20 More Smothered Verbs Set Free

20 More Smothered Verbs Set Free 20 More Smothered Verbs Set Free 20 More Smothered Verbs Set Free By Mark Nichol In the interests of trying to help prevent the smothering deaths of countless sentences, here’s a public-service announcement about how to avoid this senseless tragedy: If a noun phrase (verb plus preposition plus article plus noun, though variations are frequent) can be condensed by converting the noun to a verb and deleting the other words in the phrase, do it. It’s easy enough to write a sentence with a smothered verb I did it myself in a post last week (â€Å"The strategy has been a failure in reducing costs† is easily reduced to â€Å"The strategy failed to reduce costs.†) We’re likely to employ such sentence-stretching strategies in speech, but in writing, we have the opportunity to that is, we can make amends. Here are more examples: 1. See example above. 2. â€Å"The latter conclusion provides an example of the combination of risk factors at different levels.† â€Å"The latter conclusion exemplifies the combination of risk factors at different levels.† 3. â€Å"Call a stop to (or â€Å"put a stop to†) this nonsense.† â€Å"Stop this nonsense.† 4. â€Å"I’m glad they’ve come to an agreement.† â€Å"I’m glad they agree.† 5. â€Å"We’re here to conduct an investigation.† â€Å"We’re here to investigate.† 6. â€Å"They decided to conduct a review.† â€Å"They conducted a review.† (The original version is valid, however, if the review has not yet been conducted.) 7. â€Å"She conducted experiments into tearing the fabric of the space-time continuum.† â€Å"She experimented with tearing the fabric of the space-time continuum.† 8. â€Å"I’d like to extend an invitation for you to attend.† â€Å"I’d like to invite you to attend.† (Or, even more directly, â€Å"I invite you to attend.†) 9. â€Å"He didn’t give an indication of his plans.† â€Å"He didn’t indicate his plans.† 10. â€Å"They agreed to give consideration to his proposal.† â€Å"They considered his proposal.† 11. â€Å"I had a discussion with her about that very issue.† â€Å"I discussed that very issue with her.† 12. â€Å"We have a tendency to get carried away sometimes.† â€Å"We tend to get carried away sometimes.† (Or, even more directly, â€Å"We get carried away sometimes.†) 13. â€Å"Will the new policy have an effect on our procedures?† â€Å"Will the new policy affect our procedures?† 14. â€Å"They plan to hold a conference (or meeting) about the issue soon.† â€Å"They plan to confer (or meet) about the issue soon.† (Or â€Å"They will confer (or meet) about the issue soon,† though the meaning is slightly different.) 15. â€Å"The president is expected to make a statement about his opposition to the proposal later today.† â€Å"The president is expected to state his opposition to the proposal later today.† (The meaning is not identical, but the condensed sentence is valid.) 16. â€Å"I will make (or undertake) an examination of the premises immediately.† â€Å"I will examine the premises immediately.† 17. â€Å"The committee will perform an assessment of the situation.† â€Å"The committee will assess the situation.† 18. â€Å"We expect to realize a substantial savings.† â€Å"We expect to save substantially.† 19. â€Å"She stated with confidence that she will win by a landslide.† â€Å"She is confident that she will win by a landslide.† 20. â€Å"Are you interested in submitting an application?† â€Å"Are you interested in applying?† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Coordinating vs. Subordinating ConjunctionsWhenever vs. When EverOppose and Opposed To

Dementia Essays - Cognitive Disorders, Dementia, Free Essays

Dementia Essays - Cognitive Disorders, Dementia, Free Essays Dementia What is Dementia? Dementia is an organic brain syndrome which results in global cognitive impairments. Dementia can occur as a result of a variety of neurological diseases. Some of the more well known dementing diseases include Alzheimer's disease (AD), multi-infarct dementia (MID), and Huntington's disease (HD). Throughout this essay the emphasis will be placed on AD (also known as dementia of the Alzheimer's type, and primary degenerative dementia), because statistically it is the most significant dementing disease occurring in over 50% of demented patients (see epidemiology). The clinical picture in dementia is very similar to delirium, except for the course. Delirium is an acute transitory disorder. By contrast Dementia is a long term progressive disorder (with the exception of the reversible dementias). The course of AD can range anywhere from 1.5 to 15 years with an average of about 8.1 years (Terry , 1988). AD is usually divided into three stages mild, moderate, and severe. Throughout these stages a specific sequence of cognitive deterioration is observed (Lezak, 1993). The mild stage begins with memory, attention, speed dependent activities, and abstract reasoning dysfunction. Also mild language impairments begin to surface. In the moderate stage, language deficits such as aphasia and apraxia become prominent. Dysfluency, paraphasias, and bizzare word combinations are common midstage speech defects. In the severe stage the patient is gradually reduced to a vegetative state. Speech becomes nonfluent, repetitive, and largely non-communicative. Auditory comprehension is exceedingly limited, with many patients displaying partial or complete mutism. Late in the course of the disease many neuropsychological functions can no longer be measured. Also primitive reflexes such as grasp and suck emerge. Death usually results from a disease such as pneumonia which overwhelms the limited vegetative functions of the patient. Dementia is commonly differentiated along two dimensions: age and cortical level. The first dimension, age, distinguishes between senile and presenile dementia. Senile dementia is used to describe patients who become demented after the age of 65, whereas presenile dementia applies to patients who become demented prior to that age. Late onset AD (LOAD) also known as senile dementia Alzheimer's type (SDAT) is the predominant cause of senile dementia. Early onset AD (EOAD) is the most frequent cause of presenile dementia, but HD, Pick's disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease though not as frequent are also important causes in presenile dementia. The second dimension, cortical level, differentiates between cortical and subcortical dementia. Cortical dementia is used to describe dementia which results from brain lesions at the cortical level, whereas subcortical dementia describes dementia resulting from subcortical brain lesions. AD and Pick's disease are the best known examples of cortical dementia; whereas HD, Parkinson's disease (PD), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) are good examples of subcortical dementia (Mayke, 1994). Dementia with both cortical and subcortical features is also possible, in that case the term mixed dementia is used. MID is a common example of mixed dementia. Historical developments in dementia Pre-Modern Developments The use of the term dementia dates back to Roman times. The Latin word demens did not originally have the specific connotation that it does today. It meant 'being out of one's mind' and, as such, was a general term for insanity (Pitt, 1987). It was the encylopedist Celsus who first used the word dementia in his De re medicina, published around AD 30. A century later the Cappadocian physician Aretaeus first described senile dementia with the word dotage (i.e., "The dotage which is the calamity of old age...dotage commencing with old age never intermits, but accompanies the patient until death."). Curiously, dementia was mentioned in most systems of psychiatric classification throughout pre-modern times, though the precise meaning of the word is often unclear (Pitt, 1987). Nineteenth Century It can be argued that the origins of the scientific study of dementia date back to the early nineteenth century. The initial steps were undertaken by the great French psychiatrist Pinel at the beginning of that century. Pinel's observations led him to the conclusion that the term dementia should be applied in relation to the "progressive mental changes seen in some idiots" (Pitt,3). Furthermore, Pinel thought that dementia was a distinct abnormal entity, and thus he used the term dementia to designate one of the five classes of mental derangement. However, by applying the term dementia