Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 23

23. Brat in the Paper Aisle MAKEDA She stood under the eave of a post office that looked out on the Safeway parking lot, watching the old man with the dogs pounding at the door. Well, that would make seven. She knew she should wait for the others, but what fun was there in that. A lean black guy let the old man and his dogs into the store, then locked the door behind him. She moved to the side of the building, then along the front behind a long train of shopping carts, where she could look through the windows without being seen herself. They were spread out, each working an aisle to himself. She really should call for the others. Neither would be that far away, but she did so little on her own anymore. She examined the window. Thick Plexiglas, she wasn't going through that. She could kick the door down, of course, but then they would run and there'd be chasing and if any got away Rolf would pout with disapproval for months. Not that she wasn't beyond pouting herself. She once awakened to find Bella and Rolf merged together in mist without her and refused to take solid form for a year except to feed. That was how they began each night, merged in mist form, still inside their titanium chamber, experiencing every corner of each other's consciousness, every memory, every emotion, every want, every fear-complete knowing, complete intimacy. After an hour or so, they would assume their solid forms, then leave the chamber and feed, or watch a video of a sunrise or sunset. That was it! Mist. She would go into the store by stealth. Except for the one with the dogs, they were all young men, weren't they? She knew she could hold the rapt attention of a young man. She'd take each one, drain him without the others even knowing what happened, then share the experience with Rolf and Bella tomorrow night. It was always fun to bring something new and dangerous to their night. She wouldn't be able to wear her special suit, or take any of the weapons, but it was just as well. She couldn't leave bodies. Seven. She'd be as full as a tick, ready to pop. She checked that none of them was by the door, hid her weapons under the shopping carts, then lay down and oozed out of the Kevlar bodysuit, across the sidewalk, and under the door. Rock and roll was blasting out of the PA system, filling the store with a relentless chainsaw rhythm guitar that drowned all other sound. She swirled around the registers, then started to make her way across the aisles. The first two were empty, then in the third, the old man was sitting all by himself on a milk crate. Scented candles were lit up and down either side of the aisle, as if someone had laid out a landing strip. She could sense the others around her, but her perceptions weren't as sharp in mist form and the odor and heat from the candles made it nearly impossible to tell how far away they were. Their heartbeats and breathing were lost in the music, but there was blood in the air. All over in the air. She floated up to the ceiling, where she could see over the tops of the shelf gondolas. There were two of them working on the other side of the store, bobbing in time to the music. Rolf would have wafted back out the door and called the others, and Bella would have drawn an elaborate plan to stalk them, one at a time, and pick them off when they were alone, but that was exactly why she wasn't going to do either of those things. As she pulled herself into solid form she felt a horrible wrenching in her chest, like her heart caving in on itself. Not a physical pain, but a sudden absence. One of the others was suddenly not there. Rolf. Just not there. She stood there in front of the old man, naked, shaking, trying to bring herself back to the hunt. â€Å"Don't scream,† she said. THE EMPEROR He didn't like that the men were locked in the walk-in cooler, and he didn't like that the Animals had tied him up, rubbed liver and steaks all over him, and set him on a milk box, but he had done his duty to his city. He had alerted the only people who would listen to the presence of the black ship, told them what the strange faux-Hawaiian had said about the old vampires coming for them, and he could have some peace of mind in that. They didn't have to duct tape his hands so tightly, and tape his ankles to the milk box. They could have just asked. Ah, youth. She materialized about twelve feet in front of him, nude, nubile, and athletic, so black she might have been made of polished ironwood, yet the death-pallor made her lips appear lavender. Her hair was trimmed close to her scalp, her eyes appeared to be gold, but he couldn't tell for sure. She shivered for a moment, as if a current was being applied to her body. He watched her muscles tensing and relaxing, rippling under her skin in waves. Then she stopped shaking and opened her eyes. â€Å"Don't scream,† she said. Blood tears formed in the corners of her eyes. â€Å"Oh my, if you aren't lovely,† said the Emperor. She smiled and he saw fangs there, and he suddenly felt as if he might wet himself. She moved a few steps closer to him. â€Å"Are those steaks on your shoulders?† she said. â€Å"Yes. There's liver in my pockets as well.† She cocked her head as if listening. â€Å"Where are the others?† â€Å"I don't know,† he said. Her hand shot out and in an instant her fingers were wrapped in his beard and she was pulling his head back, not yanking, but pulling with an irresistible strength, as if he'd been hitched to a power winch. â€Å"Where are they?† He could feel his vertebrae cracking, feel her raking her fangs over his neck. Then the sound of a high-pressure gas burst and she wasn't there, and there was a length of heavy nylon line in the space where her face had been. â€Å"Down!† came Lash's voice, as he, Troy Lee, Jeff, and Drew all rolled out of the shelves where they had been hiding behind rows of toilet paper and paper towels. The vampire woman's head was pinned to a bale of paper towels with the stainless-steel spear from Barry's spear gun. She screeched like a wildcat and pulled herself away and leapt at Drew, who was leveling a Super Soaker. Lash yanked the spear gun and the nylon line whipped her around. Jeff and Troy Lee opened garden sprayers on her from the front, while Drew unloaded the Super Soaker from the back. She screeched and writhed in the streams, but her flesh was coming off in great slimy chunks, as if she were wax and had been dropped into a foundry furnace. It was all over in ten seconds, and every item for twenty feet in either direction had been knocked off the shelves, the Emperor was on his back, unable to right himself, and the ancient vampire was a puddle of red goo that still bubbled as it broke down. â€Å"What do you know,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"Grandma's tea worked.† Lash nodded and threw the spear gun to the floor with a clank. â€Å"Clint! Clean up on aisle four!† JODY Because she never liked going to the gym, Jody decided to stake out the Raven from the roof of an office building next door instead of on the Bay Club. The fact that she'd been able to leap from brick balcony to brick balcony until she was on the roof, six floors up, proved what she had always maintained, at least when she was alive: working out is narcissistic bullshit. She almost wished that the girls she'd worked with at the Transamerica Building could see her now-all of them stuffing themselves into Spandex and nylon after work and heading to the Bay Club or 24 Hour Fitness in hope of meeting someone who wasn't a creep and, in the case of the Bay Club members, someone who was rich. She imagined them saying, â€Å"Do you want to come with us? We can get you a guest pass. Mohitos afterward?† â€Å"No thanks,† she'd say. â€Å"I'm going to go bench-press an Audi a couple of sets, grab the satchel with the three-hundred grand I stashed on a roof up the street, and go back to my loft and fuck my immortal boyfriend until dawn.† Okay, that wasn't really what she was going to do, but she for goddamn sure was not going to the gym and getting all sweaty so she could meet guys. She didn't even want to be on the roof of the gym, knowing that there was unprotected fitness going on below. She could see the Raven across the Embarcadero, and the Rasta kid was doing nautical stuff with different instruments. At least she thought he was doing nautical stuff. He could have just been dicking around with expensive equipment. None of the vampires was there. There were lights coming from a few of the ports below the cockpit, but she didn't see any movement. The sense of immediacy that had driven her here had evaporated somewhat. She thought about calling Tommy, but didn't have any idea what his new cell phone number might be. She used Abby's phone and dialed Foo's number, but it went to voice mail, which she didn't see as a good sign. If the other two vampires were out of the ship, and she had to wait for them to return, she'd never get a shot at them from this far away. If they didn't come back until dawn, she'd be caught outside at sunrise. There was a warehouse by the pier, perhaps that roof. And she'd set herself a time limit. If they didn't show by a half-hour before sunup, she'd head back to the loft. Even at a slow, human jog she'd make it in plenty of time. She'd have to sneak down the back of the building, though. You didn't want people to see you jumping two or three stories at a time. She understood why the vampires had to keep their secret, she really did, but not at the expense of them killing her friends. â€Å"Good view?† A woman's voice came from behind her. Jody rolled and whipped around, pulling Foo's UV laser from the waistband of her jeans. She didn't have on the sun-glasses so she pointed the laser at the figure coming across the roof toward her, closed her eyes, turned away, then fired. The laser buzzed out a blue beam that lasted two seconds, then started making a high-pitched whining sound as it recharged its capacitor. â€Å"Oh, very nice,† came the voice. It was definitely a woman, amazing figure, wearing a skin-tight black suit, a black mask, and sunglasses, and carrying some sort of weapon. She looked like a superhero. Jody was on her feet, in a crouch. The laser thing was still charging, but maybe it would fire a weaker blast, give her time to move. â€Å"Nah, nah, nah.† The woman raised her weapon, and fired. A stuttering stream of pellets peppered Jody's arm and she lost hold of the laser. Jody felt as if her arm were on fire. She looked to see ten tiny holes, each smoking, with a clear liquid, not blood running out of it. The woman whipped off her hood and sunglasses, but kept the weapon trained on Jody. She was stunning, a pale, Mediterranean beauty with waist-length hair like black silk and almost impossibly large eyes. â€Å"That light thing is sweet, but you should get one of these,† she said. â€Å"It's basically just a pellet gun modified to fire chemical pellets, but the chemical, there's the magic.† â€Å"It burns like hell,† Jody said. â€Å"Yes, it does. And I could cut you in half with this before you could get to me. That's the problem with light weapons, they don't have range and it doesn't take much to stop them. Like this suit, for instance. I mean, this thing has a UV light on it, but that's just to keep you from turning to mist. Can you do that, fledgling?† â€Å"That's what Elijah called me,† Jody said. â€Å"That's what he called all of us in our day.† Jody tried to figure out how to get to the woman. She knew she could move impossibly fast for a human, but this was another vampire, a very old vampire. She had once squared off against Elijah thinking all things were equal among vampires and he'd nearly ended her. As if she was reading Jody's thoughts the vampire fired her weapon and Jody felt her other arm light up with pain from shoulder to elbow. â€Å"Ouch. Fuck. You bitch!† â€Å"Bella, not bitch. And what were you going to do to me, fledgling? Do you have any idea what you've done? We have been together hundreds of years. You ended pieces of history. You took parts of me.† She fired again and Jody's right leg gave way. â€Å"What do you mean, pieces?† â€Å"You don't know what it is to merge with another being then? With a lover? We were lovers, Rolf, Makeda, and me, for hundreds of years, and now they are gone.† â€Å"I don't know what you're talking about.† â€Å"Both are gone, I could feel it. Funny, I didn't know I was always aware of their presence until they were gone. Not an hour ago. I'm alone now. I should let you live if only because we've lost two. There are fewer than a hundred of us, fledgling, and you might have been one of us.† â€Å"I didn't know,† Jody said. â€Å"I don't even care anymore. Maybe I'll just kill you and lie down and wait for the sun to come up. I'll never even know what happened.† â€Å"Trust me, that's not as painless as you think it is,† Jody said. â€Å"Don't!† said Bella. She raised her weapon again but this time, when the little UV light came on, Jody pushed off with her good leg, did a high backflip, and fell six stories to the courtyard below. She expected to feel bone-crushing pain, hear the crackle of vertebrae, maybe even the crunch of her skull, but instead she felt warm water envelop her. She had landed in the Bay Club's pool, which meant she must have launched herself a good forty feet away from the roof. Her predator mind, the one that had risen to tell her that the City was hers, now kicked in, assessing survival. She was under water, that was good. The pellet weapon wouldn't penetrate the water more than a foot before losing it's effectiveness. Plus, the pool water was flushing out whatever heinous chemical had been burning her. She felt herself healing, even as she hovered at the bottom of the pool. She could stay there indefinitely without breathing if necessary. The bad news was that Bella was still up there, and as soon as Jody left the water, the good news would end. It was very unlikely she could take the older vampire hand-to-hand, even if she could get past the pellet weapon, but she could run. Even if she was no faster than Bella, she knew this neighborhood. She'd worked here for years, and she wasn't three blocks from Okata's dismal little apartment. She dug in her jacket pocket and found Abby's phone. It was a weatherized model and the screen was still showing the time. Still four hours until sunup, and that was a guess. She had to cut it extremely close, but if she could bolt away from the Raven with just enough time to find shelter herself, but not enough time for Bella, she just might get away. And maybe in the meantime, Rivera and Cavuto would call out a S.W.A.T. team to storm the black ship. Or the Animals would blow it up, like they had Elijah's yacht. Maybe Bella would dive into the water after her, although losing the high ground would take away a distinct advantage. Maybe one of the people in the apartments above would look down and think there was a body in the pool, and she could make her escape when the EMTs came to rescue her. That's it. She assumed the yoga posture called â€Å"down-floating corpse† and waited, listening for any disturbance that might indicate she had company in the pool, and concentrated on her wound healing. Maybe if she healed enough she could go to mist and sneak out that way. She hadn't moved a lot in mist form, nor had she ever changed under water and she wasn't sure she could, but it might be worth a try. A shadow fell across the bottom of the pool, cast by the mercury lights above, and she flipped over to see Bella moving catlike at the edge of the pool. Then again, maybe not. CHET He'd watched them slaughter all of his fellow vampire cats and instead of running, as would have been his feline instinct, he tracked the killers, which was behavior born entirely of his human side. The three sides of his nature were in constant conflict. Even now, his cat side hated water, and wanted to flee, but his human side felt hate rising and wanted to attack. The vampire side told him to remain hidden, to approach in stealth, as mist, but his cat side told him to pounce, rip her throat out with claw and fang. It occurred to him, as he watched from the roof of the Bay Club as she paced around the pool in her skin-tight black suit, that water or no water, revenge or no revenge, he was going to hump the bejezus out of her before any other action took place. There was part tomcat in all of his natures. He'd started his pack by mating with any female in heat, then they turned males, and so on. And he continued his undead romp through the alleys and backyards of San Francisco, but as he grew larger, and the human part of him manifested, he was just too big to finish the deed. If he fed on them, they went to dust before he got to hump them, and if humped them, they didn't survive for him to feed on them, and he'd humped a bunch of cats to death before he figured that out. It turned out, size did matter. But here was the perfect solution. Moving strong and sexy, just the right size-he could lock his jaws on her neck and have at it, then drink her blood or bite her head off as the whim hit him, and all the time that horrible weapon would be pointed away from him. He went to mist and oozed down the side of the building in a stream that blended with the night fog creeping in off the Bay. JODY Jody just happened to be looking up at Bella's watery silhouette against the mercury light when she saw another shape appear behind Bella, leap on her back, and pull her away from the edge of the pool. Jody was not going to sit around checking references, whatever that thing was, it was an ally. She came out of the water like a rocket, and in two steps she leapt to the top of the twelve-foot security fence and looked back. Something had pulled Bella around and now had her face-down on the pavement and appeared to be humping the bejezus out of her. Jody knew she shouldn't, but she paused. Big kitty ears, big kitty tail, big kitty sinking his fangs into the back of Bella's neck. Kitty was as big as Bella, maybe a little bigger. Chet. Bad kitty, Jody thought. Bella shrieked, then launched herself backward with her arms, lifting both of them into the air, where they did a half-backflip and landed on the concrete with Chet's back as the point of impact. He let go with his jaws and Bella spun around and let loose with the pellet weapon. Chet yowled and jerked on the ground. Bella strafed his neck, which dissolved instantly into a mass of goo. He stopped moving. Jody had seen enough. She leapt off the fence to the sidewalk and took off into the financial district, taking a right at the next corner, then a left, going as fast as her legs would carry her-to hell with someone seeing. She tried to go to mist, but couldn't. Either the fear or her injuries were stopping her. She could hear Bella's footsteps behind her, a block away, now less than a block. What was the range of that pellet weapon anyway? Left on Broadway, left on Battery, right on Pacific, footsteps on her ass, now left on Sansome, next left, she heard the pellet gun sputter and she felt her right leg go out from under her. She rolled and tried to come up but the gun sputtered again and her left leg was gone. She rolled over onto her back, pushed away, scooting on her butt. The gun spat and her left elbow stopped working. â€Å"Fuck, how much ammo does that thing have?† â€Å"More than I'll need to turn you to soup,† Bella said. â€Å"Oh look, no swimming pool.† â€Å"Shame, I guess you won't get to enjoy another kitty fuck.† The gun spat. Jody's right arm folded behind her with a splash of pain. Bella ran her nails over her breast. â€Å"Didn't happen. This suit will stop light, even small-caliber firearms-â€Å" But evidently not blades, Jody thought. Because she was a vampire, and things happened more slowly to her predator eyes, she saw the blade come over Bella's shoulder, enter her body at her left trapezius, and zip across her chest and her kitty-dick-proof suit to exit just under her right arm. Bella's head and right arm slid right, her left arm and the rest of her body fell left. She had a rather surprised expression on her face that stayed there, even as her mouth continued to work soundlessly, as if she really, desperately wanted to finish that last sentence. â€Å"Hello,† Okata said. Jody looked past the swordsman to the sign on the corner that read: JACKSON STREET.

How to Find Greatest Common Factors

How to Find Greatest Common Factors Factors are numbers that divide evenly in a number. The greatest common factor of two or more numbers is the largest number that can divide evenly into each of the numbers. Here, you will learn how to find factors and greatest common factors. You will want to know how to factor numbers when you are trying to simplify fractions. What You Need Manipulatives: Coins, buttons, hard beansPencils and paperCalculator Steps Factors of the number 12: You can evenly divide 12 by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12.Therefore, we can say that 1,2,3,4,6 and 12 are factors of 12.We can also say that the greatest or largest factor of 12 is 12.Factors of 12 and 6: You can evenly divide 12 by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12. You can evenly divide 6 by 1, 2, 3 and 6. Now, look at both sets of numbers. What is the largest factor of both numbers? 6 is the largest or greatest factor for 12 and 6.Factors of 8 and 32: You can evenly divide 8 by 1, 2, 4 and 8. You can evenly divide 32 by 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32. Therefore the largest common factor of both numbers is 8.Multiplying Common Prime Factors: This is another method to find the greatest common factor. Lets take 8 and 32. The prime factors of 8 are 1 x 2 x 2 x 2. Notice that the prime factors of 32 are 1 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2. If we multiply the common prime factors of 8 and 32, we get 1 x 2 x 2 x 2 8, which becomes the greatest common factor.Both methods will help you determine the greates t common factors (GFCs), but you will need to decide which method you prefer to work with. Manipulatives: Use coins or buttons for this concept. Lets say youre trying to find factors of 24. Ask the child to divide the 24 buttons/coins into 2 piles. The child will discover that 12 is a factor. Ask the child how many ways they can evenly divide the coins. Soon they will discover that they can stack the coins into groups of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12. Always use manipulatives to prove the concept. Tips Be sure to use coins, buttons, cubes, etc. to prove how finding factors works. Its much easier to learn concretely than abstractly. Once the concept is grasped in a concrete format, it will be much more easily understood abstractly.This concept requires some ongoing practice. Provide a few sessions with it.

Chapel essays

Chapel essays Everyone knows that Rome is the home of art. One of the example of this is Sistine Chapel in Vatican is decorated with works by many great artists of different periods. It was built between 1475 and 1483, in the time of Pope Sixtur IV della Rovere. The chapel is rectangular in shape and is 40,93 meters in length and has width of 13,41 meters.It is 20.70 meters high and is roofed by a flattened barrel vault. It is consisted of six windows cut into the long sides, forming a series of pedantries between them. All the art work was done between 1481 and 1541. The wall paintings were done by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, as well as the Perugian Pietro Perugino. But the most astounding art work was done by Michaelangelo on the ceilings and above the altar. It was the work of Michaelangelo that gave the Chapel the life. Michaelangelos art was one of a kind with beautiful fresco colors, and depiction of various characters and events on the ceiling. Michelangelo gave all the perfec tion to this work that can be given such as new poses, clothing on figures, and various inspiring details. Michaelangelo could be given the most credit for the beauty of the chapel because he alone created as many beautiful paintings as all the other painters together. He proved what one man is capable of with his artistic talent, due to which the chapel achieved its greatest fame. These men together built a chapel that could be called the 8th wonder of the world. The wall paintings were decorated by several talented Florentine painters. It was done by Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli, as well as the Perugian Pietro Perugino. The walls of the chapel was divided in three horizontal segments. The lowest porthion of the side walls were covered with a series of tapestries depicting events from the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The central one with two life cycles, one relating the life of Moses, and the other ass...

Neuro

Neuro Educational neuroscience is an upcoming field of science that brings together scholars and researchers in educational psychology, cognitive neuroscience, education theory, and developmental cognitive neuroscience among other related disciplines in exploring the various interactions that exist between education theory and biological processes.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Neuro-Scientific Research Findings and Recent Discoveries: How the Brain Learns specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Neuroscientific research is arguably one of the major areas of study which have continued to draw increased human concern and attention in the world. According to Goswami (2007), Neuroscience plays the key role of bridging the gap between the two disciplines, through a more direct form of dialogue between educators and researchers who work together to bring light in the understanding of how the brain functions. Educational neur oscience plays the significant role of emphasizing the overall understanding of the various codes of neuroscience as it is applied in the modern world of scientific study of the human mind and the brain. In that case, the discipline has presently continued to receive great support and concern from both educators in the field and cognitive neuroscientists. As a result of this heightening concern, various academic institutions from allover the world have expressed their willingness to play an active role in supporting the study of educational neuroscience. The contents of this paper reveal how findings in neuroscientific study and recent discoveries on the functions of the brain impact differentiation in the classroom. It is obviously clear that educators ought to be informed about developments in the brain research and the recent big concern of neuroscientific study meets this requirement in a more realistic approach, thus forming an impressive potential at increasing human understan ding of learning and teaching. However, educators should always try to be cautious about the current explosion of neuroscientific research, and they should go for only those findings and observations that are well established. Neuroscientific research offers a diversity of findings on how the brain learns and these insights, even though not all of them would be close to perfection, helps educators to strengthen their knowledge, thus establishing positive grounds for further learning (Sousa Tomlinson, 2011). From these diverse findings, both educators and learners are able to construct their own understanding on the possible relationships. These observations raise many connections through which new opportunities of combining theory and practice are applied. This way, avenues for new knowledge are highly encouraged and facilitated.Advertising Looking for research paper on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More More importantly, neuroscience research provides a pool of information and insights which could assist educators in making the right decisions regarding those assessment and instructional choices that are likely to be more effective in enhancing the concepts in the discipline. The insights into the learning process, offered by research findings plays a key role in affirming the importance of differentiation. The comprehensive study in neuroscience provides endless remarkable discoveries on the way the human brain learns. The practice widely supports the application of differentiated student learning in class, thus facilitating their understanding of the concepts. This also offers a more reliable basis upon which students are able to place their own interpretations. The approach is certain to encourage a more strategic approach and planning on both the educators and the students. Differentiation, as observed in many recent findings and discoveries plays a significant task in brin ging useful insights into the process of learning (Bessant, 2008). For instance, research offers uncountable theories and explanations on the way the human brain learns. Students, in their regular attempts to practically confirm these observations, end up experiencing further on the topic, thus collecting more observations and ideas along the way. With the possible connections of their understanding in most of these findings, students are encouraged to embark on a more learning practice that would enable them to come closer to the reality in what they are trying to learn in class. Research findings and observations can exclusively be applied to offer a systematic focus and impact to learning. Educators in all levels of study can utilize various strategies or practices to translate research findings into more useful strategies that can be used to enhance student understanding in class. One way by which educators can translate research findings into teaching strategies is by incorpora ting instructional activities in addressing the research findings. Educators can also assess various research findings that tend to provide a more concise approach to the understanding of the concepts and try to analyze them further, to establish any connections with what they are trying to teach about the functions of the human brain and how it learns. Educators can also translate research findings into useful learning strategies that can aid in establishing effective learning grounds. The many different observations perceived through the study of neuroscience normally provides a perfect guidance on the direction which educators should take in addressing their students in a more convenient way that would enable them understand better.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Neuro-Scientific Research Findings and Recent Discoveries: How the Brain Learns specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another useful way of transla ting research observations into useful teaching and learning strategies is by trying to come up with ways of proving the observed findings before coming into final conclusions about them. References Bessant, J. (2008). Hard wired for risk: Neurological science, the adolescent brain and developmental theory. Journal of Youth Studies, 11(3), 347-360. Goswami, U. (2007). Educational neuroscience: Defining a new discipline for the study of mental representations. Mind, Brain, and Education, 1(3), 114-127. Sousa, D. Tomlinson, C. (2011). Differentiation and the brain. Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should Avoid

50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should Avoid 50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should Avoid 50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should Avoid By Maeve Maddox Fred Astaire drew laughs back in the Thirties with his song Lets Call the Whole Thing Off in which the lovers cant agree on the pronunciation of words like either, neither, and tomato. On a personal level, I cringe when I hear someone sound the t in often or pronounce pecan with a short a, but I have to acknowledge that both these pronunciations are widely accepted alternate pronunciations that can be justified by the spelling. Alternate pronunciations, however, are a different matter from out-and-out mispronunciations. The latter, no matter how common, are incorrect, either because of the spelling that indicates another pronunciation, or because of what is widely agreed upon to be conventional usage. Word of caution: Im writing from an American perspective. Here are 50 frequently mispronounced words. The list is by no means exhaustive, but provides a good start. 1. aegis The ae in this word is pronounced /ee/. Say EE-JIS/, not /ay-jis/. In mythology the aegis is associated especially with the goddess Athene. It is her shield with the Gorgons head on it. 2. anyway The problem with this word is not so much pronunciation as the addition of an unnecessary sound. Dont add an s to make it anyways. The word is ANYWAY. 3. archipelago Because the word is from Greek, the ch is pronounced with a /k/ sound. Say /AR-KI-PEL-A-GO/, not /arch-i-pel-a-go/. 4. arctic Note the C after the R. Say /ARK-TIK/, not /ar-tik/. 5. accessory the first C has a hard sound. Say /AK-SESS-OR-Y/, not /ass-ess-or-y/. 6. ask The S comes before the K. Say /ASK/ not /aks/. 7. asterisk Notice the second S. Say /AS-TER-ISK/, not /as-ter-ik/. 8. athlete The word has two syllables, not three. Say /ATH-LETE/, not /ath-uh-lete/. 9. barbed wire Notice the AR in the first syllable. Say /BARBD/, not /bob/. 10. cache The word is of French origin, but it does not end with an accented syllable. A cache is a hiding place or something that is being hidden: a cache of supplies; a cache of money; a cache of drugs. Say /KASH/, not /ka-shay/. 11. candidate Notice the first d. Say /KAN-DI-DATE/, not /kan-i-date/. 12. cavalry This word refers to troops that fight on horseback. Say /KAV-UL-RY/, not /kal-vuh-ry/. NOTE: Calvary refers the place where Jesus was crucified and IS pronounced /kal-vuh-ry/.) 13. chaos The spelling ch can represent three different sounds in English: /tch/ as in church, /k/ as in Christmas, and /sh/ as in chef. The first sound is heard in words of English origin and is the most common. The second sound of ch, /k/, is heard in words of Greek origin. The third and least common of the three ch sounds is heard in words adopted from modern French. Chaos is a Greek word. Say /KAY-OS/, not /tchay-os/. 14. clothes Notice the TH spelling and sound. Say /KLOTHZ/, not /kloz/. 15. daà ¯s A daà ¯s is a raised platform. The pronunciation fault is to reverse the vowel sounds. The word is often misspelled as well as mispronounced. Say /DAY-IS/ not /dÄ «-is/. 16. dilate The word has two syllables, not three. Say /DI-LATE/, not /di-a-late/. 17. drowned This is the past participle form of the verb drown. Notice that there is no D on drown. Dont add one when using the word in its past form. Say /DROWND/, not /drown-ded/. 18. et cetera This Latin term is often mispronounced and its abbreviation is frequently misspelled. Say /ET CET-ER-A/, not /ex cet-er-a/. For the abbreviation, write ETC., not ect. 19. February Just about everyone I know drops the first r in February. The spelling calls for /FEB-ROO-AR-Y/, not /feb-u-ar-y/. 20. foliage The word has three syllables. Say /FO-LI-UJ/, not /fol-uj/. 21. forte English has two words spelled this way. One comes from Italian and the other from French. The Italian word, a musical term meaning loud, is pronounced with two syllables: /FOR-TAY/. The French word, an adjective meaning strength or strong point, is pronounced with one syllable: /FORT/. 22. Halloween The word for the holiday Americans celebrate with such enthusiasm on October 31 derives from Hallowed Evening, meaning evening that has been made holy. The word hallow comes from Old English halig, meaning holy. Notice the a in the first syllable and say /HAL-O-WEEN/, not /hol-lo-ween/. 23. height The word ends in a /T/ sound, not a /TH/ sound. Say /HITE/, not /hith/. 24. heinous People unfamiliar with the TV show Law and Order: S.V.U. may not know that heinous has two syllables. (The show begins with this sentence: In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous.) Say /HAY-NUS/, not /heen-i-us/. 25. hierarchy The word has four syllables. Say /HI -ER-AR-KY,/ not /hi-ar-ky/. 26. Illinois As with Arkansas, the final s in Illinois is not pronounced. Say /IL-I-NOY/ (and /Ar-kan-saw/, not /il-li-noiz/ or /ar-kan-sas/). NOTE: Some unknowledgeable folks may still be trying to pronounce Arkansas as if it had something to do with Kansas. The pronunciation /ar-kan-zuz/ is waaay off base. 27. interpret The word has three syllables. Dont add one! Say /IN-TER-PRET/, not /in-ter-pre-tate/. 28. incident Something that happens is an incident. Dont say incidence when you mean a specific event. There IS a word incidence, but it has a different meaning. 29. irregardless See the real word, regardless. 30. jewelry The word has three syllables. Say /JEW-EL-RY/, not /jew-el-er-y/. The pronunciation /jewl-ry/ is common but not correct, as it removes one syllable from the word. 31. library Notice where the R comes in the word. Say /LI-BRAR-Y/, not /li-ber-ry/. 32. medieval The word has four syllables. The first E may be pronounced either short [med] or long [meed]. Say /MED-EE-EEVAL/ or /MEE-DEE-EEVAL/, not /meed-eval/. 33. miniature The word has four syllables. Say /MIN-I-A-TURE/, not /min-a-ture/. 34. Mischievous This is the adjective form of mischief whose meaning is calamity or harm. Mischievous is now associated with harmless fun so that the expression malicious mischief has been coined as another term for vandalism. Mischievous has three syllables with the accent on the first syllable: /MIS-CHI-VUS/. Dont say /mis-chee-vee-us/. 35. niche The word is from the French and, though many words of French origin have been anglicized in standard usage, this is one that cries out to retain a long e sound and a /SH/ sound for the che. Say /NEESH/, not /nitch/. 36. orient This word has three syllables. As a verb it means to place something in its proper position in relation to something else. It comes from a word meaning east and originally meant positioning something in relation to the east. Now it is used with a more general meaning. Say /OR-I-ENT/, not /or-i-en-tate/. 37. old-fashioned This adjective is formed from a past-participle: fashioned. Dont leave off the ED. Say /OLD-FASHIOND/, not /old-fashion/. 38. picture Theres a K sound in picture. Dont confuse picture with pitcher. Say /PIK-TURE/, not /pitch-er/. Pitcher is a different word. A pitcher is a serving vessel with a handle. 39. precipitation This is a noun that refers to rain or snow, or anything else that normally falls from the sky. As with prescription (below), the prefix is PRE-. Say /PRE-CIP-I-TA-TION/, not /per-cipi-ta-tion/. 40. prescription Note the prefix PRE- in this word. Say /PRE-SCRIP-TION/, not /per- scrip-tion/ or /pro-scrip-tion/. 41. preventive The word has three syllables. A common fault is to add a syllable. Say PRE-VEN-TIVE/, not /pre-ven-ta-tive. 42. pronunciation This word is a noun. It comes from the verb pronounce, BUT it is not pronounced like the verb. Say /PRO-NUN-CI-A-TION/, not /pro-nounce-i-a-tion/. 43. prostate This word for a male gland is often mispronounced. There is an adjective prostrate which means to be stretched out facedown on the ground. When speaking of the gland, however, say /PROS-TATE/, not /pros-trate/. 44. Realtor The word has three syllables. Say /RE-AL-TOR/, not /re-a-la-tor/. 45. regardless The word has three syllables. Please dont add an IR to make it into the abomination irregardless. 46. sherbet The word has only one r in it. Say /SHER-BET/ not /sher-bert/. 47. spayed This is a one-syllable word, the past participle form of the verb to spay, meaning to remove the ovaries from an animal. Like the verb drown (above) the verb spay does not have a D in its infinitive form. Dont add one to the past participle. Say /SPADE/, not /spay-ded/. 48. ticklish The word has two syllables. Say /TIK-LISH/, not /tik-i-lish/. 49. tract Religious evangelists often hand out long printed statements of belief called tracts. Thats one kind of tract. Houses are built on tracts. Then theres the word track. Athletes run on tracks. Animals leave tracks. Dont say /TRAKT/ when you mean /TRAK/, and vice-versa. 50. vehicle Although there is an H in the word, to pronounce it is to sound hicky. Say /VEE-IKL/, not /vee-Hikl/. 51. wintry Heres another weather word often mispronounced, even by the weather person. The word has two syllables. Say /WIN-TRY/, not /win-ter-y/. Got any to add to the list? 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 Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Punctuate References to Dates and TimesTelling a Good Poem from a Bad OneHow to Send Tactful Emails from a Technical Support Desk

Global Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

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Including Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Education Research Paper

Including Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Education Programs - Research Paper Example Further, the differences between children with disabilities or developmental delays and other children are difficult for teachers to deal with (Openshaw 45). However, an inclusive early childhood classroom benefits both normal children and those with disabilities. The former learn acceptance, tolerance and helpfulness, while the latter benefit from the dynamic environment, particularly when they receive supplementary help to overcome any setback caused by their disability. Social workers, special education teachers, speech therapists, and others can provide immense support. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood education programs. Early Childhood Education Optimizing children’s potential through early education depends to a great extent on the environment in which they learn, whether at home, in day care, or in a nursery school classroom. In an inadequate environment, children’s poten tial will not get developed, resulting in quickly widening gaps in achievement which become increasingly difficult to overcome. Example of a model program in America for preschools targetted at low-income children is Head Start. It has offered a helping hand to the nation’s neediest families and children through provision of pre-academic skills, social skills, preventive medical and dental care; and teaching families about nutrition. Head Start also provides child care services otherwise unavailable to low-income parents, and gives nutritious meals and snacks to the preschoolers. It is one of the several early education schemes that ensure that children from lower economic groups get support and preparation for formal schooling (Kennedy 3). The aim is towards equity among all children for reaching their potential and fulfilling their dreams. Short-term beneficial outcomes of the Head Start program are that â€Å"children benefit from improved health and nutrition, and from b eing in a safe and nurturing environment† (Currie 233). Some medium-term benefits of the early education program include the prevention of children being placed in the special education track, and reduced incidence of grade repetition in early grades. Potential cost savings are extensive, because special education is significantly more expensive than regular schooling, and those children who enter special education are more likely to stay in that track. Monitoring of the children’s progress is necessary at every step. Inclusion in Early Childhood Education The concepts of inclusion and exclusion of children with disabilities in relation to the general early education classroom, renders disabled children as ‘different’ from their non-disabled counterparts. Inclusionary discourses are based on the ‘humanness’ of disabled children, where they are not perceived as ‘the other’ as compared to children in the general education classroom. The concept of humanity emphasizes disabled children being ‘like us’. On the other hand, exclusionary approaches to early education believe that regular teachers and early childhood centers are not responsible for the education and care of disabled children (Purdue, Ballard & MacArthur 47). Early childhood education that incorporates inclusion of disabled children, or excludes them is a concept that is a part of a wider social context where there may be