The Imperfect Tense in Spanish

The Imperfect Tense in Spanish The imperfect tense in Spanish is the tense that expresses action in the past that has not been completed, that occurred habitually or frequently, or that took place over an indefinite period of time. It contrasts with the preterite tense, which expresses​ an action that took place at a definite time or has been completed. English does not have an imperfect tense per se, although it has other ways of expressing the concept of the Spanish imperfect, such as by context or by saying that something used to happen or was happening. The preterite and imperfect tenses are often referred to as the two simple past tenses of Spanish. The imperfect tense can also be contrasted with the perfect tenses of Spanish, which refer to completed action. (Although the usage is no longer common, the English perfect is sometimes a synonym of complete.) Spanish has past perfect, present perfect and future perfect tenses. By itself, the term imperfect tense usually refers to its indicative form. Spanish also has two forms of the subjunctive imperfect, which are nearly always interchangeable. The imperfect is known as the pretà ©rito imperfecto in Spanish. Forming the Imperfect Tense The indicative imperfect is conjugated  in the following pattern for regular -ar, -er and -ir verbs: Hablar: yo hablaba, tà º hablabas, usted/à ©l/ella hablaba, nosotros/nosotras hablbamos, vosotros/vosotras hablabais, ustedes/ellos/ellas hablaban.Beber: yo bebà ­a, tà º bebà ­as, usted/à ©l/ella bebà ­a, nosotros/nosotras bebà ­amos, vosotros/vosotras bebà ­ais, ustedes/ellos/ellas bebà ­an.Vivir: yo vivà ­a, tà º vivà ­as, usted/à ©l/ella vivà ­a, nosotros/nosotras vivà ­amos, vosotros/vosotras vivà ­ais, ustedes/ellos/ellas vivà ­an. The subjunctive form in more common use is conjugated as follows: Hablar: yo hablara, tà º hablaras, usted/à ©l/ella hablara, nosotros/nosotras hablramos, vosotros/vosotras hablarais, ustedes/ellos/ellas hablaran.Beber: yo bebiera, tà º bebieras, usted/à ©l/ella bebiera, nosotros/nosotras bebià ©ramos, vosotros/vosotras bebierais, ustedes/ellos/ellas bebieran.Vivir: yo viviera, tà º vivieras, usted/à ©l/ella viviera, nosotros/nosotras vivieramos, vosotros/vosotras vivierais, ustedes/ellos/ellas vivieran. Uses for the Imperfect Tense One of the most common uses of the present tenses is to tell of past actions that did not have a clear beginning or end. These may involve situations or repeated actions that occurred over an indefinite period of time. A simple example is Asistà ­amos a la escuela or We attended the school. Use of the imperfect tense indicates that it is unimportant when the attendance began and ended- in fact, asistà ­amos could be used even if the speaker is still a student at the school as long as the students attended in the past. Note that there is a subtle meaning of difference from the preterite equivalent, Asistimos a la escuela, which also could be translated as We attended the school. The preterite suggests the speaker no longer attended the school, or that the reference is to a specific time. Similarly, the imperfect is used in specifying the background of another event. For example, Nos conocimos cuando asistà ­amos a la escuela, or We met each other when we were attending the school. Conocimos is in the preterite from because it refers to an incident that occurred at a specific time, but the background portion of the sentence uses the imperfect. Translation of the imperfect to English depends on the context. The most frequent translations for asistà ­amos include we attended, we used to attend, we were attending, and we would attend. Sample Sentences Using the Imperfect Tense Spanish imperfect verbs (in boldface) with possible English translations are shown below. Él cantaba. (He used to sing. The English translation shows how the activity occurred over an indefinite, extended period of time.)Ella escribà ­a la carta. (She was writing the letter. Note that in this and the above example, out of context the verb doesnt indicate when or even whether the action came to an end.)Yo conocà ­a a Eva. (I knew Eva. Conocer can mean to know or to meet. The use of the imperfect here shows that the activity took place over an indefinite period of time, so knew makes sense here.)Una mujer murià ³ en el hospital mientras estaba bajo custodia. (A woman died in the hospital while she was in custody. This sentence shows the use of the imperfect for background.)Cuando era estudiante, jugaba todo el tiempo. (When he was a student, he would play all the time.)Dudo que mi madre comprara alguna vez esa revista. (I doubt that my mother ever bought that magazine. The imperfect is used here because the possible event wouldnt have happened at a particular time.)U n gran buffet estaba a la disposicià ³n de ellos para que comieran todo lo que quisieran. (A huge buffet was at their disposal so they could eat whatever they wanted. Note how the context requires different ways of translating the subjunctive.) Key Takeaways The imperfect tense is one of the two Spanish simple past tenses, the other being the preterite.The imperfect tense is used when the beginning and end of the action are unknown, unspecified, and/or unimportant.One common use of the imperfect is in describing events that serve as background for another event.

An Introduction to Dog Intelligence and Emotion

An Introduction to Dog Intelligence and Emotion We feed them, we let them sleep in our beds, we play with them, we even talk to them. And of course, we love them. Any dog-owner will tell you that their pet has a remarkable capacity to understand the world around them. And they’re right. Scientists have figured out great ways to find out exactly what human’s best friend is capable of. The Science of Animal Cognition Over the past several years, one of the biggest advances in our human understanding of doggie cognition has been the use of MRI machines to scan dog brains. MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging, the process of taking an ongoing picture of what parts of the brain are lighting up through what external stimuli. Dogs, as any doggie parent knows, are highly trainable. This trainable nature makes dogs great candidates for MRI machines, unlike non-domesticated wild animals like birds or bears. Ragen McGowan, a scientist at Nestlà © Purina specializing in dog cognition, takes full advantage of a certain type of MRI machine, the fMRI (which stands for functional MRI), to study these animals. These machines detect changes in blood flow and use that to measure brain activity. Through ongoing research, McGowan has found out a lot about animal  cognition and feelings. In a study done in 2015, McGowan found that a human’s presence leads to increased blood flow to a dog’s eyes, ears and paws, which means the dog is excited. McGowan also studied what happens to dogs when they are being petted. We’ve known for some time that for humans, petting a beloved animal can lead to lower rates of stress and anxiety. Well, it turns out the same is true for dogs. When humans pet shelter dogs for 15 minutes or more, the dog’s heart rate decreases and it becomes less anxious overall. Another recent study on dog cognition found that our beloved companion animals can tell the difference in our emotional expressions. In another study done with the fMRI machine, scientists found that not only can dogs tell the difference between happy and sad human faces, they also respond differently to them. As Smart as Children Animal psychologists have clocked dog intelligence at right around that of a two to two-and-a-half-year-old human child. The 2009 study which examined this found that dogs can understand up to 250 words and gestures. Even more surprising, the same study found that dogs can actually count low numbers (up to five) and even do simple math. And have you ever experienced the emotions of your dog while you’re petting another animal or paying attention to something else? Do you imagine they feel something like human jealousy? Well, there’s science to back this up, too. Studies have found that dogs do, in fact, experience jealousy. Not only that, but dogs do their best to figure out how to â€Å"handle† the thing that’s taking their parent’s attention - and if they have to force the attention back on them, they will. Dogs have been studied for their empathy, as well. A 2012 study examined dogs’ behavior towards distressed humans that weren’t their owners. While the study concluded that dogs display an empathy-like behavior, the scientists writing the report decided that it may be better explained as â€Å"emotional contagion† and a history of being rewarded for this type of emotional alertness. Is it empathy? Well, it sure seems like it. Numerous other studies on dog behavior, emotion, and intelligence have found that dogs â€Å"eavesdrop† on human interactions to assess who is mean to their owner and who isn’t and that dogs follow their human’s gaze. These studies may just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our learning about dogs. And as for doggie parents? Well, they may know a lot more than the rest of us, just by observing their best canine companions every day. The studies done on dog cognition all illuminate one thing: that humans may know much less about dog brains than we previously thought. As time goes on, more and more scientists are becoming interested in animal research, and with each new study done, we find out more about how our beloved pets think.

Conclusion and Recommendation for report evaluate 3 e-business website Assignment

Conclusion and Recommendation for report evaluate 3 e-business website - Assignment Example Though, they might not be willing to make a purchase but they may have friends that find the products being sold there interesting and hence, act as potential customers. So, a person that clicks â€Å"Recommend to Friends† button indirectly becomes a sales person for the website. Unfortunately, Baskinrobins.com, maggiemoose.com and benjerry.com did not think of using any such option. This websites however, can greatly benefit from this entity not just in terms of generating online traffic, but also in increasing sales and profitability. There are some other factors on which these websites need to focus upon, following are few of them. Segmentation The segmentation of baskinrobbins.com is well managed, giving ease to client’s understandability. It can be seen that the website categorizes the demand of cakes in three categories based on special day, membership and geography. In comparison to baskinrobbin.com, the two sites, maggiemoos.com and banjerry.com lack such effect ive segmentation. There is a dire need of segmentation in these two websites based on the customer's purchase behavior across several product categories. It has been seen that benefits sought can also make use of more analytical information rather than plain descriptive demographic profiling (Bhatnagar & Ghose, 2002). Customers’ reviews On the broad canvas of e-commerce, where sellers and buyer do not really interact in tangible manner, there always comes a problem of decision making. A person may not be sure of its reliability and may hesitate in placing the order. However, this dilemma will automatically be resolved if the person is recommended of the website by some other customer who has used the product before. In e-commerce websites, customers review acts as word of mouth. If a website lacks customers review, one can lose several doubtful but potential customers. Same is the case with baskinrobbin.com, maggiemoos.com and benjerry.com. A scrap book or comment on several new or famous cakes should be provided to give an insight of products and services to eliminate doubts and boost up customers confidence. Online security When it comes to online shopping, the only threat that hinders decision of customer is financial security. In case of baskinrobbin.com, it has not only provided personal information security, but also financial security. When a customer enters his/her credit card number or bank account it is encrypted by sophisticated software program (secured socket layer technology or SSL), so any potential hacker cannot access it. On the other hand, Maggiemoos.com and benjerry.com lack security measurements. Recent security glitch has been disclosed about benjerry.com where an invoice of a lady was shown by simple Google search. Though, it only showed personal information and address, but fraudster could use this data as a starting point of their fraud scheme. Security should be provided to the fullest to retain potential customers (Woffenden, 2 010). Content It is commonly said that content is king. It is what search marketers have been harping for years, because a site rich in content is definitely more useful than a site with poor/copied content. Creating rich content provides value to readers, who may be willing to pass this nugget of knowledge to others through links on their blogs, forwarded e-mails or simply word of mouth. In maggiemoos.com, benjerry.com and

Entrepreneurial characteristics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Entrepreneurial characteristics - Essay Example Risk taking Risk taking is defined as a factor thing or element which exposes a person to a certain danger or which has negative impact on the person. Risk taking in business entails venturing into an idea or activity that might have negative impact on entrepreneur yet the same idea can bring positive outcome to the entrepreneur. Successful entrepreneurs need to have the ability to take risks in order to gain maximum benefits in case the idea succeeds. In many condition, opportunities are full of uncertainties as there are no ways to confirm if the move will be beneficial or not. As a result, many entrepreneurs are unable to venture in such ideas an aspect that makes them lose the ability to succeed. This enables an entrepreneur with this characteristic to fully own the idea and reap its benefits without intense competition (Gerber, 2009). If the idea succeeds, other business people utilize the idea but the entrepreneur who invented it will have created customer trust and barriers fo r the competitors to make use of the idea. This helps him in succeeding in the markets through gaining the largest market share and creating loyalty of the target customers towards the idea or product. One of the entrepreneurs who had taken risks in venturing in business is Michelle Moan. Despite her age she took a risk of investing in making bras that were more comfortable. As a result of going against all odds, she became successful and established MJM international which is one of the leading businesses in the world. The success of Moan was as a result of risk taking in an area that looked unpromising for many entrepreneurs. In 2000 she was awarded a world business achiever award which is a prestigious award given to entrepreneurs who has shown outstanding performance and innovation. This puts a challenge to entrepreneurs to be innovative and create ideas out of a challenge that they might be experiencing or a challenge facing the society. For a successful entrepreneur, an idea d espite how challenging it looks must be analyzed to look at its potential. Response to change Response to change is the act of reacting as a result of a certain change that has occurred in the sector, government or country at large. The world has become dynamic with many changes being experienced each day. For an entrepreneur to be successful he must monitor these changes as they might create an opportunity. New government policies are some of the changes that might create an opportunity for an entrepreneur. When an opportunity unveils an entrepreneur must be quick to respond to it through investing. This provides the entrepreneur with the opportunity to retrieve maximum benefits from the opportunity (Gerber, 2009). Response to change in case of an opportunity is determined by the flexibility of an entrepreneur. A flexible entrepreneur is one who is ready to shift from one way of doing things to another in order to fit in the new procedures that might be of great benefit. The best s trategy for an entrepreneur to become flexible is through setting aside capital that could be used to invest in a new opportunity. Such an act creates a difference between successful entrepreneurs and those who are not successful. In an example, changes in technological levels in the world created an opportunity for Steve Jobs to start Apple Inc which deal with various electronics such as iPod, iTunes, Mac laptops, desktop etc. His reaction was first despite the risks that faced investing in a sector that recorded major failures from previous

Joeseph Mccarthy Essay -- essays research papers

Who was Joseph McCarthy? Joseph R. McCarthy was born in 1908 on a family farm in Wisconsin. He went to a country school and decided he was done with his education at the young age of 14. After that, he explained to his family that he was finished with his studies and wanted to become a farmer like his father. Joe began a profitable business of raising chickens after borrowing a plot of land from his father. Unfortunately, Joe became very ill and his business perished. Joe decided that he would go to work. At age 19 he became the manager of a grocery store in Manawa, a town thirty miles away. Some friends of his convinced him to go back to high school. He was a very smart man and, at the age of 20, managed to finish four years of high school in just one year. In 1930 he enrolled in Marquette University in Milwaukee where he soon succeeded in getting his law degree in 1935. He ended up moving north to Waupaca. There he ran and won the judgeship for the Tenth District of the Wisconsin Curcuit Court. In 1942, Joe enlisted in the Marine Corps even though he was exempt for the draft due to his public position. In his first two years as a lieutenant, he went on many flying missions, broke his leg on a ship during a party and gained a lot of attention from the press along the way. Although later he claimed that his injured leg was caused by ten pounds of sharpnel that he was carrying at the time. There is also a dispute about exactly how many flying mis...

High Turnover Rate Essay

1. Key issue High labour turnover rate is prevalent in the insurance industry and especially in prudential. Thus, the firm may have to incur more costs and time to train new employees. http://business.asiaone.com/Business/My%2BMoney/Building%2BYour%2BNest%2BEgg/Insurance/Story/A1Story20090821-162517.html 2. Causes The main cause of the high turnover is the organisation culture. Observable Artifact Every Monday, all employees are required to wear white as a symbol of unity and recite the firm’s pledge, which is to place their family’s interest before their own. While expecting the employee to perform his best, the firm should also provide adequate welfare for its employees. Otherwise, employees may feel discontented and choose to leave, thus, increasing the turnover rate. Espoused Values The firm espouses the value of family. Family in this case, refers to one’s own family as well as the firm. Everyone has an obligation to work hard for their family. It is taboo for the employee to raise their point of view during meetings, as they have to respect the â€Å"seniors† in the â€Å"family†. Top performing employees are rewarded handsomely while underperforming employees are pressured to hit their quota or be forced to leave the firm. Based on the Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid, Prudential has an autocratic leadership, characterised by high concern for production and low concern for people. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_73.htm http://www.kean.edu/~lelovitz/docs/EDD6005/humansideofenterprise.pdf Enacted Values The espoused values are not exhibited boldly. Some meetings are on the weekends, preventing employees from spending family time. This discrepancy can cause higher turnover rate. Basic Assumption The firm adopted the Taylorism theory, which attempted to increase productivity by motivating its employees through monetary incentives. Sales ranking charts are commonly seen in the office. Top employees are rewarded and highly regarded in the company, while the rest are neglected. By assuming that employees are only motivated by money, the employees’ morale is ignored. Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory states that an employee’s satisfaction is dependent on â€Å"hygiene† issues and â€Å"motivators†. In Prudential, the hygiene factors like work/life balance and good inter-personal relationship with the superiors are lacking. Thus, employees are more inclined to leave the firm, contributing to its high turnover rate. http://research-methodology.net/frederick-hertzbergs-two-factor-theory/ http://www.businessballs.com/herzberg.htm 3. Analysis of the theories 1. 2. 3. 3.1 Taylorism’s theory This theory assumes that each employee will maximise his productivity in order to earn the bonuses. When interviewed by Kurt Nelson in his study of pharmaceutical sales teams, all of them stated that the incentives for the top achievers were very motivational. This theory corresponds with a research done by Michele Marchetti in 1998, which indicates that commission encourage salespeople to perform. However, Kurt Nelson’s study involved only four employees, of which all of them worked together as a team. The small number of the employees is insufficient in proving that monetary incentives can motivate them to perform. Furthermore, this study is based on a sales team, where the motivation to perform can be different from that of an individual salesperson. 3.2 HerzBerg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory Herzberg’s theory can be used to detect issues that need to be mitigated. In a study conducted by Jones and Lloyd, employees who contribute ideas in a meeting usually exhibit the following motivations: a) A desire for recognition from a line manager b) The desire for recognition from colleagues For instance, the use of this theory can help Prudential in strengthening its family culture and allow the voices of the employees to be heard. However, there are also several limitations too. Herzberg’s theory is still a generalization which cannot be applied to all individuals. It is also based on interviews with accountants and engineers. An accountant may be motivated by increased pay while the Prudential employee may be more motivated by flexible work timings. Furthermore, giving an employee responsibility they are not ready for can be overwhelming and become a demotivator. 4. Author’s perspectives To rectify this issue, the management at Prudential should adopt a healthy balance of the Taylorism theory and Herzberg’s theory. Providing incentives for the employees to perform in the Taylorism’s theory is merely a hygiene factor in Herzberg’s theory. The management need to incorporate other factors to encourage lower turnover. Studies have shown that to predict voluntary turnover, an increase in individual values enactment corresponds with a decrease in turnover. [citation] Another study which includes 2,622 employees from a hospital located in the US, found that the organization’s incorporation of a values enactment measurement system into the formal performance evaluation process benefited the organization by retaining employees more likely to conform to the organization’s espoused values. [citation] Hence, Prudential should first boldly exhibit its espoused values. Incentives should also include things like family trips. Performance measures should not only be linked to sales quota only, but the number of trainings conducted by the senior employees to the junior employees, the amount of time spent with their own family and more. While recruiting employees, Prudential need to conduct a thorough interview, to screen the employees with the same values as the firm, as they would be more likely to stay in the firm. While such recommendations can motivate employees, it is difficult to measure the amount of time one spends with his family as the data could be easily fabricated. The cost of recruiting new employees must be equivalent to the increase of sales made from this new strategy, for this change to be justifiable. Resistance to change will also be expected from the management as the previous system has been very successful in ensuring high profits for the firm, despite the high employee turnover rate. In a study conducted by Caliper Human Strategies Inc., a human resource consulting firm in Princeton, NJ, and Automotive News magazine, reveals that top salespeople in 3000 car dealerships have several personality traits (Sawyers, 1997). Some of the strong personality traits are: Ego drive( the need to motivate people), Ego strength (ability to handle rejections), Self structure( a strong ability to organise one’s own work), Assertiveness(persuading others to adopt a different point of view). Prudential can use these traits listed in order to hire the right person for the job. Perhaps a job trial can be conducted for the candidate rather than the standard interview. 5. Conclusion 6. Appendix * A newcomer should not be employed with the same compensation system as the veteran. (us automobile ) * Changing the compensation system to a more comfortable and predictable system such as the salary based payment will greatly increase the retention rate of the salespeople. This has been proven in different dealerships throughout the country.Abetter alternative is to allow the salespeople to switch between the two compensation methods. During a lean period, the dealership would allow the salespeople to switch to salary based, and during the boom period to switch to risk based compensation method. * Foster a more-family like culture; http://www.businessballs.com/herzberg.htm http://www.managementstudyguide.com/herzbergs-theory-motivation.htm

P.K. Dick’s The Minority Report and Steven Spielberg’s...

P.K. Dick’s The Minority Report and Steven Spielberg’s The Minority Report Death can occur in four ways. A person can die from a physical illness, viruses and infections. A person can die from an accident. A person can commit suicide. Finally a person can be murdered by another person. What if murders could be prevented? In P.K. Dick’s story The Minority Report, and in Spielberg’s film The Minority Report, the future can be altered by using incredible technology. The success of Spielberg’s adaptation of Dick’s short story to film can be determined by the way each was presented. While giving a tour or precrime to Edward Witwer, the main character John Anderton finds the he is supposed to kill a person he never met Leopold†¦show more content†¦The Minority Report by Spielberg is about a one man conspiracy to keep pre crime up and running. In the book by Dick, there is a larger conspiracy to destroy precrime. The final results are opposite as well; in the book precrime was maintained and still operational. In the movie, precrime was shut down and destroyed. The methods of precrime are also different. In the book, there are three precogs which mutter an indecipherable language, which a machine interprets into images of a murder. Then a card comes out of the machine with the name of the killer and name of the victim on it. Spielberg made a more modern method out of this. In the movie, images are taken directly from the three precogs brain and then interpreted by a person who tries to find out the location of the murder. Also there are two woode n balls made, one with the name of the killer and the other with the name of the victim, on them. The movie also goes deeper into the creation of precrime, how crack babies whom had an odd gift/curse of dreaming of murder became used to prevent murder. It also shows why Anderton joined precrime, to make sure no one else would suffer like he did when he lost his son. The precogs in the book and movie are very different. First off their names in the book are Donna, Jerry and Mike. In the movie their names are Agatha, Arthur and Dashiell. The movie also involves the precogs, or at least one of them, more into the story.