Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Structure And Function Of The Heart Physical Education Essay

Structure And Function Of The Heart Physical Education Essay The cardiovascular system is a very complex and unique system. The main structures of the cardiovascular system include the heart, blood, and blood vessels arteries, capillaries and veins. It is a system that allows all nutrients such as amino acids, electrolytes and lymph, gases, hormones, and blood cells to pass throughout the body, these all aid in the process of fighting diseases, stabilizing body temperature and maintaining homeostasis. Coronary, pulmonary and systemic circulations are the systems that allow blood to be pumped throughout the body, coronary circulation is the system that allows blood to be pumped through the heart, pulmonary circulation is the system that pumps blood through to the lungs and the systemic circulation which is the system that pumps the blood around the rest of the body and to the remaining organs. As humans we have a closed cardiovascular system which means the blood never leaves the circulation of the blood vessels. The coronary circulation is part of the systemic circulation by definition it supplies blood to muscles- muscles of the heart (myocardium), however it is the only system to provide the heart with blood. The blood comes from the aorta and filters through into the right atrium. If the heart didnt receive the blood supply, it would cause severe tissue damage. The pulmonary circulation uses the pulmonary artery to take de-oxygenated blood away from the heart through to the lungs which is where the blood is then oxygenated. The de-oxygenated blood enters the right atrium of the heart and flows through the tricuspid valve and then from there it flows into the right ventricle, here it is then pumped through the pulmonary semilunar valve into the pulmonary artery to the lungs. In the lungs is where the gas exchange takes place, where the CO2 is released and the blood then absorbs oxygen. This is the stage when the pulmonary vein returns the freshly oxygenated blood to the heart. The systemic circulation on the other hand takes the oxygenated blood from the heart and transports it throughout the rest of the body except from the lungs. The system then provides all other organs with the oxygenated blood, the circulation then returns all of the de-oxygenated blood back to the heart for the process to start all over again. The systemic circulation is a much lengthier system than the pulmonary circulation due to transporting blood all over the body. (1)The heart pumps oxygenated blood to the body and deoxygenated blood to the lungs. In the human heart there is one atrium and one ventricle for each circulation, and with both a systemic and a pulmonary circulation there are four chambers in total: left atrium, left ventricle, right atrium and right ventricle. The right atrium is the upper chamber of the right side of the heart. The blood that is returned to the right atrium is deoxygenated (poor in oxygen) and passed into the right ventricle to be pumped through the pulmonary artery to the lungs for re-oxygenation and removal of carbon dioxide. The left atrium receives newly oxygenated blood from the lungs as well as the pulmonary vein which is passed into the strong left ventricle to be pumped through the aorta to the different organs of the body. The blood circuit is flows in the shape of a figure of 8. There are two loops to this circuit. The top loop carries the blood from the heart to the lungs and back (the pulmonary circulation). The bottom loop carries the blood from the heart all over the body (systemic circulation). The 4 main stages of the cardiac cycle are: Atrial Diastole -which is where the top chamber (atria) relaxes and fills with blood from the veins Atrial Systole- where the atria contracts and blood is forced into the relaxing bottom chambers which are otherwise known as ventricles Ventricular systole- which is where the ventricles contract and blood is forced out of the heart in to the arteries. Ventricular diastole -when the ventricles relax and become ready for the next pump cycle. The circulatory system also consists of the lymphatic system; this is a non-closed system that carries a clear liquid called lymph towards the heart and allows an average of 20 litres of blood per day through capillary filtration which removes plasma while leaving the erythrocytes. Around 17 litres of filtered plasma get reabsorbed into the blood vessels; however 3 litres are then left behind in the interstitial fluid. The main role of the lymph system is to provide an auxiliary route for the extra 3 litres to return to the blood. (4) The lymphatic system has multiple interrelated functions: it is responsible for the removal of interstitial fluid from tissues it absorbs and transports fatty acids and fats as chyle from the digestive system it transports white blood cells to and from the lymph nodes into the bones The lymph transports antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such as dendritic cells, to the lymph nodes where an immune response is stimulated. There are three main blood vessels in the cardiovascular system, these are the arteries, veins and capillaries; arteries are responsible for carrying the blood away from the heart, they are made up of a thick elastic muscular wall, which is capable of stretching as blood is being pumped through at a high pressure. The muscle walls are able to contract to force the blood along through the arteries. Veins are made up of a much thinner, less muscular wall compared to the arteries. The blood in the veins is under considerably much lower pressure compared to the blood in the arteries, this is because arteries need higher pressure in order to deliver the oxygenated blood to the arterioles, capillaries, other organs and tissues and to also prevent the back flow of blood, veins dont require this high pressure because the de-oxygenated blood can travel from the tissues to the heart through the veins with the help of the muscle contractions. One of the functions of the veins is to ensure that the blood doesnt flow back towards the heart, veins contain valves every few centimetres along, this helps them push the blood in one direction. However muscle contraction and relaxation can also occur to help squeeze the walls of the veins to help the blood flow back towards the heart when necessary. You can use a stethoscope to hear pulmonary circulation. The sounds that are audible are the ventr icles contracting and the valves closing. Capillaries are the smallest of all the blood vessels they have a wall that is one cell thick, capillaries connect the arterioles and venules this is where all the exchange of nutrients and gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide occurs- through the capillary surfaces. Leucocytes are able to leave our capillaries in order to digest any micro-organisms that could be a potential threat or disease. Arteries, veins and capillaries are all blood vessels of the body and all of them are routes for the blood to pass through to provide their functions. They all contain tunica externa, tunica media and tunica intima. Blood is carried away from the heart via the arteries and the blood returns to the heart through the veins. Our circulatory system is a transport system the carries our blood, oxygen and waste products to and from our bodys cells in order for our bodies to functions. (2) During systemic circulation, blood passes through the kidneys. This phase of systemic circulation is known as renal circulation. During this phase, the kidneys filter much of the waste from the blood. Blood also passes through the small intestine during systemic circulation. This phase is known as portal circulation. During this phase, the blood from the small intestine collects in the portal vein which passes through the liver. The liver filters sugars from the blood, storing them for later When it comes to heat regulation in order to keep cool our capillaries are capable of forcing the blood supply to the surface of the skin, this allows the air to reach the blood and to cool it more easily, and sweating is also induced as part of the heart regulation. However when trying to keep warm our capillaries work hard in order to reduce the blood at the skin surface and sweating is also reduced. This is known as vasoconstriction and vasodilation. Heat regulation is one of the key functions of the circulatory system as well as many other functions. Signals along nerves from the hypothalamus control both vasodilation and vasoconstriction. It is necessary for the human body to have vasodilation and vasoconstriction as it regulates the bodys blood pressure, by constricting and releasing the vessels to allow more or less blood through, for example whilst exercising our heart and breathing rates increase and blood vessels in our limbs dilate in order to deliver more oxygenated blood to our working muscle cells. (3) Vasoconstriction is the narrowing of the blood vessels resulting from contraction of the muscular wall of the vessels, particularly the large arteries and small arterioles. The process is the opposite of vasodilation, the widening of blood vessels. The process is particularly important in staunching haemorrhage and acute blood loss. When blood vessels constrict, the flow of blood is restricted or decreased, thus, retaining body heat or increasing vascular resistance Our blood that is carried around in our cardiovascular system is responsible for maintaining its levels in many advance ways. For example haemostasis is a complex chain reaction that produces the blood to clot this is otherwise known as coagulation. The body clots in two different ways, there is the normal clot which is a good formation that stops bleeding, and there is also a thrombus which is bad as it can block the blood vessels. The endothelium is the cells that create the vessel wall. When the endothelium becomes damaged, for example, when a cut breaks through the wall, collagen fibres then start to appear. These collagen fibres are a protein that is vital for the structure of the vessel wall, these fibres then allow platelets to attach themselves, these are produced from precursor megakaryocytes, its these platelets that lead to the formation of blood clots. The platelets become activated and begin to release a chemical called Thromboxane A2 which calls on more platelets to the area. Fibrin, which is the insoluble form of the soluble protein fibrinogen, is then converted by thrombin. The fibrin begins to appear and layers on top of the platelets which start to fuse them together. This fibrin helps the clot form as the red blood cells stick to the fibrin. This process then repeats until the clot is fully formed. This process is important for the cardiovascular system, this is because the average human contains around 4.7 to 5.7 litres of blood, if around 30%-40% of this is lost it could prove fatal or cause severe damage. The blood the is carried around the cardiovascular system, is made of erythrocytes, leucocytes, platelets and plasma which is mainly water, amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, hormones, vitamins, electrolytes, dissolved gases, and cellular wastes. Erythrocytes contain a globular protein called haemoglobin which allows oxygen to bind to it; this allows the erythrocytes to transport oxygen throughout the body and organs. The haemoglobin molecule is made up of 4 polypeptide chains, 2 containing 141 amino acids and 2 containing 146, attached to each polypeptide chain is a molecule that contains iron and is known as a haem, the function of this molecule is to absorb oxygen until it is fully saturated. Carbon dioxide however binds to the amino acids and not the erythrocytes, this means that is binding to the proteins and not the haem.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Elements of Poetry and Essay Writing :: Education, Writing

I was surprised to find that I could use so many of the techniques that poets use in writing my own essays. For example, by choosing certain words, I can set the tone for the essay and demonstrate certain attitudes. Also, I can take advantage of several technical methods, such as abstractions, assonance, and figures of speech to make an essay more interesting. Further, I think it is important to try and understand the poets meaning behind their word choice. After analyzing the poems of John Donne, Anne Bradstreet, and Robert Frost, I will discuss how I think certain elements can be used in my own writing. Anne Bradstreet used words such as â€Å"loved†, â€Å"happy†, and â€Å"reward† to set a positive tone (963). The author’s attitude came across as grateful and appreciative. In contrast, Robert Frost chose to use words such as â€Å"perish†, â€Å"hate†, and â€Å"destruction†, which displayed a negative tone and attitude (1009). I never really gave this much consideration before, but I think I could use this technique in the future. By choosing the correct words, I can make sure the readers are interpreting my writing as I mean it to come across. I also discovered several technical methods that can be used in my essay writing. This is another area that I never really paid attention to. Sure, I have used some of them, but never knew what they were called or understood the full effect of them. Abstractions and several figures of speech were amongst some of the methods that were found. For example, â€Å"Batter my heart, three-personed God† (Doone 988), â€Å"To My Dear and Loving Husband† (Bradstreet 963), and â€Å"Fire and Ice† (Frost 1009), abstractions were used. Abstractions are words that we use to describe something that has no concrete reality (Charters 787). For example, in Doone’s poem, the author used words such as â€Å"weak† and â€Å"untrue† (989). Bradstreet also used this technique by using the word â€Å"love† (963). And finally, Frost’s word choice was cleverly utilized with using â€Å"desire† and â€Å"hate† (1009). These are also considered examples of figurative speech in that they use simile or metaphor in describing the subject (Charters 795). I feel by taking advantage of some of these techniques, I can make my essays more interesting for readers. To add, I found several figures of speech techniques such as metonymy, apostrophe, hyperbole and symbols were used in Anne Bradstreet’s poem â€Å"To My Dear and Loving Husband† (963).

Essay --

Todd Robins couldn’t remember the last time he had checked the mail. Surely his mailbox would be overflowing with letters and bills and brochures for colleges. When he got to the end of his driveway, he saw that it wasn’t full at all! In fact, it seemed as though the mailbox were empty. He decided to peek inside anyway. When he looked inside, he saw only one thing. A small slip of paper. Todd reached in and took out the mysterious slip. It was folded so that he could see only his name, Todd Robins, at the top. He walked inside and opened up the slip. It informed him that he had won a one day and one night stay in an exclusive mountain cabin up in the Rocky Mountains. ‘That’s strange. I don’t remember entering any sweepstakes or anything.’ Todd thought puzzledly. He decided to just go along with it. A little vacation couldn’t hurt, right? He was close, too, so getting there wouldn’t be a problem. The slip had the address on the bottom along with a time to get to the cabin. He had to be there in 24 hours in order to get his prize, or the second runner up would get it. When Todd w...

Monday, September 2, 2019

11th and 12th section review

What was America's first major industry? In what region of the nation did it center? Lowell, Massachusetts(Northeast). Textiles became America's first major industry. 2. Name three of this era's important inventors and their respective inventions. John Deere perfected the plow. Cyrus McCormick, in 1834, received a patent for a reaping machine, a horse-drawn device that allowed one man to cut and stack ten to twelve acres of grain in a single day. Samuel Colt made his mark on the firearms industry.He patented and manufactured a â€Å"six-shooter,† a pistol with a revolving cylinder which allowed a user to fire six times before reloading. . Why was the discovery of anthracite coal in western Pennsylvania important? American farm production grew at a tremendous rate. In 1789, farmers had generally eked out only enough to feed their own families. But by 1861, the United States was producing nearly $2 billion worth of agricultural products each year. 4. How did the invention of the cotton gin increase the differences between the South and the rest of the nation?The growth of the cotton kingdom, however, widened the gap between the South on the one hand and the North and the West on the other. Cotton growing, for one thing, revitalized slavery. In 1790, slavery had seemed an increasingly unprofitable and dying institution. With the advent of the cotton gin, however, many planters thought that slavery was necessary again. 1. Name two methods of surfacing roads in the nineteenth century. Corduroy roads and toll roads 2. What event marked the beginning of the canal era?The canal era began in 1817, when New York, at the urging of Governor DeWitt Clinton, began building a canal from Albany to Lake Erie. 3. What was America's most important method of transportation by 1861? The clipper ship 4. What was the first economically successful railroad in America? Who designed its first steam engine? Baltimore & Ohio (B & O) Railroad and Peter Cooper 5. What system of carry ing mail across the continent began in 1860? What invention put it out of business? Semaphore and Telegraph 1 . What was the most controversial reform movement of the first half of the nineteenth century?Who was its most important leader? Without doubt the most controversial reform movement in the first half of the nineteenth century was abolitionism, the movement to eliminate slavery and William Lloyd Garrison. 2. What were the two important trends in American education in the early 1800s? Two important trends developed in the reform of American education during this period: the growth of both public education and teacher education. Most schooling since colonial days had been a private affair. 3. What is the difference between temperance and Prohibition?Reformers eventually replaced their call for temperance, or moderate drinking, with a call for the outright prohibition, or banning, of the sale and consumption of alcohol. 4. How did utopian reformers differ from other reformers? M ost reformers focused on a single major problem in society, such as prison reform r alcohol, and aimed at eliminating the problem throughout society. Utopian reformers, on the other hand, sought to establish small, perfect communities that would serve as models tor the retorm ot society at large.A utopia is an ideally perfect place. 5. Which authors defended romanticism's idea that man is basically good? Which authors denied this idea? 6. How did the Journalistic approach of the New York Sun differ from that of the New York Tribune? He Sun contained sensational accounts of murders, scandals, and other lurid events to appeal to the baser tastes of readers. The Tribune, edited by Horace Greeley, supported reform fforts and attempted to educate and uplift its readers.The two approaches proved equally successful, and both the Sun and the Tribune attracted readers even outside of New York. 1 . Why did western Pennsylvania become an early center of American heavy industry? Guns and patent s 2. How did reform movements affect the American public during the first half of the nineteenth century? More religion groups 3. During the Second Great Awakening, which were more emotional, the revivals in the East or the revivals in the West? In which region did the revivals center in the schools and churches? East and Northeast

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Life Without Music Written by a 4th Grader

â€Å"Without music, life would be a mistake (Friedrich Nietzsche)†. What is the function of music to life and to the society? By definition, music is the art or science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. Music universal and without it, the world would be a totally different place, and in this essay I will discuss how. Firstly I will be discussing about how music is extremely important and then I will talk about a counter-argument on why this is not so.For my counter-argument, it will be based on the premise of modern music. â€Å"It’s the music that you choose† – 19-2000 by Gorillaz in their debut album Why is music important? Music is a universal language, but what does this mean? Music, or at least good music, conveys a lot of emotion, ideas and notions that are inexpressible in English, or any other language. What does music do? Music breaks this language barrier and provid es people with means of communication. It inspires common human feelings and bridges gaps between cultures that spoken languages cannot.It brings people together and creates universal community. â€Å"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. † – Aldous Huxley Music is one of the best ways to evoke emotions healthily. It touches our emotional being and evokes moods and feelings that are sometimes difficult to express. It can change a difficult mood and make it happy or excited; it can change a light mood and take it deeper and more profound. For people who are not good at expressing their emotions, music is a very good method to do so.It has been shows that people with Asperger’s Syndrome ( high-functioning autism) benefit from music. Bottling up emotions is extremely unhealthy. If music be the food of love, play on. – William Shakespeare One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. -Bob Marley Mu sic also generates an ambient atmosphere. You can use music in any environment to enhance and augment what is already there. For me, personally, music is my sanctuary. Music is my release of emotions and I love ‘feeling' the music.I put everything I have into it so I can put the emotions the composer was feeling when they wrote the piece. Then when I’ve finished playing/listening I feel like I’ve accomplished something great. Music is something that I can control and change to fit whatever I’m feeling. Religious people also claim that music heightens their spirituality. Every religion on the planet uses music in some form or the other to enhance the soul, whether it is the rhythmic chants from Buddhism or the devotional songs in Hinduism.Music is recreational; listening to soothing songs can be a way of relaxing and allowing your body and mind to take break from the monotony of life. Studies have proven that music can be a good way of helping your imaginat ion develop There is nothing in the world so much like prayer as music is. – William P. Merrill There are other various benefits from music such as enhanced brain function, helping develop the imagination, and making mundane and boring activities much, much more enjoyable â€Å"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. † – John LennonThere really is no objective answer to the question â€Å"Why is music important†. It inspires people and allows us to get in touch with our emotions in a way that is unique. For those amongst us who find it difficult to express ourselves, music can evoke reactions. Your mood can change from dark and depressed to elated and delirious happiness with just the selection of the right track and a hit of the play button. Music works wonders on creating a certain atmosphere. You can use music to liven up a boring party or to create a romantic ambiance.For my counter-argument I will modify Nietzsche’s quote by a little, â€Å" Without Good music, life would be a mistake (Friedrich Nietzsche)†. I completely agree with Nietzsche’s statement of how without music, one’s life is incomplete. In modern music there is no depth and emotion in their music and this can be seen from artists like â€Å"Lady GaGa, Justin bieber, Katy Perry and various others†. I shall quote from the song â€Å"poker face† by Lady GaGa, she repeats â€Å"Poker face† till infinity.There is no emotion or feelings conveyed in this type of music, therefore, life is incomplete without Good Music. In conclusion, music is essential in the lives of people as it plays a significant part that no other such form of entertainment can replace and conveys emotions and feelings no language can convey. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. https://www. google. com. sg/search? sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=what+is+music%2F#hl=e n&q=music&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=7uiXT6i5N5GzrAeWoY2oAQ&ved=0CCsQkQ4&bav=on. 2,or. r_gc. r_pw. r_cp. r_qf. ,cf. osb&fp

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Poetry and Happiness

In the poem, â€Å"Happiness†, the poet, Priscilla Leonard, illustrates for the reader that happiness cannot be contained and that one human cannot own all happiness. The poem happiness is about how to live life to the fullest. In the first two lines of the poem, †Happiness is a crystal/ fair and exquisite and clear† the feeling and emotion that the poet gives the reader, is peaceful and tranquil(1-2). Leonard throws a different perspective at the reader when she write ,†broken in a million pieces/shattered scattered far and near(4-5).The emotion has now been cut off. It is like an alarm clock to the reader. She goes onto say in the last part of the stanza that if one understands this and â€Å"now and then along life’s pathway/lo! Some shining fragments fall† and they are lucky enough to behold these pieces of happiness, they will experience great joy(5-6). Leonard writes that â€Å"there are so many pieces/ no one ever finds them all† t o say happiness is not bought, nor to be stolen, but it is to be earned, found, and given to one another(7-8). There are different pieces of happiness.Some pieces of happiness that Leonard says, are that â€Å"you may find a bit of beauty/or an honest share of wealth†(9-10). beauty and honest wealth are two things modern women wish to have and to be. Leonard being a woman might have placed these two elements of beauty to reach out to certain woman readers, so that they could relate to the poem. Leonard tells a tale about a neighbor, and how their greed got them no happiness, and no matter how much they searched and reached out to grab all happiness, it escaped their grasp.Before that she tells of the wise on their journey of life. She wrote that they â€Å"treasure every fragment clear/[and] fit them as they may together/imaging the shattered sphere†(17-19). The wise care about and realize that they are â€Å"to be ever thankful† even though their share of wisdo m is tiny, they understand that â€Å"it has so many pieces no one ever finds them all†(20,22-23). The wise know that their gift of happiness is being wise and that there are also many other great gifts in the world. There is, of course, a difference etween the fool and the wise. Once the fool receives a gift , he tries to get all he can. The wise get a gift and know to be satisfied with what they have, and not to wander around looking for more satisfaction. The wise, being wise imagine not just a sphere that the poet has put into context for u, but the true meaning of happiness. The reason why the author uses a crystal ball as a symbol for happiness is because a crystal seems fragile and priceless, but at the same time a sense of immortality.A crystal is treasured and admired by all who see it. Thieves and fools want it so they can have more pleasures. Respectable and wise people use it as a gift and are humble. Holding all happiness in your hands can have a strange effect t hough. Even some of the wisest men have fallen under its luring spell. Don’t be deceived by happiness, it is like a double-edged sword. If people would pay more careful attention to poets like Priscilla Leonard there might not be so many corrupted souls in the world.Happiness is not a toy that can be pulled out and played with, only to be lost when searching for more. Since happiness cannot be contained, but it can easily be destructive and lost. Treat it like a crystal; clear, true, and exquisite. When happiness seems to be out of reach, wait a little until some falls on your lap. Until then admire it as you would a passing cloud. This close reading has helped to take a step back and to realize the value of looking at life through a wide angled lens. And to not just look at happiness, but in all the elements of life.

Friday, August 30, 2019

English Language Advertisement Essay

Plan: 1. Advertising is one of the most prominent and powerful uses of language. 2. The Features of Advertising. 3. Is advertising language normal language? Does advertising language sometimes break the rules of normal language? 4. References. 1. Advertising is one of the most prominent and powerful uses of language. Advertising is one of the most prominent, powerful, and ubiquitous contemporary uses of language. Its seductive and controversial quality has attracted consistent and intense attention across a range of academic disciplines including linguistics, media studies, politics, semiotics, and sociology. The reasons for this academic interest are far from superficial. The study of advertising brings together many of the key social and political issues of our time: the new capitalism; globalization; overconsumption and the environment; cultural and individual identities; and the communications revolution. It provides insight into the ideologies and values of contemporary societies. Advertising’s creative use of language makes it a particularly rich site for language and discourse analysis. Operating in all media and exploiting the interaction between word, sound, and image, it provides a key location for studies of multimodal communication. Simultaneously poetic and commercial, it raises questions about the nature of creativity and art. Ever since the intensification of advertising in the 1950s, leading scholars have analyzed its use of language. This new four-volume Routledge Major Work brings together for the first time the most seminal and controversial works, allowing users to obtain a wide and inclusive view of this rewarding topic. It will be welcomed by scholars and other researchers in the field as an invaluable ‘mini library’ on the language of advertising. 2. The Features of Advertising Advertising Language is characterized by the following features. In any given advertisement these features may appear or be largely absent, such is the great variety of advertising copy found on promo products such as promotional tote bags and T-shirts. However these features may be said to be typical of advertising in general. Even advertisements which do not use the traditional features to attract inform and persuade may be described as being incontrast to the traditional features. Some modern advertisements appear to be almost dissuading consumers from their product – but this is a technique used as a determined way of not conforming to tradition. See Benetton, Marmite. Hyperbole – exaggeration, often by use of adjectives and adverbs. Frequent use of adjectives and adverbs. A limited range of evaluative adjectives includes new, clean, white, real, fresh, right, natural, big, great, slim, soft, wholesome, improved†¦ Neologisms may have novelty impact, e.g. Beanz, Meanz Heinz, Cookability, Schweppervescence, Tangoed, Wonderfuel†¦ Long noun phrases, frequent use of pre and post modifiers for descriptions. Short sentences for impact on the reader. This impact is especially clear at the beginning of a text, often using bold or large type for the â€Å"Headline† or â€Å"slogan† to capture the attention of the reader. Ambiguity is common. This may make a phrase memorable and re-readable. Ambiguity may be syntactic (the grammatical structure) or semantic (puns for example). Weasel words are often used. These are words which suggest a meaning without actually being specific. One type is the open comparative: â€Å"Brown’s Boots Are Better† (posing the question â€Å"better than what?†); another type is the bogus superlative: â€Å"Brown’s Boots are Best† (posing the question â€Å"rated alongside what?†) Euphemisms :†Clean Round the Bend† for a toilet cleaner avoids comment on â€Å"unpleasant† things. The classic exampe is â€Å"B.O† for â€Å"body odour† (in itself a euphemism for â€Å"smelly person†). Avoidance of negatives (advertising normally emphasises the positive side of a product – though see Marmite, Tango, Benetton, for whom it seems that all publicity is good). Simple and Colloquial language: â€Å"It ain’t half good† to appeal to ordinary people, though it is in fact often complex and deliberately ambiguous. Familiar language: use of second person pronouns to address an audience and suggest a friendly attitude. Present tense is used most commonly, though nostalgia is summoned by the simple past Simple vocabulary is most common, my mate Marmite, with the exception of technical vocabulary to emphasise the scientific aspects of a product (computers medicines and cars but also hair and cleaning products) which often comes as a complex noun phrase, the new four wheel servo-assisted disc brakes. Repetition of the brand name and the slogan, both of which are usually memorable by virtue of alliteration (the best four by four by far); rhyme (the cleanest clean it’s ever been); rhythm (drinka pinta milka day); syntactic parallelism (stay dry, stay happy); association (fresh as a mountain stream). Humour. This can be verbal or visual, but aims to show the product positively. Verbal Puns wonderfuel and graphic positions are common. Glamorisation is probably the most common technique of all. â€Å"Old† houses become charming, characterful, olde, worlde or unique. â€Å"Small† houses become compact, bijou, snug or manageable. Houses on a busy road become convenient for transport. A cafà © with a pavement table becomes a trattoria, moving up market aspires to be a restaurant, too cramped it becomes a bistro. Not enough room to serve it becomes a fast food servery. If the menu is English food it is likely to be traditional, home-baked or home made; if the menu is French the cake will be gateau, the potted meat patà ©, bits of toast in your soup will be croutons. The decor will be probably chic, possibly Provenà §al. Finally, potency. Vance Packard (1960) memorably said: â€Å"The cosmetic manufacturers are not selling lanolin, they are selling hope †¦ we no longer buy oranges, and we buy vitality. We do not just buy an auto, we buy prestige.† 3. Is advertising language normal language? Does advertising language sometimes break the rules of normal language? These questions relate to the place of advertising language in the context of the readers’ general knowledge of language (we will presume that the language is English). In order to answer them, we must have some conception of what is meant by â€Å"normal language†. The English language has evolved to have many different kinds of functionality, each of which correspond to different situations and styles of use. From an analytic point of view, it seems to make most sense to understand â€Å"normal language† to include the variety of styles of English that mature speakers and readers control. This will form the backdrop of everyday language in its many functions, against which we can view advertising language. If one looks around in literature on advertising, or searches on the WWW, it is not uncommon to find claims to the effect that advertising breaks the rules of normal language and language use. However, from the perspective of a professional linguist, few of these claims really seem to be supportable. Now, with the exception of linguists, few people have any reason to pay close attention to the way that language is actually used in its speech community, for a wide range of communicative functions. Like many aspects of human being and human behavior, our unconscious knowledge of language is much greater than our conscious knowledge of it, so the facts about language that are immediately accessible to the average person only cover part of what the language is and how it is used. Collect some text from advertisements that you have found. Can you find any examples of words, phrases or constructions that are truly different from the various varieties that you encounter on a regular basis? These varieties may include informal spoken language between close friends to technical and scientific descriptions (more likely to be written), and everything in between. Doubtless, not all of the text you find will be standard English, but is any of it not English at all? In doing this exercise, it may be that you will learn more about what creative possibilities your language allows, rather than how much advertising goes beyond the boundaries of that language. In a recent short article in the journal Nature, Pullum and Scholz (2001) point out that, at every level, language has a level of creativity that allows it to be ever-expanding, ever-changing. Even the idea that there is a stock of words which constitute the English language cannot be upheld, because it is always possible to invent new words, and new names in particular. Thus, â€Å"Here is my new invention; I call it â€Å"X† † is a strategy in everyday English which advertisers can take advantage of, when the y state â€Å"Introducing the all-new â€Å"Y† â€Å". In an interesting coincidence which illustrates the point very clearly, the Dreamweaver ® program which we have used to construct this website has the command â€Å"Indent† to indent a paragraph, and we used it to format the quote below from McQuarrie and Micks. In the command menu, the command after this one is â€Å"Outdent†, which makes a paragraph wider. Neither of us had seen this word before, yet we understood its meaning, and certainly did not reject it as â€Å"non-English†. This is not to say that any random new word can be generated for the author’s purposes in any context. The â€Å"Outdent† example above is presented in a very clear context, which makes apprehending its usage and meaning quite clear. We generally find that novel words presented in an advertisement have the same supporting context; they may be new, but they are not â€Å"out of the blue†. The work of McQuarrie and Mick (1996) is highly relevant in this context. They place advertising language in the context of the study of rhetoric, and observe: â€Å"A rhetorical figure has traditionally been defined as an artful deviation (Corbett 1990). More formally, a rhetorical figure occurs when an expression deviates from expectation, the expression is not rejected as nonsensical or faulty, the deviation occurs at the level of form rather than content, and the deviation conforms to a template that is invariant across a variety of content and contexts. This definition supplies the standard against which deviation is to be measured (i.e., expectations), sets a limit on the amount and kind of deviation (i.e., short of a mistake), locates the deviation at the level of the formal structure of a text, and imposes a grouping requirement (i.e., there are a limited number of templates, each with distinct characteristics).† The unusual aspects of language that we sometimes find in advertising can be fruitfully considered to be examples of â€Å"artful deviations†. 36.3 VW ad (Rolling Stone, May 23, 2002): Heck, it’s been re-everything-ed. This new verb is coined on the basis of a very robust feature of English, which allows nouns to be used as verbs (see Clark and Clark (1979)). In this case, the new verb is also prefixed and suffixed. Out of the blue, â€Å"to re-everything† would be hard to interpret, but in the context provided by the advertisement, its meaning is clear. In the summer of 2002 the pop group No Doubt had a hit song called â€Å"Hella Good†; some of the lyrics are shown here: Hella Good (G. Stefani/ T. Dumont/ P. Williams/ C. Hugo/ T. Kanal) You got me feeling hella good So let’s just keep on dancing You hold me like you should So I’m gonna keep on dancing (Keep on dancing) â€Å"Hella good† is not advertising language, and it is not standard English, but it is certainly â€Å"pop music English†, and it is the kind of phrase that anyone could produce in conversation. In 48 Cointreau (InStyle, August 2002) we find an example of a blend, â€Å"Be Cointreauversial†.