by selling the freebie Nikes off their feet; and before a sneakers very sole had been gelatinized, Energaired, Hexalited, torsioned and injected with pressurized gas- sneakers were, well, sneakers.[E.M. Swift, Farewell, My Lovely. Sports Illustrated, February 19, 1990] First note the obvious parallelism of four clauses beginning with the word before and proceeding with similar grammatical patterns. Then note the parallel list of sneaker attributes: gelatinized, Energaired and so on. This is writing with pizzazz. It moves. It almost makes you interested in sneakers! Of course you noticed the nice bit of word play- the sneakers very sole.(Lauren Kessler and Duncan McDonald, When Words Collide: A Media Writers Guide to Grammar and Style, 7th ed. Thomson Learning, 2008) Pronunciation: PAR-a-lell-izm