Preparing to Write about a Visual

Writing a story is always a great idea to begin with, simply because that's the start of a creative personality. A few years ago, one of my well wisher told me that spending 1 hour a day practicing free hand writing makes a person smart and mentally healthy. Since that day I have been spending at least an hour browsing through the internet and coming across different picture which I could draft in to a story. Overtime this practice has helped me overcome my hesitation while talking in English and has also help me with my general knowledge. Why general knowledge you might asked? That's because you can write a story without having a little background information. So let's begin, to start writing a new story from a visual elements, you need to analyze the picture than interpret what it means, research and collect as much information as possible and finally write a critique on your finding and also on your interpretation of the picture. Here is an how it is done:


Analysis:

·         Cause and Effect and compare and contrast.

·         The purpose of the image is to inform us about the problems that are caused to our environment by producing factory smoke and also by the cigarette smoke.

·         The man smoking is equivalent to the factory chimney on the landscape.

·         It is possible that the artist is an environmentalist and he wants to persuade the observer by informing them about the crisis we cause to the world we live in.

Interpretation:

·         People should try to stop smoking if they can not stop the factories around them.

·         The visual only shows the face of the man smoking and the chimney of the factory blurred in the background so that we can give importance to the face and the chimney and the cigarette in the shape of a chimney.

·         The image can be found on the website: http://blaklitegraphics.deviantart.com/art/Fight-Global-Warming-Poster-1b-100726523

Synthesis

·         Read a lot of books that discuss the similar issue where the image is persuading the viewer by informing them about the causes and the effects.

·         I have been to environmental campaigns during the high school where we schools all over the Dubai gather in one particular school and celebrate Green day.

Critique:

·         The artist main aim as I said may be is to compare the cigeratte smoke with the factory smoke

·         The main aim is achieved because of the image that has such a strong foreground compared to its background.

·         Artist is trying to persuade all those who smoke to stop the activity as soon as possible as this is affecting the mother earth.

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When to use Has, Had or Have?

First, you have to make sure that you understand the tense that you are using. For example; If you use has alone it is referring to the "third person" and saying that that person possesses something.
(She has a beautiful car.)
When we use have we are either talking about ourselves or the general idea of possessing something
(I have a great husband. It would be nice to have a bigger house).
Had on the other hand is referring to something that was possessed in the past...but not now.
(I had a good job...but now I don't).
Generally speaking the only difference is the time frame or tense that you need to use and also who is being referred to.

Here are some more examples to help you see the difference.

Have

I have a great job.
I have an Oxford dictionary.
I have blue eyes.
I have a great boss.

Has

She has a horrible job.
He has the biggest oxford dictionary.
She has green eyes.
He has a mean boss.

Had

I had a great job before the economic crisis. Now I am unemployed.
He had an Oxford dictionary but someone stole it last week.
I had blue eyes when I was born but they changed to brown when I was two years old.
I had a great boss in my old company.

When to use Their or There?

Again, there are many among us who find themselves in a situation when they simply do not know when to use 'their' or 'there' while writing an article. This is again due to homonyms which confuses the writer. So here is a quick briefing on how and when to use these to words correctly.


Their
Their is the third person plural possessive adjective, used to describe something as belong to them. Their is nearly always followed by a noun.

Where is their car?
Are these their pens?
Their books are on the table.
This is their room and this is ours.
What happened to their dog?
Their being here is causing some problems.

There
There has several different uses.
1. Adverb that means the opposite of "here"

He's over there.
Stop right there.
Do you want to sit here or there?

2. Pronoun that introduces a noun or clause.

There is something strange going on.
Is there a phone?

3. Adjective that emphasizes which person.

That guy there seems to be in trouble.
Those there look good.

4. Noun that means "that place."
From there, we drove to Boston.
I'm not going in there!

When to use Affect or Effect?

When I was learning English, I always found myself struggling when to use Effect or Affect while writing an article. Many beginners falls into this difficulty. So here is an article I found in yourDictionary.com which briefly describes the difference between the two types and when to use these words while writing.

Affect

In order to understand the correct situation in which to use the word affect or effect, the first thing one must do is have a clear understanding of what each word means. According to yourDictionary.com, the word Affect means:

1. To have an influence on or cause a change in: Inflation affects the buying power of the dollar.
2. To act on the emotions of; touch or move.
3. To attack or infect, as a disease: Rheumatic fever can affect the heart.

Effect

The word effect has a different meaning. Here is the meaning according to yourDictionary.com:

1. Something brought about by a cause or agent; a result.
2. The power to produce an outcome or achieve a result; influence: The drug had an immediate effect on the pain. The government's action had no effect on the trade imbalance.
3. A scientific law, hypothesis, or phenomenon: the photovoltaic effect. |
4. Advantage; avail: used her words to great effect in influencing the jury.
5. The condition of being in full force or execution: a new regulation that goes into effect tomorrow.
6. Something that produces a specific impression or supports a general design or intention: The lighting effects emphasized the harsh atmosphere of the drama.
7. A particular impression: large windows that gave an effect of spaciousness.
8. Production of a desired impression: spent lavishly on dinner just for effect.
9. The basic or general meaning; import: He said he was greatly worried, or words to that effect.

Grammar Rules for Affect and Effect

Now that we have the two definitions, how do we know which word to use? Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind:
1. If you are talking about a result, then use the word "effect."

• Example: What effect did the loss have on the team?

2. It is appropriate to use the word "effect" if one of these words is used immediately before the word: into, on, take, the, any, an, or and.

• Example: The prescribed medication had an effect on the patient's symptoms.
• Example: In analyzing a situation, it is important to take the concepts of cause and effect into consideration.

3. If you want to describe something that was caused or brought about, the right word to use is effect.

• Example: The new manager effected some positive changes in the office. (This means that the new manager caused some positive changes to take place in the office.)

4. Affect can be used as a noun to describe facial expression.

• Example: The young man with schizophrenia had a flat affect.
• Example: The woman took the news of her husband's sudden death with little affect.

5. Affect can also be used as a verb. Use it when trying to describe influencing someone or something rather than causing it.

• Example: How does the crime rate affect hiring levels by local police forces?
• Example: The weather conditions will affect the number of people who come to the county fair this year.

How to write a Critical Response?

Here is an example of how to write a critical response. Critical response writing is a way of expressing your view point to your audience. It can be a positive reply or negative but the ideas you put forward should make sense and should be constructive. You need to tell the audience why you disagree or agree with the author. You need to be concise and to the point. You need to take care of the important points and avoid unnecessary details. I read an article a while back which was on video games, try googling for this article, its a must read, if you are interested in knowing the potentials of video games.

According to the article “Can Video Games be good for Kids?” the author points out that obesity is the major concern among children in the United States. The article suggests that unlike video games, physical exercise is not very popular among children as compared to parents. Taking this into account, researchers have turned towards video games for a possible solution to the fight against obesity. The study was conducted on the effect of “active video games”; this involves physical interaction of the players with the gaming environment, as compared to the more common passive games which involve sitting in front of a screen. The study shows that time spent playing active games “results in meaningful increases in energy expenditures and heart rate compared with the seated screen environments”. Despite the need for more conclusive case studies on the length of time needed for children to spend on these active games, researchers believe that the active gaming approach could control and perhaps even prevent child obesity. Whether children favor active gaming over passive video games still remains to be seen but the author feels compelled by the fact that parents will now have an option to consider when they are buying video games for their children.

I was indulged in to this article because unlike other articles it doesn’t accuse video games for spreading destructive messages among children but instead focuses on the fact that this new form of entertainment could open endless possibilities which could be used for the betterment of society. I was very impressed by the research that was mentioned in the article that active video games could be used to control and prevent obesity in children. Although, this research is old since many in the past had abandoned the study due to lack of funding but now due to the presence of home based arcade system such as Nintendo WII, which is an active gaming platform, many technology experts believe that such video gaming consoles could revolutionize our society since such system could simulate the natural environment and allow individuals to interact with the games realistically. In the past, these active games were only available in the Arcade parlor but due to advancement of technology which leads to better portability of the devices, any home based entertainment system could be made in to an active gaming system. After reading this article, I strongly believe that video games could educate children or train them by providing friendly and entertaining environment.

Earth Hours Award

 

As you all are aware, we celebrate Earth Hour every year on 27th of March. This event is a contribution to the decrease in the consumption of water and electricity worldwide. Earth Hour is a call for global action to individuals and business to switch off electrical equipments and lights for one hour in an attempt to spread awareness regarding global warming and the moderate consumption of natural resources.

More than 4000 cities took part officially in this event in 88 world countries including Pakistan. Yes Pakistan! If you don't believe me then visit www.earthhour.org. Participants switched off the lights in these countries as part of their support for Earth Hour.

If there is any such thing as “Earth Hour Award” than I would like to nominate my country for this award. Compare to all other countries, Pakistan is a true contender and worthy for Earth Hour Award, all thanks to its strong and gallant political will-power and leadership. Why and how you ask? Let me take a deep breath and explain.

Ever since independence, that is 1947. Pakistani leaders have been preparing their fellow citizen for the unforeseeable energy disaster. One after another we saw numerous magnetic personalities who devoted their energy and spend countless night in the hope of coming up with a sadistic policy that would help Pakistanis in the long run. Ultimately, a plan was put forward that was so awe-inspiring that lesser mind do not fully comprehend its potential and world’s greatest mind are still baffled by it.

Under the guiding hand of some all knowing nutcracker, Project “NOT 4 YOU” was passed by the Pakistani parliament, right after a military coup, although Parliament do not function under army coup but it happened. The aim of the project was to keep Pakistanis away from basic necessity of life like water, electricity and so on, only to prepare them for the unforeseen future without energy. It was a tough and impossible decision but eventually the plan worked. Now Pakistanis no longer use electricity, at least not in Pakistan. Citizens of developed nation celebrate Earth Hours once a year but Pakistani spend 350/365 days a year (excluding leap year) celebrating Earth Hours. That’s more than any country in the world had ever care for the environment. Because of this, lifestyle in Pakistan is completely different when compare to the rest of the world. For instance, you might be wondering that since there is no electricity, people would actually save a lot of money but you would be wrong in your assessment. Pakistanis LOVE paying bills even if they don’t use electricity, water etc. They will pay anyone’s bill, your bill, my bill, your neighboring countries bill; you got my point, right?

Project “NOT 4 YOU” had a great impact on Pakistani society and way of life too which had me and people in Pakistan so confused that concerned parent and grandma/grandpa no longer blame TV for destroying their country’s culture because TV runs on electricity which Pakistani do not have. What surprise me the most is why would you need a TV if you don’t have electricity? I don’t know! Some of the most noticeable impact of this policy on Pakistani society is that THIVES do not steal at night because of pitch black darkness anymore (in fact they do it in broad day light) and most importantly Young lovers, who spend hours talking with one another or walking hours together holding hands under the dreamy starry night sky, do not recognize each others in broad day light!!

Pakistan deserves an award from U.N. for being so rigorous in its policy to protect the environment. Through good and hardworking leadership Pakistanis are now expert in living in harsh conditions. If “NASA” ever decides to send manned mission to Mars then they should consider sending a Pakistani. Therefore, I urge you all to spread the word and nominate Pakistan for “Earth Hour Award”. Feel free to share your thoughts on this issue. Long live Pakistan.