How to Flatten Adjective Stacks

How to Flatten Adjective Stacks How to Flatten Adjective Stacks How to Flatten Adjective Stacks By Mark Nichol Words are highly adaptable in terms of which part of speech they represent, but careful writers should be alert in order to minimize or prevent a linguistic affliction called adjective stacking, which is discussed in this post. Nouns are easily converted to adjectives, as when using the phrase â€Å"dinner table.† Dinner and table are both nouns, but when dinner immediately precedes table, it ceases to mean â€Å"evening meal† and represents an adjective describing a type of table: one used for evening meals. Similarly, â€Å"sport utility vehicle† consists of three words that serve as nouns, but when positioned in sequence, the first two words no longer stand on their own to represent concepts, but rather describe the third noun. Such sequences can extend indefinitely, but the longer the string of adjectives- or the higher the stack- the more difficult it is for readers to parse the components and their interrelationships. Reading from left to right, we recognize the first word as a noun but then correct ourselves when a noun follows it, reclassifying the first word as an adjective. Then we have to conduct the same mental process repeatedly, and when word relationships are not clarified by use of hyphens, the quest for comprehension is complicated. The following list from an actual document represents the problems with adjective stacking; it can be confusing and fatiguing: Penetration testing for key medical devices Biomedical security vulnerability assessments Medical device procurement process consulting Biomedical incident response readiness assessments Medical device security program remediation support Manufacturer vulnerability remediation liaison assistance Oddly, the syntax of the first item enables a quick, clear reading, while the others fail to follow suit. Using the first item as a model, however, one can easily revise the list to improve readability by reordering words and phrases and introducing prepositions (and, sometimes, words representing other functions): Penetration testing for key medical devices Assessments of vulnerability of biomedical security Consulting about the procurement process for medical devices Assessments of readiness regarding response to biomedical incidents Remediation support for medical-device security programs Liaison assistance for remediation of manufacturer vulnerability These revised phrases are less concise but easier to read. Note, too, that one can reorganize the word sequences to various extents; each of these phrases can be revised in more than one way. 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:50 Idioms About Legs, Feet, and ToesUse a Dash for Number Ranges10 Types of Hyphenation Errors

When Is The Best Time To Publish A Blog Post

When Is The Best Time To Publish A Blog Post Heres the scenario. You have just written the best blog post your brand will ever publish. The one that you know has the potential to go viral on social media. The one that you know will drive a lot of qualified traffic to your website generating leads and ultimately sales. Youve optimized it for search, checked it twice for grammatical errors, and youre ready to schedule it to go live. Then you stop. Why? Because its at this point, you ask yourself the ultimate question- when. When is the best time to publish an amazing blog post? What day of the week? What time? What timezone? Fortunately, you dont have to guess. In this blog post, were going to look at  four studies that analyze the best time to publish blog posts for specific results (plus two original studies of our own). Here Are 6 Studies That Prove The Best Time To Publish A Blog Post via @Get Your Free Blog Post Scheduling Template Kit This post will give you the information you need to plan an effective blog schedule. But, what about actually executing it? Thats where these free blogging templates come in. Download this kit and youll get: Annual Content Marketing Calendar: Schedule blog posts and set deadlines ahead of time with this Excel template. Blog Schedule Template: Not sure how often you should publish? Use this guide to map out a basic schedule. Best Times to Publish Blog Posts Template: Follow this guide to schedule every post at the best time for your blog. Your WordPress Blog + the Editorial Calendar = Success When you're ready to move on templates, it's time to get the industry's best-selling marketing calendar. With 's WordPress and social network integrations, you can: Schedule every blog post and social message on one editorial calendar using our web app or WordPress plugin. Collaborate with your content marketing team using Discussion Updates. Make project management easy and work more efficiently with Task Templates. Plus, with social scheduling tools like Best Time Scheduling and ReQueue, you can set and forget all your social promotion. Sign up for a free 14-day trial  and or request a demo and take your company's blogging workflow to the next level. Schedule every blog post at the best time with this guide + @.Study #1:  The Best Time To Publish For Traffic, Comments, Links In this study from KISSmetrics, Dan Zarrella, Search Engine Land, and HubSpot, we can learn a lot about blog publishing times. Goals for your blog post should be taken into account when determining optimal publishing time. Want the most traffic? The best publishing day is Monday and time is 11 am EST. Want the most comments? The best publishing day is Saturday and time is 9 am EST. Want the most inbound links? The best publishing days are Monday and Thursday, and time is 7 am EST. Of course, there are pros and cons to publishing at the height of popular times in the day. Sure, you'll get lots of visitors, comments, and engagement. But at the same time, you'll get higher bounce rates and end up being buried in social newsfeeds along with all the other publishers taking advantage of popular posting times. For the  most traffic, publish blog posts on  Monday at  11am EST  || The Best Time To...Study #2: The Best Time For Maximizing Social Reach Do your content goals include social shares? If so, then TrackMaven's study gives you the insights you need. What they found was that posts published during non-popular hours tended to get the most social engagement and shares. Posts published on Saturdays and Sundays received the most social shares, as do posts published between 9pm–midnight EST. The higher the social shares on a post published during non-peak times,  supports the KISSmetrics study that posts published during peak times are buried in social media newsfeeds. One can assume that during non-peak times, people take more time to read the content that comes through their newsfeed. Then they'd go on to share it with their audiences. To get more shares, publish during non-popular hours.   || The Best Time To Publish  @Study #3: The Best Time For Increasing Social Shares and Pageviews However, not all studies come to the same conclusion. This study, shared by Social Fresh using data from Shareaholic, found that social shares are highest for posts published on Thursdays and between the hours of 9–10am EST. The story is a little different when pageviews are concerned. If you want more pageviews, then you will need to publish on Mondays and between the hours of 9–10am EST. The pageviews drop off dramatically for posts published after 12pm EST. Optimize pageviews by publishing on Mondays between 9–10am EST.   || The Best Time To...Study #4: The Best Time To Publish For  Going  Viral Noah Kagan did a study using data from BuzzSumo of 100 million pieces of content to determine what makes content go viral. He found that blog posts published on Tuesday gained the largest total shares. The only exception is LinkedIn and Pinterest shares, which people were more likely to do on Mondays. Of course, publish date and time alone were not enough to make posts wildly successful. He also attributed viral probability on length (long form is best), images, amusement, post types (lists win), the trust factor, and a share from an influencer. NoahKagan found that blog posts published on Tuesday  get more  shares || The Best Time To...Conduct Your Own Research With Original Studies Data We've now covered four different studies from expert sources. However, while these findings  should help you make the best  decisions about when to publish, it's possible your own experience may vary. That could be because of the difference in interests or habits of your target audience, your goals, or other circumstances unique to your situation. Studies may reveal what's broadly true in most cases, only you can know what will work best for your content. Here at , everything we do is driven by data. It's what empowers us to understand  what, when, how, and why  any decision on content should be made. You can do the same thing for your own blog. Unsure what to do with your #marketing? Let data drive decisions.One way to help discover the most optimal approach for your own content is to study your own data. Create Your Own Study To  Find The Best Time For Your Blog All the studies in this post provide the best suggestions on what works in terms of publishing days and times versus the goals you want to reach with your content (shares, links, comments, and traffic). Furthermore, if you're working with a limited amount of time (which is a common concern for many of our readers), then you probably want to know how you can study your own content quickly and derive some useful insights. Ultimately, it will be up to you to determine what day of the week and time of day will increase the specific goals you have set for your content. To run a test on your own website for pageview and visit goals, you can import custom Google Analytics reports for pageviews and visits  (and if you're not using Google Analytics, now is the time to start). These reports will tell you when you are getting the most pageviews and visits now, and then show you how that traffic changes as you publish new posts on different days and at different times. Then, you'll know which times work best, and which times don't. Compare that to what studies say is best, do some experimenting, and observe the results. From there, just do more of what works best for you. It's easy to overthink these things sometimes, but thankfully, it really can be that simple. The time is in military format, and the days of the week are numerical starting with 0 for Sunday. Use #GoogleAnalytics to find your  best time to #publish a #blog post  Ã‚  || The Best Time To...To illustrate how to put your findings to use (working with our own blog without too much effort and for demonstration purposes), we looked at eight posts published over the course of December 2013 and January 2014. Back then, our blog was fairly new, and we were working to establish what would work best for us. Here are the publish times and day-one pageviews we observed: See the 162 day-one pageviews that came from publishing early in the morning? That's dramatically better than posting at any other time, and we're able to demonstrate that fact using relatively little data (and without spending too much time). That’s why you can expect new posts from our team early in the morning. And all these years later, that's the schedule we've stuck to (with a lot of success). That’s not a decision guided solely by  what the industry at large considers to be the best days and times, but because it’s what we’ve seen deliver best results. If something else works better for you, go with that, but starting with this simple approach can help get you there. Ultimately, the strongest content  reaches its audience. Strong #content will find a way to reach its audience. #amwriting #bloggingOnce you’re comfortable with crunching the numbers and analyzing your content in this way, you can work on ways to go more in-depth with your own research. Use studies from thought leaders (whether that’s us or anyone else) as a starting point, compare those findings with your own results, and continue refining your own best times to publish blog posts until you find out what works best for you. You might even turn up some new insights that help add to the industry’s understanding of best practices for blog post publishing times. That’s the power of doing original research. Use Your Own Data To Find  The Best Time To Publish A Blog Post For Lead Conversions There's one glaring thing missing from all of the above- how to maximize  conversions. In the end,  that's really your goal, right? So, what day of the week and time of the day will lead to the most conversions? The answer to the preceding question depends on your ideal customers: Are they local customers who would be most likely to make purchases during the workday? Are they worldwide customers who would be most likely to sign up for your newsletter during their leisure time? Knowing your ideal customer and when they would be most likely to make a conversion can help you determine when to publish blog content with conversion goals in mind. Start by determining which times of day you're getting the most conversions right now. To do this, you can try out this custom Google Analytics report to see conversions by hour of the day and day of the week Use Google Analytics to find the best time to publish for your own blog. Similar to the custom report for pageviews and visits, the time is in military format, and the days of the week are numerical starting with 0 for Sunday.

How to Prove Your Family Tree Connections

How to Prove Your Family Tree Connections There is nothing more frustrating to a genealogist than locating details on an ancestor in a published book, Web page, or database, only to later find that the information is full of errors and inconsistencies. Grandparents are often linked as parents, women bear children at the tender age of 6, and often entire branches of a family tree are attached based on nothing more than a hunch or guess. Sometimes you may not even discover the problems until sometime later, leading you to spin your wheels struggling to confirm inaccurate facts, or researching ancestors who arent even yours. What can we as genealogists do to: Make sure that our family histories are as well-researched and accurate as possible.Educate others so that all of these inaccurate family trees dont continue to procreate and multiply? How can we prove our family tree connections and encourage others to do the same? This is where the Genealogical Proof Standard established by the Board for Certification of Genealogists comes in. Genealogical Proof Standard As outlined in Genealogy Standards by the Board for Certification of Genealogists, the Genealogical Proof Standard consists of five elements: A reasonably exhaustive search for all pertinent informationA complete and accurate citation to the source of each item usedAnalysis of the collected informations quality as evidenceResolution of any conflicting or contradictory evidenceArrive at a soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion A genealogical conclusion that meets these standards can be considered proved. It may still not be 100% accurate, but it is as close to accurate as we can attain given the information and sources available to us. Sources, Information Evidence When collecting and analyzing the evidence to prove your case, it is important first to understand how genealogists use sources, information, and evidence. Conclusions which meet the five elements of the Genealogical Proof Standard will generally continue to hold as true, even if new evidence is uncovered. The terminology used by genealogists is also a little different than what you may have learned in history class. Instead of using the terms primary source and secondary source, genealogists quantify the difference between sources (original or derivative) and the information that is derived from them (primary or secondary).   Original vs. Derivative SourcesReferring to the provenance of the record, original sources are records that contribute written, oral, or visual information not derived- copied, abstracted, transcribed, or summarized- from another written or oral record. Derivative sources are, by their definition, records which have been derived- copied, abstracted, transcribed, or summarized- from previously existing sources. Original sources usually carry more weight than derivative sources.Primary vs. Secondary InformationReferring to the quality of the information contained within a particular record, primary information comes from records created at or near the time of an event with information contributed by a person who had reasonably close knowledge of the event. Secondary information, by contrast, is information found in records created a significant amount of time after an event occurred or contributed by a person who was not present at the event. Primary information usually carries more we ight than secondary information. Direct vs. Indirect EvidenceEvidence only comes into play when we ask a question and then consider whether the information found in a particular record answers that question. Direct evidence is information that directly answers your question (e.g., When was Danny born?) without a need for other evidence to explain or interpret it. Indirect evidence, on the other hand, is circumstantial information that requires additional evidence or thought to convert it into a reliable conclusion. Direct evidence usually carries more weight than indirect evidence. These classes of sources, information, an original source, and evidence are rarely as clear-cut as they sound since information found in one particular source can be either primary or secondary. For example, a source containing primary information directly relating to the death may also provide secondary information regarding items such as the deceaseds date of birth, parents names, and even childrens names. If the information is secondary, it will have to be further assessed based on who provided that information (if known), whether or not the informant was present at the events in question, and how closely that information correlates with other sources.

Historical development of nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Historical development of nursing - Essay Example Before the birth of Christ, nursing did not exist as a distinct profession. It started out as caring for sick members of one’s family. At this time, it was viewed as a way of expressing love and showing compassion one’s family member. It was mainly a woman’s work and no education or training was required. Between and 100 and 500 AD, nursing was mainly done by religious groups mainly churches. The establishment of the first general hospital by Fabiola in Rome was a landmark event in the history of nursing. In the 16th century, women were required to stay at home and look after their families (Nicola & Frances, 2012). This resulted in the deterioration of nursing care since at the time, it was still a profession for women only. Between 1654 and 1656 nursing was realized as sisters of charity took good care of soldiers who were wounded in the battlefields of Arras and Sedan in France. By 1960, the sister of charity was operating in 40 other countries besides France. However, according to Elizabeth and Jerome (2011), it was not until after Florence Nightingale that nursing started to become a reality in the world. After realizing that very few opportunities were given to women, Florence Nightingale started taking care of the ill while visiting the poor. This is where she developed an interest in a career in nursing. Her most notable contributions happened during the Crimean war. This is after she received reports wounded soldiers were in horrible conditions. In October 1854 together with 38 women that she had trained as nurses, she volunteered to take care of wounded soldiers in the battle field. After noting that there was limited supply for medicine, overworked medical staff and poor hygiene which resulted in fatalities among the soldiers, Nightingale appealed to the British government to find a solution to this problem. The British government commissioned the designing of a

Family Pet German Sherpard named Sam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Family Pet German Sherpard named Sam - Essay Example This is his flag signaling friendship. This black merges with the soft brown that covers the rest of his body, and enhances his sharp white teeth set in strong jaws, his black button eyes, and long pink tongue. The black eyes seem to sparkle each time he sees a family member, and the long pink tongue is extended as if to extend a warm greeting. Sam’s majestic â€Å"WOOF† is typical of his specie: strong and commanding. It is a wake-up call. The lieutenant calls all to attention; and if you were a stranger, or someone who is easily scared, then you would be forced to freeze into the poster of a soldier on parade. Sam rests by lying down, almost absorbed into the carpet, doormat, chair, or any area that allows him to comfortably blend his soft body, stretching his long, sturdy front legs out in front, and resting his large well shaped head on them. Many times he sits on his equally well- built hind legs and assumes a stately air. This is when he demands that the tiny white spot on his chest, like a lone star, is noticed and get stroked. He keels over like a boat on the ocean. He rolls himself into a fluffy black and brown ball, and whimpers with pleasure. His huge well- manicured paws, showing soft brown padding, reach out to you to return the favor. At these times, Sam is famous for letting out low happy growls that seem like chuckles, and sometimes like spoken words. By scientific standards, Sam has reached midlife but this definitely does not show because his behaviour brings out the youth in him. He is only six years old, and still going strong. He has the energy of a typical child of this age. He is worth his weight in gold, weighing fifty kilograms and showing no signs of fat. He is a healthy dog that is quite friendly with members of the family, both expecting and allowing each person to spend time with him exchanging a handshake, rubbing his head, or being

The poverty in the world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The poverty in the world - Essay Example The author also notes that the global food crisis affects mostly poor people – who have to spend most or all of their income on food. Using various examples of extreme weather events worldwide, the author argues that political or economic decisions may be related to the food crisis, but their role in the rapid expansion of the crisis can be doubted; rather the weather, as affected by the increased pollution, should be characterized as the main cause of the global food crisis. The views of the author, as briefly presented above, are critically discussed and evaluated using appropriate literature, i.e. academic studies which focus on the global food crisis. 2. Issues discussed in the paper – presentation and analysis In the article under analysis, Krugman aims to present the key causes of the global food crisis. ... However, extreme weather events - recent ones - in specific countries are used in order to prove the relationship between the global financial crisis and the specific events. More specifically, reference is made to the fires in Russia, the flooding in Australia and the dry weather in Brazil. It is noted that extreme weather events are more likely to influence the food prices – compared to the commodity prices, which cannot have an impact, in accordance with Krugman, on the food prices. However, no data or relevant reports are used for supporting the specific view. Instead, the events are mentioned followed by the personal views of the author, without using appropriate literature or findings of research made on the specific issue. The key point of the article is that the global climate change which has led to natural phenomena such as the La Nina, is the key cause of the global food crisis and for this reason the claims that ‘Ben Bernanke has blood on his hands’ (K rugman, p.1 & 3) should be opposed as non-valid. Instead, measures should be taken in order to control the global food crisis that, in accordance with Krugman, is expected to further expand, as a result of the increase of greenhouse gases. 3. Evaluation of the author’s perspective In accordance with the issues discussed above, the global food crisis, as expanded quite rapidly in the international community is quite difficult to be controlled, mostly because it is related to events that cannot be foreseen and they are quite difficult to be confronted. In fact, no matter the technology available, certain of these events, cannot be managed, like in the case of fires in Russia and the flooding in Australia

EC320 CHILD DEVELOPMENT ASSIGNMENT 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

EC320 CHILD DEVELOPMENT ASSIGNMENT 2 - Essay Example This is because everyone wants to meet the baby. As the first few days pass the newborn child’s day becomes less hectic and it begins to settle into normal routines with feeds and sleeping patterns. Throughout its early life it will get comfortable with the people that it interacts with on a regular basis. This is usually the mother, father and siblings. By feeling comfortable the child may cry less and be more settled. The mother is the person who goes through the actual birth; therefore it is understandable if she is slightly shocked and overwhelmed at the occasion. The mother is usually the first person who holds the child. As a result there is that automatic bond between mother and child. The female gains a lot of responsibility from the birth of a child due to the fact that a mother is responsible for the breastfeeding of the child at different intervals during the day. The mother in particular will be very over protective of her child and will not want to let the newborn child out of her sight. If the newborn child is the mother’s first child then the female has a massive shock to her life. She will have to feed the child, be kept up by the child during the night and change the child’s nappy when it needs to be. Simple procedures like changing a nappy can be demanding for new parents. Father’s reactions are very similar to that of the mothers. However it seems that the father views things from a distance compared to the mother. The mother spends more time with the child, as she is in hospital with the child. If this is the first child then the male gains a huge amount of responsibility. One example is financially as children do not come cheap. The father has to financially analyse how the family are going to support the extra person while trying to spend as much time with his new child as possible. Also parents to a newborn child are really protective. For example if the newborn child has a rash, they