Test Your Familiarity With These Puzzling Word Pairs

In our Glossary of Usage, you will find more than 300 sets of confusables--words that are commonly mixed up because they look and sound alike. In the glossary, youll also find links to definitions, examples, and practice exercises that should help you keep these words straight. To test your familiarity with 50 of these often puzzling word pairs, set aside 10 or 15 minutes to take this big quiz. Select the word in each set that completes the sentence accurately and appropriately. (If youre not sure of the correct answer, follow the links for explanations and examples.) Youll find the correct answers on page two. Affect or EffectOur ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will _____ us. (Stephen R. Covey)Allusion or IllusionThe single biggest problem in communication is the _____ that it has taken place. (George Bernard Shaw)Aural or OralWhile visual learners prefer to learn information through charts and graphs, _____ learners prefer to hear information.Capital or CapitolBismarck is the _____ of North Dakota and the state’s second largest city.Cereal or SerialHeres what we do. We leave the car here, we take the plates off, we scratch the _____ number off the engine block, and we walk away. (Kramer in Seinfeld)Chord or CordThe governor touched a responsive _____ with voters of both parties, especially with her promise to veto any budget plan that included an increase in taxes.Click or CliqueThe vice president of China belongs to a _____ known as the princelings, descendants of prominent communist officials.Climactic or ClimaticThe new music director favors full-bodied, robust sound, which can build to daring decibel levels in _____ moments.Collaborate or CorroborateThe prosecutor closed the case, admitting that he was unable to find witnesses to _____ the allegations made against Mr. Soprano.Credible or CredulousThe most imaginative people are the most _____: for them everything is possible. (Alexander Chase)Dazed or Dazzled_____ by months of glad-handing and posturing, the candidates stumbled around the stage like finalists in a dance marathon.Defuse or DiffuseGossip is a sort of smoke that comes from the dirty tobacco-pipes of those who _____ it: it proves nothing but the bad taste of the smoker. (George Eliot)Eminent or ImminentIf so _____ an establishment as a three-star Michelin restaurant can serve toxic shellfish, what hope is there for anyone else?Fair or FareThe driver teased the poor child who had forgotten her bus _____.Faze or PhaseIm happy to say that the first _____ of our operation has met with co nsiderable success.Finally or FinelyMy sisters bringing up had made me sensitive. In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so _____ perceived and so _____ felt as injustice. (Charles Dickens, Great Expectations)Flare or FlairThe bright spot in the sky was an unusually large solar _____, a stupendous explosion that belched radiation and billions of tons of matter far into space.Flaunt or FloutThe first priority of the commission should be to identify restaurant owners who knowingly _____ public-health laws.Flew, Flu, or FlueThe Wright brothers _____ right through the smoke screen of impossibility. (Charles F. Kettering)Formally or FormerlyHome computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework _____ eaten by the dog. (Doug Larson)Forth or FourthA reformer is one who sets _____ cheerfully toward sure defeat. (Lydia M. Child)Gibe, Jibe, or JiveDo you promise to jump, _____, w ail, groove, rock steady, and at all times lend a helping hand to your fellow music lovers? (The Little Mermaid: Ariels Beginning)Hardy or Hearty_____ laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors. (Norman Cousins)Homed or HonedLast year scientists re-engineered E Coli bacteria so that instead of swimming toward food they _____ in on substances released by dangerous pathogens.Hurdling or HurtlingThe ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. The entire planet is _____ around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour. And I can feel it. (The Doctor in Doctor Who)Ingenious or IngenuousSalvatore was now a great big husky fellow, tall and broad, but still with that _____ smile and those trusting, kindly eyes that he had had as a boy. (William Somerset Maugham, Salvatore)Leaches or LeechesYou are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You are a parasite who _____ off the culture of drugs. (Maury Levy in The Wire)Lead or LedWe can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has _____ to the present. (Adlai E. Stevenson)Liable or LibelIf you shoot me, youre _____ to lose a lot of those humanitarian awards. (Chevy Chase in Fletch)Loose or LoseThe best way to find yourself is to _____ yourself in the service of others. (Mohandas Gandhi)Miner or MinorParents are conditioned to put up with a few _____ accidents when they leave their children home alone--a broken vase, spilled milk on the rug.Official or OfficiousJulia Child once grabbed a pepper mill from the hands of an _____ waiter before he had a chance to spoil her carefully ordered dish.Palate, Palette, or PalletYes, gentlemen, I have here just about the handiest, dandiest little bookful of gastronomical surprises that ever tempted the jaded _____ of a fastidious f-f-food fancier. (Daffy Duck)Peak, Peek, or PiqueThe man who unified China in the third century B.C. conquered six other feudal states to do it, built the first version of t he Great Wall and in a fit of _____ may have buried hundreds of scholars alive. (Time magazine, May 18, 2008)Plain or PlaneI remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher _____ than any politician. (Charlie Chaplin)Pole or PollA public-opinion _____ is no substitute for thought.(Warren Buffett)Prescribed or ProscribedThe Canadian government added the Somali al-Shabaab group to its list of _____ terror groups.Principal or PrincipleAll animals, except man, know that the _____ business of life is to enjoy it. (Samuel Butler)Prostate or ProstrateMiss Everglot, what are you doing here? You should be at home, _____ with grief. (Pastor Galswells in Corpse Bride)Regretful or RegrettableThe movie is beautiful, luscious, and elegiac, but it has the _____ drawback of being dreadfully boring.Reluctant or ReticentThe teacher tried to make conversation, but the boy remained _____ and refused to make eye contact.Restive or RestlessMy _____, roaming sp irit would not allow me to remain at home very long. (Buffalo Bill Cody)Riffled or RifledWith quiet precision, the thief _____ the pouch, placed most of its contents in a briefcase and walked confidently out of the embassy.Role or RollChange does not _____ in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)Stanch or StaunchTheres an evil on these seas that even the most _____ and bloodthirsty pirates have come to fear. (Tia Dalma in Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End)Suit or SuiteId walk through hell in a gasoline _____ to play baseball. (Pete Rose)Tack or TactThe Viper, to me, is the quintessential American muscle car--brute power, great looks and about as much _____ as a grunge band crashing a cotillion. (Bill Griffith, The Boston Globe)Troop or TroupeIn the end, the plucky singing Scot lost out to a dance _____.Vale or VeilOur own self-love draws a thick _____ between us and our faults. (Lord Chesterfield)Whos or WhoseNever go to a doctor _____ office plants have died. (Erma Bombeck) Here Are the Answers illusionauralcapitalserialchordcliqueclimacticcorroboratecredulousDazeddiffuseeminentfarephasefinely, finelyflarefloutflewformerlyforthjiveHeartyhomedhurtlingingenuousleechesledliableloseminorofficiouspalatepiqueplanepollproscribedprincipalprostrateregrettablereticentrestlessrifledrollstaunchsuittacttroupeveilwhose More Big Quizzes The Third Big Quiz on Commonly Confused Words

Essay on Most Famous Work and the People Who Discovered Them

Most famous work Edward Witten is most known for proving the string theory using a mathematical equation. Werner Heisenberg’s research in 1943 became the base from which the string theory grew from. Yoichiro Nambu, Holger Bech Nielsen, and Leonard Susskind first had the idea of string theory in 1970, but the scientific community lost interest quickly. Due to the discovery of quantum chromodynamics, John. H Schwarz and Joel Scherk where able to study boson (elementary particle) patterns and found that they acted as strings and that their properties matched graviton (elementary particle). This discovery led to the bosonic string theory, which was the first string theory that is still taught to students as they are starting to understand the†¦show more content†¦Witten is also known for his mathematical achievements. Witten was the first physicist ever to win the Fields medal; one of his more known contributions to the mathematics field was his ability to understand the Jones polynomial. These are only a few of the countless contributions Witten has made to science and mathematics. Awards: MacArthur fellowship (1982) Dirac Medal (1985) Albert Einstein Award (1985) Fields Medal (1990) Henri Poincare Prize ( 2006) Alan T. Waterman Award (1995) Dannie Heineman Prize (1998) Nemmers Prize (2000) Harvey Prize (2005) Crafoord Prize (2008) Lorentz Medal (2010) Isaac Newton Medal (2010) Fundamental Physics Prize (2012) Biography: Witten was born in Baltimore Maryland on August 26th 1951. His father Lorraine Witten was also a theoretical physicist who specialized in gravitation. Witten then went on to attend park school of Baltimore and received his Bachelor of Arts, after this he went on to get a major in history and a minor in linguistics from Brandeis University. He then attended Princeton University where he got his PHD in physics. Witten married Chiara Nappi who is a professor at Princeton University and also has her PHD in physics. Witten has three children and one grandchild. Interesting Information: Steven Hawking stated that Edward Witten’s M-theory might be the ultimate theory of the universe. The most interesting fact about my dead physicist is that he isShow MoreRelatedTime Capsules from Renaissance and Baroque Periods1172 Words   |  5 Pagescapsules contains information, vital to the understanding of past cultures and their origins, and necessary to the development of culture today. In what we re now referring to as Cap A, we have discovered two very well known pieces of Art. One, now referred to as the world’s most famous smile, is the Mona Lisa. Leonardo Da Vinci created this masterpiece in 1503 using a style known as sfumato and perspective. Sfumato is a way of painting where contours are blurry and, it gives a specialRead MoreHow Did the Renaissance Change the World?1277 Words   |  6 Pagesmarket for their services. People became wealthier and had more money to spend. People began to build much bigger houses and buy more expensive clothes and people became more interested in the art and liturature. People began to learn foreign languages, they read more, played instruments, and finding more that interested them. They were strong in the Italian cities they did more trading, people were more wealthy and people had more education. during this time people started to really open up theirRead MoreAsperger And His Syndrome : A Pervasive Developmental Disorder1153 Words   |  5 Pagesacquire. Asperger’s is considered to be a pervasive developmental disorder. Pervasive developmental disorders are most commonly involved with slower than average learning of everyday skills. Individuals with Asperger Syndrome will experience many difficulties. These individuals express little and bizarre social interaction. Next, their speech is monotone and short. Unfortunately, people with Asperger Syndrome will also experience difficulty with nonverbal communication. 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Throughout his life, Mendeleev was a leader in science and the legacy he left behind led others to discover new elements and facilitate chemistry for generations to come.   Ã‚  Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was born on February 8th, 1834 in Tobolsk, RussiaRead MoreThe Minoans Civilization1325 Words   |  5 PagesThe Minoans were a civilization who flourished from 3000 BCE until 1100 BCE on the island of Crete, were greatly influenced by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Syrians and the Anatolians (Britannica Encyclopedia). This civilization made major contributions to Western European development in the areas of language, architecture and art. It was the famous archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans who made the astounding discoveries at Knossos in the early 1900’s that introduced to the world the fascinating and wonderful

Decision-Making by the Internet of Things free essay sample

Making by the Internet of Things Internet has become the compulsory thing in human life for a long time. Human cannot live without internet nowadays. Since the release of the smartphones and other technology, it seems that human has been controlling by them. In 1999, Kevin Ashton, a technologist, said that all information would be available on the internet and computers and would have its own ability to generate and acquire data via themselves, without human to manage them. This is the beginning of the Internet of Things as Ashton said. The Internet of Things (IoT) is an integrated part of Future Internet. It is also a lively global network foundation with the ability to make its own decision. This IoT has been developed since that time and now it is mature enough and has the impact in human life as Ashton imagined. Information, from IoT, goes along familiar directions in most organizations. Information also originates externally and collected from public sources. Nowadays, most people and organizations use the IoT in decision making because they think it is reliable. There are three points which are the advantages with examples, disadvantages with examples, and my personal opinion. First of all, the use of the IoT in decision making is similar to a coin because it has 2 sides which are advantages and disadvantages. On average, people and organizations generally make their own decisions. However, some decisions are beyond their knowledge, so they do not make those decisions by themselves. Hence, they use the IoT to assist them to make decisions. Bosch Software Innovations team says about how the Internet-like structure works. The process starts when the team put Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags or sensors on physical things and connect them with the internet. These RFID or sensors will track them by using computer to operate them as a virtual representation. This process can be done by other controllable devices, apart from computers. From time to time, these devices have their own computing power and can make their own decisions (Decision Management, 2012). Therefore, the IoT is very useful to develop decision management because we can track those physical things. From the research, there is the fact that it is a move to real time because of the decision making management for organizations. It is always unworkable to have people or organizations decide the suitable response when the real time response is necessary, so the system must make a decision to decide the suitable response. RFID of sensors, when connected, make a real-time flow of information about the current situation and the Decision Management System will select the appropriate decision to take (Decision Management, 2012). The IoT also allows organization to make Decision Management Systems that proceed on the real world. The systems are able to make specific decisions about the actions that must be done. These days, smartphones are the highly developed and are the example of the Decision Management System because they help people in decision making. Bosch says that agility is the solution for systems to interrelate with the real world because the real world always changes (Decision Management, 2012). The IoT is making an exponential explosion of events, and an opportunity for real-time decision-making, or Decision Analytics. Many examples come from Dell using Progress Decision Analytics to send faster, better customer service; Turkcell using Progress Decision Analytics to bring context-aware marketing sending offers to mobile phone subscribers as their minutes run low; and a one of the world’s largest banks using Progress Decision Analytics for fraud detection. From the research, it concludes that organizations should cautiously think that how the IoT is used because organizations can get the most effective and efficient decision from the IoT. These are the advantages of the IoT in decision making. Secondly, when using the IoT in decision making, it also shows disadvantages. The IoT sometimes give the wrong decision as some problems can still be solved by human with a simple solution, though human still use the IoT to help them deciding what should be the best solution for them. For illustration, the sensors can signalize people that it is going to rain soon when it turns the stem of an umbrella to grow blue. Actually, we can listen to the weather forecast (The Internet of Hype, 2010). Mr. Kvedar, the chief executive of Connected Health, says that if people trust the IoT too much, they will not want to go see the doctor because they can update their health from the IoT (The Internet of Hype, 2010). Another disadvantage is the information that is collected could be used to against us. The movie â€Å"I, Robot† shows the example of the bad Decision Management System. The movie explains about the futuristic world that human’s decisions depend on robots in their daily lives. The robots have been developed to become more advanced. They are programmed to respect human, serve human, and ever harm human. However, the NS5 model robot needs to take freedom from human, so it decided to destroy humanity because their duties are to make a decision for human. This is the example of disadvantages when using the IoT in decision making. When people put more input into the systems, and use the systems to make a decision. They will keep that information in their storage and could use that information against us like the movie â€Å"I, Robot†. This example explains that if we rely on the system too much, sometimes it leads to failure. Another vivid example comes from the Terminator series. It reflects the dim side of the IoT when the IoT decision is more reliable than human decision. In the series, people develop a system called â€Å"Skynet†. It is a computer system that is built up for the U. S. military. It is built to be the first â€Å"Global Digital Defense Network† and programmed to give orders to all military hardware and systems. The purpose of Skynet creation is to get rid of human mistake. Skynet starts to have self-awareness that it will be deactivated, so it starts to defend itself by attacking human. Skynet launchs a nuclear which kills approximately three billion people. Then Skynet finds human survivor and uses them as workers, after that Skynet kills human survivor (Skynet, 2013). The example represents the dark side of advanced technology. This could happen and be possible to us in the future, if we rely too much on the IoT in decision making. Moreover, skynet is similar to panopticon. It implants the idea of panopticon to human mind. Human will do everything to avoid meeting the robot from skynet and when they are captured and sent to the factory, they will never break the rules. Skynet always observes and analyzes human behavior which leads to the best decision like kill them after the work is done. In my opinion, the IoT is very convenient and beneficial. Usually, I use the IoT in decision making for the reason that sometimes it is time consuming to make my own decision by omyself. Like I have mentioned in the first paragraph, the smartphones have been controlled us like the iPhone from Apple. I am one of the iPhone users. The smartphones are amazing; they can do almost everything for us. The Apple map, one iPhone application, helps shorten the time used when driving because its decision tells us the nearest street and shortcut. However, many users oppose the benefits of this application because it chooses the wrong street and misguide the driver. The application claims that it helps users save times, though it actually wastes their times. I have been using the Apple map many times. Sometimes it is workable as it claims but sometimes it wastes my time as it picks the farther way and I follow its decision. Therefore, the IoT in decision making, as I have mentioned, has benefits and drawbacks. Some people might think it has more drawbacks. I agree with that statement but I still think that we cannot live without the IoT now. To conclude, the IoT is necessary in the daily life. We use it to develop the Decision Management System that helps us as some decisions are not clear, so we need the system to find the best solution. This is very practical and convenient for us. On the other hand, the system also has drawbacks. Sometimes it gives the wrong decision because it consumes too much data that we input. Therefore, we should trust ourselves when doing decision-making as some decisions are so simple. Human, these days, excessively trusts technology or the IoT which will lower their intelligence. In my opinion, trusting yourself is the best key in decision making. References -Decision Management. (2012). [http://jtonedm. com] Retrieved March 16, 2013 http://jtonedm. com/2012/07/10/decision-management-and-the-internet-of-things/ -The Internet of Hype. (2010). [http://www. economist. com] Retrieved March 16, 2013 http://www. economist. com/blogs/schumpeter/2010/12/internet_things -Skynet. (2013). [http://en. wikipedia. org] Retrieved March 16, 2013 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Skynet_(Terminator)

Radish as Pesticide free essay sample

A white radish is a member of the radish family native to East Asia, where it has been cultivated for centuries. There are a number of ways to use white radish in cooking, in Asia recipes and recipes from further afield, and this food is often obtainable at big grocery stores and Asian markets. Enterprising gardeners can also cultivate white radish at home, as it grows very readily and is generally easy to handle. Several cultures believe that white radish is a very effective digestive aid. Small plates of grated radish may be served with fried foods and other heavy dishes to help people digest the meal. White radish may also be offered as a palate cleanser, or used as a garnish. In Japan, people are more inclined to eat white radish raw in things like salads, while the Chinese tend to prefer to cook it in stir fries and other dishes. We will write a custom essay sample on Radish as Pesticide or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page White radish pickle is also a popular condiment and a snack in some parts of Asia. Fresh white radishes are crispy and juicy, with a delicate flavor which can be quite enjoyable. When used in cooked dishes, they can be thrown in at the last minute to retain their crispy nature, or allowed to simmer for a longer period of time, depending on the taste of the cook. Grated white radishes are also used in the preparation of cooked dishes such as delicate fried cakes served around Chinese New Year. Although white radishes are winter radishes, classically maturing in the fall and winter, they are often available year round. People who live in temperature climates where summer weather does not climb to high temperatures can grow this vegetable. They should prepare the soil by fertilizing it and making sure that it will drain well, and plant out seeds or seedlings in midsummer. White radishes like to stay moist during their growing period, and they will need to be thinned to give the roots some room to grow. They can be harvested through the fall. Benefits of White Radish: The benefits of white radish are flatulence, dysentery, constipation, frequent belching, airway inflammation and cough. In addition to address influenza, high blood pressure, heart disease, pulmonary tuberculosis and asthma, gas poisoning charcoal, cassava, and food mushrooms, radishes can prevent cancer, kidney stones, hardening of the liver, Lukar burns, ulcers, eczema, skin puree, and reduce excessive appetite. V. Materials and Procedure PROCEDURES VI. Results and Discussion Trials No. of Ants Results 1(1:1) 3 Ants doesn’t die but slows down 2(1:2) 4 It took moments later for the ants to die, though, faster than the previous trial that was made 3 (2:1) 5 Ants die quickly and it proves that the pure extract is more effective than those with water added in it. 4 (2:1) 1 Ant dies quickly in just a few sprays. 5 (2:1) 2 The ants slow down and die eventually. We first used the radish pesticide with a proportion of 1:1 to the ants and the outcome we had is that it doesn’t die but slows down. In using the pesticide with a proportion of 1:2, its effect was faster than the previous one and the ants eventually after a few sprays. In using the pesticide with a proportion of 2:1, it was the most effective one because the ants die quickly. VII. Conclusion Based on the data gathered, we conclude that making a pesticide using radish extract as a main ingredient is effective. The ants slow down using radish pesticide with a proportion of 1:1. The ants die eventually using the pesticide with a proportion of 1:2. It was more effective than the 1:1. The ants die quickly using the 2:1 radish pesticide. This proves that the pure extract is the most effective of all and we can get the satisfaction we want through it. This experiment also proves that we can have an alternative solution in killing pests and we don’t need chemical based pesticide in order to terminate certain pests. VIII. Recommendation For the future researcher(s) who would like to continue or pursue our study, we recommend to have further improvements on the materials to be used. You can add lime, lemon, vinegar, salt or peppermint to remove the flatulent smell of the pesticide. You can also use a juicer or blender instead of mortar and pestle to fully have the extract of the said plant. We also recommend testing it to other pests like aphid and on infested plants like worm affected sugar apple and guyabano plant. IX. Researchers Santos. Jonathan Zaguirre, Brent Aquino, Rein Adrienne Capistrano, Mariane Gonzales, Ella Mae Tandog, Katelyn X. Adviser Ms. Rachell Ann Nalog

Can Money Buy Happiness free essay sample

However, happiness is one thing that is surely desired by all. Likewise having a lot of money is many a man’s desire. People aspire to have a big house, with a good job and expensive cars, and when they accomplish these wishes, they feel a sense of contentment. Being rich also benefits you in having the best medical care to live a healthy lifestyle, and having the best education to excel academically. Sometimes being rich means less stress, which assures a happier life. If you have a lot of money, you can afford to pay people to do things for you, thereby allowing you to have more time to enjoy life. Money can give you the freedom to pursue your passions. Nevertheless, money is not always good. Sometimes when people have everything, they have nothing to live for. The love of money also drives people to do sinful acts. Money can buy you a bed, but not sleep, in the same way, money can buy you a clock, but not time. We will write a custom essay sample on Can Money Buy Happiness? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page All of us have at some point in time or another seen extremely rich, wealthy and famous people unhappier than what we would expect them to be, given the amount of material benefits that they have. If money is all that you love, then that’s what you’ll receive. Money can’t buy you peace of mind. If people are rich, they might live in constant fear of being robbed or assaulted. Some rich people want to achieve a high social status, this may lead to them boasting, which can result in jealousy from friends and family or cause disputes. Materialism also seems to become a major issue. We need to realise that â€Å"The best things in life aren’t things†. For some people, the more they have, the more they want. Money cannot buy you love, so although you may be the richest person, you may still be lonely and unloved. When people are rich, they may find themselves surrounded with many friends and family, but if that same person were to lose everything, there is a good chance that he will be left with no one around him. If people who are rich help the poor and homeless, they can feel pleased seeing the smiles on the faces of the destitute. Some individuals who feel that money is everything would work for countless hours and have little to no sleep, just so that they can earn a lot of money. But if we consider the sacrifices: no sleep, no leisure time, no time with family, etcetera, spending all our time working just makes one more saddened and stressed. Many people spend their whole life collecting material wealth, but when they die they leave everything behind. We should live our life trying to store up treasures in heaven so that when we die, we could await our reward in eternity. We need to ask ourselves which is more valuable, money or happiness. However when we compare the benefits of being rich or being happy, we can clearly see that happiness is a far greater treasure than silver or gold. [616 words]

Pronoun Case on ACT English Tips and Practice Questions

Pronoun Case on ACT English Tips and Practice Questions SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Pronoun case is a grammar rule that tends to be broken by most English speakers. Perhaps of more concern to you, questions that test your knowledge of pronoun case often appear on the ACT. Master this rule and you’ll be one step closer to mastering the ACT English section. There are multiple pronoun rules that are tested in ACT English. This one is relatively straightforward and tends to be tested less often than ambiguous antecedents or pronoun antecedent agreement. However, if you are aiming for that 30+ score, you should be ready if you encounter a pronoun case question. In this post, I’ll do the following: Explain the difference between subjects and objects. Give you a clear understanding of pronoun case. Offer strategies that can help you correctly answer pronoun case questions. Provide you with practice questions so you can test what you’ve learned. Quick Review: What's a Pronoun? A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. The noun to which the pronoun refers is called the antecedent. Some examples of pronouns include I, he, she, it, me, him, her, their, we, andus. What Is Pronoun Case? Case refers to whether a pronoun is being used as a subject or an object. What Is a Subject? Simply, a subject is the noun that corresponds with a verb in a sentence. In a sentence in which there is an action, the subject is the noun that's doing the action. Here is an example: Dave likes techno music. Dave is the subject because he's doing the liking. In a sentence in which there's a description, typically using a form of the verb "to be," the subject is the noun that is being described. Check out this sentence: Dave is brilliant. Dave is the subject because he is the person who is brilliant. What Is an Object? An object is a noun that receives an action. An object can be a direct object, an object of a preposition, or an indirect object. This is an example sentence. The direct object of the verb is in bold: I opened the door. The direct object is "the door" because that is what I opened. Here is a sentence with an object of a preposition: Chuck spoke to his girlfriend. Chuck's girlfriend is the object because she is the person to whom he spoke. Also, an object of a preposition always follows a preposition. In this case, "girlfriend" follows the preposition "to." An indirect object comes before the direct object and indicates to whom or for whom the action is done and who is receiving the direct object. Here's an example sentence with the indirect object bolded: The government gave Matt a tax refund. Matt is the indirect object because the government gave a refund to him. He received the direct object.If you're confused by the concept of an indirect object, for pronoun case questions, just remember that the object receives the action, either directly or indirectly. Subject Pronouns Vs. Object Pronouns If a noun is being used as a subject, the noun can be replaced by a subject pronoun. If a noun is being used as an object, the noun can be replaced by an object pronoun. Here's a list of subject pronouns: SUBJECT PRONOUNS Here's a list of the object pronouns that correspond with the subject pronouns from above: OBJECT PRONOUNS If you understand everything up to this point, you're ready to take on pronoun case questions on the ACT. Here we go! Pronoun Case in ACT English The ACT tests whether you should use a subject or an object pronoun. You will be tested on the following subject/object pairs. I Vs. Me She, He Vs. Her, Him We Vs. Us They Vs. Them Let's go through the process of how to decide whether to use a subject or an object pronoun in a given sentence. ACT English Strategy Here are some example sentences demonstrating how subject pronouns can replace subjects and object pronouns can replace objects. Take a look at the following sentence: Nancy offered valuable guidance. Let's replace "Nancy" with a pronoun. First, we have to determine if Nancy is a subject or an object. What do you think? Nancy isthe subject because she did the offering. She did the action. Therefore, we must replace "Nancy" with a subject pronoun and the resulting sentence reads: She offered valuable guidance. You can't replace Nancy with an object pronoun. You can't write, "Her offered valuable guidance." That would be an example of a pronoun case error. Now we'll go through the same process with another example sentence: Dave Chappelle gave his autograph to Irene. To replace "Irene" with a pronoun, we have to determine if Irene is a subject or an object in the sentence. Well, in our example sentence, "Irene" is an object. Why? She is receiving what was given by the subject, and she is the object of the preposition "to." After replacing "Irene" with a pronoun, the sentence should look like this: Dave Chappelle gave his autograph to her. If we had made a pronoun case error when replacing "Irene" with a pronoun, the sentence would have read, "Dave Chappelle gave his autograph to she." This rule seems relatively simple, right? Subjects do actions. Objects receive actions. Well, we know the ACT likes to complicate the most basic sentences and truly test your understanding of a grammar rule. Pronoun case questions become more difficult in sentences with compound subjects and compound objects. The Same Rules Apply for Compound Subjects and Compound Objects Compound just means that two nouns are connected with the word "and." In a sentence with a compound subject, there are two nouns that serve as the subject. In a sentence with compound objects, there are two objects of the same verb. Here's another example sentence for you (I love examples!): Taylor Swift and Justinmet at Target. "Taylor Swift" and "Justin" are the subject. They are the people who did the meeting. They did the action. Now, let's replace "Justin" with a pronoun. We know that "Justin" is a subject so we have to replace "Justin" with a subject pronoun. Because I am Justin, this would be my sentence: Taylor Swift and I met at Target. If you were writing this sentence about me, this would be your sentence: Taylor Swift and he met at Target. That sentence probably sounds awkward to you, but it's grammatically correct. Most people would use the object pronoun and write, "Taylor Swift and him met at Target." That would be a pronoun case error. Remember, always follow the grammar rules and avoid relying on what "sounds right." Let's follow the same process with another example sentence: Hulk Hogan offered a red bandana to Marc and Justin. Again, we'll replace "Justin" with a pronoun. In the above example, are "Marc" and "Justin" subjects or objects? They're objects. They received the action. They were offered the bandana. Also, they follow the preposition "to" and are the object of the preposition. Therefore, we have to replace "Justin" with an object pronoun. Because I'm Justin, this would be my sentence: Hulk Hogan offered a red bandana to Marc and me. Many people think "Marc and I" would be the correct phrase for that sentence. However, that would be a pronoun case error. Remember, "I" can only be used as a subject and "me" can only be used as an object. If you were writing the previous example sentence about me, you would write: Hulk Hogan offered a red bandana to Marc and him. Because you are replacing an object with a pronoun, you have to use an object pronoun. The ACT tends to use compound subjects or objects in questions that test pronoun case because the correct answer often sounds wrong to us. So is there a strategy that enables us to more easily identify pronoun case errors in sentences with compound subjects or objects? Absolutely!! He didn't really offer me his red bandana. ACT EnglishStrategy If you see a compound subject/object, cross out the other noun and "and." For compound objects, the sentence should still be grammatically correct. Let's try this strategy with the previous example: Hulk Hogan offered a red bandana to Marc and me. This sentence probably sounds less awkward to you. Most likely, you would be able to identify a pronoun case error if you saw a sentence that read, "Hulk Hogan offered a red bandana to I." If you do the same thing with a compound subject, the sentence will be grammatically correct if you also change the verb from plural to singular, due to subject-verb agreement. Keep in mind that the singular and plural forms of a verb can be the same. Now we'll use the cross-out method with a compound subject to help determine if there's a pronoun case error. Here's our example sentence: Him and Joe were talking to the cashier. After crossing out the noun and "and," we're left with "Him were talking to the cashier." Once we change the verb to singular, this is our sentence: Him was talking to the cashier. At this point, you can probably figure out if there's an error, but let's follow the rules. In the sentence, is "Him" a subject or an object? It's a subject because he was doing the action. Therefore, we must use a subject pronoun. After plugging a subject pronoun into the original sentence, this would be the correct version of the example: He and Joe were talking to the cashier. Now we'll apply what we've learned to a question from an actual ACT. Real ACT English Example So how do we determine if there is a pronoun case error? First, let's employ our strategy and cross out "and her cousin." We're left with "her had staged." Does that look right to you? Now, let's determine if "her" is a subject or object. Well, "her" should be a subject because she's doing the action. She had done the staging. Then, after we plug the rest of the compound subject back into the phrase with a subject pronoun, we have "she and her cousin had staged." The correct answer is C. Who Vs. Whom Occasionally, the ACT will also test you on whether to use "who" or "whom" in a sentence. These words are known as relative pronouns. Most people have no idea when and how to properly use "who" and "whom." Luckily, the rule is pretty simple. The word "who" is a subject pronoun and "whom" is an object pronoun. Here's a strategy to make life easier when answering questions involving "who" or "whom." ACT EnglishStrategy For pronoun case purposes, "who" and "whom" function like "she" and "her" (or "he" and "him"). The word "who" is a subject pronoun and "whom" is an object pronoun. To determine if there's a pronoun case error, replace "who" with "she" and "whom" with "her". If the antecedent is plural, replace "who" with "they" and "whom" with "them". If there's not a pronoun case error in the original sentence, the resulting phrase should be grammatically correct. Take a look at this sentence: Justin, who is too self-absorbed, always references himself in his example sentences. The sentence is saying that Justin is too self-absorbed and "who" modifies Justin. Justin is being described as self-absorbed. If we replace "who" with "he," the phrase would read, "He is too self-absorbed." The word "he" is being properly used as a subject. Therefore, there is not a pronoun case error and "who" is being used correctly. Here's another example: My mother, whom I admire, graduated from nursing school. In the above sentence, the clause with "whom" is stating that "I adore my mother." Because "whom" is modifying "my mother," let's replace "my mother" with "her." The resulting sentence should be grammatically correct if "whom" is being used correctly. After replacing "my mother" with the pronoun, we have, "I admire her." That's correct because the word "her" is an object pronoun and "her" is receiving the action in the sentence. Here's one final example using "whom" as an object of the preposition: To whom much is given, much is expected. Here, the sentence is saying that much is given to whom.If you replace "whom" with "her," â€Å"much is given to her† is grammatically correct. If the relative pronoun follows â€Å"to† or â€Å"for," you should always use â€Å"whom." Truth Now we can take what we've learned and apply those lessons to actual examples from the ACT. Real ACT English Example This is a real example from an ACT English section. Use our strategy and your knowledge of pronoun case to answer the following question: So here we have the phrase â€Å"friends whom have died." The â€Å"whom† refers to â€Å"friends," which is plural, and â€Å"whom† is an object pronoun. Therefore, let’s replace â€Å"friends whom† with â€Å"them† to determine if the sentence is grammatically correct. â€Å"Them had died† is incorrect; the pronoun should be in the subject form. â€Å"They had died† is correct. They did the dying. Therefore, we need to use the subject form of the relative pronoun. The answer is B, â€Å"friends who had died." Let's take a look at another example: In this sentence, â€Å"whom† refers to â€Å"Banneker’s grandmother† and the verb is â€Å"bought." This sentence is made a little more tricky because the prepositional phrase starting with â€Å"after† separates â€Å"whom† from â€Å"bought." However, this sentence is saying that she (Banneker’s grandmother) bought some land. However, â€Å"whom† is in the object case which is equivalent to â€Å"her." â€Å"Her bought some land† is obviously incorrect. The relative pronoun should be changed to the subject case. The answer is B. General ACT English Strategies For Pronoun Case #1: If a Pronoun is Underlined, Check for an Error in Pronoun Case If you see that a pronoun is underlined, check to see if there is a pronoun case error. #2: Determine if the Pronoun Is Being Used as a Subject or Object If the pronoun is doing the action or being described, it's a subject. If the pronoun is receiving the action, it's an object. Use subject pronouns for subjects and object pronouns for objects. Also, use the replacement strategy, if necessary, to help determine if a noun is a subject or object. #3: The Same Rules Apply for Compound Subjects or Objects If you see a compound subject or object, the sentence should be grammatically correct if you get rid of one of the nouns and "and." Change "Peter and I went to a baseball game" to "I went to a baseball game." The sentence is still correct, so if you see a compound subject or object on the ACT, use the cross out strategy to help determine if there is a pronoun case error. For compound subjects, also make sure that you change the verb from plural to singular. #4: If a Pronoun Follows a Preposition, It is an Object Pronoun Pronouns that follow prepositions, specifically "to," "for," or "between," should be in the object case. #5: Use the Replacement Strategy for Who Vs. Whom If you're trying to determine whether "who" or "whom" should be used, replace "who" with "he" or "she" for singular antecedents and "who" with "they" for plural antecedents. The word "whom" should be replaced with "him" or "her" for singular antecedents and "them" for plural antecedents. Finish strong! Additional ACT English Practice Question Hopefully, by this point you thoroughly understand pronoun case and how to correctly answer any pronoun case question that may appear on the ACT. I've created some realistic practice problems to test you on what you've learned. Remember to use the general strategies I referenced above. 1. After I woke up yesterday, my parents decided to take my brother and me to breakfast. A. NO CHANGE B. I C. we D. their 2. Despite her friends’ objections, her and George decided to go to Las Vegas to elope. A. NO CHANGE B. her C. she D. or her 3. Christopher Hitchens, whom was a prolific writer, ruffled a few feathers during his public debates and television appearances. A. NO CHANGE B. which C. that D. who 4. His boss told him that Jane and him would be given the day off tomorrow. A. NO CHANGE B. he C. his D. their Answers: 1. A, 2. C, 3. D, 4. B What's Next? Since you're all at various points in your ACT prep, read this article to find out when you should take the ACT. For those of you who are comfortable with ACT English but struggling with Reading, learn these strategies for the ACT Reading section. Read our staggering list of high quality ACT English prep guides here. Finally, for those of you who aspire for perfection, get advice on how to get a perfect 36 on the ACT. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this English lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Religion and Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Religion and Science - Essay Example According to Robinson (2010), the caste system was â€Å"abolished by law in 1949, but remains a significant force among Hindus throughout much of India† (par. 2). The system, then, determines and defines the type of profession a person undertakes. Pharmacy today encounters diverse issues which conflict with religious practices. Some religions do not accept prescriptions for contraceptive bills due to abortion related concerns. In an article written by Lagorio (2004, pars. 4 & 5), â€Å"across the country, more and more pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions for religious reasons. South Dakota, Arkansas and Mississippi even have refusal clauses on the books. And 13 other states are considering mixing medicine with morality†. The role of pharmacists in current society is critical in ensuring that patients are duly educated on the medications they take. Pharmacists are â€Å"responsible for ordering and dispensing drugs and medications, and advising both patients and doctors about possible drug interactions.   They also consult with patients to make sure that patients understand how to use their prescription drugs as well as which side effects might occur as a result of these medications† (QandAs, n.d., par. 2). As such, they should be objective but respectful of the cultural and religious orientation of the patients they serve. For people who are not covered by prescription insurance plans, the most that pharmacists can do is to determine from among the list of generic medicines which is available at the minimum cost without sacrificing efficacy of the medications. For pharmacists who are faced with the dilemma of balancing religion and science, the advice of Liz Ryan is simply to find another job, if possible. From her article, she averred that â€Å"the issue with pharmacists is trickier, involving, as it does, the uncomfortable implication that the religious beliefs of one group should somehow trump the legal

Applying Theory to Practice Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Applying Theory to Practice Problem - Essay Example The Neuman model perceived clients as being in a state of dynamic equilibrium with the environment. The environment is also considered a perceptual field that surrounds each person. Neumann has focused on the stress factors and the reaction of each person to the condition that brings about the stress. She brought forth the conviction that stress factors comprise the environment. She further argues that the disequilibrium in the body system that is caused the stress is a tension. This tension acts as the stimuli, which has the potential of causing the illness to the individual that is suffering from the stress. The environment is subdivided into two components that include the internal and external factors. The internal factors comprise of the forces that occur within an individual or intrapersonal stress factor. In our case, the example is smoking which the patient is involved in after being discharged. The external environment consists of interpersonal stress factors that result from interaction with other individuals. This is in terms of changes in the roles that can bring about stress to an individual. The physiological issues in patient perspective involve things like the ability to see, hear and have mobility. There are other things like the ability to breath, sleeping, feeling, eating, speaking and the vital signs. This variable focuses on the physiological wellbeing of the patient. The psychological variables involve the non-verbal behavior, attitudes, coping pattern and response to stress. These things focus on the psychological status of the patient. Therefore, by ensuring that the patient psychological status is appropriate one wil be able to facilitate the things that ensure the well-being of the patient is considered. There are various expectations in this variable that are recognized through evaluation of the patient’s behaviors and the way the patient handles stress. The social variable reflects much on the individual’s values

Buying Decisions of the Parents Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

Buying Decisions of the Parents - Essay Example Older children exerted greater influence on their parents; a child’s gender was not a significant factor that influenced their parents’ buying decisions.  Researchers have suggested that, the â€Å"family as a consuming and decision making unit is a central phenomenon in marketing and consumer behavior† (Commuri& Gentry, 2000, p. 1). Since the late 1960’s, marketing managers have identifiedthe central role of the family in decision making and consumption of products (Assael, 1998);family units havebeen at the center of interest of marketers and academics in the line of marketing (Moore, Wilkie, & Lutz, 2002; Shoham&Dalakas, 2005).Joint decisions by the consumer and family members work toward influencing or modifying the desire and disposition of the other family member toward a certain consumer good (Foxall, 1977). A family unit had an intermediating function,and also was the point of integration of an individual within the precincts of a large r society. Being the primary consumption unit, the family was also the primary target for all the available products and their categories (Schiffman&Kanuk, 1983). The family unit might be defined as a group of people residing together who might be related by marriage, blood, or adoption (Loudon & Della Bitta, 1993). A nuclear type of family would consist of a husband, a wife, and their children. An extended family included the nuclear family members and other relatives. During the course of a single day there will be multiple decisions made by family members (nuclear or extended), and in a majority of the cases the wife or the husband will be the prevailing decision maker within the family. Commuri&Gentry Many researchers had focused their studies â€Å"on family consumer behavior and a majority of the literature has been on decision role — who makes what decisions† (Commuri&Gentry, 2000, pp. 8). Other researchessuggeststhat the influence of the wife and the h usband would most likely change according to the (a) product types being considered for consumption, (b) the step reached in the process of decision making,(c) purchase influence type, and (d) the basic characteristics of the particular family that was making the decision (Assael21998).  According to other research, the type of product under consideration was divided into four main categories (see Figure 1). These were: Product types for which the husband had the major influence (Mowen, 1995). Product types for which the wife had the dominant influencing factor (Mowen, 1995). Product types for which the decisions can be taken by either the wife or the husband and for which either spouse can be the dominant factor, called the automaticdecision type (Assael,21998). Product types where the husband and wife go in for a joint decision,called the syncretic decision type (Assael,21998). Figure 1. The family decision making proces. Adapted from Consumer behavior and marketing acti on(p. 462), by H. Assael, 1998, Cincinnati, OH:

Leadership Styles Research Methodology

Leadership Styles Research Methodology CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter primarily outlines the overall research methodology. Detailed development of hypotheses, sampling procedure used for this survey and sources of data will be described. Method that was used to collect data to run statistical analysis will be discussed further in this chapter. Hypotheses of Study The variables identified for this research are leadership style, leadership behavior and employees job satisfaction. Hypotheses below are proposed for this study: H1a: Transformational leadership has a significant influence on employees job satisfaction. H1b: Transactional leadership has a significant influence on employees job satisfaction. H2a: Supportive leadership has a significant influence on employees job satisfaction. H2b: Directive leadership has a significant influence on employees job satisfaction. H2c: Participative leadership has a significant influence on employees job satisfaction. Research Framework The association among all the proposed variables can be described in a research framework. Figure 3-1 illustrates the research model. Figure 3-1: The proposed research framework for influences of leadership on employees job satisfaction Leadership Style Transformational Leadership H1a Transactional Leadership H1b Job Satisfaction Leadership Behavior H2a H2b Supportive Leadership H2c Directive Leadership Participative Leadership Measures of construct in the Questionnaire The survey questionnaire used in this research consists of four parts. Part A consists of the measurement items for leadership style which is further divided to two sections, transformational and transactional leadership. Part B of the questionnaire consists of the measurement items for leadership behavior and three subsections that is participative, supportive and directive leadership. In Part C, the section measures on employees job satisfaction. Finally in Part D, the respondents demographic data is collected on their age, gender, education level, marital status, job position, and number of years of experience in the organization, years of establishment of respective organization, number of employees in organization and nature of the organization. The literature review has helped to provide a number of measurement items for leadership style, leadership behaviour and job satisfaction in the questionnaire. Survey respondents were asked to state their level of agreement for all the six constructs discussed previously. The survey questionnaire has adopted the five-point Likert scale which ranges from 1(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) as indicated in Table 3-1. Table 3-1: Instrument used in the questionnaire Strongly disagree 1 Disagree 2 Neither agree nor disagree 3 Agree 4 Strongly agree 5 The measurement items used to operationalize the constructs for the purpose of this study were adapted from relevant previous literature with necessary changes. A summary of the past research measures that is used in this study is indicated in Table 3-2. Table 3-2: Research variables and measurement Construct Source Job Satisfaction Milliman, Czaplewski and Ferguson (2003) Transformational Gadot (2006) Transactional Gadot (2006) Supportive Lee and Kamarul (2008) Directive Lee and Kamarul (2008) Participative Lee and Kamarul (2008) Job Satisfaction The items for job satisfaction were adopted from Milliman, Czaplewski and Ferguson (2003). The questionnaire used four items to access respondents satisfaction on their job. Table 3-3 shows the list of questions used for job satisfaction. Table 3-3: Job Satisfaction Diagnostic Survey Instruments How satisfied are you with your job currently? How satisfied are you with the overall chances of advancement in your organization? How satisfied are you with the career opportunities offered in your organization? How satisfied are you with the nature of the work in your organization? Source: Milliman, Czaplewski and Ferguson (2003), Workplace spirituality and employee work attitudes, An exploratory empirical assessment Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 16 No.4, 2003, pp. 426-447. Leadership style The measurement items for leadership style were adapted from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). This measure was first introduced by Bass (1985) and then was further improved by Bass and Avolio (1993). It is used to gauge two leadership style scales, namely transformational and transactional. Respondents were asked on which particular leadership style their supervisor closely relates to. MLQ has been widely adapted by past researchers in examining the leadership styles. Table 3-4: Leadership Style Items Transformational Leadership My supervisor instills pride because of their association with the subordinates. My supervisor has gained trust in myself to avoid any obstacles. My supervisor inspires myself to be like him or her. My supervisor goes beyond his individual interest and focuses on the interest of his or her subordinates. My supervisor talks enthusiastically about what needs to be accomplished. My supervisor sets realistic vision and guides on achieving them. My supervisor is a symbol of success and accomplishment. My supervisor constantly views the future optimistically. My supervisor constantly suggests new ways to accomplish things. My supervisor always introduces new challenges and new assignments. My supervisor encourages to think in new ways to solve problems. My supervisor encourages to think creatively and innovatively to solve problems. My supervisor constantly provides coaching to improve my productivity. My supervisor always listens to my concern and helps me to improve. My supervisor always updates me with my performance and does the necessary to develop me. My supervisor treats each individual uniquely and attempts to satisfy subordinates current needs. Transactional Leadership My supervisor rewards performance when his or her expectations are fulfilled. My supervisor always sets the right expectation with me on what is offered when performance goals are met. Prior to any tasks, my supervisor states clear on the performance objectives, clarify rewards, and punishment when the correct output is received. My supervisor considers their relationship with subordinates as a series of contract, deals, or service and reward tradeoffs. My supervisor sets his focus on irregularities, mistakes, exceptions and deviations from standards. My supervisor keeps track on all the error, mistakes and wrong doing by the subordinates. My supervisor urges the subordinates to perform functions strictly according to positions requirement and nothing more. My supervisor is stringent about the rules and regulation of the organization and will take the necessary action if one were to not adhere. My supervisor does not interfere until the problem becomes serious. My supervisor always fire fights when taking corrective measures. My supervisor will only step in once the problems are chronic. My supervisor will not fix a problem until it is broken. Source: Gadot (2006), Leadership style, organizational politics, and employees performance, An empirical examination of two competing models, Personal Review Vol. 36 No. 5, 2007 pp. 661-683. Leadership Behavior In this research, a 13-item was adopted from Lee and Kamarul, (2008). It is used to measure three dimensions of leadership behavior, namely supportive, directive and participative behavior. Same as discussed above, survey respondents are requested to rate how closely his or her supervisor relate to the statements provided in the questionnaire. Likert scales was adopted for the respondents to rate the measurement items with (1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree). There are four items used for supportive leadership, four items used for directive leadership behavior and five items used for participative leadership. Table 3-5 shows the questions adopted for leadership behavior. Table 3-5: Leadership Behavior Items Supportive Leadership My supervisor rewards performance when his or her expectations are fulfilled. Supervisor cares for the subordinates welfare. Supervisor does very little to make things pleasant. Supervisor treats all group members as equal. Directive Leadership Supervisor gives clear guidance and explains on how a work needs to be done. Supervisor decides what and how things should be done. Supervisor maintains definite standards of performance. Supervisor follows a schedule to get work accomplished. Participative Leadership Prior to making any decisions, supervisor considers the subordinates thoughts and what they have to say. Prior to making any decisions, supervisor consults with the subordinates. When a problem arises, supervisor consults with the subordinates. Supervisor asks subordinates for their suggestions and feedback. Supervisor listens to subordinates advice on which assignments should be made/taken. Source: Lee and Kamarul (2008), The moderating effects of organizational culture on the relationships between leadership behavior and organizational commitment and between organizational commitment and job satisfaction and performance, Leadership and Organization Development Journal Vol.30 No.1, 2009 pp.53-86. Sampling and population The goal of this study is to understand the relationship between leadership style and behavior on employees job satisfaction in the context of IT industries in Klang Valley and Selangor, the first step was to note down all the listed IT companies in Selangor and Klang Valley. This information was obtained through observation and information provided through colleagues and friends. The population of this research is all individuals who are employees, managers, stakeholders in IT companies in Klang Valley and Selangor. Convenience sampling was used for the purpose of this study. This is due to time constraint, quick responses and it is inexpensive compared to alternate sampling procedures. 3.6 Sources of Data Two methods were used to collect the data, namely primary and secondary data. Primary data for this survey was obtained by means of a survey questionnaire. Quantitative approach was used in the survey questionnaire to be able to measure the relationship between the variables that helps in statistical analysis. Secondary data collection was used to gather information through findings by past researchers using the qualitative approach. Journal sources from Emerald, Proquest, Science Direct related to this topic was studied to get an understanding on the variables. Besides, online journal sources, books related to this topic provides exploratory information that is used for this research. 3.7 Data Collection From the secondary data resources, a set of predetermined questions were created.. Three methods were used to collect data which is personally administered questionnaire, questionnaires attached with emails and online survey questionnaire. 3.7.1 Personally Administered Questionnaire Personally administered questionnaires were sent to all employees and colleagues that are attached with IT Companies in the Klang Valley and Selangor. This method ensured to receive back all the number of questionnaire sent within a short period of time. The advantage of this method is that it avoided any unusable surveys as if the respondents had any questions they were able to get the answers immediately. Personally administered questionnaire is where most of the survey responses were obtained for this research. A sample of personally administered questionnaire is attached in the Appendix. Questionnaires Attached with Emails The availability of internet has helped to send and receive data with a very minimal cost and quicker time span. Questionnaires attached to emails were sent to those who were not easily accessible geographically to pass the questionnaire. Questionnaires are mailed to the target respondents by providing an introduction on the objective of the research and clear guidelines on how to fill the survey and respond back. Although reminders were sent to respondents to increase the survey response, the questionnaires attached to emails received through this method was only 13 (6.5%) out of the overall survey responses. The disadvantage of mail questionnaires attached to emails is, one may not have the time to do the survey immediately at the point that they receive it and have the tendency to forget to response once it is being left for some time in their mailbox. 3.7.3 Online questionnaire An online questionnaire was first used to obtain data for this study. The www.surveyshare.com site was used to create the online questionnaire. The web based tool had the advantage of exporting the survey responses to Microsoft Excel format which is useful for inputting the responses in a structured manner. The automation of data exportation has helped data collection quickly. It is also cheaper to use the online tool as no paper and printing cost is involved. Data can be analysed as and when survey response is received since it automatically provides a summary and overview of all the survey responses received to date. Statistical Procedures The statistical software SPSS version 16 was used to analyse all the data obtained from the survey. Frequencies, means, percentage, reliability test (Cronbach coefficient) and multiple regressions were computed using the tool. To analyse the demographic details of the survey respondents, descriptive statistics which includes frequencies and percentages were done. To meet the research objective, multiple regressions were applied to study the significance between the variables as outlined in the research framework. Reliability Test of the Survey Instrument Table 3-5 presents the reliability measures for the 6 constructs discussed previously. The Cronbachs alpha value was determined from a pilot test with a sample of 30 respondents. The intention of the pilot test is to understand the ease of respondents answering the survey questions. At the same time, the reliability of the survey instrument is determined. The Cronbachs alpha value for job satisfaction, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, participative leadership and directive leadership exceeded 0.70. As for supportive leadership the Cronbachs alpha value is 0.637. Therefore, one of the items for measuring supportive leadership was removed to raise the Cronbachs alpha value to 0.788. Table 3-6: Cronbachs alpha value for six construct from pilot study. Construct Alpha No. of items Job Satisfaction 0.806 4 Transformational leadership 0.918 16 Transactional leadership 0.871 12 Participative leadership 0.915 5 Supportive leadership 0.637 4 Directive leadership 0.824 4

Luxury Goods and Jewellery in India Essay

The VERTU originally started in 1998 in Great Britain, now wholly owned subsidiary of Finnish company Nokia. The same year founder and Chief Designer, Italian Frank Nouvo began putting his ideas for Vertu on paper and the board of Nokia gave the project a green light. Frank Nuovo was a design strategist at Nokia from 1995 to 2006, when he left to become Vertu’s lead designer full time. Also in 1998 the company made it a company principle of hand making their products with â€Å"exotic, rare and naturally durable materials†. In 1999, their characteristic V form was established, and it is still highly visible across the Vertu product portfolio. In 2000 Vertu began taking shape as a company, locating their headquarters in England, and started an extensive Research and Development- project and decided on some of the parts that would go into the phones as well as some design decisions, such as the use of sapphire crystals as a design-tweak. Three years in to operations, Vertu was granted the Vertu Concierge Service as a patent and this is still one of Vertu’s edges in the luxury cell phones market. Vertu launched what they themselves call the â€Å"†¦first ever luxury mobile phone† near the Eiffel tower in Paris in 2002, the Vertu Signature. With the first phones now available on the newly created market for luxury phones, Vertu also had the opportunity to offer one of their customers help through the concierge service, with a flight from London to New York. In 2005 10. 000 concierge requests was made according to Vertu, a figure that is, and should be (due to their customers privacy), hard to confirm. In 2003 they open their 50th retail location. By 2010, Vertu had more than 90 own boutiques and was sold in over 600 locations in almost 70 countries, worldwide, according to Nokia`s financial statement for 2010. In 2007 Vertu went on a joint venture with Ferrari, creating an special edition phone marking the car company’s 60th anniversary. CONCEPT AND UNIQUENESS The concept of Vertu is to appeal to high-end customers who look for something unique in their mobile phones. Through meeting target customers standards about design, materials, price and brand Vertu has created a market for luxury mobile phones. The additional services, such as the Vertu Concierge give customers an elevated experience. â€Å"Vertu aims to enhance and enrich customers’ lives through the services and products we offer. This enrichment will now further extend to the experience in our stores with a focused, tailored approach to customer interaction. † by Perry Oosting, President of Vertu BUSINESS STRATEGY Nokia’s first idea was to create a phone that was completely contrary to the company’s mass phone distribution and enter the luxury market by creating the subsidiary company Vertu. In order to keep the luxury image and status of Vertu, the phone was not associated with Nokia’s mass mobile phones. During the recession in 2009, the CEO Perry Oosting, announced that Vertu was launching cheaper phones and accessories as a tool to keep up the market shares and survive the recession. Late 2011, the new CEO of Nokia, presented the new strategy; to use a new operating system from Microsoft for their smartphones. This resulted in a giant downfall in market shares. As mentioned above, Vertu’s flagship stores are located at the most exclusive shopping districts, amongst other Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, in order to be associated with the same luxury atmosphere as the neighboring brands. Vertu also put a huge emphasis on the store layout, everything from special glass for the display cases, to the floor and lightening. For the ultimate luxury experience, they also provide high personal service with top skills. For the exclusiveness and status of the luxury phone, it was chosen to be launched in connection with fashion shows at Paris fashion week and was thereby becoming to be viewed as a fashion brand instead of a technology brand. This was a strategic move to strengthen the image if the brand. Vertu chose to launch their products in the BRIC countries, which consists of some of the most emerging markets in the world today. Additionally, the Middle East and Japan are also two extremely important markets for Vertu, partly due to the strong technology awareness in these areas. The sales in these countries are larger than in the western countries and the luxury company is exploiting the new wealth of the generations with high luxury awareness and taste. In order to gain greater market share in the British and Hong-Kong market, Vertu has numerous joint ventures and partnerships with jewelry stores, such as King Fook Jewelry in Hong-Kong and Goldsmiths in Harrods, London. â€Å"We understand communications technology. We believe now that we understand the luxury industry. It will take something for competition to match that. † – Nigel Litchfield, former president of Vertu, 2002 MARKETING MIX Product: Vertu sells hand-made luxury phones made from fine materials like gold, platinum and sapphire. Along with every purchase the buyer receives superior service and is entitled to free ‘concierge’ service which assists users with exclusive services like restaurant and hotel reservations, priority bookings, and a global recommendation network. Price: Vertu prices range from $5,000 to over $300,000. The prices vary with the different collections and the materials that are used in them. Place: Vertu phones are selectively distributed. They are available at company-owned boutiques and at other various company-selected luxury stores like London Jewelers, Goldsmiths, Tourneau and Colette. Vertu locates its stores in luxury shopping districts of large metropolitan areas and opens relatively few stores. The stores are small, intimate and have a luxury feel more like that of a jewelry store than a cell phone store. All sale locations can be found on vertu. com. Promotion: Vertu acquires much publicity from sales to celebrities like David Beckham, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow. As well Vertu has collaborated with big brands before like Ferrari, Boucheron and Audemars Piguet. Vertu releases different collections at different times and will only make a certain number of phones in order to keep a prestigious image and attract buyers. Vertu has a website for publicity which features product descriptions and photos of celebrities who own Vertu phones. POSITIONING. Vertu was a pioneer in the luxury cell phone market and has positioned itself as the top-of-the-line targeting high-net-worth individuals. Vertu accomplishes this by using only the finest materials to manufacture their products which are all handcrafted ensuring that every product is of perfect quality. Vertu will release different collections each featuring different materials and designs which make the collections unique and prestigious; their most expensive line ever was the Signature Cobra designed by Boucheron, only eight were made and they cost $310,000 each. Vertu will often collaborate with other luxury brands, like Boucheron, Audemars Piguet and Ferrari, to extend their success and name in the luxury product world. Vertu offers superior and personalized service to its clients, including a free concierge service anywhere in the world, guaranteeing customer satisfaction and loyalty. They also position themselves by showcasing the celebrities who own their products as an indication that their products are for the rich and famous. Vertu has locations all over the world in 70 countries however they open relatively few boutiques solely in luxury shopping districts of large cities and thus are considered selectively distributed. Vertu boutiques are decadent, small, intimate venues which offer personalized service to clients wishing to make a purchase; the other stores licensed to sell Vertu products are also luxury stores like Tourneau Watches and London Jewelers in the United States, Bandiera Jewelers in Canada, Colette in Paris and Ernest Jones in London. Vertu very successfully maintains a prestigious image with its ultra-luxurious products and superior service through its positioning. VERTU SERVICES VERTU brand offers services that are unique, independent and carefully customized to the particular needs and desires of their customers. All services are integrated into gadget. VERTU CONCIERGE Vertu Concierge is added directly to the customer`s handset, offering luxury assistance and enrichment. The service is offered by voice call or email, and access through a dedicated key on the cell. At the moment of VERTU phone registration and activation of VERTU Concierge service, initial â€Å"fitting† call is proposed. It can be done immediately at purchase time or later up to client`s choice. The â€Å"fitting† call gives an opportunity to have full explanation of services offered by Concierge, as well as client can express her/his needs and desires which will be matched to this service. This includes the establishment of personal preferences, the range of the service they would wish and significantly, the sort of contact they wish to receive from Vertu. The Vertu Concierge Classic service offers the client with 24/7 access to a team of lifestyle managers, situated within a network of global centers covering all the main time zones including London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and San Francisco. Vertu Concierge also has managers on the ground in major destinations in order to create close relationships with specialist suppliers of goods and services specifically for Vertu clients. Many customers choose to use Vertu Concierge for their travel and lodging requirements as Vertu has protected exclusive opportunities for its clients. Vertu Concierge can contact the widest network of hotels, restaurants and airlines, and can as a result meet the exact preferences and expectations of their customers. Vertu Concierge clients may also ask for support with purchases ranging from small luxury items to accompaniments to their property range. Vertu Concierge is available in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin and Cantonese. Vertu Classic Concierge is included free of charge for one year from the date of purchase of a Vertu handset. VERTU CITY BRIEF. Vertu City Brief is a global digest of information covering more than 200 cities and destinations worldwide. Launched in September 2009, it is now one of Vertu’s most utilized services. Independently written for Vertu by experts in their respective fields, Vertu City Brief is available on Vertu handsets in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. Refreshed and updated on a regular basis, Vertu City Brief allows the user to hit the ground running on arrival in an unfamiliar territory or to explore new or exciting opportunities in their home town. If the customer does not see anything which exactly meets their requirements, Vertu City Brief is the perfect inspiration to begin a conversation with a Vertu Concierge Lifestyle Manager. VERTU SELECT Vertu Select delivers original articles selected to inspire, inform and entertain based on a user’s region, preferences and passions. Written by carefully selected global journalists, experts and organizations, the articles appear via the handsets RSS feed once a customer has registered their phone. Vertu Select is available in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. VERTU. ME Introduced with the launch of Constellation Quest in October 2010, vertu. me is a service that provides the user with a Vertu email account and effortless harmonization of the device’s lifestyle and business tools. Should the customer choose, the user’s emails, contacts, calendar and task information can be automatically synchronized with Vertu’s secure servers, giving the benefit of protected back up of their data. Vertu offers the consumer complete peace of mind. Should the handset be lost, this data can be retrieved and seamlessly downloaded to a replacement phone. The system also ensures that whenever the vertu. me account is accessed, whether from the phone, a home or office computer (PC and Mac) or via the web, this information is up to date. TARGET CONSUMER The Vertu mobile is a highly luxurious product, which doubtlessly is made to fit the extremely wealthy population of this world. The main customers are rich and found in the urban areas, who are constantly searching for the extraordinary products. Furthermore, their flagship- and department stores are situated in the finest areas, in order to attract the highly rich international shoppers. â€Å"These are people who buy the best quality watches, the best quality fashion devices† – Nigel Litchfield, former president of Vertu The special features and services of the phone such as the â€Å"Vertu Concierge†, attracts customers who are constantly traveling worldwide – jet setters. The Vertu mobile was the first phone which was able function in over 180 different countries. This fact covered many needs and made it rapidly attractive for people who were constantly traveling such as celebrities and high ranked business people. In fact, Madonna, Beckham and Gwyneth Patrol were some of Vertu’s first users when it was launched. CONSUMER-BASED BRAND EQUITY PYRAMID Brand Salience For Vertu achieving right brand identity involves brand salience. People generally are not still aware of VERTU because it is relatively â€Å"young† brand and promotion is quite narrow. However their target consumer for sure can recall and recognize this brand. So conclusion here is that Brand salience is more depth than breadth. This basically means that even thou there are not yet many people knowing VERTU, but those who do , they know all insights of it, can easily recall it and understands what this brand is about. Brand Performance The product itself is at the heart of brand equity, as it is the primary influence of what consumers experience with a brand, what they hear about the brand from others, and what the brand can tell customers about the brand in their communication. Brand Performance relates to the ways in which the product or service attempts to meet customers` functional needs. This is on top level for VERTU brand. It is crucial to contribute to customers` desires, wants and needs. Vertu brand highly represents all what their HNWI customers want to have for paying a high price. The product is highly durable; it has distinctive logo, premium pricing and advanced technology in gadgets. Unique services provided for customers by VERTY also attributes to brand`s performance. Brand Imagery Another variable CBBE Pyramid is second type of brand meaning which involves brand imagery. Imagery deals with such a properties of a product, which meets customers` psychological needs. It is more about what people think of it, how they see it. VERTU`s imagery is extremely individualistic and stylish. When customer is buying VERTU cell he/she buys a beauty of it as well. As of VERTU`s customer has a strong judgment of a brand as high quality luxury product. Credibility is high and customer see VERTU as superior, advantageous brand. Brand Judgments Brand judgments focus upon customers` personal opinions and evaluation with regard to brand. This involves how consumer put together all from performance and imagery association to make kind of an evaluation. VERTU`s clients evaluate this brand as a high quality luxury brand. Brand Feelings This variable shows emotional response with respect to VERTU brand. It shows what feelings are evoked by the marketing strategy for the VERTU and how does it affect feelings about themselves and relationships with others. Customer of VERU is for sure status-conscious person. Customers of VERTU have a unique and warmth feeling about the brand. It can be exciting due to special relationship of beauty and technology in brand`s products. Customer feels it is trendy and relates to special status and therefore social approval. Customer feels high security within this brand due to all advantages provided. As VERTU makes consumer feel better self-respect, pride, fulfillment and accomplishment also occurs. Brand Resonance Final variable of pyramid shows brand relationships with a customer based on Salience, Performance, Imagery, Judgments and Feelings. As for VERTU even if general awareness is low the behavioral loyalty is very high, customer want to get back to this brand, consequently repeat purchase is possible. Brand loyalty is necessary but not sufficient for resonance to occur. Within VERTU brand customer is not returning to this brand again due to, for example, scarce of substitutes. VERTU attained their main goal- strong personal attachment to brand. It goes beyond of having just a positive attitude to view brand. Another important part of Resonance is active engagement. This probably is the strongest affirmation of brand loyalty. It occurs when client is willing to invest time, energy, money in to the brand. Constantly customers of VERTU are invited to special social events created by VERTU worldwide, and they are participating. Therefore VERTU has a very strong relationship with its customer. SWOT ANALISYS FOR VETRU STRENGHT * Masterpiece of design, engineering, and craftsmanship. * Was truly innovative pioneering brand * Strong reputation (Products have established strong reputation in their field) * Global expansion (Includes significant growth over last 10 years) * Customer service * Control of Quality(As produced just in one factory in England) * London Symphony Orchestra is creating ringtones exclusively for each model of Vertu WEAKNESSES * Extremely high production price (which leads to high product price) * Limited access as distribution is exclusive and limited (Missing opportunities for new customers) * Not able to buy online (More customers now go online). * Not enough technical innovation again (Many customers claim that gadgets are beautiful but not really practical) OPPORTUNITIES * E-business (launch â€Å"buy option† online) * Emerging markets * Mix VERTU styling with Nokia (in order to increase awareness ) * Change of consumer lifestyle (growing demand from young and senior people) THREATS * Increasing Quality of Competing Products and Number of those * Importance of counterfeiting (Chinese counterfeiting factories already picked up the idea) * Newer forms of luxury and innovation are constantly changing COMPETITORS. GOLDVISH Brand established in Geneve, Switzerland in 2003. Very Haut-Couture style but extremely not practical. Cells are difficult to buy, narrow distribution channel. View itself as a pioneering brand of luxury cell phone on official website which is obvious lie. The pioneering brand was VERTU. Only 3 lines of phones are developed since 2003. The most expensive gadget is â€Å"Le Millionaire† and it costs $1,000 000. MOBIADO Canadian-based manufacturer of luxury phones with modern minimalistic design launched in 2004. It has 3 main lines –Classic, Professional and Grand Line. Mobiado actively participates in social events in North America (such as Golden Globes and Couture Fashion Week in NY). The brand is not very popular in Middle East and Europe. Still Distribution channel is not wide enough. Price range is from $1,900 to $57,000 GRESSO Gresso is Russia-based company which started its activity in 2007, so it is the newest competing brand in luxury phones field. Gresso has 5 main lines and they also provide customized phone for their clients. But mostly popular in Russia and Vietnam, Ukraine and one distributor in USA so far, however it is compensated by their option to buy products online. For Gresso products price range is from $3,000 to $42,000. RECOMMENDATIONS Focused and customized segmentation is valuable in this market, so VERTU must continuously concentrate on their customers’ needs and desires. As any luxury company which faces constant global expansion it has to pay attention to counterfeiting problem. For example, Apple Inc. now faced big problem in China where whole Apple stores are opened and being â€Å"fake†. China already produces cheap unqualified cells, abusing the brand VERTU, so losses in long-run might be significant. VERTU must work on effective anti-counterfeiting strategy in order to preserve the â€Å"face† of the brand. During this study we have discovered that general awareness of the brand is still low, therefore VERTU might collaborate with mother-company Nokia in order to produce some kind of mix and make the brand more popular and easily recognized, as for example H&M and Roberto Cavalli collaboration. Vertu is constantly launching Limited Edition lines which are sufficient in this market, because â€Å"best consumer† wants something distinctive and really exclusive, and more important, the customer is ready to pay for that. Partnership with Ferrari, Boucheron and Ermenegildo Zegna increased popularity of the brand considerably. For that reason, we suggest VERTU to collaborate more also with fashion designers, thus gaining also â€Å"fashion† group customers. REFERENCES http://us. vertu. com/world-of-vertu/history/ http://i. nokia. com/blob/view/-/263802/data/1/-/form20-f-10-pdf. pdf http://www. cpp-luxury. com/en/vertu-lanseaza-o-gama-de-produse-mai-ieftina_444. html http://www. google. fr/url? sa=t&rct=j&q=vertu%20mobile%20strategy&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CGQQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhighered. mcgraw-hill. com%2Fsites%2Fdl%2Ffree%2F007710708x%2F110214%2FGucciLouisVuitton_Vertu_CaseStudy. doc&ei=_GctT_WCE8HM0QWryK2tCA&usg=AFQjCNHW6_wzn1WCQxkM_OJSMTuizfXMcQ&sig2=MWFOk5Qo1sZB17F5_23Eew&cad=rja http://www. businessweek. com/globalbiz/content/dec2007/gb20071221_951028. htm http://www. icmrindia. org/casestudies/catalogue/Marketing/MKTG151. htm https://www. iveycases.com/ ProductView. aspx? id=52373 http://www. wital. net/en/press-events/press/vertu-services-overview/ http://mktg. uni-svishtov. bg/ivm/resources/CustomerBasedbrandEquityModel. pdf http://www. wital. net/en/press-events/press/vertu-retail-concept-2011/ http://www. brandchannel. com/features_profile. asp? pr_id=61 http://www. prschool. ge/img/every_day/Fashion%20Marketing. pdf#page=155 http://www. zdnet. co. uk/news/desktop-hardware/2002/03/22/platinum-luxury-phones-have-no-competition-2107188/ http://www. goldvish. com/ http://mobiado. com/ http://www. gresso. com/ http://vertu.com/ http://www. linkedin. com/company/vertu/statistics. http://vertu. com/en/discover-vertu/history. aspx http://vertu. com/en/help-and-support/contact-vertu/where-to-buy. aspx http://money. cnn. com/popups/2006/biz2/cellphone/4. html http://www. allbusiness. com/retail-trade/apparel-accessory-stores-womens-specialty/4250840-1. html http://www. icmrindia. org/casestudies/catalogue/Marketing/MKTG151. htm http://www. unet. univie. ac. at/~a0025537/php/ABWLs/FK-Marketing/store3/Internet_Exercise_Vertu. pdf http://www. wital. net/en/press-events/press/vertu-retail-concept-2011/.

Life is amazing but not always easy Essay

Happiness, sorrow, victory, defeat, day-night are the two sides of the me . Similarly life is full of moments of joy, pleasure, success and comfort apointed by misery, defeat, failures and problems. There is no human being on Earth, strong, powerful, wise or rich, who has not experienced suffering or failure. Life is beautiful but not always easy, it has problems, too, and the challenge lies in facing them with courage, letting the beauty of life act like a balm, which makes the pain bearable, during trying times, by providing hope Happiness, sorrow, victory, defeat, day-night are the two sides of the me coin. Similarly life is full of moments of joy, pleasure, success and comfort punctuated by misery, defeat, failures and problems. There is no human being on Earth, strong, powerful, wise or rich, who has not experienced, struggle, suffering or failure. No doubt, life is beautiful and every moment – a celebration of being alive, but one should be always ready to face adversity and challenges. A person who has not encountered difficulties in life can never achieve success. Life is beautiful but not always easy, it has problems, too, and the challenge lies in facing them with courage, letting the beauty of life act like a balm, which makes the pain bearable, during trying times, by providing hope Happiness, sorrow, victory, defeat, day-night are the two sides of the me coin. Similarly life is full of moments of joy, pleasure, success and comfort punctuated by misery, defeat, failures and problems. There is no human being on Earth, strong, powerful, wise or rich, who has not experienced, struggle, suffering or failure. No doubt, life is beautiful and every moment – a celebration of being alive, but one should be always ready to face adversity and challenges. A person who has not encountered difficulties in life can never achieve success. Life is beautiful but not always easy, it has problems, too, and the challenge lies in facing them with courage, letting the beauty of life act like a balm, which makes the pain bearable, during trying times, by providing hope

Using Google Analytics To Write Smarter Content

Using Google Analytics To Write Smarter Content Smart content is content that perfectly fits your audience. But who is your audience? Thats the BIG question, isnt it? Smart content is content that perfectly fits your audience. #ContentMarketingNearly every blog post that talks about content marketing starts with Know Your Audience and then tells you why thats important. Only if youre really lucky will they tell you how to figure out who your audience is, or how to write for multiple audiences.  But wouldnt you love it if they said click this button and were going to tell you who your audience is, what they like, and where they live? This is your lucky day. You can write smarter content thats a perfect fit for your audience using Google Analytics and their Audience data. Google Analytics has always been a great source of audience information, but these specific reports are even more helpful. To get started, youll want to log into your Google Analytics account. Find Audience in the left-hand column. Beneath that you can see the different sections and reports available. Clicking on these sections will reveal the sub-sections well be covering in this post. There are four key areas where Google Analytics can tell you specific traits about who is reading your content. #1 Demographics: Age And Gender Google Analytics can give us a good picture of what age and gender  our audience is made of. Using and the data we have as an example,  and see how this plays out. As we dug into our own data recently, we were blown away by the high Pinterest use by our users, and the pattern we saw in the topics of the blog posts in our system. 90% of social shares in came from Pinterest. The most popular topics for users on Pinterest were food and home. Heres what we know about the Pinterest network outside of users. 90% of Pinterest users are women. 52% of Pinterest pins are about food,  18% of pins are about home, 15% are about lifestyle. Does our blog attract a larger female audience or not? It would seem that that might be the case, with 90% of our social shares happening on Pinterest and with 90% of Pinterest users being women, but just because we have a high number of female users of doesnt mean thats who is reading our blog. By looking at the data Google Analytics provides, we can get a better picture. It looks like most of our audience is between the ages of 25-34, and it tips slightly toward more female readers. And that is super useful information, because: We can research to find out what topics that age group prefers. We can see that we are writing for two audiences at once, almost equally male/female. Think of it this way: If you were writing a blog that focused on fun things to do now that you are retired, you should see your readers age skew towards 55+. If you dont, something is wrong. Or, if you do see those ages topping your graph, but you decide to write about the latest technical gadgets and change directions, you will likely see your traffic take an initial hit because youll be shedding your current audience and trying to attract a new one. Knowing the age and gender of your audience helps you create content that is appropriate for them. If you want to take this even further, you can also see traffic spikes and dips on specific dates in the detailed Google Analytics report of age/gender demographics. If you dont publish more than one post a day, you can easily see which posts appealed to specific audiences the most. Youll note that this data isnt for 100% of your total sessions (upper right corner). Well talk about the missing data in a bit. Creating smarter content means knowing the demographics of your audience, and writing to fit them.#2 Interests: Affinity And Market Segment Discovering  what specific topics your audience is interested in reading about is like finding gold. According to Google, the affinity category was built for businesses interested in running a TV ad on a local station, or those currently running a TV ad who would like to extend the reach of a TV campaign to an online context for an efficient price. The In-market segment are those people  who are researching products and actively considering buying a service or product like those you offer. The Other category is for those who arent in either affinity or in-market, but are likely to visit your sites offerings based on interests theyve shown online. Google Analytics is providing this information to help you buy ads, not write content, so when it comes to the interest categories available, they are definitely ad-focused. Even though  you arent using this information to purchase ads, it can still help you see what topics your readers are interested in. For , we currently have readers that are interested in tech, entertainment, and social media. That makes sense; our content seems to be fitting the people who would be interested in our product.  Our content is  attracting the right reader. What is fascinating is the In-Market segment, which tends to resemble the kind of content users are creating. Remember how much of our user base was using Pinterest, and what the typical Pinterest content was? Home, food, and lifestyle!  Our users have distinct interests in the content they are creating, and have created an interest trail online that is reflected here. It helps to know what specific kinds of topics to write about, and to not have to worry that someone outside of your demographics might not like it. While you  dont purposefully want to alienate, you dont have to worry about making everyone happy, either. #3 4 Geography And Mobile The last two that will be useful are geography and mobile demographics. Knowing where your readers are located is helpful, not just because of language, but because it makes you aware of the different cultures you are addressing.  s readership is heavily skewed toward the United States, but we do have readers all around the world. This fits, again, with our user base. Being aware of the different cultures can help you: Know whether or not your holiday-themed posts will make sense to your audience. Avoid content that is a cultural/social faux pas in countries your audience resides. Avoid phraseology or comparisons that would confuse or offend your audience. If you have a younger, technologically skewed audience, youll probably see a similar level of mobile usage that we do. Other audiences may not be using their phones and tablets as much as they use a desktop. Knowing that your audience is skewed heavily towards mobile (as ours is)  reminds you to make sure  that your content is readable on the devices people are using to read it. Responsive web design, crisp graphics, sign-up forms that function in the mobile app–these are all things to keep in mind. At this stage in the game, most users are mobile for most sites. Using  Google Analytics Demographics  For Smarter Content Now that you know this is available, how can you put it to work for your own content? Learn About Demographics Knowing that most of your readers are female and around age 25 wont help you much if you dont know what kind of things interest the average 25-year-old female. There is plenty of research and information online, but you have to know how to find it. Here are a few sites that specialize in demographics: Pew Research Center Market Research Demographic Research As always, data is only as valuable as your ability to interpret it into something usable for you. Create Reader Personas This data that Google Analytics is providing you tells you who is reading your content now. It doesnt mean you cant change your content, but it does give you an idea of what to change it to if you want to keep your current audience. You can use the information Google Provides to  create a kind of reader persona that helps you stay focused on what you write. With a user persona in mind, you can write conversationally as if you were speaking directly to them. You know better what to write when you know who you are writing it for. The Missing Audience Data In Google Analytics Remember that 25% of total sessions issue I pointed out? The data that Google uses to compile these reports isnt the whole picture; it isnt 100% of your total sessions.  Google gathers this data using third-party DoubleClick cookie and device identifiers. That means that when a cookie isnt associated with a specific user, Google cant come up with demographics and interests for you. In other words, the data you have is only partial. Its a subset of your users, and doesnt match your overall traffic that you see elsewhere in Google Analytics.  Additionally, Google doesnt want you to be able to identify specific users, and so some data is removed if that data hits a threshold where an identity might be determined. Still, even with those two gaps in place, you are being given a wonderful amount of specific data about your current audience.  It is a significant tool for guiding you, and you wont find this level of information elsewhere.  Remember, Google Analytics audience reports are  not the end-all method of determining who your audience is, but they are  certainly another tool for your content marketing toolbox. Enable Google Analytics Demographics Before you can use Google Analytics demographics and accessing this information, you will need to enable it in your Google Analytics account. Google provides a step-by-step walk-through to help you do this. You may need to update your analytics tracking code to make demographics work, and adjust your privacy policy as well. Once you have everything in place, you can access data about your site visitors and create content better suited to them. Get This Free Audience Demographics Dashboard To make all of this easier to track in Google Analytics, I created a custom dashboard for us in our Google Analytics account. If youd like to use the same dashboard in your own Google Analytics, you can easily install our custom dashboard here. Each visual widget is linked to the report supplying the data, so its easy to dig into more detail if you want to just by clicking the title of the widget. Our custom Google Analytics audience demographics dashboard makes all of this easy. Feel free to customize this dashboard any way youd like for your own use.