Linguistics & Literature Examples for Free

Linguistics is the study of human language. It can be divided into three main areas: syntax, morphology, and phonetics. Syntax is concerned with the rules governing the order of words in a sentence. Morphology is concerned with the rules governing the formation of words from smaller units of meaning, such as roots and affixes. Phonetics is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds, such as their production, perception, and acoustic properties.

When approaching the topic of Literature, it is important to first define what constitutes this broad category. At its most basic level, Literature can be broadly defined as creative works that are intended to be read and enjoyed by audiences. These works can include novels and short stories, as well as non-fiction essays, poems, plays, or even film scripts.

There are different approaches to writing essays about Literature and Linguistics. One popular method is to use free essay examples to study at university. These examples provide a useful starting point for students who are new to the academic world, giving them access to key information and research methods from experienced writers. Additionally, free essay databases allow students to search through countless essays and find the perfect resource for their research needs.

Overall, when studying literature in an academic context, free essay samples and databases can be indispensable tools for all students looking for guidance in their written work.

Linguistics & Literature

Cultural and Social Contexts of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”

This essay aims to explain the cultural and social contexts behind “The Story of an Hour,” written in the mid-nineteenth century by Kate Chopin. Short stories, though not always descriptive, can give much information to analyze and think over. It is important to understand the time the author wrote the...

​Self-Authorship in “Selflessness and the Loss of Self” by ​Hampton

Self-authorship is a way of interacting with the world people create in accordance with their environment and biology. It is based “on the interconnectedness of epistemological, intrapersonal, and interpersonal dimensions of development and one’s capacity to heed an internal voice with regard to these dimensions, severed from authority dependence” (Okello,...

Young Learners vs. Adult Learners in Learning a Second Language

In the context of the enhancement of international cooperation, economic integration, and the labor market transformation, the importance of mastering a new language is significantly increasing. This is because it is a method of interaction between representatives of different nations and cultures. One of the requirements imposed by employers at...

Comparison and Analysis of Poe’s Short Stories

Introduction The story of The Cask of Amontillado starts when Montresor declares that Fortunato insulted him, and he intends to retaliate. The main character is taking his revenge one step at a time so as not to endanger himself. He decides to use Fortunato’s penchant for booze to get an...

The Conflict of Generations in “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan

The conflict of generations is an eternal problem of humankind; when parents reproach children for disobedience, and in response, they hear only reproaches about a misunderstanding. The main problem is people’s worldviews, different upbringing, and other times. Cultural values and traditions, family customs and rituals, and the inevitable conflict of...

Symbolism of Shirley Jackson’s Lottery

Introduction Modern literature is characterized by a culture of brief yet necessary and inventive stories. Shirley Jackson’s short tale The Lottery, released in the New York Yorker magazine in 1948, was her first to garner ample notice from readers (Encyclopedia Britannica, par. 1). The Lottery is a bizarre tale in...

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Oates

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been is a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates and first published in 1966. It tells about Connie, a fifteen-year-old girl who feels different from her family and seeks acceptance and confirmation of her beauty and uniqueness in other people. She begins...

Female Challenges and Solutions in “The Story of an Hour”

Introduction “The Story of an Hour” is a short story written by Kate Chopin in 1894. The story focuses on the one-hour experience of the protagonist, Louise Mallard. After learning about her husband’s death, Louise takes sinks deep in thought as she feels sadness for losing her husband and joy...

Troy and Rose’s Experiences in August Wilson’s Fences

August Wilson – the notable contemporary playwright who died in 2005 – focused his drama on the African American male through history. He was a vigilant historicizer of the experience of African Americans and won four New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, one...

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson: Literary Analysis

The Lottery, first published in 1948, is a short story written by Shirley Jackson. The work focuses on a small town described without direct references to a specific location. Moreover, the story presents a plot that is centered on the town’s annual tradition of conducting a lottery, a ritual that...

Word Selection Problem in Legal Translation

Introduction The maximum frequency of global political and economic relationships and large waves of immigration worldwide have increased the opportunities for multilingualism solutions. With the ever-increasing liberalization of international trade, there is an expanding market for well-trained and professional interpreters. The translation process becomes even more prominent in contemporary times...

Theory and Practice in Language Studies

The target form is compounds that focus on the different words that can be difficult for many people. Moreover, compounds can cause comprehension challenges even to native speakers, making it essential to analyze them when focusing on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching. Compounding involves merging different words to...

Language Learning Motivation in Chinese Primary Schools

Introduction Although English is not ranked as the most spoken language based on the number of native speakers, several nations have embraced it as part of their culture. For instance, 400 million people in the world are well-conversant with English, and a total of 53 countries are using it as...

Children Language Acquisition

Introduction Communication is a basic component of people’s interaction with each other. Language is a tool that can help people to express their standpoints and exchange information, ideas, or emotions. The development and enhancement of communication via language is an intuitive process, as infants, arriving in the world, start to...

Arabic Transfer During Acquisition of English Articles

Arabic L1 Transfer The gaining of knowledge about the English grammatical articles has posed significant challenges to English as Second Language (ESL) learners over the years. Specifically, learners whose native language, the first language, do not possess corresponding article systems often struggle to acquire English articles. Conversely, for English-as-a-first language...

Evolution of English: The History of the Language

The modern English language has become the most spoken language in the world, with nearly of billion people who learn it as a second language. The history of this language is as interesting as the language itself as it has experienced many changes on its way to becoming the international...

Language and Culture Relationship in Children

Introduction Many health, psychology, and education professionals are interested in when and how children develop their language skills. A central area of research is the similarities and differences in children’s cultural experiences and how they are reflected in the development of language skills. I found the topic of the relationship...

Phonics Instruction in English Language Learning

Introduction In pre-school learners, reading development is an essential step in the direction of learning success because of its positive effect on comprehensive progress. However, for English language learners, for whom English is their second language, it can be challenging to advance in reading without the additional attention of teachers....

Learning English: Main Strategies to Proficiency

Learning English is a complex process, the critical aspect of which is acquiring a comprehensive vocabulary. The scholars studied a variety of strategies to help students learn independently, including through technology. Shamsan et al. (2021) studied online vocabulary learning strategies that Saudi students used during the COVID-19 pandemic for individual...

Methods of Teaching Articles in the English Language

Summary Teaching the English language has long been regarded as critical and a top priority on a global scale. As a result of technological advancements, learner statuses and educator profiles have shifted, and scholars have been looking for additional teaching interventions that better fit the new learner profile. In this...

Meaning of Life in World Literature

Faith Provides Life’s Meaning by Leo Tolstoy From the point of view of Tolstoy, the drama of human existence consists of the contradiction between the inevitability of death and the thirst for immortality inherent in man. Tolstoy believes that a person’s life is filled with meaning to the extent that...

Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder” vs. Skurzynski’s “Nethergrave”

Introduction Science fiction is a speculative fiction genre that usually deals with imaginative and futuristic literature of time travel, science and technology, parallel universes, space exploration, and extraterrestrial life. The story by Ray Bradbury, “A Sound of Thunder,” and Gloria Skurzynski’s story, “Nethergrave,” fit well in the genre of science...

The Theme of Love in the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir as he makes a quest to try and rectify the mistakes that he made during his childhood. The story revolves around Amir and his previous relationship with Hassan’s closest childhood friend. Amir recalls how he was unfair to Hassan and how he...

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” Poem by Emily Dickinson

This poem is about death at its core. Throughout the poem, the speaker comes to terms with the transition from life to death. Dickinson’s main preoccupation is the journey to death. When Death picks up the speaker for their carriage ride, they go along a country road where the speaker...

Rubber Hose in Death of a Salesman by Miller

Introduction One of Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, Death of a Salesman, depicts the last 24 hours of Willy Loman’s life, an unsuccessful salesperson with warped views on the American dream and the path towards it. The play is a sociological critique of certain ideals, ideas, and morals prevalent in...

Why Life and Times of Douglass Frederick Is Important

Douglass endured many awful and enlightening experiences in his early life. However, as he grew up, he believed that a rise in the number of slaves would end slavery as the power of enslaved would overthrow that of the masters. His tough treatment encounter, hatred for slavery, and desire for...

The Play “Macbeth” by Shakespeare

This analysis essay entails the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. It was accessed on YouTube, and its associated script was downloaded for analysis. Macbeth is a classic tragedy in which the protagonist embarks on a dark path of betrayal and bloodshed that leads to his ruin and death (Shakespeare, 2009). Macbeth...

Character of “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe

“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a brief narrative written by Edgar Allan Poe, an American writer, first published in 1843. An unnamed relator describes the story, who embarks on convincing the readers about his lucidity while simultaneously unfolding the murder he committed. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator is damaged, and...

“Goodbye to Berlin” by Christopher Isherwood

Introduction In his book Goodbye to Berlin, published in 1939, Christopher Isherwood shares his experience living in the German capital during the Weimar Republic’s fall and the rise of Nazism. Like any other author, Isherwood’s accounts are significantly influenced by the socio-economic context of the time he lived. Analysis of...

“Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros

Introduction There are many women who face difficulties in their daily life. Leaving an abusive relationship can be difficult, and many people never do. On the other hand, some women are brave enough to stand up for themselves and leave the circumstance. Sandra Cisneros discusses the theme of the short...

The Novel “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold

Purpose: The report outline below seeks to inform about grief and how things can get back to normal after losing a loved one in the novel, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Summary of Novel and Research Content: The Lovely Bones by Alice narrates about a teenage girl who was...

“The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara: Diverse Social Classes

Introduction The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara powerfully portrays the inherent presence of diverse social classes and income distribution. The premise of this narrative emphasizes the income disparity across different socioeconomic groups in the United States, how this separation frequently represents racial inequalities, and the significance of teaching people to...

Composition of “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

Tim O’Brien’s short story The Things They Carried is the first of twenty-two stories in the book of the same name. This book tells about various episodes from the life of a company of soldiers serving in Vietnam. All narratives are connected, but each can be considered separately. The plots...

“The Things They Carried” Novel by Tim O’Brien

Only stories and recollections of a deceased person remain to honor their memory and bring comfort to their loved ones. However, The Things They Carried is more about Tim O’ Brien’s wish to honor and remember his fiancée, Linda, after her sad childhood death than it is about the Vietnam...

The Poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken was written by award-winning American poet Richard Frost. He began writing poetry when he was twenty years old in England (Hart, 2017). Most of the best publishers refused to work with Frost as he struggled to get his work printed. Years later, after meeting with other...

Personal Mythology Based on “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe

The works of the most prominent Nigerian prose writer Chinua Achebe tell about the colonial past and the present day of an independent African state. The process of breaking the traditional way of life of the African community and the attempts of the British colonial administration to introduce the original...

Summarizing Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”

Amy Tan’s “mother tongue” is a narrative essay initially delivered as a speech during a symposium “the state of the language” in 1989. Later on, in 1990, The Threepenny Review published the article. It has, since then, had a successful journey, having won remarkable honors and awards. In 1991, it...

The Short Story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe

Introduction The world of literature has undergone a revolution, with new genres being developed over the years. While authors intend to pass on their message and perspective on specific life issues, their works serve as guides to future writers. Every writer’s work is based on certain experiences, either personal or...

The Ramayana of Valmiki by Ralph T. H. Griffith

’… lead me, O my hero, hence — I know not sin—with confidence. Whate’er his lot, ‘tis far more sweet To follow still a husband’s feet Than in rich palaces to lie, Or roam at pleasure through the sky. My mother and my sire have taught What duty bids, and...

The Short Story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway

“They look like white elephants,” she said. “I’ve never seen one,” the man drank his beer. “No, you wouldn’t have.” “I might have,” the man said (Hemingway). It was challenging to isolate a passage that would help explain the classicism of this literary work. After all, Hemingway uses symbols rather...

The Yellow Wallpaper Story by Charlotte Gilman

The Yellow Wallpaper, composed by Charlotte Gilman in 1892, is a short story, which depicts the life of the female narrator and her confrontation against traditional perspectives on medicine. In the 19th century, most mental health complications were considered temporary tendencies or matters of superstition. The physicians rejected the idea...

“The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane

In Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat,” the author does an outstanding job creating descriptive images throughout history. Crane uses symbolism and powerful imagery to provide the reader with a compelling story of four people who fought against nature. Starting from the beginning of the book, Crane creates a storyline in...

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Review

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe consists of three major parts that powerfully portray the significant events of Okonkwo’s life. The first part of the novel emphasizes Okonkwo’s childhood life and upbringing, where the readers clearly understand his relationship with his father. The second part highlights his life...

The Message in the Poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by D. Thomas

Introduction Dylan Thomas wrote the above poem, and its opening lines are superb as the composition commences. At first glance, the reading seems to be focusing on the transition from daytime to night-time. However, when the poem is critically analyzed, it emphasizes how unstoppable death is. As we all know,...

Quotations of “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen

Introduction A Doll’s House is an act written by Henrik Ibsen from Norway. The play is important as it examines the life of a married woman who has limited access to fulfilling her dreams as a woman in a world where the male gender dominates, therefore the play appears to...

Women’s Oppression in Marriage in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”

Marital relationships were highly patriarchal in the 19th century, but little is known about married women’s experiences. In her “The Story of an Hour,” written in 1894, Kate Chopin sheds light on this issue and expresses her distaste for the institution of marriage. While she does acknowledge the few moments...

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by O’Connor

The intriguing central moment in O’Connor’s story A Good Man is Hard to Find is its ending. Remarkable are the images of two interacting heroes, a grandmother, and the Misfit. A man is a criminal who has served in prison and does not understand why. However, he believes that since...

Langston Hughes’ Life Experience and Creative Work

Langston Hughes is a world-famous and influential American poet, novelist, publicist, and writer of the “Harlem Renaissance.” He is also known for discovering “jazz poetry,” a combination of rhythmics with ballad intonations and blues motifs. Although shared with the literary world as a whole, his works were shaped by the...

The Theme of Feminism in Chinese Culture as Illustrated in the “No Name Woman”

Introduction The No Name Woman is a short story authored by Maxine Hong Kingston. The author’s mother warns her from disclosing to anybody about her aunt’s incident (Szmańko 190). The author’s mother does the narration of how different Chinese cultures were in the past days. The author listens and later...

Chopin’s The Story of an Hour and Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper Compared

Throughout the nineteenth century, many female authors covered the theme of marriage with a feminist approach, with stories about women forced to live under husbands’ rules without the opportunity to live happily. The short stories “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins...

Is Hamlet’s Revenge Justified?

In the play “Hamlet”, William Shakespeare raises an essential theme of revenge. The main character considers answering back for his father’s death committed by his uncle, King Claudius, a usurper of the throne. Being a hostage of his idea, prince Hamlet considers revenge the proper action to restore justice. With...

“Barn Burning” and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner

William Faulkner is one of the influential central figures of American literature of the last century. His works combine realism, historical drama, and social psychology. The writer was significantly influenced by the fact that he grew up in Mississippi when the defeat of the South in the Civil War was...

Literary Techniques and Ethnicity Role in Screenwriting

Abstract Screenwriting is a long, winding process, the submerged part of the iceberg, whereas the screen version of the film represents its tip. Screenwriting stands on a crossing between art and science, which means that it can be analyzed and broken down into smaller categories. This paper provides an overview...

“Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton

“Roman Fever,” a short story written by Edith Wharton and first published in 1934, expresses deception, secrecy, resentment feelings, and betrayal. The reason is that the story describes two women who blame each other as sources of their unhappiness for failure to achieve their life goals. The story arouses complex...

Satan, Adam and Eve in “Paradise Lost” Poem by John Milton

Paradise Lost by John Milton unfolds much, and the most memorable part is when Eve eats the fruit of knowledge persuaded by Satan. It is not until recently that Satan’s motivation started to be looked at in literature. Adam and Eve were motivated by different things, as discussed in the...

Gaddis’s Vision of “The Cold War: A New History”

In the book, The Cold War: A New History John Lewis Gaddis proposes a unique vision of the Cold War and its impact on the world and relations between the USSR and America. The book consists of seven chapters devoted to different aspects of the Cold War and relations between...

Analysis of “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker

Introduction “Everyday Use” is an allegorical story that intertwines the African heritage and modern world practices. Written by Alice Walker, the story focuses on the lives of the African Americans who struggle to the African legacy amid a world engrossed with diverse cultures. Therefore, the narrator struggles to reveal the...

Candide and Pangloss Characters and Relationship Analysis

Candide and Pangloss Characters and Relationship Analysis Although a well-known novel Candide ou l’Optimisme was written by Voltaire about three hundred years ago, it still holds an impressive relevance at present. In this work, the writer brilliantly combined the traditional literary genre, which reveals the cardinal questions of life, and...

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe Review

“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, which follows a narrator who has murdered an old man but claims that he is innocent. The character has been taking care of an elderly individual and, eventually, started to fear his eye, which “resembled that of a vulture”...

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Coleridge

In the seven-part lyrical ballad by Samuel Taylor Coleridge entitled The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the main character recounts a horrifying story of his youth. The mariner sailed on a ship towards the south, when a storm sent it farther, to the South Pole. Later the ship’s crew sees...

“The Storm” by Kate Chopin

The Storm is one of the most popular short stories by the American writer Kate Chopin, who is famous for her brave illustration of sexuality in her works. The story tells about people waiting for the storm to pass. Though, during this storm, peculiarities of the relationships between the main...

“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker

Introduction The story of Alice Walker, an American writer and activist, is a story of complicated relationships between a mother and her daughters. Too many things separate them, and only a few unite them, showing they are a family. The conflict of this family is more than parent-children’s issues –...

Gilgamesh and Odysseus: Epic Heroes Comparison

Introduction This paper compares the epic heroes Gilgamesh and Odysseus, describes their similarities and differences and compares how each of them changes throughout their journey. The characters were both men of great power; they stood between people and gods, serving as a link from the divine beings to the mortals...

Laura’s Illusion and Reality in The Glass Menagerie

Sometimes reality is not consistent with personal expectations, and people turn out to escape into their made-up delusional world. The play by Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, tells such a story about people who avoided facing reality (3) The current essay analyses one of the characters, Laura, and describes how...

“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe

“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is an intimidating story about ideal revenge that is performed by the story’s narrator, Montresor. The story was first published in November 1846 (Britannica 1) and is set in carnival time in the unspecified Italian city. This short story is considered to...

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by F. O’Connor Review

Introduction There are two ways of looking at an incident – the immediate cause and the deep seated cause; did the individual pull the trigger or was it society that has been shaping the mind of the killer? Unfolding the story would lead us on to answering the pivotal question...

Wiesel Elie “Night”: The Relationship Between Eliezer and His Father

Introduction The night is a novel written by Elie Wiesel. The book is a famed work of art owing to its numerous twists in the plot. Elie uses this book to express his experiences with his father while they were in the Nazi German concentration camps (Weissman 55). This was...

Mythology. Theseus – A Hero for All Ages

Theseus is still important and depicted as a hero to this day, having spent his entire life as a warrior, completing daring feats, and being used as the hero character in contemporary media. The ancient Athenians saw the various heroic acts accredited to him as the actions that contributed to...

The Second Language Acquisition: Age Significance

Introduction It is a boundless conviction that the acquisition of a second language is a lot simpler for kids compared to grown-ups. It is said that the younger the learner, the faster the language acquisition will be. The equivalent applies for the assumption that a grown-up student of an unknown...

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” Short Story by Flannery O’Connor

For many centuries, literature has been used to teach, admonish, critique a people’s way of life, and establish a given theme in society. Flannery O’Connor’s piece “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” has stood as one of the most relevant literary works which serves many of the afore-mentioned roles....

“Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” by Frederick Douglass

Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written By Himself by Frederick Douglass is the most significant book among a hundred of American slave narratives. In this book Frederick Douglass reveals the story of his life (which he started as a slave and finished as orator, politician,...

Death of a Salesman by A. Miller Review

Death of a salesman, written by Arthur Miller, exposes the real life of a typical American middle-class man who dedicates the most part of his life to a private company. The major themes of Miller’s Death of a salesman are the failure of American success myth and reality versus illusion....

The Nasal Assimilation Process in the Korean Language

Introduction Nasal assimilation is the conversion of a consonant into a nasal sound. Long-term phonological use of a language may affect how somebody pronounces words in another language; however, it does not hinder the recognition of the word pronounced. This issue is familiar to Koreans who speak English. The continued...

“The New Negro” by Alain Locke

The New Negro is a work that was popular during the Harlem Renaissance. Behind it is a more outspoken defense of the dignity of black people and a refusal to obey laws on racial segregation. Alain Leroy Locke was the man who popularized the term through his anthology. Locke also...

“Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus” by Mary Shelly

Frankenstein (1818) or the Modern Prometheus is a novel written by a British author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly. She was born on August 30th, 1797 in London, England. Shelly wrote this novel when she was only 18years old. She died in 1851 at the age of fifty three. The first edition...

English Language Learning: Types of Assessments

Topic 2 DQ 1 Diagnostic assessments allow teachers to thoroughly evaluate students’ preliminary knowledge and abilities, thus helping to make sure that the planned lessons and activities are suitable. Also, thanks to diagnostic assessments, it is possible to learn more about students’ specific needs and required accommodations. This type of...

The English Language Learning: Proficiency Standards

There are many different approaches to teaching students English. While some strategies demonstrate some shortcomings, others offer only a conscious description of the methods implemented by the teacher. For example, the use of ELL standards for English language students varies from state to state. In particular, Arizona’s methods were used...

The English Language Learning Standards

Topic 1 DQ 1 Modern researchers in education and language learning distinguish between the so-called social and academic languages that differ in terms of their goals and the amount of time that their development takes. For teachers, it is important to know how to help English language learners to develop...

“Three Daughters of China” by Jung Chang

Written by Jung Chang, “The wild swans: three daughters of China” is a historical book that describes the chauvinistic nature of the male gender in China during the 20th century. Ruled by the oppressive Mao regime, Chang enlightens the world on the hardships that women experienced in China by giving...

Katrina Srigley’s Book “Breadwinning Daughters”

Introduction Katrina Srigley’s book “Breadwinning Daughters” is both a historical and interview-based account of the lives of women in Toronto during the Great Depression-era of the 1930s. Through various interviews, Srigley paints a picture of how these women lived, what they experienced during this particular time of hardship, what the...

“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley

The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley appeared in 1818 and describes the problems of modern science and its consequences for humanity. The uniqueness of the novel is that Frankenstein has literary merits to ‘frighten and amaze’ (Mellor 45). There is much historical interest in the work as an example of...

The English Language in Saudi Arabia

The place of the English language in the world has changed among other languages which are considered national and international. Al-Shehri (2020) states that the number of English language speakers has increased over the past decades. Over 350 million people speak English as their fast language, with an additional 250...

False and Folk Etymologies of Words

Introduction People seem to enjoy creating fascinating stories about almost anything they see and hear. Languages are no exception – there are many folklore tales about the origin of different words. Few of these versions reflect correct etymology of the words, though some of them are peculiar or funny. Exploring...

Symbolism in “A Wall of Fire Rising” by Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat is among the few writers who make extensive use of their early childhood experiences to write their different literature pieces. The author reckons the diverse incidences which transpired during her childhood and transition to adulthood. Danticat was born in the outskirts of Port au Prince city, Haiti, in...

Chaplin’s “Modern Times” and H.G. Wells’ “The Island of Dr. Moreau”

Introduction Creators and producers of creative works over the last two centuries have been increasingly embracing the use of metamorphic bodies to bring out the central themes of the productions (Jeffery 12). Human-animal, animal-animal, and human-machine hybrids are gaining prominence in the creation of works of fiction. However, there is...

The Effects of Learning Second Language on First Language

Background English language has become an international language over the last few decades. The number of people who speak English has increased significantly due to the importance of this language as an international language. Some non-English countries have begun to design new curricula that encourage people to learn the English...

Coping Strategies for International Students

Review Prior research demonstrates that international students encounter many difficulties as a result of language and cultural barriers, educational and financial difficulties, interpersonal challenges, racial intolerance, loss of social support, estrangement and homesickness (Sherry, Thomas & Chui 2010, p. 34). Language proficiency is the single most important factor that determines...

Benefits of Learning a Second Language

Despite the fact that learning languages has become rather popular, there are still those who believe in several myths and misconceptions and consider this process unnecessary, difficult, and problematic. However, there are many more advantages than it may seem at first. Moreover, proficiency in other languages is a crucial skill...

Teaching Languages Other Than English

Introduction With extensive use as the formal language in many countries all over the world, the English language remains one of the most influential languages in the world. The English language has evolved to have many varieties, the most influential being American English due to dominance by the USA of...

English: Good or Bad?

As some languages face extinction, English is taking a majestic walk through the globe. It is spreading at a higher rate in England’s post imperial period than it did when England was a mighty empire with numerous colonies under its arm. Regions of the world that never appreciated the language...

Shakespeare’s Influence on English Language

William Shakespeare is regarded as the greatest English playwright of all time. His works include 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and two narrative poems. His plays are performed nowadays more than works of any other playwright. Being one of the most famous Englishmen of all time, among other things he is...

“Behind a Convict’s Eyes” by K. C. Carceral Book Review

Introduction As the celebrated literary icon, Robin Sharma, once said ‘it is not that things are hard that we do not dare; it is that we do not dare that things are seemingly hard’ (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Given the above, is it possible for an inmate to have any...