The Serial Comma is OK with Me

The Serial Comma is OK with Me The Serial Comma is OK with Me The Serial Comma is OK with Me By Maeve Maddox After a lifetime of being wishy-washy about the serial comma, I’ve reached a decision: I’m going to use it all the time. Such a momentous decision is, of course, a deeply personal matter. The pros and cons are widely, frequently, and hotly debated. Here is some information that may enable you to make the decision for yourself, if you haven’t already done so. serial comma: (also Oxford comma) n. a comma used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before and or or (e.g. an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect). Penguin Writer’s Manual. Oxford comma: n. [after the preferred use of such a comma to avoid ambiguity in the house style of Oxford University Press] a comma immediately preceding the conjunction in a list of items. OED Some writers call the Oxford comma the â€Å"Harvard comma.† Heres a sentence with a serial comma: The Three Stooges are Larry, Moe, and Curly. Here it is without a serial comma: The Three Stooges are Larry, Moe and Curly. PRO serial comma The Chicago Manual of Style (2009) When a conjunction joins the last two elements in a series, a comma- known as the serial or series comma or the Oxford comma- should appear before the conjunction. Chicago strongly recommends this widely practiced usage, blessed by Fowler and other authorities 6.19 The Elements of Style (2000) In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. The stated rule seems ambiguous to me, but the examples that follow it are clear: red, white, and blue gold, silver, or copper Gregg Reference Manual (1993) When three or more items are listed in a series, and the last item is preceded by and, or, or nor, place a comma before the conjunction as well as between the other items. CON serial comma   AP Stylebook (2009) Use commas to separate elements in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series: The flag is red, white and blue. He would nominate Tom, Dick or Harry. AP does allow a comma before and when ambiguity would result without one: Put a comma before the concluding conjunction in a series, however, if an integral element of the series requires a conjunction: I had orange juice, toast, and ham and eggs for breakfast. Penguin Guide to Punctuation (1997) Note also that it is not usual in British usage to put a listing comma before the word and or or itself (though American usage regularly puts one there.) So, in British usage, it is not usual to write The Three Musketeers were Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. On the fence regarding the serial comma Penguin Writer’s Manual (2002) It is becoming more common in British English (and is usual in American English) to place a comma before the and that precedes the final item in a simple list (numbers one, two, three, and four). Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1965) In promoting the use of the serial comma, CMOS observes that the usage is â€Å"blessed by Fowler† among other authorities. However, when I looked up the topic in Fowler (1965 edition) I found this remark, which seems neutral at best: The more usual way of punctuating such an enumeration as was used as an example in the preceding section is French, German, Italian and Spanish; the commas between French and German and German and Italian take the place of ands; there is no comma after Italian because, with and, it would be otiose [having no practical function; redundant; superfluous]. There are, however, some who favour putting one there, arguing that, since it may sometimes be needed to avoid ambiguity it may as well be used always for the sake of uniformity. So there you have it. My choice is to travel the path of otiosity for the sake of uniformity. What’s yours? Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply withComma Before ButWhile vs. Whilst

Fermentation, is chemical changes in organic substances produced by the action of enzymes Essays

Fermentation, is chemical changes in organic substances produced by the action of enzymes Essays Fermentation, is chemical changes in organic substances produced by the action of enzymes Essay Fermentation, is chemical changes in organic substances produced by the action of enzymes Essay Yeast is a microorganism, and therefore is a living cell. Yeast cells require glucose to make energy. Yeast can break down and respire this glucose in the presence of oxygen, and in the absence of oxygen. This is called aerobic and anaerobic respiration.Aerobic Respiration (with oxygen)Glucose + Oxygen carbon dioxide + WaterC6H1206+02 6C02+6H206Anaerobic Respiration (without oxygen)Glucose methane + carbon dioxideC6H1206 3CH4+3C02As a culture of yeast is merged with solution of sugar, a reaction called fermentation occurs. Fermentation is chemical changes in organic substances produced by the action of enzymes. As products, ethanol and carbon dioxide are produced, in forms of liquid and gas. The rate of reaction can be illustrated by doing appropriate calculation involving the volume of gas produced.In order to react the glucose molecules need enough energy, known as the activation energy. Increasing the temperature increases the numbers of glucose molecules that have sufficient energy to react. Enzymes lower the activation energy needed for the reaction to occur.Research by Ann Fullick shows that at a lower temperature there is very slow fermentation. This is because the glucose molecules havent got very much kinetic energy and so are moving extremely slowly leading to a small amount of Carbon dioxide being made. As the temperature begins to increase the amount of carbon dioxide increases also. This is due to the lock and key mechanism. In the yeast enzyme there is an active site. This has a specific shape especially for use in fermentation. Only a glucose molecule is the right shape to be a substrate for the yeast enzyme active site. When the glucose molecule has enough kinetic energy it slots into the yeast enzymes active site (key fitting into lock). The reaction has then been catalysed and the products cant stay in the active site so they are released. These products are ethanol and carbon dioxide.AimTo investigate the affect of changing temperature on the amount of Carbon Dioxide created in the fermentation of yeastApparatus- Measuring tube- Test tube rack-Test tubes- Water bath- Stop Watch- Kettle- Thermometer- Syringe- Distilled water- Bung- 100cmà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ of water.- 80cmà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ of sucrose and yeast.PredictionStudying my research the optimum temperature for the reaction is 40?C because it is the activation energy. The glucose molecules have enough kinetic energy to collide and lock onto the yeast enzymes active sites.After 40?C some of the enzymes begin to denature (change shape) but not all at once. When they denature the glucose molecules cant lock onto the active sites anymore. At around 70?C all of the enzymes become denatured and the active sites have changed shape so no glucose molecules can lock on therefore there is no fermentation. This is a prediction of what my graph will look like.SafetyTo guarantee that my experiment will be done safely and accurately I will:-Tie back all loose hair and clothing-Make sure that the water bath is at an safe temperature, by using a thermometer, before letting it come into human contact-Place all bags and chairs under desks to prevent any accident-Handle all the glassware with caution-Wear safety goggles at all times-Leave an appropriate amount of space between each working groupThe equipment used in this experiment is reasonable safe. However, care is needed in handling glassware, as they are easily broken.Fair TestTo guarantee that the experiment is fair and that my results are trustworthy I will keep certain variables the same. These are my fixed variables. This will be the amount of yeast and water used. I will ensure this by measuring the yeast and water out with a syringe carefully each time. I will use the same equipment each time and make sure that the thermometer has restored to room temperature before using it again. Every repeat I will use fresh water and use new yeast and sucrose.By keeping these things constant will ensure that the experimen t is totally fair. I will repeat my experiment 3 times in order to obtain reliable and fair results. This is very important as the bubble counting may be unreliable as its counting by a person manually so by repeating the experiment will make the result more accurate. This will help me find the average, which will reduce the risk of anomalies.Obtaining evidenceMethodFor my investigation I will be altering the temperature of the yeast and sucrose is and observing how much carbon dioxide is released by counting the bubbles.-I Put 80cmà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ of yeast in a test tube and 80cmà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ of sucrose in separate test tube.-I heated 100cmà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ of water to the temperature, which I was testing-I put both the test tubes containing yeast and sucrose in the water and put thermometers in each of them, then I waited until they settled to the temperature I was testing.-I Attached the two tubes together quickly to try and not let any gas escape, then observed the amount of bubbles produ ced and recorded my results every 10 seconds for 1 minute.-I did this for 30à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½c, 40à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½c, 50à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½c, 60à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½c, 70à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½c, and 80à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½c.-Then I repeated the experiment 3 times to ensure accurate and reliable results.ResultsTemperature (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C)Reading 1(Number of bubbles in 1 minute)Reading 2(Number of bubbles in 1 minute)Reading 3(Number of bubbles in 1 minute)Average(Number of bubbles in 1 minute)3022324011109105016161716602022242270404240418065676365Number of Bubbles (3 Repeats)1020304050603011112240246891050581114151660471115182270112129343842802239475360671020304050603011122240135891150810131516166010141517202070182630333740802234445062651020304050603011222340246899504681315176079141720247014212934384080203440535863AnalysisAnalysisThese results do not comply with my prediction. I predicted that after 40à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C the enzyme would start to denature and become less effective. However this was not the case, as the carbon dioxide bubbles kept increasing all the way up to 80à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C in a strong positive correlation. However this is not a one off anomalies, as I repeated the experiment 3 times and took all safety and fair test precautions. From this experiment I could come to the conclusion that the higher the temperature the more carbon dioxide produced in fermentation. However, as this does not complied with my research I will try and find a reason why my experiment is unreliable. I believe that these results have occurred because the enzymes did not have enough time to denature, as I only carried out the experiment for 1 minute, and this is why they carried on producing carbon dioxide.EvaluatingConclusionI believe the method I used was not unreliable, however I should have used a longer time scale to gave the enzymes time to denature. The results I obtained were accurate up to 50?C, however, after that they began to rise when I predicted that the carbon dioxide levels would fall, these were my anomalou s results.If I would repeat this experiment then I would have carried it on for a longer span of time to give the enzymes a chance to denature. I would have also used larger scale of temperatures so my results would be more reliable.I do not believe that counting the bubbles was a reliable method, because sometimes the bubbles were being released too quickly to count all of them, and the size of the bubbles were not taken into consideration, only the amount of bubbles. I think to improve this you could use a gas syringe to measure the amount of gas produced or put a balloon over the neck of the bottle so you can visually see how much gas is produced. I also think in the higher temperatures some of the bubbles would not be carbon dioxide but because of the higher temperatures they could be from the heat. I believe the results could have been slightly off, by human errors, however if I was to repeat the experiment I would be more careful.If I was to carry out more experiments I could use different concentrations of yeast, or use different pressures and temperatures. To conclude, I believe that I carried out the experiment well and completed my method accurately, fairly and safely. However the results I obtained were not as I predicted and as a result I would like to repeat the experiment with a longer time span, to give the enzymes time to denature at higher temperature.

History Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

History - Assignment Example Nevertheless, the current act encompasses various social insurance programs as well as social welfare. These social securities are funded through payroll taxes called FICA (Federal Insurance Contribution Act tax) or SECA (self-employed Contribution Act tax) The 1935 was very instrumental in ensuring that the public is given the best health care within a minimum budget line. Additionally, the act was meant to assist states furnish their financial assistance. The project was also funded by the taxpayers (Folly and Palmer 2010). The early, 1920s was characterized by shooting, lynching and whipping. The majority of the victims were Jews, blacks Catholic or immigrants. The populist movement roaring 20s was a period when widespread economic and social change occurred. During this period, discrimination was based on popularity. Everything, including political movements, social welfare was based on race. White southern leaders were mobilizing black voters in ways that saw narrow cooperation through the element of color (Folly and Palmer 2010). Jim Crow laws were a name given to a ruling after states that were in the South that passed the Anti-African American Legislation. These laws were including laws that were discriminating African American to attend public schools and more importantly the usage of public facilities such as hotels, public bath, cinemas, restaurants among others. This was the same period when African Americans were segregated from the usage of trains and buses. During the Cold War, the terms various terms were used to refer politician. Hawks and Doves were used to refer to politicians so that they can categorize their views on the war from foreign policies. These labels were meant to make them accessible and understandable to the public. Nevertheless, sometimes these labels were inaccurate and therefore they could be quite ambiguous if their integrity is not verified (Folly and Palmer 2010). World War I Neutrality Battle