I vs. Me

I vs. Me I vs. Me I vs. Me By Maeve Maddox Some personal pronouns have two forms, one that is used as the subject of a verb and one that is used as the object of a verb or preposition. Subject forms: I, he, she, we, they My sister and I live in Texas. We raise chickens. (subject forms) Jack and she moved to Paris. They love it there. (subject forms) Object forms: me, him, her, us, them Mary gave me your address. (indirect object of a verb) The neighbors invited my wife and me to dinner. (object of a verb) We met him at the movies. We met her there too. We like them. (objects of a verbs) Jack writes to him every day. We went with them. (objects of prepositions) Presumably, these distinctions are taught to children in school. Supposedly, teachers and other school personnel model this usage to the students. Yet this is what we hear all around us: â€Å"Me and my friends went to Miami.† â€Å"The Governor invited my wife and I to dinner.† Those of us who know and care that I is a subject word and me is an object word react to such usage with feelings–if not cries–of outrage, but they continue. Actors portraying psychologists, FBI agents, and medical examiners declare, â€Å"Me and my colleagues interviewed the suspect.† â€Å"Him and his girlfriend were seen on the balcony.† â€Å"Make a reservation for Megan and I.† Don’t the actors know better even if the scriptwriters are semi-literate? The answer may well be that both actors and scriptwriters â€Å"know better,† but don’t care. They may desire to speak in a nonstandard way to show their freedom from what they regard as stuffy rule-following convention. On the other hand, they may not â€Å"know better.† They may genuinely believe that it’s correct to use Me as a subject and I as an object in a compound, even though they would never use them that way when the subject or object is not a compound. With grammatical constructions–as with Big Lies–if we hear them often enough, they will eventually â€Å"sound right.† Language changes inexorably from generation to generation. Pronouns alter more slowly than any other part of speech, but they do change. English once had three pronoun numbers: singular, dual, and plural. We lost the dual form early on. The singular second person pronoun thou and its forms thee, thy and thine dropped out of popular speech in the 16th century. (The Quakers retained some of the usage.) The second person plural went through some changes before settling on you for both singular and plural. Before you won as the all-purpose second person pronoun, ye was the subject form and you was the object form. The distinction was still being observed in the KJV translation of the Bible, but in popular speech, ye and you were becoming muddled: No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. 1611 translation of Job 12:2 A southwest wind blow on ye And blister you all over! Shakespeare’s The Tempest, c.1611. As painful as the thought is to those of us who care, the mix-up of me and I in compound subjects and objects may become the norm. What do you think? Is there any way to reverse the trend? Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Bare or Bear With Me?Cannot or Can Not?Sentence Adverbs

A History of the Oreo Cookie

A History of the Oreo Cookie Most of us have grown up with Oreo cookies. There are photos of us with chocolatey remnants smeared across our faces. Theyve caused great disputes as to the best way to eat them- dunking them in milk or twisting off one side and eating the middle first. Besides eating them plain, there are recipes galore on how to use Oreos in cakes, milkshakes, and additional desserts. At some festivals, you can even try deep-fried Oreos. Needless to say, Oreos have become part of the twentieth-century culture. While most of us have spent a lifetime cherishing Oreo cookies, many dont know that since their introduction in 1912, the Oreo cookie has become the best-selling cookie in the United States. Oreos Are Introduced In 1898, several baking companies merged to form the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco), the maker of Oreo cookies. By 1902, Nabisco created Barnums Animal cookies and made them famous by selling them in a little box designed like a cage with a string attached (to hang on Christmas trees). In 1912, Nabisco had a new idea for a cookie- two chocolate disks with a creme filling in between. The first Oreo cookie looked very similar to the Oreo cookie of today, with only a slight difference in the design of the chocolate disks. The current design, however, has been around since 1952. Nabisco made sure to file for a trademark on their new cookie on March 14, 1912, being granted registration number  0093009 on August 12, 1913. Changes The shape and design of the Oreo cookie didnt change much until Nabisco began selling various versions of the cookie. In 1975, Nabisco released their DOUBLE STUF Oreos. Nabisco continued to create variations: 1987 Fudge covered Oreos introduced1991 Halloween Oreos introduced1995 Christmas Oreos introduced The delicious interior filling was created by Nabiscos principal scientist,  Sam Porcello, who is often referred to as Mr. Oreo. Porcello is also responsible for creating chocolate-covered Oreos. The Mysterious Name When the cookie was first introduced in 1912, it appeared as an Oreo Biscuit, which changed in 1921 to Oreo Sandwich. There was another name change in 1937 to Oreo Creme Sandwich before the modern name was decided upon in 1974: Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie. Despite the official name changes, most people have referred to the cookie simply as an Oreo. So where did the name Oreo come from? The people at Nabisco arent quite sure. Some believe that the cookies name was taken from the French word for gold, or (the main color on early Oreo packages). Others claim the name stemmed from the shape of a hill-shaped test version; thus naming the cookie in Greek for a mountain, oreo. Still, others believe the name is a combination of taking the re from cream and placing it between the two o-shapes  in chocolate- making o-re-o. And still, others believe that the cookie was named Oreo because it was short and easy to pronounce. No matter how it got named, over 362 billion Oreo cookies have been sold since it was first introduced in 1912, making it the best selling cookie of the 20th century.

Minorities in the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Minorities in the Media - Essay Example The act of seeking out revenge by harming an entire classification of people simply because they have been stereotyped is a major depiction of ignorance and responsible for a vicious cycle of hatred to formulate. This is where the movie American History X comes in. The purpose of the story is to realize that racial hatred does not accomplish anything except create more hate. The director and writer of this movie accomplish their purpose through character development, the targeted audience, and cinematography. Character development best helps to accomplish the purpose of the movie. The most developed characters in this film are Derek and Danny. Derek’s character is full of racial hatred and plays as a leader of a neo-Nazi group in Venice Beach, California at the beginning of the movie. â€Å"Based on this traumatic incident and an underlying climate of subtle racism, the elder son, Derek, focuses his rage on the minority community and becomes a racist agitator† (McKenna, 1999). Derek preaches to young skinheads about his beliefs of the American society and how minority groups are corrupting the society and wasting taxpayer’s money. Derek shows great hate towards minority groups mostly because of the fact that his father had been murdered by a black man. American History X is clearly a film dealing with the social topic of racism. The most interesting aspect of this movie is the way in which the subject unfolds. First of all, it is quiet obvious how difficult a subject that racism is to portray and effectively depict. However American History X presents the subject without any qualms and a unique clarity. Secondly the film’s main figurehead for racism, which is portrayed by Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton), is not an unintelligent redneck racist as most films usually portray anyone adopting such notions to be, but he is in fact a intelligent, eloquent, charming and bright man despite the fact that he clearly holds ideals which are terribl y wrong and confused. Finally, the film also shows that it is not only the white, neo-nazi racists who are fools for being involved in situations like these and adopt a lifestyle central on these stereotypes, but it is all those who hold hatred in their hearts. Through these methods, the film beautifully instills this idea upon the viewer, in an extremely compelling way, that hatred and racism will destroy a person and those who are closest to them. The intense realism that the movie portrays as far as the execution of the incidents is concerned is most impressive with no holds expelled of the intense racial hatred. As we go back to the starting of the movie when Derek figures that some black guys were trying to steal or wreck his truck he immediately grabs a gun, and shoots one of them, wounds another, and fires at the third as he gets away. It was then that one of the most brutal scenes in film history is shown in the way Derek forces the wounded man to put his face on the curb an d kicks the back of his head, smashing the mans skull. It is this scene that is such a perfect example of cumulative causation. This is because it depicts the endless circle of hate between both parties involved. For example, the young black men were acting out this way simply because they had been disgraced by the white male in the local basketball game; therefore, they go up to damage the white males care, which in turn leads to Derek shooting the young black men. This is a vicious circle with no seeming end. The strength that

Pure Competition paper MICROECONOMY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pure Competition paper MICROECONOMY - Essay Example For this reason therefore the hotel market is pure competitive. One of the characteristics of pure competition is that there are many buyers and sellers in the market, this also includes the fact that the buyers are willing to buy products at a given price and that the producers are willing to supply products at a given produce. The hotel business has several suppliers or firms which include red roof inn, red carpet inn, Knight inn, Travelodge hotel, day inn and Econo lodge, it is also evident that their continued operation over the years means that buyers are willing to buy their at a given price. On prices in a competitive market the prices are determined by the level of demand and supply, when demand increases then prices also increase and when the supply declines then prices are expected to increase, also that in the long run the market is at equilibrium, for this reason therefore the hotel market is characterised by the determination of prices by market forces and therefore we conclude that is fulfils one of the conditions of a competitive market. In pure competition there are no barriers to entry, for our case the hotel market is characterised by free entry and exit by firms and this is evident from the large number of firms in the industry and the lack of regulations by government to restrict entry into the hotel

Evaluation of the play Blood Brothers Essay Example for Free

Evaluation of the play Blood Brothers Essay Thomas Hardy suggests that in the mid-ninteenth century women were limited in their choice of jobs. Factory work was available in some areas but this meant working long, tiresome hours. They could also work for the rich, but for very little money. The term used for a woman who makes dresses is a seamstress. They spent their lives sewing for the rich ladies who wore smart dresses. In Far From the Madding Crowd the main character Bathsheba is the proud owner of her inherited farm. She has maids, farm workers and shepherds working for her. She spends long hours of the day working in fields. She is a fortunate woman, very popular among the men but who clearly is unsure about life /love. Her character is affluent and enjoys a privileged lifestyle. In Wessex where the book was set it is very traditional, old fashioned (even some parts are today). The rural setting makes it relate to what the scenery was like, and enhances the atmosphere. At the time this book was written, health standards were very poor and there was no birth control. Illness was common, and people often had to cope for themselves. A woman was considered lucky if she was rich enough to employ a maid to care for her. There were no injections to prevent people against tetanus, common among farm workers. (It occurs when dirt is passed through a wound with a risk of getting paralysed) Nowadays we have modern medicine and equipment and highly trained doctors. Unlike men, woman had many limitations. If a party/ festival was being held all the women were obliged to leave the room, while the men drank. But Hardy shows a different stereotype to the one most women were accustomed to at that time- Bathsheba, instead of leaving the room quietly and without protestation, she leaves indignantly, having complained to her husband about the amount of alcohol that was offered- dont give it to them. This shows she was more independent than other women of her day. Women were expected to cook mostly and were frequently bossed around by their husbands (male domination) this has held a topic of sexism to woman today. In the Victorian times, women were expected to dress respectively. Evan if a woman showed a small amount of her ankle it was though of as blasphemous and unpleasant! Woman wore long dresses, bonnets and covered their arms up. Obviously a rich person would have a more fancy-detailed dress than a poor person. People though that woman were not equal to men because men were stronger and protector. Women were quoted as feeble and timid. Woman could vote very little and there was very little education for them. One thing I picked up on was that in the book when Troy was performing in the circus among the other men, there were no woman performing. This was against the rules and the circus would have needed strong performers, which were not, in their eyes woman. The workhouse was a place in which many poor/old people ended their days. But the workhouse was also for young people too. Fanny was one who died in the workhouse after giving birth. People would work and pray throughout the day. They had a regime but they were also allowed to relax and have free time to do what they wanted. It was thought that religion would help the poor to overcome their laziness, fecklessness and drunkenness. Even school lessons for children revolved around the Bible. There were foundation orphanages for children where they were treated with great care. This option was for woman who could not look after their children or were ill/having problems etc. This option would have done Fanny help, if she hadnt had died. From reading the book, and observing the film I have seen in depth that life then, is extremely different from today and what woman could and couldnt do. Men could do far more and seemed to get more out of life than woman. Troy was often seen doing much more than Bathsehba?

Essay --

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was one of the most devastating times in the history of the United States of America, it plagued each city and town with starvation, homelessness and even suicide. The twenties were truly a tough time for the US and all of its citizens. The Roaring Twenties, the decade that came after World War I and inevitably led to the Wall Street Crash, came in a time where money and wealth were prevalent. Coming after the war, the United States had great confidence, a large amount of Americans who lived in secluded areas or small towns moved to the big cities to promote an industrial living style in the United States. While the American cities flourished and blossomed into the greatest places on earth,the amount of people who moved to the big cities left the agricultural ways of the US in the dust, leaving the farmers in economic shock, making agriculture the main reason for a major loss of money in the US. This happened throughout the decade and would later be blam ed as one the main factors that led to the 1929 stock market crash. Over the weekend of October 26th and 27th , the activity of the Stock Market was known and read all across the United States. On October 28, "Black Monday", a huge amount of investors decided to abandon the stock market in order to maintain their personal wealth, and the downfall erupted with a record loss in Dow Jones Industrial for the day of 38.33 points, or 13%.(Galbraith 47) The next day, "Black Tuesday", October 29, 1929, about sixteen million shares were traded, and Dow Jones lost an additional 30 points, or 12%, talk flurried that U.S. President Herbert Hoover would not veto the pending Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. The volume of stocks traded in order to maintain wealth or at... ...usinessmen in 1932 when things were just about at their worst. Squalid cardboard campsites were created in cities to live in...called "Hoovervilles". The nick-name of the soup given out by charities for the unemployed was "Hoover stew". However, Hoover did do some good. Money was used to create jobs to build things such as the Hoover Dam. In 1932 he gave $300 million to the states to help the unemployed (Emergency Relief and Reconstruction Act) but it had little impact as states run by the Republicans believed in "rugged individualism" more than Hoover did and they used only $30 million of the money offered to them. Which seems backwards, but they stood behind what they believed in and it ended out fine. The stock market crash of 1929 was the most significant crash in U.S. history. Although the crash itself only lasted four days, it led to a catastrophic sell-off.

How does Angela Carter reinterpret Gothic Conventions Essay

Angela Carter reinterprets Gothic Conventions in both ‘The Tigers Bride’, and ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon. ’ These reinterpreted gothic conventions are not merely used by Angela Carter to shock the reader, (typical of the Gothic), but additionally to add a sub-genre. This is clearly the case in both ‘The Tigers Bride’ and ‘Courtship of Mr Lyon’ as the feminist and Marxist message is provided by the subversion of the genre. For instance, in a conventional gothic novel the female is stereotypically either the â€Å"trembling victim† or â€Å"predator. † In other cases, women remain absent from the Gothic novel all together. However, in both of these short stories from Angela Carters collection ‘The Bloody Chamber,’ this gender role is subverted so the male becomes the victim. This is particularly evident in ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon’ where Mr Lyon takes the role of the desperate women locked away, needing to be saved. Mr Lyon claims to be â€Å"dying† because Beauty left â€Å"because you left me. † The state of the lion is covered in the description with imagery of death and decay; â€Å"dead† flowers, â€Å"groaning† hinges, and â€Å"drifting cobwebs. † Beauty therefore takes the role of the male protagonist. There is a mention of otherness as Beauty found My Lyons â€Å"bewildering difference intolerable,† whereas, conventionally, the male was the norm and the female the other. Furthermore, in ‘The Tigers Bride’ conventional gothic gender stereotypes are also played with as Beauty breaks out of patriarchal society by rejecting her â€Å"clockwork twin† and taking the form of an animal â€Å"beautiful fur. † Carter uses the gothic conventional symbol of animals but in an alternate way. In both stories she puts animals on a higher level than man for their more moral qualities. The beast for instance is juxtaposed against her farther in ‘The Tigers Bride’ as he is the poor protector who â€Å"bartered,† and lost his â€Å"treasure† (again, objectifying women. ) The use of animals again explores a feminist message, as Carter believed that like animals, females were regarded as soulless. However, in both texts Carter also holds onto many of the stereotypical gender gothic conventions. For example the reference to Beauty as â€Å"Miss Lamb† in ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon’ and also the mention of the lamb in ‘The Tigers Bride’ â€Å"Lion lies down with the lamb. ’ Furthermore, in both stories Beauty is objectified and the property of her farther, this is introduced immediately in ‘The Tigers Bride’, â€Å"my farther lost me to the Beast at cards. † The female here is clearly still a victim. In regard to setting, Carter does comply with many of the conventional gothic associations. In both ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon’ and ‘The Tigers Bride’ the home of the Beast is regarded as the ‘isolated castle. ’ However, there is a difference in the habitats of Mr Lyon and Beauty in ‘The courtship of Mr Lyon’ as conventionally the male protagonist is associated with the city with unmoral behaviour, and the female is associated with the pastoral country. This enables Carter to add a message that both man and women need to combine both feminine and masculine qualities to be happy. Another example where Carter subverts the genre using the setting is in the stereotypical class of gothic. Conventionally, the gothic was focused mainly on aristocracy. Whereas, in both short stories Beauty is poor, for instance in ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon’ her farther refers to his lost riches â€Å"how rich again I may once again be. † This conveys a Marxist reference, which is hinted at again â€Å"all of the world he knew need not necessarily apply. † Gothic symbolism is also reinterpreted in both novels. The reference to the â€Å"white rose† is a widely recognised gothic symbol and is featured in both short storied. However, besides symbolising the innocence of women and their purity, it could also symbolise freedom and salvation, much like a ‘white flag’ as both Beauty’s try to escape patriarchal society. Carter additionally subverts the supernatural. For instance in ‘The Tigers Bride,† despite inter-textuality with ‘Beauty and the Beast’ it is beauty who must transform into the Beast, as he licks her skin off revealing a nascent patina of shining hairs. The sole purpose of this, however, in not purely to shock the reader. Beauty is removing any human elements from herself, giving her, allowing her to break away from society and its limitations on women.