Using El Over La for Spanish Feminine Words

El is the singular, masculine definite article, meaning the, in Spanish and is used to define masculine nouns, while la is the feminine version. But there are a few instances where el is used with feminine nouns. Gender in Words An interesting thing about Spanish is the fact that words have gender. A word is considered male or female, depending on what the word refers to and how it ends. A general rule of thumb is if a word ends in -o, it is most likely masculine, and if a word ends in -a, it is most likely feminine. If the word is describing a female person, then the word is feminine and vice versa. Definite Articles for Nouns In most cases, el is used for masculine nouns and la is used for feminine nouns. Another rule supersedes this, and that is when the feminine noun is singular and starts with a stressed a- or ha- sound, like the words agua, meaning water, or hambre, meaning hunger. The reason the definite article becomes el is mostly a matter of how it sounds to say la agua and la hambre and the clunkiness of the double-a sounds repeating. It sounds more definitive to say el agua and el hambre. There is a similar grammar rule in English about the use of the an versus a. An English speaker would say, an apple instead of a apple. The two repeating double-a sounds are too close to each other and sound too repetitive. The English rule  states that an, which is an indefinite article modifying the noun, comes before nouns that have a vowel sound at the beginning of the word and a comes before consonant-starting nouns. Feminine Words that Use the Masculine Article Notice the substitution of el for la takes place when it comes immediately before words starting with an a sound. Feminine Nouns English Translation el agua the water el ama de casa the housewife el asma asthma el arca the ark el hambre hunger el hampa the underworld el arpa the harp el à ¡guila the eagle If the feminine noun is modified by  adjectives  that follow the noun in the sentence, the feminine noun retains the masculine article. Feminine Nouns English Translation el agua purificada purified water el arpa paraguaya the Paraguayan harp el hambre excesiva excessive hunger Reverting Back to the Feminine Article The thing to remember is that words that are feminine remain feminine. The reason why this matters is if the word becomes plural, the word goes back to using the feminine definite article. In this case, the definite article becomes las. It sounds fine to say las arcas  since the s in las breaks up the double-a sound. Another example is las amas de casa. If a word intervenes between the definite article and the noun,  la  is used. Feminine Nouns English Translation la pura agua pure water la insoportable hambre the unbearable hunger la feliz ama de casa the happy housewife la gran à ¡guila the great eagle If the accent of the noun is not on the first syllable, the definite article la is used with singular feminine nouns when they begin with a- or ha-. Feminine Nouns English Translation la habilidad the skill la audiencia the audience la asamblea the meeting The substitution of el for la does not occur before adjectives that begin with a stressed a- or ha-, the rule only applies to nouns, despite the double-a sound.   Feminine Nouns English Translation la alta muchacha the tall girl la agria experiencia the bitter experience Exceptions to the Rule There a few exceptions to the rule that el substitutes for la immediately before a noun that begins with a stressed a- or ha-. Note, the letters of the alphabet, called  letras  in Spanish, which is a feminine noun, are all feminine. Feminine Nouns English Translation la à ¡rabe the Arabic woman La Haya The Hague la a the letter A la hache the letter H la haz uncommon word for face, not to be confused with el haz,meaning shaft or beam Feminine Words Can Use the Masculine Indefinite Article Most grammarians consider it correct for feminine words to take the masculine indefinite article un instead of una under the same conditions where la is changed to el. It is for the same reason  la is changed to el, to eliminate the double-a sound of the two words together.   Feminine Nouns English Translation un à ¡guila an eagle un ama de casa a housewife Although this is widely considered correct grammar, this usage is not universal. In everyday spoken language, this rule is irrelevant, due to elision, which is the omission of sounds, especially as words flow together. In pronunciation, there is no difference between un à ¡guila and una à ¡guila.

The Terrible Trade Of The Slave Trade - 2324 Words

Maddie Long Mrs. Smith Pre-AP English 10 19 October 2015 The Terrible Trade Screams for relief, cries for comfort, and moans for death all revolved around the slave trade. The slave trade is an event that not only impacted Africa, but the whole world even still today. This essay will explain how cultures were ruined and families were torn apart. The slave trade has influenced history worldwide because it has impacted continents economically, socially, and politically. The Middle Passage received its name because it is in the middle of the Triangular Trade. The legs of the triangular trade stretch from Europe to Africa, Africa to the Western Hemisphere, then back to Europe again. This was a great route for Europeans to get ships around the world quickly and efficiently. This is how the slave trade began (Meltzer 9). Most everyone in the world today has a descendant of slavery. Enslavement is a human being that is possessed by someone else, who does labor for free unwillingly. An owner could range from a king, queen, noble, tribe, government, clergy, or business owner. Slaves were considered similar to horses in a way because they could be bought, sold, hired out, exchanged, given as a gift, or inherited (1-9). The slave trade was more than five hundred miles long and extended from Africa to the Americas. At least 30,000-55,000 ships went through the middle passage in the time of 1508-1888. In addition, only 9,778,500 out of the 11,698,000 slaves made it to the Americas.Show MoreRelatedThe Terrible Trade Of The Slave Trade2289 Words   |  10 Pages2015 The Terrible Trade Screams for relief, cries for comfort, and moans for death all revolved around the slave trade. The slave trade is an event that not only impacted Africa, but the whole world. This essay will explain how cultures were ruined and families were torn apart. The slave trade has influenced history worldwide because it has impacted countries economically, socially, and politically. 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Liting Wang Free Essays

Liting Wang Professor Feindert ENGWR 48016 April 2018 Critique of â€Å"There Is Need to Review Our Education System† â€Å"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world†, saidNelson Mandela. The Africa News Service published the article â€Å"There Is Need to ReviewOur Education System† on April 1, 2009 by Rhoda Kalema, a well-known author and titleholder of ‘Uganda’s Forum for Women in Democracy as a transformative leader 1996.’ The article looks at some pressing issues that the education system of Uganda currently faces. We will write a custom essay sample on Liting Wang or any similar topic only for you Order Now There have been no proper mechanisms to expect high-quality education offered in the country. First, she explains that the experience of educated people shows their fear towards the future to come of the present-day education around the world. If people do not have good education, they will not have a bright future. As a result, a country like Uganda might fall back and will be left veryweak. It will affect the country’s improvement in many ways. Second, she suggests that the education administration should start focusing on this situation. In addition, both learners’ and teachers face challenges that make it impossible for the education system to be ranked anywhere in the world. The government is aware of these challenges but offers no solution. Through critique, the key issues facing the primary, secondary, and vocational education in Uganda are examined. There is no definite opinion from the author that is currently viable to revive the whole situation. The author fails to mention the mechanisms that have fuelled the failure of the education system but only comes up with assumptions. Even though the article could be persuasive to an extent because of the clear organization, the posting’s lack of sources and evidences, grammatical issues, vague terms, and weak arguments confuse readers. The article has a clear organization following an introduction, and lists the main points as subheadings, and a conclusion. Although the author has clear points in the article, she does not provide enough evidence and sources to support them. The author organizes the article into sections and follows with examples which is effective because it is effortless for readers to understand the ideas. However, the article does not include any sources and examples from other authors. â€Å"This would call for the Government to improve on the few available vocational institutions, build many new and modern ones, and create regional vocational and technical instructors training colleges† (Paragraph 8). This and a few other examples appear to like her personal opinions and her thoughts because sources are missing. Readers cannot trust the author easily. Additionally, the body paragraphs do not have transitional words, so the article does not flow well. Numerous grammar and punctuation mistakes are evident all over the article. For instance, the author presents a non-standard question â€Å"Why then stop a parent from feeding his/her child? And why stop a headteacher and his staff their role to plan school meals for their students?† (Paragraph 17). Several grammatical errors show failure to proofread some of the sentences. For instance, in paragraph 5 she mentions: The Ministry of Education should invite retired and current educationists forconsultations, [sic] also the non-governmental organizations with the YouthDevelopment Programmes could be consulted. The education syllabus development, most importantly needs experienced and interested persons in this field and not only the appointed civil servants and technocrats.She does not avoid vague terms and presents them without any explanation. For example, she writes â€Å"Teach the young people skills and they will never be lost children† (Paragraph 7). ‘Skills’ is a vague term which needs more specification. Another example of vague word choices is â€Å"Since this statement cannot be easily refuted, then we should mourn the future of our country† (Paragraph 2). The word ‘easily’ could have been improved. Some of the author’s arguments are presented in random and visually uncluttered manner. The author presents most of her points with no illustrations or citations. The author points out the most exciting factors in the education system. For example, â€Å"Everyone in the country and even those outside who have ever experienced a balanced education about 25-30 years ago is in pain over what is happening in the education sphere† (Paragraph 1). As evident from the article, there is no evidence of any citation where the author got the information from, and this puts into question the credibility of her information. The author uses weak arguments to make logical appeals. For example, â€Å"Then at one time about 3,500 or 350 were crossed off the payroll (shortly after they were reinstated, so we read.)† (Paragraph 10). The strength of this posting is rooted in the author’s inability to bring out points to illustrate the failures that are evident to every reader of the article. Anything that contributes to meeting the huge needs of the education systems in Africa is positive, such as programs or projects driven by people who want to serve the general good of the country in the area. The impression that one gets is that there is a desire to be involved in proposing the beginnings of a solution, a standard foundation for teaching that will integrate specific local features and at the same time will train future citizens of an interconnected and culturally mixed world. A change of school learning system will reflect this concept, and it is an interesting one. The author points out the importance of reviewing the education system by giving an example of what needs to be done. â€Å"What we need is the Government to devote a sizeable portion of the budget to education in 2009-2010, construct double, and triple floor classrooms in the existing schools. Only then will our education system be on the right track.† (Paragraph 21). Moreover, everyone in the country and even those that have been lucky to secure jobs outside the country never experienced a balanced education about 25-30 years ago, and it is for this reason that they are in pain over what is happening in the education system. (Paragraph 1). Nevertheless, she fails to point out what is bothering them is and that Uganda’s future is doomed to be. The author should provide a more detailed example and offer insight into what vocational and technical institutions focus. Summing up the topic, in general, does not provide any help to the government as the government requires a practical approach to issues not only a theoretical approach. The author does not explain that the revised curriculum needs to focus on the vocational and technical teaching, to provide skills together with the academic learning. In conclusion, the author has managed to create a list of reasons that would help the government and relevant stakeholders argue their case mostly for naught. While like-minded individuals can pull some rhetorical questions to get others thinking, there is little offered in the way of credible argument material. The author also fails to suggest that conspirators and cartels in government hard are working to manufacture a crisis in educational reform. Policy elites are not knowingly falsifying evidence or collectively coming to a secret agreement about how to terrify the public. She also fails to discuss that school reformers inhabit a small and relatively closed network. Policy leaders and stakeholders can accelerate the pace of development. The article is organized in a pleasant and way that makes the posting readable. From the article, it is clear the author has some arguments to make which are sensible but fails to bring out the issue affecting the education system in Uganda in a way that is convincing. Overall, the article is well summed up, but a few improvements in certain elements would have helped in coming up with a more organized piece than what the author has delivered. How to cite Liting Wang, Papers