Pythagoras essays

Pythagoras essays Pythagoras was born sometime between 495 and 575 B.C. on the island of Samos. There are few documents recording his life therefore little is known about what he did in his life but there are records of things he discovered and studied. All the descriptions that have been recorded about Pythagoras appearance are most probably made up or embellished, although it is believe that he did have a striking birthmark on his thigh. It is believed that he had two brothers, but some sources say he had three. For many years he lived in Kronton, which is located in Southern Italy. He established a school of philosophy and science there and gained followers and together they came to political power. Both men and women were permitted to join, but were all sworn to secrecy. This secrecy caused the group to be surrounded by suspicion. A group of Pythagorean rivals fought back against them and practically shattered the organization. There are also rumors that Pythagoras traveled to Egypt and B abylon at one time but there is no proof of this. He is said to have adopted customs from Egyptian priests such as abstaining from eating beans, not wearing animal skin clothing, and trying to remain very pure. He died in the early part of the 5th century in the city of Metapontum. Not only was Pythagoras was very interested in Mathematics and Science but also Religion and Philosophy. Pythagoras is often know as one of the worlds greatest men but unlike other famous and historical figures Pythagoras wrote nothing about himself, his work, or his teaching. It is believed that the main reason for this was the secrecy that his organization was required to abide by. Much of what we know about him today are things that have been passed down from generation to generation or written later by some of his followers. It is often hard to distinguish what things Pythagoras actually thought up himself and taught and what things were thought up aft...

Definition and Examples of Active Vocabulary

Definition and Examples of Active Vocabulary An active vocabulary is made up of the words readily used and clearly understood by an individual when speaking and writing. Contrast with passive vocabulary. Martin Manser notes that an active vocabulary consists  of the words that [people] use frequently and confidently. If someone asks them to make up a sentence containing such and such a word- and they can do it- then that word is part of their active vocabulary. In contrast, Manser says, a persons passive vocabulary consists of the words whose meanings they know- so that they do not have to look the words up in a dictionary- but which they would not necessarily use in ordinary conversation or writing   (The Penguin Writers Manual, 2004). Examples and Observations An active vocabulary covers all those words people need to use and have no reservations about using to communicate with others on an everyday basis. The range of peoples active vocabulary is a unique reflection of their sociocultural position and the range of discursive practices engaged in. In other words, it depends on the range of relations people contract as a part of everyday existence, over a lifetime. Except for people who frequently make contact with the specialist meaning systems of professions or of other special knowledge categories, most peoples active words are high frequency words in the language and need little stimulus to activate them in the mental lexicon. They are ready for use in incoming and outgoing messages, with no noticeable effort.(David Corson, Using English Words. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995)Developing an Active Vocabulary- When teachers tell you not to use the word get or to find a better adjective to replace nice, they are trying to encourage you to transfer words from your passive vocabulary into your active vocabulary.(Laurie Bauer, Vocabulary. Routledge, 1998)- As a writer, try to turn much of your recognition vocabulary into active vocabulary. In order to make the switch, you must be certain to observe the context, connotation, and denotation of every word you intend to transfer.(Adrienne Robins,  The Analytical Writer: A College Rhetoric. Collegiate Press, 1996)- Educationists believe that using vocabulary in communicative tasks is more beneficial to developing  active vocabulary  than requiring learners to memorize isolated words, or leaving them to their own devices.(Batia Laufer, Quantitative Evaluation of Vocabulary.  Experimenting with Uncertainty: Essays in Honour of Alan Davies,  ed. by C. Elder et al. Cambridge University Press, 2001)- While studies agree that knowledge of vocabulary is important for developing reading skills, they also show it is normally extensive reading that helps develop a wide voca bulary.(Irene Schwab and Nora Hughes, Language Variety. Teaching Adult Literacy: Principles and Practice, ed. by Nora Hughes and Irene Schwab. Open University Press, 2010) Graded Knowledge of WordsThe active vocabulary obviously consists of words that we know better than those that constitute our passive vocabulary. The same distinction holds for native speakers, who also actively use only a subset of the words they are familiar with. Another instance of graded knowledge of words is the fact that, even as native speakers, we often only know that we have heard or read a certain word before, but do not know what it means.(Ingo Plag, Word-Formation in English. Cambridge University. Press, 2003) Also see: LexiconVocabularyVocabulary Acquisition