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A few years ago I was taking a tour of a dome shaped house, and the architect explained to me that domes are an optical illusion. Whenever someone enters a room, their eyes inadvertently glance up at the corners of the room to give them the contextual dimensions of the space they're in.

Grammar Ninja is an educational web game where you as the Grammar Ninja must find parts of speech by throwing ninja stars at words. Correct answers allow you to continue, while wrong answers literally explode. Also available for Wii.

I used this game for a grad school assignment in which I had to review a technology tool. It was really fun!

What are the origins of the English Language? The history of English is conventionally, if perhaps too neatly, divided into three periods usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English. The earliest period begins with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A.D., though no records of their language survive from before the seventh century, and it continues until the end of the eleventh century or a bit later. By that time Latin, Old Norse (the language of the Viking invaders), and especially the Anglo-Norman French of the dominant class after the Norman Conquest in 1066 had begun to have a substantial impact on the lexicon, and the well-developed inflectional system that typifies the grammar of Old English had begun to break down. The following brief sample of Old English prose illustrates several of the significant ways in which change has so transformed English that we must look carefully to find points of resemblance between the language of the tenth century and our own. It is taken from Aelfric's "Homily on St. Gregory the Great" and concerns the famous story of how that pope came to send missionaries to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity after seeing Anglo-Saxon boys for sale as slaves in Rome: Eft he axode, hu ðære ðeode nama wære þe hi of comon. Him wæs geandwyrd, þæt hi Angle genemnode wæron. Þa cwæð he, "Rihtlice hi sind Angle gehatene, for ðan ðe hi engla wlite habbað, and swilcum gedafenað þæt hi on heofonum engla geferan beon." A few of these words will be recognized as identical in spelling with their modern equivalents-he, of, him, for, and, on-and the resemblance of a few others to familiar words may be guessed-nama to name, comon to come, wære to were, wæs to was-but only those who have made a special study of Old English will be able to read the passage with understanding. The sense of it is as follows: Again he [St. Gregory] asked w

The age demanded an image. -Ezra Pound Rationale In our world of multi- and visual media, we must expand our notion of what a text is and how we must read it. As more texts are used to convey information print once did, we must bring to these visual texts critical literacies that will help us construct meaning from their elements. The following questions are designed to help readers make sense of images they encounter in various contexts. Ask the Following Questions * Why are we looking at this? * What are we looking for? * How should we look at this? * What choices did the artist make and how did they affect its meaning? * Is this image in its original state (i.e., no manipulation or "doctoring")? * What are the different components in this image? * How are they related to each other? * What is the main idea or argument the image expresses? * In what context or under what conditions was this image originally created? Displayed? * Who created it? * Was it commissioned? (If so, by whom? And for what purpose?) * What was the creator trying to do here? (i.e., narrate, explain, describe, persuade-or some combination?) * Can you find any tension or examples of conflict within the image? If so, what are they? What is their source? How are they represented? * Do you like this image? (Regardless of your answer: Why?) * How would you describe the artist's technique? * What conventions govern this image? How do they contribute to or detract from its ability to convey its message? * What does it consist of? * Why are parts arranged the way they are? * What is the main idea behind this image? * What does this image show (i.e., objectively; see Vietnam Memorial image) * What does it mean (subjectively; see Vietnam Memorial image) * Is this presented as an interpretation? Factual record? Impression? * What is the larger context of which this image is a part? * What is it made fro

The age demanded an image. -Ezra Pound Rationale In our world of multi- and visual media, we must expand our notion of what a text is and how we must read it. As more texts are used to convey information print once did, we must bring to these visual texts critical literacies that will help us construct meaning from their elements. The following questions are designed to help readers make sense of images they encounter in various contexts. Ask the Following Questions * Why are we looking at this? * What are we looking for? * How should we look at this? * What choices did the artist make and how did they affect its meaning? * Is this image in its original state (i.e., no manipulation or "doctoring")? * What are the different components in this image? * How are they related to each other? * What is the main idea or argument the image expresses? * In what context or under what conditions was this image originally created? Displayed? * Who created it? * Was it commissioned? (If so, by whom? And for what purpose?) * What was the creator trying to do here? (i.e., narrate, explain, describe, persuade-or some combination?) * Can you find any tension or examples of conflict within the image? If so, what are they? What is their source? How are they represented? * Do you like this image? (Regardless of your answer: Why?) * How would you describe the artist's technique? * What conventions govern this image? How do they contribute to or detract from its ability to convey its message? * What does it consist of? * Why are parts arranged the way they are? * What is the main idea behind this image? * What does this image show (i.e., objectively; see Vietnam Memorial image) * What does it mean (subjectively; see Vietnam Memorial image) * Is this presented as an interpretation? Factual record? Impression? * What is the larger context of which this image is a part? * What is it made fro

Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute, and Google's top rated Futurist Speaker. Unlike most speakers, Thomas works closely with his Board of Visionaries to develop original research studies. This enables him to speak on unusual topics and translate trends into unique business opportunities.

The test consists of 1 reading comprehension paragraph, and 12 multiple - choice questions for this text, the time limit is 20 minutes. Hope you do it best! Read the text below and answer the questions: Carbohydrates, which are sugars, are an essential part of a healthy diet.

Smagorinsky nails the real origins of NCLB testing as a $20 billion cost to states that profit the testing/textbook companies.

Upload, comment and edit files, inc add notes and highlighting. Idea - sharing past papers and model answers

Students answer questions and earn rice for developing world

Proof that authors are "real people," that student voice matters, that communication is a vital skill, and that reading and words have a true influence.

"What wonderful worksheets! Our students really like answering your questions and prompts. Thanks for these!" -- Anika K., Salem, WV. 08/19/12 Like these materials? Show your support by liking us on Facebook... While we love logic and vocabulary, we understand that writing is paramount: chief in importance or impact; supreme; preeminent.

"What wonderful worksheets! Our students really like answering your questions and prompts. Thanks for these!" -- Anika K., Salem, WV. 08/19/12 Like these materials? Show your support by liking us on Facebook... While we love logic and vocabulary, we understand that writing is paramount: chief in importance or impact; supreme; preeminent.

This test belongs to the English test TOEFL - Test number 01 , which consists of 20 multiple - choice questions in 25 minutes. Each question has 4 suggesting answers, you need to choose the most correct one. (Bài thi này thuộc đề thi tiếng Anh TOEFL - Đề số 01, gồm 20 câu hỏi trắc nghiệm, thi trong vòng 25 phút.

This test belongs to the English test Incorrect word TOEFL - Lesson 01, which consists of 20 multiple - choice questions in 25 minutes. Each question has 4 suggesting answers, you need to choose the most correct one.

Questions to answer to develop your characters

History of English (Source: A History of English by Barbara A. Fennell) The English language is spoken by 750 million people in the world as either the official language of a nation, a second language, or in a mixture with other languages (such as pidgins and creoles.) English is the (or an) official language in England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; however, the United States has no official language. Indo-European language and people English is classified genetically as a Low West Germanic language of the Indo-European family of languages. The early history of the Germanic languages is based on reconstruction of a Proto-Germanic language that evolved into German, English, Dutch, Afrikaans, Yiddish, and the Scandinavian languages. In 1786, Sir William Jones discovered that Sanskrit contained many cognates to Greek and Latin. He conjectured a Proto-Indo-European language had existed many years before. Although there is no concrete proof to support this one language had existed, it is believed that many languages spoken in Europe and Western Asia are all derived from a common language. A few languages that are not included in the Indo-European branch of languages include Basque, Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian; of which the last three belong to the Finno-Ugric language family. Speakers of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) lived in Southwest Russia around 4,000 to 5,000 BCE. They had words for animals such as bear or wolf (as evidenced in the similarity of the words for these animals in the modern I-E languages.) They also had domesticated animals, and used horse-drawn wheeled carts. They drank alcohol made from grain, and not wine, indicating they did not live in a warm climate. They belonged to a patriarchal society where the lineage was determined through males only (because of a lack of words referring to the female's side of the family.) They also made use of a decimal counting system by 10's, and formed words by compounding. This PIE language was also highly infl

Including the online English multiple - choice questions at level A, B, C, TOEFL, reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, speaking and listening tests,...