Proprietary Estoppel Essay

â€Å"In Thorner –v- Major, the House of Lords confirmed that a claimant seeking to establish a proprietary estoppel must prove three things: (1) that the defendant’s assurances or conduct in relation to identified property were sufficiently clear and unambiguous in all the circumstances, (2) to lead the claimant reasonably to rely on those assurances or conduct; (3) by acting significantly to his detriment, so that it would be unconscionable for the defendant to deny him any remedy.† (Per Hayton and Mitchell: ‘Commentary and cases on the law of Trust and Equitable Remedies’, 13th edition, Sweet and Maxwell, page 78) Critically analyse and evaluate this statement in light of recent developments in the law of proprietary estoppel. Despite the lack of a definitive formulation, it is widely accepted that the elements of assurance, reliance and detriment must be present in order to found a claim of proprietary estoppel . The doctrine has however been widely criticised for being too flexible and uncertain. The main cause of this uncertainty is the lack of clarity surrounding the role of unconscionability. It has been stated that unconscionability is â€Å"at the heart of the doctrine,† and yet there is â€Å"little guidance as to what it means, little explanation of why it is at the centre and thus virtually no consideration of the role it might play in providing both a justification for, and a limitation on, successful estoppels† . Commentators have largely agreed that there is a â€Å"need to develop clear parameters for the operation of the doctrine, else it really will be a discretionary panacea for all ills whose application is unpredictable and uncertain. Prior to Thorner v Major [2009] and Cobbe v Yeoman’s Row Management Ltd [2008] it had been 142 years since a case of proprietary estoppel had reached the House of Lords. Therefore it was hoped that these cases would give the judiciary a long awaited opportunity to clarify the doctrine. In Cobbe Lord Walker stated that â€Å"Equitable estoppel†¦is not a sort of joker or wild card to be used whenever the court disapproves of the conduct of a litigant who seems to have the law on his side. Flexible though it is, the doctrine must be formulated and applied in a disciplined and principled way.† The House of Lords appeared determined to address the criticisms and it was hoped that they were about to define and clarify the doctrine, especially the role of unconscionability. Lord Scott, who gave the leading judgement, stated that unconscionability alone is never enough to found a claim of proprietary estoppel. â€Å"To treat a ‘proprietary estoppel equity’ as requiring neither a proprietary claim by the claimant nor an estoppel against the defendant but simply unconscionable behaviour is, in my respectful opinion, a recipe for confusion†. Lord Walker addressed the uncertainty over whether unconscionability is a separate element, by stating that â€Å"unconscionability†¦ does in my opinion play a very important part in the doctrine of equitable estoppel, in unifying and confirming, as it were, the other elements. If the other elements appear to be present but the result does not shock the conscience of the court, the analysis needs to be looked at again† . These emphatic statements confirmed that unconscionability alone is insufficient to give rise to a claim of proprietary estoppel and that the traditional elements must always be present. It is suggested however that these pronouncements did very little in practice to define or clarify the concept. The modern approach to proprietary estoppel which began with Taylor Fashions Ltd v Liverpool Victoria Trustees Co Ltd [1982] adopted a â€Å"broad test of whether in the circumstances the conduct complained of is unconscionable without the necessity of forcing those incumbrances into a Procrustean bed constructed from some unalterable criteria.† Despite this statement the judgement in Taylor Fashions did not rely on unconscionability alone. The court required the three traditional elements to be present, albeit adopting a new claimant centred approach to establishing them. Therefore the statements in Cobbe regarding unconscionability are uncontroversial and do not significantly alter its position within the doctrine. The judgement in Cobbe was regarded as a severe curtailment of the doctrine and was believed to have greatly narrowed the scope of its operation. It was even thought that it had led to the ‘the death of proprietary estoppel’ This was not due to the outcome of the case, but due to the controversial reasoning behind this decision. Lord Scott attempted to rein in the doctrine by focusing on the traditional elements of proprietary estoppel and restricting the doctrine via their operation. He focused on the assurance or representation element, which requires that the claimant must have been led to believe that he has or he will acquire an interest in the defendant’s land. He stated that the required assurance was of a ‘certain interest’ and this meant that the claimant must specify the interest in the property he believed he had or would have. Cobbe dealt with a case of proprietary estoppel in a commercial context. Therefore Mr Cobbe’s â€Å"was not an expectation that he would, if the planning application succeeded, become entitled to â€Å"a certain interest in land† but an expectation â€Å"of further negotiations leading, as he hoped and expected, to a formal contract† . Lord Scott stated that this was not â€Å"the sort of expectation of ‘a certain interest in land’ that Oliver J in the Taylors Fashions case or Lord Kingsdown in Ramsden v Dyson had in mind† and so the claim failed. This requirement for a specific assurance narrowed the scope of operation of the doctrine and was inconsistent with previous Court of Appeal decisions such as Gillett v Holt and Jennings v Rice where a claimant had an expectation of a future interest in land. Lord Walker further restricted the doctrine by stating that the claimant must believe â€Å"that the assurance on which he or she relied was binding and irrevocable†. Therefore the claimant must not only believe that the landowner has made a promise, but also believe that the promise is legally binding. He made it clear that context was important. â€Å"In the domestic or family context, the typical claimant is not a business person and is not receiving legal advice†¦The focus is not on intangible legal rights but on the tangible property which he or she expects to get.† As the parties involved in Cobbe were â€Å"persons experienced in the property world, both parties knew that there was no legally binding contract, and that either was therefore free to discontinue the negotiations without legal liability†¦the fact is that he ran a commercial risk, with his eyes open† This restriction is also inconsistent with Gillett v Holt which â€Å"explicitly addressed, and rejected, the notion that the revocability of wills prevents a promise to make a will forming the basis of a proprietary estoppel claim.† Surprisingly it was Lord Walker who gave the leading judgement in that case and acknowledged here that â€Å"It may possibly be that some of the domestic cases might have been decided differently if the nature of the claimant’s belief had been an issue vigorously investigated in cross-examination.† Thus casting doubt on previous court of appeal authorities relating to testamentary promises . The reasoning in Cobbe left the doctrine in an uncertain position and â€Å"If taken literally, this reformulation would have curtailed the reach of estoppel, and perhaps that was the point†. Thorner v Major gave the House of Lords a chance to address these uncertainties and a further opportunity to clarify the doctrine definitively via the role of unconscionability. From the beginning the Lords made it clear that the decision in Cobbe had not â€Å"severely curtailed, or even virtually extinguished, the doctrine of proprietary estoppel (a rather apocalyptic view that has been suggested by some commentators).† Thorner dealt with proprietary estoppel in the domestic context. One cousin had worked unpaid on the other’s farm for nearly 30 years on the understanding that he would inherit the farm on his cousin’s death. The cousin died intestate and the claim of proprietary estoppel had been rejected by the Court of Appeal. One reason given for this failure was that the extent of the farm had fluctuated in the preceding years and so the interest the claimant expected to receive was not a sufficiently ‘certain interest’ as required following Cobbe. The Lords in Thorner made it clear that â€Å"the reasoning in Cobbe’s case†¦was directed to the unusual facts of that case† and that in Cobbe â€Å"there was no doubt about the physical identity of the property. However, there was total uncertainty as to the†¦property interest†¦In this case†¦there is†¦no doubt as to what was the subject of the assurance, namely the farm as it existed from time to time. Accordingly, the nature of the interest to be received by David was clear: it was the farm as it existed on Peter’s death. They confirmed that the assurances â€Å"should relate to identified property owned (or, perhaps, about to be owned) by the defendant.† and that â€Å"It would represent a regrettable and substantial emasculation of the beneficial principle of proprietary estoppel if it were artificially fettered so as to require the precise extent of the property the subject of the alleged estoppel to be strictly defined in every case.† Context is vital, whereas a specific certainty may be required in a commercial situation, this will not necessarily be required in a domestic context. The Court of Appeal had also required that the nature of the assurance be â€Å"clear and unequivocal† . This test for clarity of assurance was that required in promissory estoppel, and may have been adopted here due to the conflation of the two forms of estoppel by Lord Scott in Cobbe . The parties in Thorner were â€Å"taciturn and undemonstrative men† and the assurances mainly consisted of â€Å"oblique remarks† and therefore it was held that these assurances lacked the requisite certainty. The House of Lords loosened this restriction stating that â€Å"I would prefer to say †¦that to establish a proprietary estoppel the relevant assurance must be clear enough. What amounts to sufficient clarity, in a case of this sort, is hugely dependent on context† . As â€Å"the relationship between Peter and David was familial and personal, and neither of them†¦had much commercial experience†¦Peter made what were, in the circumstances, clear and unambiguous assurances that he would leave his farm to David, and David reasonably relied on, and reasonably acted to his detriment on the basis of, those assurances, over a long period.† The House of Lords had made it abundantly clear once again that everything is dependent on context. In a domestic context such as Thorner an oblique assurance may be ‘clear enough’ even though a commercial case such as in Cobbe may require a much more specific assurance. Lord Walker also rejected Lord Scott’s characterisation of estoppel â€Å"I have some difficulty with Lord Scott’s observation†¦that proprietary estoppel is a sub-species of promissory estoppel.† The House of Lord’s in Thorner also clarified that the correct approach for landowner’s intention was an objective test and that it was â€Å"enough that the meaning he conveyed would reasonably have been understood as intended to be taken seriously as an assurance which could be relied upon†¦It is not necessary that Peter should have known or foreseen the particular act of reliance†. The House of Lords allowed the proprietary estoppel claim to succeed even tho ugh there was no evidence that the claimant believed that the assurance was legally binding, therefore also rejecting Lord Walker’s restriction in Cobbe. Thorner had maintained a flexible approach to proprietary estoppel making it clear that everything was â€Å"hugely dependent on context†, re-affirming the holistic approach found in Gillett that â€Å"in the end the court must look at the matter in the round.† Lord Neuberger stated that â€Å"it appears to me unlikely in the extreme that Lord Scott was intending impliedly to disapprove any aspect of the reasoning or decision of the Court of Appeal in Gillett’s case† Thorner effectively placed the doctrine back in the position it stood before Cobbe. It was said that the decision in Thorner had â€Å"brought proprietary estoppel back from the brink. The apocalypse†¦has been averted and proprietary estoppel can continue to function as an independent source of rights. It can thus perform its vital role as a broad and flexible doctrine.† Thorner has clarified some of the uncertainties surrounding the traditional elements of proprietary estoppel that had been raised in Cobbe and followed in the Court of Appeal. It returned the formulation to a flexible and broad definition requiring ‘identifiable property’ that the assurance must be â€Å"in the circumstances, clear and unambiguous† and that the assurance must â€Å"reasonably have been understood as intended to be taken seriously as an assurance which could be relied upon. Thorner did not however say anything regarding role of unconscionability, only affirming the uncontroversial position taken by Cobbe, whilst confirming the flexibility of the doctrine. â€Å"Concentrating on the perceived morality of the parties’ behaviour can lead to an unacceptable degree of uncertainty of outcome, and hence I welcome the decision in Cobbe’s case†¦However, it is equally true that focussing on technicalities can lead to a degree of strictness inconsistent with the fundamental aims of equity† . Some commentators believe that this was an opportunity missed as â€Å"Lord Scott may have chosen the wrong train to ride in Yeoman’s Row, but it is not clear that he chose the wrong destination† Defining ‘unconscionability’ is a difficult task and commentators have their own competing theories. Dixon believes that â€Å"an estoppel is made out when a landowner makes a ‘double assurance’ – an assurance that the claimant will have some right over the representor’s land†¦combined with an assurance that the right will ensue even if the formalities necessary to convey that right are not complied with†¦Unconscionability exists when a ‘formality assurance’ is withdrawn after detrimental reliance † Balen and Knowles believe that â€Å"this â€Å"extra ingredient†, for so long described as â€Å"unconscionability†, requires the court to ask whether the basis, or condition, on which the claimant incurred her detriment has failed.† There is no consensus as to how unconscionability should be defined only that it should. It may be that the judiciary have missed an opportunity to clarify the doctrine or it could be that they have no desire to â€Å"define unconscionability and thereby limit the application of the doctrine†¦Uncertainty can be a benefit as well as a burden, and while unconscionability of itself cannot generate an estoppel, the claim can be denied despite t he presence of an assurance, reliance and detriment by judicious deployment of the ‘unconscionability’ card†.

Elc1013 Unit 1

ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Unit 1 Achieving an Academic Writing Style Learning Outcomes By the end of this unit, you should be able to: †¢ †¢ use appropriate language to demonstrate academic style in writing express ideas and views in tentative rather than assertive language where appropriate Introduction This unit is divided into three sections providing reference and practice material on various aspects of academic writing style. Section 1 Features of academic writing style Section 2 Improving the style of your writing Section 3 Hedging in academic writingReferencing note: This unit uses IEEE referencing style for all in-text referencing. Pre-Unit 1 IndiWork Activities Go to eLearn (http://elearn. elc. polyu. edu. hk/) and complete the Pre-Unit 1 IndiWork Activities. IndiWork 1 Academic Style Go to eLearn and complete the What is Academic Style? Activity. Section 1 The features of academic writing style What do you think are the differences between the essays that you wrote at secondary school and the essays that you will need to write at university? Make sure you think about style* when considering these differences. Style often refers to level of formality. For example when writing to a friend you would use an informal style.  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 1 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Activity 1 Reading How do the language choices in this first essay draft below create a non-academic / inappropriate style? Read the passage and identify (highlight / circle) the style problems. Note down your ideas at the end of the passage. Be prepared to share your observations with the rest of the class.How often do PolyU students use English outside the classroom? Because many people think PolyU students don’t use English much outside of class, I wanted to find out the answer to this question so I decided to do a survey. I worked out a questionnaire and then handed it out to lots of students from eight 5 departments. The students filled in the questionnaire and then gave it back to me. I did the survey in April 2011. A total of 707 students took part in the survey, which is a really huge sample. In fact, this is the biggest survey of its kind ever done in Hong Kong which is terrific!And when I got the questionnaires back, I looked closely at the data and put it into a number of figures. Grandparents Parents Domestic helper Social functions Brothers / sisters Situations Private tutors Restaurants / bars PolyU friends Part-time jobs Relatives Non- PolyU friends Overseas holidays 0 0. 5 1 1. 05 1. 32 1. 69 1. 95 1. 95 1. 99 2. 11 2. 12 2. 4 2. 45 2. 55 2. 72 1. 5 Mean 2 2. 5 3 Figure 1: Speaking in English outside university 10 The first area I’d like to look at is speaking in English. Basically, what I wanted to know was how ofte n students speak English outside the classroom.The questionnaire asked the students to say how often they use English when they talk to friends, parents etc. When they filled in the questionnaire, the students had to circle a number from 1 (never) to 6 (very often). If they circled 15 the numbers 1-3, it means that they don’t use English very much. If they circled the numbers 4-6, it means that they use English fairly often. As you can see, I’ve put all the data about speaking in English in Figure 1. Let’s now talk about the data in Figure 1. First and foremost, it’s crystal clear that students don’t have many opportunities to speak English outside the 20 classroom.You can tell this because all the means are under 3. 00. Clearly, PolyU students don’t have any need to speak to parents etc. in English. This is undoubtedly because their family members are Cantonese speakers.  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 2 E LC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Obviously, there’s no point in speaking English when everyone can speak C a n t o n e s e . A s yo u c a n s e e , Po l y U s t u d e n t s n e v e r s p e a k t o t h e i r 25 grandparents in English.This is not surprising because, as we all know, old people in Hong Kong can’t speak English. That’s because the education system wasn’t very good in the past. But, you can see that there are a few situations (overseas holidays and so on) where students do get a golden opportunity to use their English, even though this is not really very often. In a 30 nutshell, then, the data in Figure 1 prove that PolyU students don’t speak English much outside the classroom. Note down the style problems you found in the box below. For each problem you identify, write an appropriate solution.Problem (inappropriate language) Solution (appropriate language) 1. 2 . 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 3 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Section 2 Improving the style of your writing In this section you will learn how to improve the style of your academic writing. Read through the following twelve subheadings and complete Activities 2 to 7. 1. Avoid informal verbs Use formal (i. e. ingle-word verbs) such as examine rather than phrasal / multi-word verbs such as look at. This report looks at ? [examines] ? the problem of juvenile delinquency. Hong Kong has got over ? [recovered from] ? the latest recession. University-linked companies have not taken off ? [been successful]? in recent years. Activity 2a Formal verbs Fill in the blanks with five of the following formal verbs. Make sure that you put the verbs into the correct form / tense. discover conduct fluctuate establish devi se increase investigate assist reduce discuss ) The team (came up with) _____________________ an imaginative solution to the problem. b) In this essay, I will (talk about) _____________________ the issue of genetic engineering. c) The study was (carried out) _____________________ between May and July 2012. d) A research associate was appointed to (help out) __________________ with the analysis of the data. e) Researchers (found out) __________________that the chiller was the source of the problem. Activity 2b Formal verbs With a partner, write five sentences using the unused formal verbs from Activity 2a. )†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ b)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ c)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ d)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ e)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 4 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) 2. Avoid Colloquial expressions Avoid informal or colloquial expressions such as a lot of in your written assignments. ? a lot of research ? a great deal of / a considerable amount of lots of studies ? numerous / a large number of / myriad / a plethora of a really interesting study ? very / extremely / particularly a bit disappointing ? somewhat / rather / fairly it is a must ? essential / necessary / crucial / vital 3. Avoid Cliches Cliches are expressions that have become overused. The expressions below are dull and unoriginal. In addition, the meaning of some cliches, such as ‘in a nut shell’, may not be clear to a global audience as the words and meaning may not be closely related.Avoid using them in your written work. ? ? ? hot topic heated debate last but not least every coin has two sides all in all as we all know first and foremost crystal clear golden opportunity In a nutshell†¦ financial tsunami a double-edged sword 4. Avoid vague, everyday language Avoid common, informal everyday words. Use more precise words instead. Adjectives Pollution has been a big ? [major] ? problem in Hong Kong in the past thirty years. The facilities in the lecture theatre are bad ? [inadequate]?. The students felt she was a good ? [organised / enthusiastic] ? instructor. Verbs Bonny got ? [obtained] ? er degree from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Chan [1] says ? [comments] ? that the English standard of students is improving. Others This issue has raised the attention of everyone ? [the public]. ? There are many things ? [elements] ? to a successful presentation. 5. Be objective As well as being impersonal, academic writing should be as objective as possible. Subjective and strongly emotional language should be avoided. Do not use words such as: fantastic, wonderful, lovely, absolutely, totally, terrific, excellent! Objectivity can also be boosted through hedging techniques (see section 3). English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 5 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Activity 3 Academic style Change the underlined words in the following sentences to improve the style. a) The student did a presentation last week. c) The results of the survey were shockingly bad! e) Freedom of the Internet is a double edged sword. 6. Avoid Repetition Repeating the same words and phrases in your written assessments may make your work appear boring and unsophisticated to the reader.To make your writing more interesting, use appropriate synonyms. For example: findings inquiry ? ? results investigation appear argue ? ? seem contend b) It is a good essay. d) It was a poor presentation. f) The analysts obtained a lot of data. Tip: When using Microsoft Word, if you right click on a word it will give you a list of synonyms that you could use. Note that not all the words will be suitable to use in a particular sentence, so you should ensure that the alternative language choices convey the meaning you intend to express. Academic writing should be easy to follow. 7.Avoid contractions Avoid using contractions such as it’s and they’re in academic writing. won’t ? will not don’t ? do not I’ve ? I have It’s ? [It is] ? widely acknowledged that English plays an important role in Hong Kong’s business sector. 8. Avoid personal references Avoid directly referring to yourself as ‘I’ or ‘we’, or to the reader as ‘you’. Academic writers generally avoid using the personal pronoun ‘I’ because it makes their work seem too subjective. You can see the findings in Table 1. ? I have presented the findings in Table 1. ? As you can see, the findings are in Table 1. We can see the findings in Table 1. ? The findings are presented in Table 1. ? The passive voice is useful for this and achieves a more impersonal, action-focused style appropriate for academic writing.  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 6 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) 9. Avoid informal sentence starters Starting sentences with And, Because, or But is considered poor style in academic writing. Use a more formal alternative instead. For example: And ? In addition, Apart from But ?However, Because ? Due to, This is because 10. Avoid rhetorical questions Avoid using rhetorical questions as they can make your writing appear unsophisticated. In my report, I will answer the following question: What are the causes of stress? ? This report examines the causes of stress. ? Whether exams cause stress is examined in this report. ? The above analysis concludes the first part of my essay regarding the problems of teenage drug abuse. Now, how about the solutions? ? The next part of my essay examines some solutions to teenage drug abuse. ? Activity 4 Academic styleImprove the style of the following sentences. a) Has China been af fected by the financial tsunami? She’d appear to be managing quite nicely. b) And it’s high time we started to think about the wealth gap. c) Some business leaders make some bad business decisions. 11. Avoid ‘Run-on’ expressions Limit the use of ‘run-on’ expressions such as etc. and and so on in academic writing. Use the term such as to inform the reader that not all possible examples are given. Professionals often need to write reports, memos etc. at work. ? Professionals often need to write documents such as reports and memos at work. ? 12.Use positive forms Avoid informal negative forms such as not much and not many. Use the positive (without ‘not’) forms little and few. Not much ? [Little] ? research has been conducted into job stress in universities. Not many ? [Few] ? studies have investigated Hong Kong society in the 19th century.  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 7 ELC1013 English for Unive rsity Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Activity 5 Academic style There are style errors in the sentence below. Identify the error and change the language to improve the style of the sentences.Then match the error to the style issues in the box below. Most sentences have more than one problem. emotional / subjective colloquial expressions vague/everyday cliche contraction / negativity personal reference sentence starter a) The problem of air pollution has become more and more serious in recent years. b) In the past decade, a lot of research has been done into indoor air quality. c) The results let everyone see that the quality of service in Hong Kong restaurants is bad. d) Hong Kong companies value employees who have good communication skills. ) And language policy in secondary schools has been a hot topic for many years. f) We all know that students learn better when they are taught in their mother tongue. g) The students didn’t e ncounter many problems finding good data for their project. h) Ensuring a big sample of subjects for a questionnaire survey is a must. i) j) Researchers got their data by doing telephone interviews. Tong’s [2] interpretation of the data is totally wrong.  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 8 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Activity 6 ReadingThe following essay is a more appropriately written academic essay than the draft analysed in Activity 1. Discuss with a partner the ways in which this passage is more academically appropriate than the earlier Activity 1 version. Students’ use of English outside university (A) This essay investigates the perceived problem of Hong Kong students’ lack of English use outside university. The data reported below were derived from a questionnaire survey of a substantial sample of first-year undergraduates from eight departme nts at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. (B) The survey was conducted between 12 and 23 April 2011.The subjects completed the questionnaire during their English for University Studies classes under the supervision of a research assistant. A total of 1,283 questionnaires were distributed and 707 correctly completed copies were returned and subsequently analysed. The questionnaire required the respondents to indicate the frequency with which they speak, listen, read and write in English outside the formal setting of the English-medium classroom. (C) The first section of the questionnaire asked the subjects to indicate on a six-point scale how often they speak in English in a range of nonacademic situations.On the evidence of the findings presented in Figure 1, it would appear that tertiary students in Hong Kong generally have little need to speak in English outside the classroom. (D) The evidence suggests that undergraduates rarely communicate with their parents or grandparents in English. This finding is perhaps not surprising as census data indicate that the overwhelming majority of people in Hong Kong speak Cantonese [1]. In the intimate family domain, young people understandably have little need or desire to speak English, apart from special circumstances such as preparing for English language examinations. E) The results indicate that the situation in which tertiary students use English least is in interactions with their grandparents. When interpreting this finding, it is worth noting that recent surveys have revealed that English is less widely known among Hong Kong people in their sixties and seventies than among those in the 4060 and 20-40 age groups [2]. This largely stems from the fact that the provision of Englishmedium secondary education was limited in the 1940s and 1950s [3]. The majority of citizens in the 60-70 age group are likely to have received only a Chinese-medium primary education [4]. F) While the data in Figure 1 suggest that tertia ry students tend not to speak English very frequently outside class, there are apparently several situations where spoken English has some degree of importance in the subjects’ lives. As might be expected, the situation where the subjects need to speak the language most is on overseas holidays. As Cantonese is not widely spoken outside China, it is perhaps understandable that students need to communicate in English on trips to Europe, North America and other parts of Asia. (G) As noted above, students rarely talk to their immediate family members in English.However, it is interesting that some of the subjects apparently have some need to communicate with their relatives in English. One possible factor behind the use of English in this situation is that their relatives live in an Englishspeaking country. In the case of younger relatives (e. g. cousins), it is possible that they have no knowledge of Cantonese, while older relatives (e. g. uncles, aunts) may feel more comfortabl e using their adopted language.  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 9 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Activity 7Improving academic style Use the academic writing advice above to complete the following exercises. 1. Skim through the Activity 6 essay and find formal verbs with similar meanings to the following informal phrasal verbs. The paragraph is given in brackets to help you. filled in (B) handed out (B) ____________________ ____________________ looks into (A) ____________________ found out (E) ____________________ 2. Find words in the Activity 6 passage which have similar meanings to the following vague, everyday words: done (B) ____________________ later (B) ____________________ big (A) ____________________ got (A) ____________________ . To avoid repeating the words students and findings, the writer uses a number of synonyms. List the synonyms used. students: findings: _ __________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. How does the writer avoid using informal negative forms? Underline one example in the passage in Paragraph D. 5. The draft that you read in Activity 1 included the following inappropriate sentences: This is not surprising because, as we all know, old people in Hong Kong can’t speak English.That’s because the education system wasn’t very good in the past. How does the writer revise this part of the report? ‘Li Wei falls to Hong Kong’ reproduced with kind permission of Li Wei  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 10 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Activity 8 Writing This activity gives you the chance to apply the features of academic writing style covered so far. By being able to write in an appropriate academi c style, you will be more able to successfully complete assignments at university.Situation For a course that you have been doing at university, you have been researching whether the consumption of organic produce can affect the health of a population. You are also interested in whether a subject’s positive opinion of their well being* has an effect on their general level of health. The area that you are investigating for an assignment is whether Hong Kong subjects also feel better about themselves after consuming organic produce. In Table 1 below, the results of two surveys are presented.First, a large scale survey was conducted by Wallace and Welbeck [1] among 4619 students in the UK about consumption of organic produce and self health ratings. The questions were adapted by your group to survey 89 students in the Polytechnic University. In the survey, subjects were asked to say whether they felt the following illnesses would increase or decrease on a scale from 0 (increase a great deal) to 3 (no effect) to 6 (decrease a great deal) after the consumption of organic produce. XuanXuan 13’ reproduced with kind permission of Li Wei *Note: â€Å"well being† describes the state of feeling healthy and happyIn pairs, discuss the data in Table 1. How would you explain the findings? When you have completed your discussion, write a short text of 3 or 4 paragraphs in which you describe and discuss the data. Table 1: Reduction and increase of illnesses after consumption of organic produce Features Headaches Colds Coughs Aches and pains Skin complaints UK students 4. 9 3. 1 2. 2 4. 5 3. 4 Polytechnic University students 5. 5 4. 1 5. 4 3. 2 4. 5 Source: Figures for UK students from Wallace and Welbeck [1]  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 11 ELC1013 English for University StudiesUnit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Section 3 Hedging in academic writing One of the main problems in the Act ivity 1 text is the writer’s use of assertive (overly strong or sure) language when discussing the data. Examples of assertive language are highlighted below. Let’s now talk about the data in Figure 1. First and foremost, it’s crystal clear that students don’t have many opportunities to speak English outside the classroom. You can tell this because all the means are under 3. 00. Clearly, PolyU students don’t have any need to speak to parents, etc. n English. This is undoubtedly because their family members are Cantonese speakers. Obviously, there’s no point in speaking English when everyone can speak Cantonese. As you can see, PolyU students never speak to their grandparents in English. This is not surprising because, as we all know, old people in Hong Kong can’t speak English. That’s because the education system wasn’t very good in the past. You can see, though, that there are a few situations (overseas holidays and so on) where students do get a golden opportunity to use their English, even though this is not really very often.In a nutshell, then, the data in Figure 1 prove that PolyU students don’t speak English much outside the classroom. Expressing opinions or making claims in overly strong language leaves you open to attack by critical readers. Such statements will often be doubted by readers thereby reducing your power and authority as a writer. A reader who does not believe a writer will rarely read on. To avoid such a situation, when stating ideas or discussing data you should use tentative rather than assertive language. You should avoid expressions such as: clearly ndoubtedly obviously definitely without a doubt there is no doubt that certainly absolutely Be very careful about using words like always (very common in Chinese), never, every and all because these suggest absolute certainty, which is inappropriate, and often incorrect, in many situations. Compare the following sentenc es: 1. The Hong Kong economy will grow next year. (Too strong! The writer is open to criticism if the Hong Kong economy does not grow next year) 2. The Hong Kong economy might grow next year. (Ok. The writer is hedging by using the modal verb ‘might’) 3.Some economists believe the Hong Kong economy will grow next year. (Ok. The doubt is transferred to a third party (economists). This means that the readers' confidence in you is not reduced) Techniques used in the sentences two and three above are known as hedging.  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 12 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Hedging Techniques Activity 6 illustrated a number of hedging techniques. These are summarised below: 1.Use hedging verbs The following ‘hedging’ verbs are often used in academic writing: suggest indicate estimate imply The results indicate that the situation in which te rtiary students use English least is in interactions with their grandparents. The verbs appear and seem are used to ‘distance’ the writer from the findings (and therefore avoid making a strong claim and be subject to criticism from readers). On the evidence of the findings presented in Figure 1, it would appear that tertiary students in Hong Kong generally have little need to speak in English outside the classroom.Note that the writer also ‘protects’ himself / herself by using the phrase on the evidence of. The following expressions are used in a similar way: according to, on the basis of, based on. 2. Use modal verbs Another way of appearing ‘confidently uncertain’ is to use modal verbs such as may, might and could. In the case of younger relatives, it is possible that they have no knowledge of Cantonese, while older relatives may feel more comfortable using their adopted language. 3. Use adverbs The following adverbs are often used when a wri ter wishes to express caution. robably apparently possibly seemingly perhaps presumably arguably conceivably This finding is perhaps not surprising as census data indicate that the overwhelming majority of people in Hong Kong speak Cantonese [1]. 4. Use adjectives Another technique is to use an adjective. probable possible arguable unlikely likely One possible factor behind the use of English in this situation is that their relatives live in an English-speaking country.  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 13 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) 5.Use nouns The following nouns are often used to hedge:: probability possibility evidence likelihood indication The evidence suggests that undergraduates rarely communicate with their parents or grandparents in English. 6. Softening generalisations There are several ways in which you can soften and hedge a generalisation. (i) Use the verb tend or the noun (have / be a) tendency (to). While the data in Figure 1 suggest that tertiary students tend not to speak English very frequently outside class, there are apparently several situations where spoken English has some degree of importance in the subjects’ lives. ii) Use an adverb such as: generally predominantly largely mainly primarily usually for the most part to a great extent This largely stems from the fact that the provision of English-medium secondary education was limited in the 1940s and 1950s [3]. (iii) Use a hedging expression such as most or the majority of. The majority of citizens in the 60-70 age group are likely to have received only a Chinesemedium primary education [4]. (iv) Identify exceptions by using expressions such as except for or with the exception of.In the intimate family domain, young people understandably have little need or desire to speak English, except for special circumstances such as preparing for English language examinations. 7. Avoid negative words You should also avoid direct, negative words such as lies, cheat, false, rubbish, cheap, useless and worst. Try to use cautious, indirect language when expressing negative ideas. Without a doubt, the worst aspect of Dr Wong’s teaching is the lack of feedback. ? Giving feedback is perhaps the least successful aspect of Dr Wong’s teaching.?The president told lies to the media during his rubbish handling of the crisis. ? The president may have misled the media during the less than satisfactory handling of the crisis. ?  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 14 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Activity 9 Hedging Choose the most appropriate option below. a) Everybody knows / It is generally accepted that all / the majority of English people always / often fail to learn any language other than their own. ) Perhaps / clearly the world will / is like ly to face major / total environmental destruction in the next fifty years. c) Without a doubt / It is widely believed that assertive writing is never / unlikely to be positively regarded by most / all readers. Activities 10a and 10b gives you an opportunity to practise the hedging techniques outlined in Section 3. By being able to use hedging techniques while writing in an appropriate academic style, you will more be able to successfully complete assignments at university. Activity 10a WritingIn 2011, the English Language Centre of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University surveyed 978 Form 7 school leavers about their preferences when studying in higher education. A summary of the results is presented below. Table 1: First Choice of University Hong Kong University The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong University of Science and Technology The Hong Kong Polytechnic University City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Baptist University The Open University of Hong Kong Lingnan Univer sity Hong Kong Shue Yan University 21% 17% 15% 14% 11% 11% 8% 7% 4% A pause for humanity 3’ reproduced with kind permission of Li Wei Read what the writer said about the reason why Hong Kong University and Chinese University were the most favoured. Note the underlined language. The survey results indicate that the preferred universities were Hong Kong University and Chinese University. A probable reason for this is their long history, and the preference of employers for employees who graduate from these institutions. Write two or three paragraphs giving possible reasons for the ranking of the other universities. Use the hedging techniques from Section 3. English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 15 ELC1013 English for University Studies Unit 1 – Achieving an Academic Writing Style (IEEE / Vancouver) Activity 10b Writing The school leavers were asked a similar question regarding their first choice of course when applying for University. Examine Table 2 below giving the results, and write two more paragraphs providing some possible explanations. Table 2: First choice of course when applying for University Engineering Law Nursing and Health Sciences Design Business Computing Textiles Construction Logistics Others 15% 4% 8% 12% 20% 15% 4% 7% 16% 5%Further Learning Materials Besides IndiWork, you are also strongly encouraged to complete the Further Learning Materials found at the end of each unit. By doing so, so will be able to perform better in this subject’s assessments. Go to eLearn (http://elearn. elc. polyu. edu. hk/) to complete the following activities. 1. Unit 1 Review of learning 2. Unit 1 Further Learning Materials  © English Language Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 16

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Cultural heritage and diversity can enrich a childs life, and the neighbourhood where the child lives can determine the schools and peer groups that a child will have.Nature relates to biological and chemical properties of the human being. Sometimes, the short of or high levels of some specific hormone can markedly affect our emotional development. For instance, we have lots of studies shown that a high level of testosterone can let someones character become more courageous and aggressive, where else extreme amounts of estrogen will lead to a sensitivity and emotional character. All of these are an approach to nature affect the development of emotion. Relationships are the way babies come to know the world and their place in it. They provide the loving context necessary to comfort, protect, encourage, and offer a buffer against stressful times. It is through relationships that young children develop social emotional wellness, which includes the ability to form satisfying relationships with others, play, communicate, learn, face challenges, and experience emotions. In addition, nurturing relationships are crucial for the development of trust, empathy, compassion, generosity, and conscience. Parents are the keys to intellectual development for almost all children in the care and education they provide and arrange. â€Å"Many research studies underscore the links between parental involvement and young childrens intelligence† (nature vs. nurture, 19/11/2014). By the time a child turns two, many of the intellectual foundations will have been laid to support a lifetime of learning. A childs intelligence is being shaped, challenged, and expressed every day by experiences with people, objects, and events, especially when they are an active participant. These experiences are the raw ingredients of intelligence. In traditional society most parents encourage their kids to take part in extracurricular activities like learning music, dance or sports in accordance with the child’s talents and interests. The talents have been given by nature but they can only be developed into skills through the hard work of nurture. Development in adulthood: Their development is affected to make social skills as well as meet new people to socialize with this will affect them later on in life, getting into relationships as well as socializing with individuals at work places etc. Nurture Effects Physical development there are several of physical effects of nurture on adolescence. A number of them tend to follow their friends for instance, if they see their friends taking drugs they get influenced and end up doing the same. The physical effects of drugs, smoking, alcohol etc. are; respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, coronary heart diseases, dry skin etc. Intellectual development a consequence on adolescence through nature reduces their thinking level. Their capability to reflect logically reduces. Smoking as well as drinking throughout adolescent years does tend to have an effect on the brain which does affect their understanding enormously. For instance, smoking decreases mental ability as oxygen supply also decreases. Therefore they do also tend to have lack of concentration this is caused by their attention span it goes lower and all this is caused by smoking. Some smokers that are addicted to the substances end up having a slow brain and this affects their thinking, speech as well as communication speed, as the brain is still developing at this stage smoking as well as taking other drugs can easily cause mental  health issues for instance, poor decision-making skills, Environmental factors involve many dimensions. They include both physical environments and social environments (such as the neighbourhood, media and peer pressure.) Also, environmental factors have different levels of impact on human development as they involve multiple layers of action, ranging from most immediate families, friends, and neighbourhoods) to bigger societal contexts (school systems and local governments) as well as macro factors such as politics on the international level or say global warming. These layers are also impacted by other factors outside them. Exposed to not just peer pressure from their peers but also to parental ideals, community standards or ethnic views. Nature is responsible for the growth of a person from the foetus level until development into a normal adult. The genetic makeup of a human being is responsible for their sex, skin colour, colour of their eyes and hair as well as distinguishing features which are inherited. Nature can only assist in the growth of a foetus into a normal well-develope d adult who may have inherited some special talents. Thus it can be concluded that nature uses the genetic coding to help in physical development and does impart some positive or negative traits to an individual However, it is nurture which can be utilized to improve positive traits and diminish the effect of negative traits in a child.† Several recent studies carried out on infant and child behaviour have shown that there is significant evidence to support the fact that nurture strongly influences human development especially in the early years.†(how does nature and nurture influence human development, 19/11/2014) â€Å"Young adults score higher on tests of fluid intelligence†(23/11/2014), which is the ability to think abstractly and deal with novel situations, while middle adults improve over time on tests of crystallized intelligence, which involves using learned information collected throughout a life span. In summary, the results of traditional IQ tests imply that intelligence continues at approximately the same level at least into middle adulthood, and probably beyond. Middle†age adult thinking differs significantly from that of adolescents and young adults. Adults are typically more focused in specific directions, having gained insight and understanding from life events that adolescents and young adults have not yet experienced. No longer viewing the world from an absolute and fixed perspective, middle adults have learned how to make compromises, question  the establishment, and work through disputes. Younger people, on the hand, may still look for definitive answers. Many middle†age adults have attained Piagets stage of formal operations, which is characterized by the ability to think abstractly, reason logically, and solve theoretical problems. Many of the situations facing adults today require something more than formal operations. That is, the uncertain areas of life may pose problems too ambiguous and inconsistent for such straightforward thinking styles. Instead, middle adults may develop and employ post formal thinking, which is characterized by the objective use of practical common sense to deal with unclear problems. An example of post formal thinking is the middle adult who knows from experience how to manoeuvre through rules and regulations and play the system at the office. Another example is the middle adult who accepts the reality of contradictions in his or her religion, as opposed to the adolescent who expects a concrete truth in an infallible set of religious doctrines and rules. Post formal thinking begins late in adolescence and culminates in the practical wisdom so often associated with older adulthood. â€Å"Scholars have long studied twins to address the nature nurture question. Identical twins separated at birth and brought up in separate environments provide the ideal test cases, but such cases are exceedingly difficult to find†(traditional twin studies,2014). Instead, most researchers study twins who have grown up together and carefully compare the experiences of identical twins to those of fraternal twins. Since identical twins are monozygotic, developed from a single sper m fertilizing a single egg, which then divides into two separate cell masses within the first two weeks of development, these twins are essentially clones. Fraternal twins, on the other hand, are dizygotic, developed when two eggs are each separately fertilized by different sperm. Identical twins fraternal twins have, on average, half their genes in common, as do any two full siblings. Comparing identical and fraternal twins enables researchers to separate genetic from environmental influences without measuring genes directly. If a physical or behavioural trait, like hair colour or success at math, is shared more often by identical twins than by fraternal twins, researchers reason, genes must have played a role in developing the trait. Twin and related studies provide most of the evidence that Genes determine human traits and behaviours. For example, schizophrenia runs in families. Twin  studies show that when one twin in an identical pair suffers from schizophrenia, the chance that the other twin will be schizophrenic is about one in two; it is only one in six for fraternal twins. This gap is evidence for the existence of a genetic tendency toward schizophrenia. Similar evidence suggests that genes influence such traits and behaviours as height, weight, manic-depressive psychosis, alcoholism, and cognitive development, reading skills, parenting style, rate of accident occurrence in childhood, television-viewing habits, peer-group selection, and timing of first sexual intercourse, marital disruption, and educational and economic attainment. Traditional twin study designs rely on two assumptions, both of which have prompted criticism. First, the equal environments assumption states that the environments of identical twins are no more similar than the environments of fraternal twins. However, if the experiences of identical twins are more similar, genetic influences would be overestimated. Critics note that identical twins tend to be treated more alike than fraternal twins and suspect that this greater environmental Similarity may explain the greater trait similarity of identical twins. For example, identical twins are probably more often dressed alike than fraternal twins. If being treated identically, in dressing for instance, makes identical twins more similar than fraternal twins, we could mistakenly attribute effects to genes that are really due to differences in treatment. Maturation theory: â€Å"Basically, this theory maintains that children mature as they grow older and personalities and temperament will be reveals with little influence from the surrounding environment† (children’s medical services,(23/11/2014) . Through his research, Arnold Gesell developed some of the first milestones that children should meet. These milestones are called the Gesell developmental schedules. This was the beginning on the idea that children development happens in stages. The Gesell developmental schedule was able to compare a children’s development to the standard norm. The norm was established through extensive studies of children. The schedule is supposed to be able to give a measure of possible intelligence. Children who how early development were likely to have high intelligence according to schedule. The schedule has fallen out of favour in regards to studying intelligence over  the years. There is not enough proof to show that the schedules accurately measure intelligence over the years. The scale is used to this day to measure an infant’s intellectual development in which the infant may have developmental issues. The Arnolds Gesell theory of a child development also has roots in the study of evolution of genetics. Arnold Gesell believed that child development was mostly biological, not environmental. According to Gesell, a stable environment is important to a child, but only so that they can develop naturally according to their genetics. This idea that children develop only according to their biology is called the Gesell maturational theory. According to Gesell’s maturation theory, a child or teenager will develop only according to what they have programmed in their genetics. A stable, nurturing environment helps this along by encouraging growth, much as fertile soil helps a plant grow and develop. References: Nature vs. nurture,(19/11/2014) How much influence do you have on your baby’s intelligence, available at: http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=1044 (accessed: 19/11/2014) How nature and nurture influence human development,(19/11/14) the ongoing debate, available at : http://www.brighthub.com/science/genetics/articles/110288.aspx (accessed:19/11/14) Traditional twin studies, (21,11,2014) twin studies ,what can they tell us about nature/nurture? Available at: http://www.unc.edu/~gguo/papers/05%20twin%20studies%20Contexts.pdf (accessed:23/11/2014) Intellectual development : age 45-65, (14/11/2014) available at: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/psychology/development-psychology/physical-cognitive-development-4565/intellectual-development-age-4565 (accessed : 23/11/2014)

Definition Of Treating Everyone Fairly

Definition Of Treating Everyone Fairly The application of common standards or same treatment does not necessarily mean respect for a persons personality or individualism. Individuals cannot create their own opportunities as they are state provided. People should be free to choose which job they want to do. Many people refuse that equality of opportunity exists in democratic societies. There are some arguments that equality is of no importance to most people due to the fact that they do not have an equal economic or social status. It can be also argued, that rich people have greater opportunities in education and employment as they are in an beneficial situation because of their wealth. likewise, another thing to mention is that there is a prejudice from the past years until today against some racial groups and women, which situates them in a disadvantageous position as they have no right to equal opportunities. Opportunities in any social system are determined not only by ability, commitment, interest, corruption and luck but also by the unpredictable physical and human environment. Opportunities can be completely equalized only by controlling the physical environment and human behavior into predictable patterns. During the years the realization dawned that it was impossible not only to place everyone on the same starting line but to expect them to finish together  [1]  . For a democratic society to exist there must be political opportunities, economic opportunities as to have wealth and prosperity. All discriminatory laws should be removed. Official discriminatory practices should be terminated and assistance should be extended to the less advantaged without penalizing others  [2]  . Despite the colour of our skin, the place where we were born, our religion we all have the right to be treated fairly. But what does fairly mean? Does it mean equality, common standards, that we are all the same or that we have to be treated according our differences? The term social inequality is a wide term which represents all the societies in our days. Facing the problem of social inequality we can recognize two different aspects. The first is the distributive one which is related on how the variety of factors, such as education, wealth, occupation and so on, are distributed in the society. The second one is based on how the individuals are related to each other in a system of groups. When talking about equality we are basically mean the equal opportunities, it also protects people from being discriminated on the grounds of religion, disability, age, belief or sexual orientation. Aristotle stated that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Justice is thought to be equality; and so it is, but for equals, not for everybody. Inequality is also thought to be just; and so it is, but for unequals, not for everybody  [3]  . Also, in his paper Justice as Fairness, John Rawls set out two principles. Firstly, that each person participating in a practice, or affected by it, has an equal right to the most extensive liberty compatible with a like liberty for all. And secondly, that inequalities are arbitrary unless it is reasonable to expect that they will work out for everyones advantage, and provided the positions and offices to which they attach, or from which they may be gained, are open to all  [4]  . In 1950s British government, while facing a problem with labour shortage, turned its face to the British colonies and ex-colonies and as a result, immigrants were employed in low-status jobs. Since the immigrant labour was very cheap, the money that the British government saved should have been used for improving the conditions under which the immigrants were living. Therefore, this never happened since the number of immigrants increased. However, immigrants were accepted as workers by the British people but they were socially unwelcomed, and this raised new racial stereotypes in the United Kingdom. There is a claim that when people are in a comparable situation, they should be treated in an equal manner. As Castberg stated, Everywhere , a law which for instance imposed special taxes on person with long arms or short legs, red hair or big ears would be regarded as unjust and unwarrantable, irrespective of whether the law was correctly applied in accordance with its content  [5]  . However, equality does not mean that people should be treated in the same manner even if they are considered to fall in the same class because this disregards peoples differences. Discrimination has a big effect in public relating to any analysis of human rights and can be a problem which occurs in relation to equality before the law. No human being is equal in every respect and can be distinguished not only by mental and physical attributes but also by their particular circumstances. It is these various differences that lead to acts and for which appear to be discrimination. There are numerous situations whereby each human being must not be treated equally otherwise where is the freedom from discrimination? By equality before the law we mean that when a law is made, each person must be treated in the same way. Equal protection of the law is when applying or enforcing a law which has already been implemented, there should be no differentiation except on a rational and justifiable basis, something which does not create inequality, and as already mentioned, no human being can be treated equally. As an example of the above, traditionally, people and particularly men, are biased against women claiming that women should be focused on their family having a nurturing role. This is like trapping women and removing their freedom of choice as to what they want to do with their lives. Is like denying women their right to choose by restricting their choice between mother-hood and career. Durkheim, deals with the sexual separation in the labour and he states that in the past the gap between men and women was smaller, women retired from public affairs and warfare and focused her attention only to her family. In nowadays, womans situation is differentiated from that of man, who has now realized that women are able to participate in the same activities as them. An illustration of the fact that people are treated differently is that homosexuals in the past could not serve in the army. But, in 1973 the military allowed homosexuals to get into the army. Some may claim that the fact that different Acts and rules apply for homosexuals it is itself discriminatory since it distinguishes them from the other people. However, the law itself previously was discriminatory and the new law is nothing more than positive discrimination and an improvement towards equality. In addition, in 2001 Netherlands was the first country which allowed the marriage between people with the same sex. United Kingdom government introduced the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007. Moreover, most of the other countries have the civil partnership and as a result of that there is a different status between heterosexuals and homosexuals. This equals to inferiority and inequality. Accordingly, another thing to consider is whether all societies can follow a particular ideology or whether it is necessary to have many different ideologies which are based on different types of societies. By homogeneous society we mean a society where the citizens have the same values, ethnicity, language and religion. In our days it is difficult to find such homogeneous societies since we all have different language, religion, culture and so on. Especially, the United Kingdom is a multiculturalism society, so it is not possible for the people to live in one homogeneous society. Therefore, in nowadays, there are some examples of such societies, such as Japanese society, Chinese and some African tribes. Hence, if societies have different natures and essences, they naturally call for different programmes, plans, ideals. In this case, one single ideology cannot be applied to all of them  [6]  . People in a way tend to other each other and tend to think of themselves different, not necessarily better, but at least different. People all over the world are biased, feeling that they do not belong anywhere, that they are strangers, or that they are sub-humans. The only word that comes in my mind when thinking of that is racism. Every group in this world tends to put some standards for itself and criticizes people consequently, so anyone who meets with these standards belongs to the group and anyone who does not meet with them is the other. Other, can be called a person with a different nationality, social class, religion, political ideology and many other types. Emmanuel Levinas stated, act in such a way that you always respect the absolute singularity of the other, and/or the irreducibility of otherness. If we look around us, around the whole world, we will realize that racism is an everyday phenomenon, but through the history we have learned that two group of people have treated really bad and discriminated, the women and the black people. People have abandoned an idea that black people are people with no education, uncivilized and that white people are at the top of the hierarchy, and that is just because they have a different colour. They accept the fact that they do not belong in the community and that they do not have the same rights as the white people. But they do have rights and they should stand for them. Today, the blacks can be considered equal to the whites. They are no longer prevented from going to certain schools, restaurants, or libraries. They can even participate in politics and this can be seen clearly in the United States since its President nowadays is Barak Obama, who is a black person  [7]  . The French Declaration was the declaration of men, citizen and others. Does this mean that women are not included? In fact, women did not have a right to vote until 1944 and also, until the 20th century they did not have a right to education and employment. Still, in nowadays women have not reached the top of the status of humanity. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, states that all men are born equal in rights and in dignity. This is evidently a great fallacy. People are not born equal but totally unequal. Indeed, infancy and childhood are the best examples of human inequality and dependency upon others, upon parents, family members and community networks, within which human life starts, develops and ends  [8]  . After the French Revolution, slavery was abolished but this was not permanent. The human prototype enjoying the rights of the declarations was not only male but also white. The French declaration, as well as the following declarations was not concerned with gender or race. Edmund Burke regarding the rights in the declarations said that they are not universal or absolute; they do not belong to abstract men but to particular people in concrete societies with their infinitive modification of circumstances, tradition and legal entitlement  [9]  . Marx criticized that Human Rights that turns real people into abstract ciphers. Also, the man of human rights is abstract and empty. They promote the interest of a very concrete person, the selfish and possessive individual of capitalism. The subject of human rights loses her concrete identity, with its class, gender and ethnic characteristics; all real human determinations are sacrificed on the altar of the abstract man lacking history and context  [10]  . Karl Marx. in the Critique of the Gotha Programme, stated that Right by its very nature can consist only in the application of an equal standard; but unequal individuals (and they would not be different individuals if they were not unequal) are measurable only by an equal point of view, are taken from one definite side onlyOne worker is married, another is not; one has more children than another and so on and so forth.. To avoid all these defects, right instead of being equal would have to be unequal  [11]  . All human beings are equally entitled to some rights, Human Rights, despite their sex nationality, religion, colour or any other status. We are all different but all equal. So how can we use our Human Rights, do they really make a difference? The fact that they exist does not make it impossible for people to violate them as it is an everyday phenomenon in every part of the world. People, even governments may say that they act in a way that protects human rights, but as a result their actions are found to be in violation of basic rights. Hence, they may use those rights in order to defence their action which are prima facie immoral. Human Rights try to form humanity. As we have seen from the genocides some are considered humans, others not. Some have more humanity than others. This is because even though we are considered the same, not all people are originally the same and in order to become the same they first need to be considered inferior. Humanity has many different types. A type of humanity can be considered the fact that thousands of babies in Iraq die every month because of the Western embargo and many babies in Africa die seventeen times more than Europeans babies. Those people found to be in a very low situation of humanity. In addition, poor people in sub-Saharan Africa who are expected to live thirty years less than the average can also be characterized as fewer humans than the other people. Another group of people, who are ill-treated, are the people who have sexual orientations or race and can be considered as imperfect humans. Humanity is therefore a graded and ranked status with many shades and tires between the superhuman Western, white heterosexual male at the one end and the non human, the concentration camp inmates or the fleeing refugee, at the other  [12]  . However, is not everything that vain. Human Rights exist and we can benefit from them. So, how can the Human Rights be prepared to accept the conflict of the variety of cultures which characterize our days? Some can argue that human rights are culturally relative rather than universal. The Vienna Declaration states that the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind. This puts an intentional duty towards the States to guard and promote human rights no matter of their cultural systems. While its significance is acknowledged, cultural consideration in no way reduces States human rights duties. Human Rights are a contemporary attainment for all cultures. They reflect the dynamic, coordinated efforts of the international community to achieve and advance a common standard and international system of law to protect human dignity  [13]  . Human Rights are characterized from a cultural multiplicity and include in a broad sense a number of protections such as, freedom of expression, thought, religion, right to education, and protection of persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, protection of the principle of non-discrimination and so on. There is greater consideration of the ways in which cultures protect the welfare of their people and illustration of the common foundation of human pride on which human rights protection stands. This phenomenon would enable human rights promotion to emphasize the cultural relevance of universal human rights in various cultural contexts. Acknowledgment of particular cultural contexts would serve to smooth the progress of human rights execution and respect. Working in this way with particular cultures inherently recognizes cultural integrity and diversity, without compromising or diluting the unquestionably universal standard of human rights. Such an approach is e ssential to ensure that the future will be guided above all by human rights, non-discrimination, tolerance and cultural pluralism.  [14]   To conclude, it is a fact that in theory everything is much easier than in practice, because it is in the practice where the people lose control and act in a way that does not respect others. If we do not accept that each of us is different, then nothing in this world will change, nothing will improve. Discrimination against other people is something that does not bring people together, instead it pushes them apart. We are all part of the same world but what can we do to change this world for the best? Women, minority ethnic group members, and those of a different sexual orientation continue to be equal but still separate, supported by the law but unable to obtain true and complete participation. It is impossible for all of us to be the same but it is upon us to respect our human fellows without criticizing them, in order to be able to live in a harmonious society.

Comparing Themes in Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five Essay

Comparing Themes in Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout his career, Kurt Vonnegut has used writing as a tool to convey penetrating messages and ominous warnings about our society. He skillfully combines vivid imagery with a distinctly satirical and anecdotal style to explore complex issues such as religion and war. Two of his most well known, and most gripping, novels that embody this subtle talent are Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five. Both books represent Vonnegut’s genius for manipulating fiction to reveal glaring, disturbing and occasionally redemptive truths about human nature. On the surface, Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five are dramatically different novels, each with its own characters, symbols, and plot. However, a close examination reveals that both contain common themes and ideas. Examining and comparing the two novels and their presentation of different themes provides a unique insight into both the novels and the author – allowing the reader to gain a fuller understanding of Vonnegutâ₠¬â„¢s true meaning. One of the most prevalent themes in Vonnegut’s works is religion. In the early pages of Cat’s Cradle, Vonnegut submits his contention that "a useful religion can be founded on lies (Vonnegut, Cats Cradle 16)," meaning that, fundamentally, religion is about people, not about faith or God. Reminiscent of Karl Marx’s description of religion as the "opiate of the masses," he describes all religions as mere collections of "harmless untruths" that help people cope with their lives. The Book of Bokonon in Cat's Cradle represents this portrait of religion at both its dreariest and its most uplifting, Bokononism is contradictory, paradoxical, and founded on lies; its followers are aware of this... ...refree tone highlights them by providing irony and contrast. This unparalleled ability to seamlessly combine a light tone with serious theme is what distinguishes Kurt Vonnegut from other writers, Although Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five share common themes, the presentation of each of the themes is different in each book. The two novels complement each othe, and comparing both can provide a higher level of understanding for each. Vonnegut never forces his opinions - he makes statements by asking questions, and presents his themes through subtle, but powerful stories, His goal is to get readers to re-examine, not necessarily to change, their lives, morals, and values. Themes such as death, war, and religion are as old as literature itself, yet Vonnegut adds a unique twist to them, inviting the reader to look at these issues from an entirely new perspective.   

Analysis of Nothings changed by Tatmkhulu Afrika :: essays research papers

The poem Nothing’s changed is based on an apartheid in district six near cape town in south Africa exploring the portrayal of racism. The ironic title reveals to the reader how the apartheid has changed nothing but the physical appearance of district six. The poet gives the reader the impression that the speaker in the poem has grown up throughout his childhood in district six and has left and returned after the apartheid has supposedly begun. The poem is written in enjambment and is said as a narrative, in stanza one the speaker has returned to district six that has evicted all its ethnic cultures to be replaced by a white minority, to find that the place is a shambles and people have no respect for it he talks about the â€Å"seeding grasses thrust bearded seeds into trouser cuffs, cans, trodden on† this shows how littered it has become, the fact he mentions it shows the reader it did not use to be like that. Also the mention of the â€Å"purple-flowering amiable weeds†, purple being the colour known for dried blood implies to the reader that some sort of massacre went on throughout the apartheid, and amiable meaning sociable and friendly as a mask over what is really going on in the village. The overall emotion in the poem is revengeful and tragic, however the emotion from the speaker is anger and repulsion towards the white minority and the way they have took over the black’s home, he is aware that he has entered district six without any acknowledgement towards his surrounding, the way he says â€Å"District six.† As a short sentence sounds cold but built up with anger, he knows where he is and he doesn’t particularly want to be there.† No board says it: but my feet know,† this gives the impression he has steps on this ground many times before for his own feel to be aware of its surroundings, â€Å"and the skin about my bones, and the soft labouring of my lungs, and the hot, white, inward turning anger of my eyes.† The repetition of â€Å"and† makes the wording like a list and makes out the speaker has endless bad feelings towards this environment. Afrika then talks about the new buildings that have emerged since he has been gone to illustrate the diverse condition between the two social cultures within his society. He talks about the new building â€Å"flaring like a flag† as if it is taunting him, â€Å"it squats in the grass and weeds,† this gives the reader a horrible impression of the place but also implies the building stand out of its surrounds, it doesn’t belong there. Analysis of Nothing's changed by Tatmkhulu Afrika :: essays research papers The poem Nothing’s changed is based on an apartheid in district six near cape town in south Africa exploring the portrayal of racism. The ironic title reveals to the reader how the apartheid has changed nothing but the physical appearance of district six. The poet gives the reader the impression that the speaker in the poem has grown up throughout his childhood in district six and has left and returned after the apartheid has supposedly begun. The poem is written in enjambment and is said as a narrative, in stanza one the speaker has returned to district six that has evicted all its ethnic cultures to be replaced by a white minority, to find that the place is a shambles and people have no respect for it he talks about the â€Å"seeding grasses thrust bearded seeds into trouser cuffs, cans, trodden on† this shows how littered it has become, the fact he mentions it shows the reader it did not use to be like that. Also the mention of the â€Å"purple-flowering amiable weeds†, purple being the colour known for dried blood implies to the reader that some sort of massacre went on throughout the apartheid, and amiable meaning sociable and friendly as a mask over what is really going on in the village. The overall emotion in the poem is revengeful and tragic, however the emotion from the speaker is anger and repulsion towards the white minority and the way they have took over the black’s home, he is aware that he has entered district six without any acknowledgement towards his surrounding, the way he says â€Å"District six.† As a short sentence sounds cold but built up with anger, he knows where he is and he doesn’t particularly want to be there.† No board says it: but my feet know,† this gives the impression he has steps on this ground many times before for his own feel to be aware of its surroundings, â€Å"and the skin about my bones, and the soft labouring of my lungs, and the hot, white, inward turning anger of my eyes.† The repetition of â€Å"and† makes the wording like a list and makes out the speaker has endless bad feelings towards this environment. Afrika then talks about the new buildings that have emerged since he has been gone to illustrate the diverse condition between the two social cultures within his society. He talks about the new building â€Å"flaring like a flag† as if it is taunting him, â€Å"it squats in the grass and weeds,† this gives the reader a horrible impression of the place but also implies the building stand out of its surrounds, it doesn’t belong there.