Grammar Post #5

To or too.. This is something that Mike and I were just arguing about so I decided I'd research what the answer is.

Too is an adverb, and two different meanings give it two different distinct placements.
Too meaning excessively, to an excessive degree...
You worry too much.
Isn’t it just too obvious?
In these cases, the adverb too precedes an adjective.
Too meaning also, in addition.
Mike is coming too!

To is a particle. The infinitive in English consists of two parts: the particle to and the verb. Here are four infinitives:
to giggle to chuckle to snigger to laugh
If you see to before a verb, as above, it’s acting as part of the infinitive. Too never does that.
Gretchen snickered when Hannah said she wanted to order fish and chips.
To climb Mount Everest takes guts.
To used as a particle and too used to modify a following adjective can look deceptively similar:
Edna went to work.
Charles arrived too late. http://www.educationbug.org/a/to-vs--too.html

And yes I am right again :) Sorry Mike..

I'm Black, You're White, Who's Innocent?

In this piece by Shelby Steele she talks of the racism that goes on in our society. I didn't agree with this essay from almost the beginning. I think that there has been a lot of progression from back when there was more problems with this. Everyone has their own oppinion and can think for themselves but to me we are all people. Color should not be a deciding factor on who get's the job, or who commited the crime, etc. Maybe someday this problem will disolve but for now I guess we'll just have to live with ignorance.

Rough Draft for John Q

Heidi Schmutz
English 2010 M & W
06/29/2009

John Q and Heart Transplants
Each year thousands of adults in the United States would be saved if they were able to get a donated heart transplant. More than 2,200 heart transplants were performed last year in the United States alone. When the heart no longer can adequately work and a person is at risk of dying, a heart transplant may be indicated. It involves removing a diseased heart and replacing it with a healty human heart. Cardiac transplantation is recognized to be a proven procedure in appropriately selected patients (Heart). John Q is a movie that shows the problem many Americans have with getting proper health care. The producers of the movie show America’s health care problems by showing a boy who needs a heart transplant, and a father that will do anything to help his son get the help his son needs.
John Q is a movie based off of the trouble a man goes through to get health care for his son when he doesn’t have any insurance. Denzel Washington plays John Q. Archibald in the movie. Mr. Archibald is a factory worker that is having financial hardship because of the his cut back hours. The family is struggling when their son becomes terminally ill with heart failure. While the Archibalds have health insurance they are informed by the hospital administrator Rebbeca Payne, played by Anne Heche, that their health insurance doesn’t cover such an expensive procedure. As John Q. tries to raise the money himself he soon finds that there is no hope so he has to take his soon out of the hospital to die. John Q. snapped and decided that if he couldn’t raise the money the right way that he would force the doctors to operate on his son. He held the hospital hostige until somebody was able to give a heart transplant and the doctors operated (Williams). John Q Archibald is a desperate parent in the movie that knows he will only be able to get his son help by forcing the hospital to operate on him. This shows what many Americans face today.
In addition because of the great need for heart transplants, and the fact that it is a dangerous procedure, many people get screened out. The only patients that are able to have a heart transplants are the ones that have tried everything else and are sick enough to get one, but healthy enough to take the procedure. Since the heart transplant is the last result many doctors will try to do everything before issuing the need for a heart transplant. Although this screens out many people the patients that do receive the heart transplant do not have a very good life expectancy after 10-20 years (What). This shows that even though many people may need a heart transplant many doctors are not willing to do the procedure, and therefore the patient may die because of that small fact.
Some may say that John Q is an over exaggeration of what might happen if a desperate parent needs to get help for his son, and that there are many flaws to thinking that he can take hostage a hospital, but one has to think that if they were in John Q shoes what would be going through their minds at the time. The movie although dramatized depicts the problems that many Americans face not only with heart transplants but with many other health care issues. In some way people have to believe that there is a better way. When you watch a young child die because his parents don’t have enough health insurance to cover the cost of a surgery, one must think that the most valueable thing in that situation should be the child’s life, not the money needed to do the surgery.
"Heart Transplants: Statistics." American Heart Association. American Heart Association. 29 Jun 2009 .
Williams, Karl. "John Q Summary." Starplus.com. 27 Jun 2009 .
"What is a Heart Transplant?." Heart and Vascular Diseases. Sep 2009. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 29 Jun 2009 .

Affect vs. Effect..

I always have problems with these two words trying to decide between which to use.. Now maybe I'll always use the right one!

Affect with an a means "to influence," as in, "The arrows affected Ardvark," or "The rain affected Amy's hairdo." Affect can also mean, roughly, "to act in a way that you don't feel," as in, "She affected an air of superiority."

Effect with an e has a lot of subtle meanings as a noun, but to me the meaning "a result" seems to be at the core of all the definitions. For example, you can say, "The effect was eye-popping," or "The sound effects were amazing," or "The rain had no effect on Amy's hairdo."

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/affect-versus-effect.aspx

"Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt": Advertising and Violence

Jean Kilbourne makes a very plausible arguement about advertising and violence. I totally agree that advertisements have a big affect on the way consumers feel about the product and if they will buy it. It's crazy how most brands now use sexual images to advertise their products. It's hard to filter out all the trash and waste on TV now that even commercials are exploitive.
This reading made me upset seeing the way that advertisers portray women and how others believe it. It's sad that women now can't go into an elevator, like Kilbourne stated, without worrying who will be on there with you.

Killer Culture

This was an interesting essay by David Kupelian. I can relate to this because I recognize these behaviors in teens now and when I was growing up. We all want to dress like those around us and act like those on TV.
My favorite section of this essay was "The Way Out." I think that communication between parents and children is the best way to keep kids close and out of trouble. I know when I have kids, and they are going through rough times, I will tell them about the things I did wrong as a teen and hope they will learn from my negative example. In no way will I promote them to do wrong things but let them know that I've been through the same things and understand. Hopefully we can keep our families close and far away from trouble.

Dianna Kendall does make a very good point Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conpicuous Consumption. I've watched some of these reality TV shows and I see how this can affect the way some would think. To me I'm too cheap to pay full price for anything but I know some who think that because these people have it all they should too! Why go into debt to live this dream lifestyle that ends up being a headache anyways. Sure we all see these stars and think how great their lives are.. We don't see everything that goes on behind the scenes.
I also think that Dianna Kendall makes a good point when she states that the media focuses on the rich and not the working class or the poor. The media should definately focus on things that are more important than who's rich, who's fighting, or who's car is the best.