Ikea Invades America free essay sample

Founded in 1943 by a poor Swedish farmer named Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA is now one of the largest furniture retailers in the world. From its inception, Kamprad wanted to create cheap, quality furniture that everyone could afford. That formula led to IKEA’s early success in Sweden and has carried over until today. To its customers, IKEA is not just a store but a way of life, which may be evident through the cult-like following the company has achieved. When talking about the four P’s of marketing (product, price, place, promotion), there are few companies in the world that have mastered this concept better than IKEA. IKEA has been able to recognize the demands of its shoppers and create compelling products that meet those demands at a reasonable price. Its products are sold at unique stores that serve strategically important, geographic markets. This paper examines the factors that have made IKEA such a big success and offers some recommendations for future growth in the United States. We will write a custom essay sample on Ikea Invades America or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Today, IKEA has over 240 stores in 35 countries and has revenues of over $26 billion. Its revenues double every 5-6 years and the company is now expanding to growing markets like China, Japan, and Brazil. The future of IKEA looks brighter than ever. For a brief snapshot of IKEA’s current sales around the world see Appendix 1. In 1985, IKEA decided to invade America. Faced with this early failure, IKEA retooled its furniture to fit American tastes. IKEA soon became the fastest growing furniture retailer and the 14th largest furniture retailer overall in the United States. IKEA executives needed to find a balance of how to create new furniture offerings without losing its unique design and corporate soul. By examining IKEA’s marketing strategy and answering a series of four questions, we have developed recommendations (see Appendix 2) that we think will lead to IKEA’s continued growth and success. 1) What are some of the ways that furniture retailers have sought to overcome these purchase obstacles? : a) identifying a product that consumers like, b) visualizing the product in the consumer’s home, and c) getting the product in the consumer’s home? In furniture sales, there are two general strategies: the low-end and the high-end. The low-end offers cheap, utilitarian furniture that is dreary looking. Cheap furniture is marketed to people such as college students who have a small budget. The cheap furniture is also displayed in poorly lit showrooms that offer little to no customer service. High-end furniture stores compete on quality and service. The high-end offers a large selection in each style and sub-style of furniture, which results in the showroom having a large inventory. The broad, variety strategy virtually guarantees that a customer’s preferred style will be available. The high-end stores also have high touch sales associates to help customers with product selection and furniture measurement. Sales associates are trained to educate their customers; such as explaining the life spans of different materials. They also reassure customers that their furniture will last a life time. Visualizing a piece of furniture in a person’s home can be very difficult. The high-end furniture stores have beautiful showrooms that are elaborately decorated to help the customer visualize where they can place new furniture or how they can redecorate their home. High-end stores also offer interior design services. Most retailers offer credit to make high-end furniture more affordable. All retailers offer home delivery, sometimes free, to make the transition as painless as possible for the customer. As an added bonus, retailers offer to assemble the furniture in the customer’s home. Sometimes, delivering the furniture also involves rearranging furniture, as well as removing and discarding old furniture. Providing these services makes the purchase of new furniture an easy and worry-free process. 2) Explain IKEA’s reverse positioning strategy. IKEA created a matrix used to prioritize product lineup and price. (See Appendix 3) Primarily the matrix is used to set a target retail price and select a product style. With the matrix system, IKEA is able to identify product line opportunities and gaps; creating a well rounded store. IKEA has avoided the image of the low end furniture store by displaying furniture in brightly lit showrooms. These showrooms help customers envision how the furniture interacts with the allotted space. Plus color coordinated cards provide design tips and information kiosks are on hand to help customers. All of these features reinforce IKEA’s self service ethos without making the customer feel abandoned. In IKEA’s case, the firm rejected the standard business models for both high-end and low-end furniture stores. IKEA’s furniture is composed of cheaper parts that are not visible and are not under high stress through use and a higher quality material is used for the visible parts or parts under high stress. This gives IKEA’s furniture a higher end look while keeping their costs low. IKEA’s reverse positioning kept prices low, while eliminating many services thought essential to a higher-end store. The company replaced them with unique services for its category: a bright, inviting showroom, furniture that was attractively designed, a child care center, a restaurant serving Swedish meatballs, and brightly colored house wares and clever toys. As a result, IKEA successfully avoided the feel of the low-end retailers, and customers â€Å"find the IKEA shopping experience to be immensely appealing (Moon, â€Å"IKEA Invades America,† 5). 3) What are some of the various product/service attributes that IKEA has chosen to withhold from its customers? IKEA seems to incorporate a hybrid strategy focusing on both cost and differentiation. IKEA attempts to price in the low to midrange category. IKEA does not build its furniture to last a lifetime, which in-fact flows well with its ad campaigns focused on letting go of the semimetal value Americans often place on furniture. IKEA products are known for falling apart after a few years; however, its customers are typically satisfied with the look, functionality, and affordability of IKEA products (Moon, 2004, p. 5). Its focus is on cost-efficiency, so the company uses higher-quality materials on visible surfaces and lower-quality materials elsewhere. High-end stores compete on quality and â€Å"high touch† experience and selection. Nearly all types of furniture stores offer delivery services. However, IKEA successfully eliminated many of these attributes. IKEA products are designed to be transported unassembled in flat boxes, which keeps shipping costs low and prevents IKEA from having to deliver/assemble furniture for customers (Moon, 2004, p. ). Customers are responsible for transportation of their furniture and assembly of their furniture. Although this step may seem like its decreasing the consumer experience/perceived product value; it’s actually keeping the customer involvement level high. Moreover, the competitive pricing offered at IKEA is attributed to letting customer build their own furniture, which keeps costs to a minimum. Formerly, IKEA only produced a few different designs; however, this has changed in recent years. In order to be consistent with IKEA’s self-service ethos and to keep costs low, the ratio of sales assistants to customers is kept low. The low number of sales associates can have a negative effect on the consumer experience. To handle furniture questions, customers are provided with product descriptions and measuring tape so they can make their own measurements. 4) What are some of the areas that IKEA has managed to achieve cost efficiency by implementing a number of firm-specific operation processes? A number of cost effective operating processes have been implemented by IKEA. In furniture design, IKEA engineers often select cheaper/low quality materials for less visible areas that experience minimal stress and expensive materials for visible areas that undergo stress. This aids IKEA in producing durable, good-quality products at low costs. IKEA has worked with over 1,800 suppliers in over 50 countries and often uses suppliers from developing countries. To keep costs down, IKEA usually purchases in bulk and often orders various components of a given product from different suppliers. IKEA is strict with employees about waste; it enforces minimal travel budgets and requires them to save electricity. IKEA keeps a small staff in stores and provides self-serve trolleys to aid consumers in loading their vehicles. Typical furniture retailers require a larger staff and/or incur shipping costs for delivery of their bulky, already assembled products. Flat packaging allows IKEA customers to transport their purchases home and eliminates the expense of home delivery. IKEA’s flat packaging strategy is another firm specific operating process. The strategy was inspired by an employee who, in 1955, removed the legs off a table to fit it into a customer’s car. This strategy requires designers to keep in mind the amount of space their products take up in their unassembled form. Flat packaging also helps prevent damage to the products during the shipping process. IKEA will often redesign their products multiple times to achieve space optimization and reduce shipping costs. Space optimization typically lowers prices for consumers; however, it may lengthen the assembly process. IKEA should continue to incorporate cost cutting activities across the board so long as the consumer experience remains positive.

The Complete Guide on How to Write a Winning Ecology Term Paper

The Complete Guide on How to Write a Winning Ecology Term Paper Before delving into the structure and elements that characterize an ecology term paper, it is important to define what an ecology term paper is, and explore the objectives of writing a term paper on ecology. A term paper in ecology is a research paper that students are required to submit at the end of a semester to evaluate and track acquired knowledge about ecology courses. As opposed to essays on ecology, term papers require significant research and use of technical writing skills. The term paper may focus on a multitude of topics in ecology and must be well-written, organized, logical, and well-researched to reflect the learner’s knowledge of the topic, the area of study, and the term paper requirements, as provided by the professor. The lecturers provide students with term paper topics. On different occasions, it is common for instructors to present students with an opportunity to explore different topics in ecology, depending on the area of ecology studied in the course a nd the course requirements. The Peculiarities of Selecting an Ecology Term Paper Topic When choosing a topic, you should always consider the following: The length of the paper. Term papers in ecology have the varied scope of content implying that some topics may either be narrow or broad. Always consider the required length of the term paper as provided by the professors. You should ask yourself the questions, such as â€Å"Will the paper be long, at least 10 pages, or short, up to 5 pages? or How many words are required for the term paper?. The point is that when you are able to ascertain the required length of paper, it will be easy to choose topics that match the required number of words or pages. In this case, if the required length of the term paper exceeds 10 pages, choose a broad ecology topic. Conversely, select topics that are narrow if the term paper should be less than five pages. The resource availability. Check available resources, such as ecology books, articles, and online sources to not only gather ideas on topics but also ensure that a chosen topic has readily available and sufficient material for reference when writing the term paper. Magazines and news articles are also essential sources that provide different angles concerning factors affecting the ecosystems. The complexity of the topic. Some ecology topics are complex. Notably, the complexity varies depending on the level of study. Ensure that you choose topics that you can handle with ease. When it is impossible to focus on simpler topics, ensure you are able to explain the chosen topic regardless of its complexity. If stuck, seek advice from your lecturer or other experts within the learning institution. In this case, let your instructor explain certain areas of the topic that you find complex. Pre-Writing Stage to Generate and Clarify Ideas Starting the process of writing a term paper can be challenging even when one has clear prompts, materials, and ideas on what should be written. All term paper writers face the dilemma of translating their thoughts into a coherent and carefully articulated paper. Before beginning the writing process, seek clarifications where needed and go through the provided instructions where provided. Planning, brainstorming, and outlining ideas are among the essential pre-writing tips that enable one to write a coherent term paper in ecology. Planning. An ecology term paper requires appropriate articulation of facts without speculating concepts or including unfounded information. Therefore, planning is paramount because it entails determining the paper timeline, allocating time to different parts of the paper writing process, and crafting a resource outline to ensure the availability of enough reference materials. Brainstorming. As soon as you settle on a topic, start taking inventory of the topic ideas as they come to your mind and write them down in no particular order. Brainstorming helps with keeping track of all thoughts and ideas related to the topic and presents the writer with new avenues to explore concerning the term paper topic. Freewriting. Free writing is similar to the brainstorming as it helps you transfer your thoughts onto paper. However, free writing should entail writing ideas about the ecology topic in more formal sentences that only need editing and referencing. As opposed to listing ideas, ensure to transform the standalone concepts into a free flow of coherent information. Outlining. With the ecology topic at hand and ideas on the paper, make an outline of the concepts that should constitute the term paper. List ideas that should be discussed in the introduction section and those that should constitute the body of the paper and the conclusion segment. Below are examples you can choose for your ecology term paper topics: Explain the Importance of Herbivores in Preventing Competitive Exclusion; Describe the Influence of Diversity on the Function of Ecosystems; State the Past and Expected Effects of Climate Change on Vegetation; Carbon Dioxide Has Significant Effects on Plants and Humans. Explore the Direct Effect of Elevated Carbon Dioxide on Vegetation; Explain the Impacts of Ecosystems on The Quality of Water. Concise and Well-Written Thesis Statement Is a Must Our Writers Claim Setting for a topic and crafting a creative and compelling title for the term paper is only a single aspect in writing an ecology term paper. Before learning how and why to draft the thesis statement, let us analyze what a thesis statement is. What Constitutes a Thesis Statement? A thesis statement summarizes the claim or main point of the term paper. It should inform the reader of the significance of the ecology subject matter under discussion and provide a roadmap for the entire paper. If the term paper is about global warming, the thesis statement should provide a claim for or against global warming and offer a way to understand the concept. A thesis statement should: make a disputable claim or interpretation; be written as a single sentence at the end of the instruction segment of the introduction to present the writer’s argument; serve as the organizing principle of the term paper. The body of the term paper should organize information and evidence that convince the reader of the logic of your claim in the thesis statement. If the term paper topic asks you to develop a claim about protecting endangered species, you should convey that claim into the thesis statement. Term papers can require you to compare and contrast, interpret, analyze, or take a position on issues affecting the ecosystem and other elements of ecology. Thus, it is essential to develop a thesis statement and provide persuasive support using appropriate sources. Crafting an appropriate thesis statement is challenging, but it is important to know how to draft one because it is an essential component of every term paper regardless of its length. How Do I Develop a Thesis Statement? Formulating a thesis statement is a lengthy process that occurs after developing a topic for the term paper. The following steps help to develop an appropriate thesis statement. Read, analyze, and compare sources. Collect and organize information found in books, journals, articles, and online sources on the chosen ecology topic. Look for relationships between the ideas and concepts that constitute the topic and analyze the significance of the established relationships. Draft the thesis. Draft a statement that presents the basic argument of ideas that result from the analyzed sources, and which you are sure to support with scholarly evidence. The drafted statement is likely to be adjusted when writing other parts of the term paper; thus, do not be too rigid. Consider the counter-arguments. Since you will take a stand on one side of the chosen argument and ideas, consider the other side of the argument. Notably, considering the counterclaims helps in refining the thesis statement. How Do I Know If My Thesis Is Strong? Where possible, ask your friends or your instructor for feedback on the strength and viability of your thesis statement. If there are no people to provide you with feedback within the appropriate time, evaluate the thesis in person. During the evaluation, ask yourself the following questions: Does my thesis statement answer the term paper question? If the term paper is based on a question prompt, re-read the question and crosscheck it with the developed thesis statement to ensure you do not miss the focus of the question. Does my thesis pose a claim or observation that others might oppose? If the developed thesis statement does not provide room for people to oppose or challenge, then it provides a summary of information on the study topic instead of making a claim or an argument. Is the drafted thesis statement specific? Specific thesis statements present a strong argument while those that are too vague have arguments that may be difficult to challenge, which implies that they are weak. For instance, if your thesis statement reads, ‘protecting endangered species is good,’ try to be more specific by explaining why exactly it is good. Does my thesis pass the ‘so what?’ and ‘why and how’ test? If you read the thesis statement and respond with ‘so what? how? or why?’ then the thesis statement is not clear or is too open-ended. In this case, add appropriate content to satisfy the reader. Ecology Term Paper Outline as a Structure and Guidance for Writers An ecology term paper may focus on different and diverse topics. It may also be persuasive, informative, or argumentative. Regardless of its type and purpose, the structure should be well-organized, logical, and clear. The outline comprises: Cover page. The cover page text contains the name, the course, the date, and the instructor’s name. Abstract. The abstract is usually half a page long or approximately 150 words, and it describes the term paper, its content, and its significance. Introduction. The introduction is the first main part of the term paper and should begin with a hook and a statement about the term paper’s topic. Elements that characterize the introduction include: a short statement of the paper’s objective, thesis, and questions that the term paper will answer; placing the specific ecology topics in a broader context but in a way that represents the paper’s arguments; a description of relevant and current literature on the ecology subject of discussion or analysis; if necessary, a clarification of terms specific to the ecology discourse. Body. The body of your term paper should document a synthesis of the paper’s research and provide information about the paper’s topic to broaden the reader’s understanding of the ecology issue under discussion. The structure of the body segment depends on the goal of your term paper. Notably, no permanent conventions dictate aspects that need to be discussed or the manner in which they should be analyzed. Important Elements of the Body Section: Divide the body text into segments and subsections that represent the main ideas and supporting evidence. Each unique idea or argument should be in its own paragraph. Take note that a single sentence does not constitute a paragraph. Use the paragraphs and topic sentences to develop your paper argument comprehensively and without repetitions. Provide evidence for your arguments by quoting existing literature on selected ecology topics pertinent to the term paper. If the paper is argumentative, quote certain claims and contrast them with your opinion or disapprove the claims. Do not forget to provide reasons for disapproving a claim. Reference all the analogous and literal text and idea quotations. In cases where further clarification and comments are needed, but their inclusion in the text would disrupt the paper’s fluidity, insert the content as footnotes. However, the presence of the footnotes will depend on the term paper’s specified writing convention. The composition of your text should be clear and logically comprehensible, and the structure will depend on aspects unique to the chosen ecology topic. Provide reasons for your idea and criticisms rather than summarizing existing literature and gathering quotations. Moreover, you have to provide only information that is relevant to the understanding of your term paper issue. Post Writing Ecology Term Paper Tips to Get It Finally Done Proofread The term paper is not complete until you have proofread it to correct grammar, sentence structure, and content errors. While all the errors can be corrected at once during the first proofreading attempt, it is important to read through the paper twice or thrice to check for specific issues at each period. For instance, go through the paper to check grammatical errors and sentence structure mistakes. On the second reading attempt, read the paper aloud to identify incoherent content and sentence structures. Finally, assess the term paper for content meaning, coherence, and logical flow of ideas and supporting evidence. Finally, ensure the paper is free of nested sentences, passive constructions, and unreferenced content.

Alzheimers Disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Alzheimers Disease - Essay Example Alzheimer’s disease is defined as a progressive, degenerative brain disorder manifested by memory loss, impaired thinking, difficulty in finding the right word when speaking, and personality changes and which eventually lead to cases of dementia (Harvard Health Publications, 2009, p. 2). Continual loss of nerve cells and synapses and decreasing levels of neurotransmitters which are crucial to memory, mental functions, and relaying of complex messages to the nerve cells in the body affects not only the cognitive aspect but also the activities of daily living and one’s personality. The prevalence rate of diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease is approximately more than five million and by 2050, 11 to 16 million of the American population will be probably diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease; that is, one in eight people ages 65 and above is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease cause financial and emotional strain to families and is estimated to have caused the nation a $148 billion health costs annually (Lu & Bludau, 2011, 3). When a person was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, it usually takes 8-10 years to death. Because there is no cure or prevention for the disease, it is essential that different warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease are noted in order to prompt early diagnosis and care and to temporarily stabilize or delay worsening of symptoms through drug interventions. In line with this, the Harvard Health Publications (2009) identified seven warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease, which includes: trouble remembering things starting from short-term memory such as a new acquaintance then progressing to loss of long-term memory such as recognition of family members; mood or personality changes (very angry to sad, socially-outgoing to withdrawn, and signs of depression); trouble completing ordinary tasks such as simple tooth brushing; difficulty expressing thoughts particularly in language (e.g. ringer for telephone); impaired judgments such as inability to balance a checkbook; di sorientation manifested by losing track of date and time; and unusual behavior like wandering in the community (p. 3).

The School of the Americas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The School of the Americas - Essay Example The schools presence in the region represented the United States growing role in Latin America. With the signing of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) in 1947 (Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Washington, DC) the United States involvement in the region grew even more. Yet another name change came in 1949. The U.S. Army Caribbean School continued to train both U.S. and Latin American soldiers. In 1963 the school got its most notable name: The School of the Americas (SOA). The SOA began training using Spanish only and controversy surrounding the school began. With the handing over of the Panama Canal to the government of Panama the school needed a new home. After much politicking, the Spanish speaking school was moved to Fort Benning, Georgia rather than Texas that had a Spanish speaking population (where the school thought was the most logical choice). In an August 1996 report sent to the Honorable Ronald V. ... The School of Americas thus played a part in this transition by providing Spanish language military training to Latin American countries that chose to send soldier-students. The School of the Americas closed in December of 2000 after much controversy and reopened in January 2001 as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation as a result of the National Defense Authorization Act. 2. Training Provided. As stated earlier, The School of the Americas functioned as a Spanish language military school and continues as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. It is interesting to note that the new school offers instruction (again in Spanish) in many of the same courses that the SOA did at the same location. The current school offers training to Latin American military personnel in courses such as2: Civil-Military Operations Course Information Operations Course Departmental Resource Management Human Rights Instructor Course Peace Operations Course The schools website claims that all courses listed are accredited at at least the baccalaureate level, students can receive credit for courses taken,3 and that all students receive at least eight hours of human rights training. As the SOA the school offered courses using manuals with such titles as4: Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual-1983 KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation-July 1963 3. The Controversy. As the SOA, the school came under scrutiny by various human rights groups because of the type of training provided to the Latin American students and the resulting human rights violations by SOA graduates. The United States was accused of training these soldiers to protect its economic interests in the region. CIA manuals used by

Pharmacy application - Letter of Recommendation Essay

Pharmacy application - Letter of Recommendation - Essay Example Toan-Thang works well independently and always takes the initiative to research information on his patients disease processes. In the clinic, his presentations are organized, clear and concise. He shows great confidence and poise. His technical skills are complete and accurate, including all the necessary information for the task. Toan-Thang also exhibits an outstanding patient care manner. He is courteous and empathetic as he gives patients’ need priority. He quickly gains the trust of his patients and gives them the best care possible. In summary, Toan-Thangs work ethics are outstanding and he is a true leader amongst his peers. He has an extensive and well applied knowledge of disease pathphysiology and therapy management. He is well disciplined, punctual, efficient, professional and courteous. His clinical skills and analytical skills are outstanding, plus he shows great clinical judgment on every level of care. With these attribute characteristics, I strongly believe he would be a great pharmacist. I hope your program would give him a chance to reach his goal. I highly recommend Toan-Thang Vo without reservation to your pharmacy

English Word: Stress Or Accent Affected

English Word: Stress Or Accent Affected The segments of spoken language are the vowels and consonants. The speech segments are called segmental phonemes or primary phonemes. They combine to produce syllables, words, phrases and sentences. As we utter them, we make use of wide range of tones of voice. This speech features, which are higher than sound segments are called suprasegmentals. The speech features that are higher than the sound segments are length, stress, pitch, intonation, rhythm and juncture. Here I am describing about stress. Stress is a suprasegmantal feature. Stress refers to the prominence given to a syllable. In English all the syllable in a word are not uttered with equal force. One or more than one syllable is articulated with greater force than the rest. The degree of force with which a syllable is uttered is known as stress. A syllable gains prominence as a result of the stress it receives. However, factors such as the lengthening of the vowel in the syllable and change in pitch also work in conjunction with the breath force (stress) to make a syllable prominent. The syllable uttered with the greatest degree of force is called stressed or accented syllable. In the word table, /teibl/ the first syllable /tei/ is more prominently articulated than the second syllable /-bl/. In the word committee/ / the second syllable is more prominently uttered the others. In the word recommend / / the accent or stress is on the third syllable. The stressed syllable in the word is said to carry primary (tonic) stres s. The syllable next to that in degree of force of articulation in the word is said to carry secondary stress. The primary stress is usually marked with a vertical stroke high up just before the particular syllable. The secondary stress is marked with a vertical stroke below just before the particular syllable. e.g. emigration / /. If prominence is given to syllables in isolated words it is called word stress. In English, the stress is both free and fixed.it is free in the sense the main stress can full on any syllable in a word and fixed in the sense that each word has its own fixed stress patterns. For example while the disyllabic teacher / / has stress on the first syllable, the disyllabic word canteen / / has stress on the second syllable. The stress patterns of a word is an important feature of the words spoken identity. Thus we find nation / /, and not nation / /, nationality / / and not nationality / /. Any change in the stress patterns nay deform the phonetic shape of the word beyond recognition. Stress is relevant to grammar as well as to phonetics. Thus it contributes much to the form and function of the word. The stress patterns in some words may be affected by their grammatical word class. For example, some disyllabic verbs are distinguished from corresponding nouns or adjectives on the basis of the stress they receive, the verbs take primary stress on the second syllable whereas the nouns and adjectives take it on the first syllable. E.g. Digest / / (noun); digest / / (verb). Frequent / / (adjective); frequent/ / (verb). STRESS IN SIMPLE WORDS. Stress appears in all polysyllabic words. It is rather difficult to predict where the is to be placed. if we examine the stress patterns in simple words, the following general tendencies may be observed. 1. Words with the suffix -ee, -eer, -aire take the stress on the syllable containing the suffix. e.g. trust / / trustee / /. auction / / auctioneer / /. 2. Words with the suffix -ion, -ity, -ic, -ial, -ially, -ian take stress on the syllable preceding the suffix. e.g. regulate / / regulation / /. economy / / economic / /. 3. The suffixes -ness, -less, -ly, -al, -full, -hood do not change stress. e.g. supple / / suppleness / /. critic / / critical / /. 4. The inflectional suffixes -ed, -es and -ing do not cause any stress change. e.g. relate / / related / /. mango / / mangoes / /. progress / / progressing / / . ACCENT IN COMPOUND WORDS By compound words we mean a word composed of two separate words. If we examine the stress patterns in compound words, the following general tendencies may be observed. 1. In most compound words in English, the primary accent falls usually on the first element. e.g. pen-friend, hand-bag. 2. When a compound noun denotes a single idea rather than a combination of two ideas suggested by the original words, the first element is stressed. e.g. honey-moon, goldsmith. 3. When the meaning of a compound noun is the meaning of the second element stress is on the first element. e.g. dinner-table, sheep-dog. 4. Words compounded of a verb and an adverb are generally pronounced with stress on the first element. e.g. make-up, set-back. 5. In compound words that end in -ever or -self the primary stress falls on the second element. e.g. himself, whenever. 6. Double stress is used in compound adjectives of which the first element is an adjective. e.g. red-hot, good-looking. It may be seen that the stress of words normally pronounced with double stress is often modified in sentences. The first of the stressed syllables is likely to loss its stress, when closely preceded by another stressed syllable. Similarly, the second of the stressed syllable is likely to lose its stress, when closely followed by another stressed syllable. For example, fourteen / / is normally double stressed. When it is preceded by words like just / / , The first stress is lost, / /. FEATURES OF CONNECTED SPEECH. Sentence stress. An utterance consisting of more than one word is called connected speech. When words are used in connected speech, some words are uttered more prominently than others are. prominence given to syllables in sentences is called sentence stress. As a general rule, the words, which carry the main information, stand out from the rest. generally the content words are while the function class words are unstressed. For example, in the sentence the tall boy is a brilliant student, the words tall, boy, brilliant and student are stressed and the rest, unstressed. The stress falls on the same syllable irrespective of whether it forms part of a polysyllabic word uttered in isolation, or of connected speech. If there are several prominent syllables in connected speech only one will receive the primary accent. this is usually the last prominent syllable. But the choice of the syllable carrying the primary accent depends on the meaning the speaker wants to convey. The tonic is marked with []. For example, he must write, may be spoken in the following three ways to effect changes in meaning, by changing stress positions. He must write. He must write. He must write. One prominent feature of English is that stress occur at regular intervals of time. Accent at the level of sentence is much freer than that in the word. WEAK FORMS AND STRONG FORMS. One of the striking features of English connected speech is the occurrence of strong and weak forms nearly fifty words in English which, perform a grammatical function appearing these two forms. The can be pronounced in two or more distinct ways. 1. The weak forms are unstressed. 2. They exhibit a reduction in the length of sounds. 3. The weak forms of certain words are distinguished from their strong forms by the omission of vowels and consonants. Only strong forms are acceptable in the following situations. 1. When weak form words occur finally in a sentence, e.g. Who are you waiting for? 2. When a weak form word is accented for the purpose of emphasis, e.g. The journey to Kochi and not from Kochi. 1.What is the relevance of the points you have submitted? 2.Convert the topic into a teaching unit. 3.Critically evaluate the points you have submitted? ANSWERS Learning word stress is very important in linguistics studies. A language learner needs to engage with a word many times, preferably in different ways , in order to really learn it. Mistakes in word stress sometimes create misunderstandings in English. There are some words which have same spelling , different pronunciation and different meaning.(homography) .In such cases if we make mistakes in pronunciation then it will change the meaning. For example: Lead in I lead the group and The plate is made of lead Even if the speaker can be understood, mistakes with word stress can make the listener feel irritated or perhaps even amused and could prevent good communication from taking place. Stressing the wrong syllable in a word can make the word very difficult to understand. For example: I carried a basket to the market. If a person stress the first syllable rather than second syllable, then it will become difficult to the listener to understand. 2. Each word is formed by one or more than one syllable. In English all the syllables in a word are not uttered with equal force. The syllable uttered with the greatest degree of force is called stressed or accented syllable. For example: In the word table the first syllable is more prominently articulated than the second syllable. The most stressed words are called as primary stress and the secondly stressed syllable is known as secondary syllable. The primary stress is usually marked with a vertical stroke high up just before the particular syllable. The secondary stress is marked with a vertical stroke below just before the particular syllable. For example: ,emi`gration The stress patterns in some words may be affected by their grammatical word class. Words with the suffix -eer, -ee, -aire, take the stress on the syllable containing the suffix. In most compound words in English, the primary accent falls usually on the first element. Generally the content words are stressed while the function class words are unstressed. For example, in the sentence, the tall boy is a brilliant student, the words tall, boy, brilliant and student are stressed and the rest, unstressed. The weak forms are unstressed. 3. The information given in this assignment is very relevant and acceptable. It helps the people who are learning linguistics to acquire basic information about word stress. This is an attempt to study word stress in general and the English language in particular. It describes stress as a suprasegmental feature. It also speaks about primary stress, secondary stress, accent in simple words, accent in compound words, sentence stress and the rules in using stress. This assignment also gives lots of examples regarding the topic. In short it is a sincere effort on the topic word stress.

My Summer Vacation :: Summer Vacation Essays

One of my favorite family traditions is summer vacation. Every summer without fail we go on vacation. For the past ten years we have been going to Disney World with our family friends the Battaglia's, so it has turned into a tradition up until last summer when we broke our florida adventure to go to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We have been going on vacation with the Battaglia's for so long for a very good reason. It is because everyone gets along. My mom, Mr. Battaglia and Mrs. Battaglia are very good friends. Ronnie Battaglia, who is 19, is my best friend and we get along great. My sister Katie, 16, and Beth Battaglia, 18, also get along very well. This works out great because we are all old enough to go out and do our own thing without getting the parents too much involved. Since most of the fun things to do are located right near the hotels we stay at we rarely need to ask them for a ride anywhere, so everyone gets there way and it turns into a great vacation for all of us.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We have been going to Disney World together for as long as I can remember. We know the place inside and out. Where all the best rides are, which park is the best, it even got so bad that we knew what time the lines for each ride was shortest. Disney World always comes out with some kind of new ride or show each year so that is what mostly kept us continuing to come back year after year. On day though while we were planning our next trip we decided it was time for a change of pace.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We thought that Myrtle Beach, South Carolina would be a nice place to visit. My mom had already ventured down there with a friend and new that everyone would enjoy it. So we went down there last summer and it was a big transition for all of us. it was more of an adult vacation which was good because we were getting a little too old for Disney World.