Oxford Brookes University

defined in the Oxford English dictionary as “Belief… which is typically manifested in obedience, reverence, and worship; such a belief as part of a system defining a code of living, esp. as a means of achieving spiritual or material improvement.” (2014). Culture on the other hand is defined as “The distinctive ideas, customs, social behaviour, products, or way of life of a particular nation, society, people, or period. Hence: a society or group characterized by such customs, etc.” (Oxford…

In Marge Piercy’s narrative poem, “Barbie Doll”, the story of a young girl is told from the viewpoint of an outside speaker watching her grow up around the norms of society and ultimately ends her life because of it. Throughout each stanza, a new important piece of information is expressed to the readers to contribute to both the theme and tone of the poem. Piercy is able to cultivate the idea that inward beauty is not valued in today’s society, and that artificial perfection can only be…

For most people, the saying, “You never know what you have, until you don’t have it anymore.” is something they hear a lot but never truly understand until they need to. For instance, English. Sometimes, as a society, we take for granted the basic fundamentals of what could propel us to success and greatness. In Homemade Education by Malcolm X, we surely see the outcome of when you aren’t knowledgeable in the English language and the great affects of when you are. Malcolm X expresses how he…

control-deck of the Starship Enterprise. Soon, I’m looking down at Scientology’s Oxford Capacity Analysis personality test: 200 often strangely worded questions, ask how I “feel RIGHT NOW” about a disparate range of issues. "Does an unexpected action cause your muscles to twitch? " "Do some noises ‘set your teeth on edge’?" "Do you browse…

Can a Leopard Change Its Spots? This is not a joke, folks. I am really asking if a leopard can change its spots. Because, after listening to two episodes of the A Way With Words radio show, I would like to add some new vocabulary to my language repertoire. One episode in particular, “XYZ PDQ”, peaked my interest, probably because every word and phrase examined in that episode is a word or phrase that I would like to start using. Now, you are probably wondering what on earth this cool radio show…

In the sentence If the test was held on Sunday, more people could take it, something sounds a little strange to our linguistic competency, which is our “hidden knowledge” of a language (Mihalic̆ek and Wilson). It may be difficult to point out the error, but instinctively we know an error lies somewhere within the sentence. According to Martha Kolln, “In if clauses that express a wish or a condition contrary to fact, we use were as the standard form of be, no matter what the subject” (Kolln and…

Some of the earliest double entendres are found in the Exeter Book, or Codex exoniensis, at Exeter Cathedral in England. The book was copied around 975 AD. In addition to the various poems and stories found in the book, there are also numerous riddles. The Anglo-Saxons did not reveal the answers to the riddles, but they have been answered by scholars over the years. Some riddles were double-entendres, such as Riddle 25 ("I am a wondrous creature: to women a thing of joyful expectation, to…

Dear Parents of English Language Learner Students, I want to take a moment and welcome you to the U.S. I hope that this transition will bring you lots of opportunities, joy, and health. Immigration, with all the changes and necessary adaptations to the new environment, is a challenging journey, but it is doable. I am happy to be the teacher of your children and working hard to make sure they learn and enjoy their time in my classroom. I put an unprecedented amount of time in preparing special…

William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night alludes to a variety of themes that commonly include false identity, role-playing, and love. The general plot of the play could be described as a cross-dressing comedy about a woman, Viola, who tries to gain the attention and love of a Duke, Orsino, with obstacles along the way, including Olivia, the Duke’s love interest. The themes mentioned are developed and sometimes scrutinized by the play’s characters, such as Orsino, Olivia, and Feste the clown. In…

Javier Suarez 5working with people can be gained by simply going out in the world, rather than payingthousands of dollars to attend to college. Some students also rather obtain a well-rounded workexperience rather than a specific one, and attending to college is also not necessary to do this.Studying and reading books can give a person the knowledge that they are looking for rather thanhaving to pay for classes on topics they are not interested on. Paying for a book to then read andstudy is a…