...Free Version focus A simplicity manifesto in the Age of Distraction Leo Babauta focus: about about focus T his book, “focus”, is by Leo Babauta, creator of zen habits and mnmlist. It was written publicly, online, in small bursts, with feedback from readers throughout the writing process. It would be much worse without their wonderful help. dedication The book is dedicated to my grandfather, Joe Murphy, who lived a life that inspired me, and whose death has left a gap in my life ... and to my grandmother, Marianne Murphy, who I love deeply and whose strength and kindness have always pointed the way for me. uncopyright All content of this book are in the public domain. I hereby waive all claim of copyright in this work; it may be used or altered in any manner without attribution or notice to the me. Attribution, of course, is appreciated. To clarify, I’m granting full permission to use any content on this site, including the chapters of my book, in any way you like. I release my copyright on this content. While you are under no obligation to do so, I would appreciate it if you give me credit for any work of mine that you use, and ideally, link back to the original. If you feel like spreading a copy of this book, you may do so without payment. 2 full version This is the free version of this ebook, which can also be found at focusmanifesto.com. The full version of the ebook contains additional chapters: 1. creativity and practicing deep focus 2....
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...INT J LANG COMMUN DISORD, NOVEMBER–DECEMBER VOL. 2011, 46, NO. 6, 657–664 Research Report Communication skills in a population of primary school-aged children raised in an area of pronounced social disadvantage James Law†‡, Kirsty McBean‡ and Robert Rush‡ †School of Education, Communication & Language Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK ‡Centre for Integrated Healthcare Research, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK (Received 10 December 2009; accepted 1 February 2011) Abstract Background: Previous studies have highlighted the level of communication difficulty experienced by children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, but the pattern of difficulties remains unclear. Aims: The study asks whether the performance of a community sample of children from one of the most socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Scotland is best characterized by a general delay in all areas of development, by difficulties across the more formal structural aspects of language or in phonological skills. Methods & Procedures: The study included 138 monolingual English-speaking children: 63 (45.7%) boys and 75 (54.3%) girls aged between 5 and 12 years. All children were assessed blind to educational attainment in the school. Outcomes & Results: Nearly 40% of children had delayed language development with 10% having severe difficulties. The children presented with an uneven profile with much lower structural language scores than reading, general communication skills or non-verbal...
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...What are the similarities and the differences between written and spoken language? In this composition I am going to reflect on the similarities and the differences between the written and spoken language. Let us see first the similarities and after that the differences. Both written and spoken language need to be acquired by individuals. This is the first similarity between the two kinds of language, that we have to develop our writing and speaking skills beginning from babyhood. We use written and spoken language for the same goals: to communicate, to express our thoughts, feelings, ideas, belief, knowledge. Another parallelism is that written language and spoken language can be precise if a person use carefully them. We know, that we need to learn to speak and write. But there is a big difference in time. We begin to learn to speak from the age of two (circa), while we learn to write only at the age of seven or eight. When we use written language, we have more time to think, to correct, to rewrite our thoughts, ideas, we can be more precise and accurate. But when we speak, we do not think too much, this cause that we commit mistakes on vocabulary and grammar level. There is a Latin maxim: "Verba volant, scripta manent." - which means, that writing can lost long, while the spoken word slips away like a bird. Summing up, the biggest similarity between written and spoken language is that both require learning, and the biggest difference is marked by time. ...
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...Understanding teacher’s perceptions on practices in giving written feedback in a sub - urban upper primary school in sungai petani ABSTRACTS This study presents a conventional research which looks into the perceptions of teachers in giving written feedback among different level of abilities pupils in a sub urban school. Different ways in giving written feedback to pupils provides an opportunity for them to see how the respond given to their works which may be engaging or just being ignored by pupils. However, the teachers may have their own perspectives and beliefs underlying their practices. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the way teachers give written feedback to pupils’ writing, belief of their practices and factors that influencing their belief on practices in written feedback. A number of writing exercise books selected from upper level primary pupils are collected to be analysed and a few follow- up interviews being done to elicit the information data required for the purpose of this study. The results shows that most teachers focus more on the language form, giving uncoded error feedback and less written commentary given in writing. It is assumed that the factors that influence these practices are mainly because of examination culture, the time constraints and the teacher’s personal belief of written feedback. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction Written feedback is a long-standing educational practice that can arguably...
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...unknown Prof: Rennie English 102 April 16, 2013 "A Certain Lady" is a poem written in the past, but is still relevant in today's time. Dorothy Parker was an amazing writer. "A Certain Lady" was interpreted as a woman who pretended to be somebody she is not. Due to the title "Certain Lady" that Parker uses as the theme of this poem, they could describe who the speaker really was. She was a woman who hid her inner feelings just to please her husband; it also shows how much he does not or will not know this eccentric. "All the straining things within my heart you'll never know.... And what goes on my love, while you're away, you will never know." These line tells me how sad she was and the emotion she had to deal with in the relationship. The first stanza of this poem explains all the pretence she portrays whenever he's around. " Oh, I can smile for you, and tilt my head, and drink your rushing words with eager lips, and paint my mouth for you a fragrant red , And trace your brows with tutored finger-tips." The image of this phrase tells me how ignorant he was and too blind to see the tears in her eyes. She pretended to be who she's not. The speaker's tone also describes her experiences with the situation. " Painting my mouth for you a fragrant red" sounds like things he admired on her the most. So, she is to be the top of her game and playing her role, and yet he cannot see the character she is: she must be a lady with lots of experience. " When you rehearse your...
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...First PUPian experience As a first time in PUP you will ask me, “What is my embarrassing moment?” And I will answer it starting my story on March 11, 2015. It was the day our principal gave the results in UPCAT that makes me sad. On the other hand after classes I received a text message from my sister congratulating me for passing the PUPCET. From that day on, I was thinking when will I go there to enroll. Since I knew that I passed, I never opened the PUP website which is my mistake. It was April 25, 2015, when I’m surfing the net and accidentally opened the PUP website. That time I realized that my enrollment day had already passed, it supposed to be on April 20, but I remember that on that day I was in the hospital to visit my newly born nephew. Therefore my father accompanied me to PUP on April 27. When we get there the guard told us that parents are not allowed inside, which makes me worry because I’m afraid to talk to other person without the help of my father. On the first booth, the students there are arranging the credentials to its proper formation. When the student asks me, “Why are you late for your enrollment day?” And I just told him that the internet connection was not working so that I opened it late. While arranging my credentials he told me, “What course you want to take?” And I told him, “I wanted to take accountancy but I know that there is no slot available.” And he asks me, “What are your rank in your school?” I answered him, “I was the valedictorian of...
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...Some read between the lines that Dunkirk for Britain was a triumph because the soldiers escaped and survived the incident at Dunkirk to fight another day; this can be seen in interpretations of source B1. Its written by a military historian who interprets Dunkirk as ‘a miracle’ he then goes on to say ‘Hundreds of troops were rescued from the German advance in a nick of time- it seemed like a victory just getting the troops back to fight another day’ the historian has come to this conclusion because they saved a whole lot of people even though they lost some, it boosted the opinions of the army in the public eye and how they can fight another day. This is a reliable piece of evidence to a certain extent as it gives you all the information about Dunkirk, it is written by a military historian, so it’s got professional hindsight because of that and because it was written 60 or so years after it happened. However this source can be questioned as it was written 6 decades after it happened so some of the facts could have been lost, it’s only a one sided piece of evidence and it could be biased as he would be working for the government as a historian. It’s also not a primary source as he wasn’t there which it happened. From source b2 I can infer that the British soldiers were brave and that even though they were alone they were not willing to back down. Their ally France had let them down and now they had to face what was to transpire on their own. This also shows us that the evacuation...
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...between firms and suppliers. The change in information system such as electronic data interchange and purchasing system based on Internet has reduced the cost, time and other difficulties when the company exchange with suppliers. Ordering goods with supplier through electronic data system helps companies avoid paperwork which mistimes and arises some errors that can delay the production chain. A new method of working with suppliers has integrated with interorganizational system to create a greater benefit for the company. For example, the ASAP system, which is used in the hospital, lets it orders supplies automatically from the wholesellers. This system reduces the cost of data entry, about $25-30 each if it was written by hand. Besides that, when the order has been written in the database, this system has responsibility in the operation supply. It includes the designing the space of the stock, setting the inventory system based on computer, and replenishing automatically the inventory. This combination...
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...this it is in the standard written form of the language.There are eight main features of academic writing that are often discussed. Academic writing is to some extent: complex, formal, objective, explicit, hedged, and responsible. It uses language precisely and accurately. Complexity Written language is relatively more complex than spoken language. Written language has longer words, it is lexically denser and it has a more varied vocabulary. It uses more noun-based phrases than verb-based phrases. Written texts are shorter and the language has more grammatical complexity, including more subordinate clauses and more passives. Written language is relatively more complex than spoken languageWritten texts are lexically dense compared to spoken language Written language is grammatically more complex than spoken language. Formality Academic writing is relatively formal. In general this means that in an essay you should avoid colloquial words and expressions. In general this means in an essay that you should avoid: a. colloquial words and expressions; ""stuff", "a lot of", "thing", "sort of", b. abbreviated forms: "can't", "doesn't", "shouldn't" c. two word verbs: "put off", "bring up" d. sub-headings, numbering and bullet-points in formal essays - but use them in reports. e. asking questions. Precision In academic writing, facts and figures are given precisely. Do not use "a lot of people" when you can say "50 million people". Objectivity Written language is in general...
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...First paragraph. When it comes to writing a paper we should be very careful with mistakes, which we might have. While we writing our paper we might face many challenges. The first challenge which people might face writing a paper it is when there are too many words, which repeat a lot. People usually do not pay enough attention to that because they do not think it is a big deal usually. However we should pay attention to repeat words a lot, it might get our readers be confused and think that we do not know grammar rules at all. The second challenge, which people do face it is when they write too long or too short sentences. In other words, people do not keep sentence variety or rhythm of the paragraphs. When our writing does have sentences that too long or too short, it looks like we write long sentences because we do not know what we are trying to explain. The third challenge is not putting punctuation where it need to be. Without a punctuation the whole paper will look like it is not organized at all and does have a lot of information, which look like a mess. All our mistakes in paper will make our readers think that we just do not know basic grammar rules and it might lead to the situation where our readers will not take our work serious. Second paragraph. It is not so easy to overcome the challenges that we might face while we are writing a paper. The best way of avoiding them is to find them before we will submit our work. It is not easy but we can do it, if we...
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...Writing is a medium of communication that represents language through the inscription of signs and symbols. In most languages, writing is a complement to speech or spoken language. Writing is not a language but a form of technology. Within a language system, writing relies on many of the same structures as speech, such as vocabulary, grammar and semantics, with the added dependency of a system of signs or symbols, usually in the form of a formal alphabet. The result of writing is generally called text, and the recipient of text is called a reader. Motivations for writing include publication, storytelling, correspondence and diary. Writing has been instrumental in keeping history, dissemination of knowledge through the media and the formation of legal systems. As human societies emerged, the development of writing was driven by pragmatic exigencies such as exchanging information, maintaining financial accounts, codifying laws and recording history. Around the 4th millennium BCE, the complexity of trade and administration in Mesopotamia outgrew human memory, and writing became a more dependable method of recording and presenting transactions in a permanent form.[1] In both Ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica writing may have evolved through calendrics and a political necessity for recording historical and environmental events. H.G. Wells argued that writing has the ability to "put agreements, laws, commandments on record. It made the growth of states larger than the old city states...
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...Nov 16,2013 1. Emerson begins his second paragraph with “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string,” (as cited in Langan, 2014) What does he mean by this? Why do you think he placed the quote this early in the essay? Explain (1)I feel that Emerson’s quote “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to its own string,” Is implying, whatever you set your mind too you can accomplish. “Every heart vibrates to its own Iron string,” Is implying that everyone is different; we go about doing things in different ways, but it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. (2) I feel he placed this quote so early in the essay because; he wanted to attract the reader’s attention with such a unique passage. He tried grabbing their attention, early in the passage. 2. In paragraph 4, Emerson says, “it is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own” (as cited in Langan, 2014). What does he mean by this quote? What is his purpose in making this statement? Explain. (1) “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion”, basically it’s saying that it is easy for other people to justify your life, doing what’s good in the eyes of society. Letting what other people think, affect the way you live your life. “It’s is easy in solitude to live after our own,” Is saying to live in solitude, you can easily live, doing the things that you want to do. (2) To shed light on the situation, of people caring, what other people think. Live by your...
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...why or how others may write. However, regardless of their level of knowledge many young students benefit from having their own personal stories written down to share with other students’. Teachers demonstrate to students how each of their personal experiences and stories are valuable, and they can preserve their stories by writing. This paper will show two important strategies that can support young students’ writers through dictation and translating. Taking Dictation Most parents or adults take dictation when they listen to their children and will write down their child’s oral stories before the child can write on their own. Some of the benefits of dictation are well documented (Temple, 1993; Calkins, 1994; Tunks & Giles, 2007). Taking dictation when children are telling their story is crucial to introducing the student to the intention of writing and the functions of printed language. Through dictation students learn the general purpose of writing, they become aware of the speech to text connection such as; what a person is saying and how to write what is being said. This will permit students to gain basic knowledge of sound symbol relationships, and students can be introduced to conventions of print, including capitalization and punctuation. (Morrow, 2005) stated that student can observe as their words are being written...
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...To start this reflection it would be wrong if I didn’t briefly illustrate the person I was talking to. The person was a women, middle-aged, and originally from a different country. She was very pleasant to talk to, but quickly wanted to make the subject of our talk a way for her to educate and unintentionally brag. She used almost no hand gestures, but was very dramatic in how she talked and the way she tried to convey her emotions. Throughout the conversation she would try to draw other people in and get their attention but I feel that this might have been because we were talking about her home country and the foreign language that she would speak when talking to her children and friends. To be completely honest I am always paying close attention when I have a conversation with people so it wasn’t much of a problem for me to do it in this situation, and it didn’t really affect my perception. I find that when I first meet someone if I’m going to be seeing them again in a less formal manner I try to absorb as much information about them as I can. This allows me avoid saying or doing something that may seem insensitive, such as possibly asking about one’s home country or language without a proper reason. While I strive to pay attention to the person I’m talking to as much as possible that does leave me with the problem with trying to pay attention to myself. The only self-image I was trying to project was that I was respectful and attentive. Other than those two things I rarely...
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... mathematical, scientific, etc. Very broadly speaking, we can also speak of a “formal” and “informal” register in English. In writing academic reports and the like, it would be normal to draw most of the vocabulary and expressions from the formal register, and few, if any, from the informal. This entails avoiding colloquial (everyday) or slang expressions in your writing assignments. The question of register is far more complicated than indicated here; for example, there are many degrees of formality and informality. However, below are listed a few examples which may be of practical assistance.[1] Diffenetions of formal & informal: Formal language, even when spoken, is often associated with the conventions expected of written standard English. Formal English follow rules of grammar very strictly. Sentences tend to be longer and more complex. The vocabulary tends to be elevated, using big words and avoiding colloquial or slang vocabulary. It avoids split infinitives and prepositions at the end of sentences. Formal language uses a Latinate vocabulary and rhetorical devices to create literary-like effects. Informal language is characterized by a simpler grammatical structure (i.e. loosely-connected sentences and phrases), and personal evaluation. Informal language may make use of slang and colloquialisms, employing the conventions of spoken language. However, it is too casual and loose to be...
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