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Memos show Clinton turmoil

Jackson6612 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:05:10 GMT

Memos show Clinton turmoil

Question: I would have written ''Clinton's turmoil''. Why didn't the author use apostrophe?

BY CRAIG GORDON AND TOM BRUNE | <email addresses removed by mod.>
August 13, 2008

Question: Why is semicolon used instead of comma to separate the email addresses above?

WASHINGTON - In a fresh postmortem (=an examination of a plan or event that failed, done to discover why it failed, =autopsy) on Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid (=attempt to obtain or do something), newly published staff memos (=a short official note to another person in the same company or organization) and e-mails reveal a campaign hobbled (=to hobble something or someone means to make it more difficult for them to be successful or to achieve what they want) by internal rivalries (=a situation in which two or more people, teams, or companies are competing for something), faulty planning, bloated (=more than needed, =excessive) spending - and perhaps most important, Clinton's own failure to make the hard decisions.

Clinton offered herself to voters as a hyper-competent (=extra competent) executive ready to be president from day one. But atop (=on top of something) her own campaign, she was a hesitant leader, who allowed bitter infighting (=when members of the same group or organization argue, or compete with each other in an unfriendly way) to fester (=If an argument or bad feeling festers, it continues so that feelings of hate or dissatisfaction increase) among staffers over whether to go negative against Barack Obama, according to the Atlantic magazine.

The most bare-knuckled (=characterized by disorderly action and disregard for rules) lines of attack came from Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, who urged Clinton to highlight Obama's "lack of American roots" due to his upbringing in Indonesia and Hawaii - saying he could only win if he faced Attila the Hun ((?406-453 AD) a king of the Huns (=an ancient people from Asia) who attacked and took control of large parts of the Roman Empire. He is famous for being violent and cruel).

But Clinton didn't embrace Penn's flag-waving (=the expression of strong national feelings, especially when these feelings seem too extreme) approach (=way of doing something), which campaign aides (=someone whose job is to help someone who has an important job, especially a politician) insist was never seriously considered.

Question: Clinton didn't embrace Penn's approach because she did not consider it seriously. Therefore, what campaign aides were saying is redundant.

The article also says that Clinton at times grew frustrated and short-tempered - including on the morning after her stunning third-place finish in Iowa in January, when aides on a call were silent. Clinton's camp dismissed the story as "inside-the-Beltway gossip" and "old news." And former campaign aides sharply disputed the notion of Clinton as an indecisive leader, with one campaign veteran saying, "Nobody seems to want to remember the fact that we had so many successes and come-from-behind victories in this campaign ... and they are due in large part to Senator Clinton's leadership."

Question: What does the line including on the morning...when aides on a call were silent mean? If she finished third place, then why would the author describe it as stunning? What does call mean in when aides on a call were silent?

Question: What does the phrase inside-the-Beltway gossip mean?

Question: What does the line Nobody seems to want to remember...to Senator Clinton's leadership'' mean?

But the e-mails and memos offer vivid (=very clear and detailed) new details about what had long been reported - that Clinton's headquarters was beset (=to make someone experience serious problems or dangers) by caustic (=bitter) internal battles involving Penn and former President Bill Clinton, who wanted to forcefully attack Obama, and others who wanted the New York senator to take a more positive tack (=method, =way of doing something). At one point, it was Bill Clinton - and not Hillary - who approved the famed 3 a.m. phone call ad.

Question: what had long been reported is passive past perfect tense. Am I right?

Question: I think headquarters should take plural verb. What do you say?

Question: Why are the hyphens used in -and not Hillary-? I believe commas would do instead?

Adding to the turmoil was the fact that the campaign had little strategy and no money left to seriously compete in the post-Super Tuesday contests - having (=the form having with a past participle can be used to introduce a clause in which you mention an action which had already happened before another action began) burned through $106 million before Iowa. That allowed Obama to win 12 straight contests and effectively wrap up (=to finish a job, meeting etc) the nomination.

Question: What does burned through mean?

In the end, the campaign's strategy came to reflect some of the internal turmoil, as Clinton veered (=changed course) from attacking Obama to emphasizing her personal side.

Question: What does her personal side mean?

Penn did offer some advice in March 2007 that proved on the mark - Clinton's path to victory lay with women and lower- and working-class voters.

Question: What does proved on the mark mean? I couldn't find it in the dictionary.

But by the time Clinton finally settled on that strategy to win the later primaries, it was too late.

Excerpts from the memos

"All of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light ... It also exposes a very strong weakness for him - his roots to basic American values and culture are at best (=even when considered in the most positive way) limited. I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values." Strategist Mark Penn, from a March 19, 2007, memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton advising her to attack Barack Obama for his "lack of American roots."

Question: What does centre mean in the above context?

"The right knows Obama is unelectable except perhaps against Attila the Hun, and a third party would come in then anyway." Penn, from the same memo.

Question: Does right refer to right wing in the above context?

"This has been a very instructive call, talking to myself." Clinton, before angrily hanging up on a staff conference call the day after coming in third in Iowa in January. "She complained of being outmaneuvered (=to gain an advantage over someone by using cleverer or more skilful plans or methods) in Iowa and being painted as the establishment candidate," according to the Atlantic - but was met with near-silence.

Question: I would have written This has been..., talking to me. Why did she use myself?

Question: What is a conference call? Is it some kind of telephone call which address many poeple?

Question: Why is in used in coming in third?

"STOP IT!! I have help my tongue for weeks. After this morning's WP story, no longer. This makes me sick. This circular firing squad that is occurring is unattractive, unprofessional, unconscionable, and unacceptable ... It must stop." Robert Barnett, a Clinton lawyer and Washington insider, from a March 6, 2008, e-mail to campaign staff after a Washington Post story detailed the infighting.

Question: What does I have help my tongue for weeks mean?

Question: What does This circular firing squad mean?

Question: Were the comments in the last paragraph made by Robert Barnett?

Re: Change the text into Academic Style?

Clive — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:18:10 GMT

Hi,
Here are a couple more points.

The research objects of this study are as follows. First, develop a numerical representation method, a computational language model, for design text so that sentiment and subject matter can be detected by a machine learning system. Second, build a corpus of design text for training and validation purposes for a supervised machine learning system, Fourth, construct a large database to calculate word orientation based on a word's co-occurrence with a canonical set of positive and negative words in a very large text-based database. Fifth, compare the complexity of the proposed approach to the complexity of established methods. Finally, compare the computational complexity of the text representation to a bag-of-words representation.

Don't use the colon because you are not listing all five in the part of the sentence that follows the colon.

Be consistent. First/second/third/etc. or firstly/secondly/thirdly/etc. The former is simpler and commonly used

Clive

Re: Essay for Toefl 2

Grammar Geek — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:35:19 GMT

HI Doll,

Describe one event from your country's history, and explain why it was important. Provide clear explanations and details in supoort of your answer. (This is supposed to be a descriptive essay.)

The Gallipoli Campaign still has its memories vivid in our minds although 86 years passed ~~after it~~.It was not only important for Turkey, but also for the other countries including France, Germany, England and Italy.

Starting in 1915, the Gallipoli Campaign was one of the most bloody wars in history. Approximately 53.000 soldiers from Turkey and 111.000 soldiers from other countries fought in this war. One aspect of this war was that there were naval attacks, landings and ~~the~~ air assaults ~~were done ( can I say done~~? not really ) which meant more loss of life.

There are different reasons for the Gallipoli Campaign but ~~if we want to count,~~ the more important ones are these: ( can I count things like that in an essay? Sure) First, the Ottoman Empire had lost Trablusgarp and Bingazi and wanted to gain those lands back; second, (I have no idea about pronunciation. Is it correct? And do I have to count first, second, third respectively? Yes, first, second, third...) England and France wanted to conquer Istanbul; third, Russia needed help via the Bosphours to gain her power back; fourth, Turkey trusted Germany and her power and had high expectations ~~was in a high expectation~~ of winning the war; and finally, ~~fifth,~~ Istanbul was under attack and Turkey was in a complete danger "complete danger" doesn't work - perhaps "was facing the possibility of invasion" or something like that.

No matter what the reasons were, it had no side to be proud of perhaps "neither side could be proud of the resutls.". ~~As well as other soldiers,~~ It affected innocent civilians, not only soldiers ~~too~~. ~~Aside from the great success of soldiers,~~ Turkish civilians showed great courage ~~as well~~. Argh. I'm not sure how to rewrite that. There are too many "as well" and the soldiers are repeated twice. Maybe "The war affected others besides the soldiers -- innocent civilians showed great courage along with their military counterparts"? Even women got involved in the war volutarily. They carried heavy stones and guns on their back and they helped soldiers as snipers. When they ran out of guns, they fought one-on-one with enemies. ~~Maybe just because of this~~ For this reason alone, we can count Gallipoli ~~Campaign~~ as one of the rarest wars in this world.

Gallipoli Campaign left plight ? memories on the others too. For example, Anzacs were just the victims of destiny. This was had nothing to do with them but they had to be involved on other countries' will. Both sides lost numerous soldiers in this war and both sides were really affected badly by poverty, hunger and illnesses during the war.

As with all wars, Gallipoli Campaign has some good? positive? results too. The first of them is that the Turkish people gained courage by defeating enemies despite their poverty~~poorness~~, lack of men and guns. Second, M.K. Ataturk's celebrity and success spread all around the world;( Does it spread? yes, that's fine, but use periods not semi-colons to seperate them) Third, Istanbul wasn't conquered. On the negative side, F~~ourth, unfortunately~~ Turkey ~~gave~~ suffered a big losses and most important, it lost its brains not sure what you mean? they lost their best and brightest? Either way, end with a period. Russia couldn't get enoguh help and was deprived of its aid so she couldn't help Europe.I'm not sure about what you mean here? It left Russia in a weakened position?

The year is 2008 and the effects of the war still lingers in Gallipoli. The cemeteries of Anzacs and soldiers from Europe are now turned into an open museum and the gates of Dardanelles are open to their grandsons.

I felt a bit off-topic. Am I really? I think it would be good to talk about the effects that linger - perhaps on Turkish national identity, or what could have happened if the war had gone differently? I'm not seeing a strong connection to the current state of affairs.

I know I made a bunch of changes, but this is not very far off from what I would expect from an American student. Use more periods and fewer semi-colons! :)

(Unknown 22884)OHHH I FINALLY CAN POST!!!

Jen001 — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:51:40 GMT

"The Change of the Characteristics in the passage from The Hours"

The passage from the novel The Hours by Michael Cunningham is intriguing. The passage illustrates the difference between the character's characteristics in different time settings: past and present. This difference is clearly shown through the contrasting structure, imagery and language.

The structure reflects the division of the time setting and helps to contrast the different characteristics. The passage has two paragraphs, each describing the character's thoughts and perception about a same place, of the past and present. The length of each paragraph is different; the one from the past is much longer than the other one from the present. This can be related to each of the paragraph's sentence construction. In the first paragraph, about the past, the lengths of the sentences are very long. The first sentence takes eight lines, lengthened continuously within commas, semi-colons and colons. In fact, in one sentence, there are five commas, five semi-colons and a colon. This overly-continued sentence gives a sense of unfiltered, informal, and unrestricted flowing of thoughts. Moreover, the use of brackets, âsome sort of wood(cedar? Camphor?),â seems to be less sophisticated, compared to using dashes or other punctuations of the same function. However, in the second paragraph of the present, the sentence construction is shown contrastingly. The paragraph starts with a short simple sentence: âShe turns down Bleecker, goes up Thomson.â Also, in this paragraph, there are four sentences in six lines, and three of the four sentences are written in simple sentence, including the example above. Although there are a few commas in some of the sentences, there is no semi-colon, but only a colon in the last sentence. The colon is used in a very appropriate way, functioning to introduce the list of âthingsâ, such as âjewelryâ and âjackets.â Thus, within the brief and concise sentence construction, the character in the present appears to be more mature, filtered and sophisticated than in the past. However, as a result of that, the sense of youthful, unfiltered freedom cannot be found anymore in the present.

In addition to the structure, the contrasting imagery of each paragraph demonstrates further differences of the characteristic in the past and present. As both paragraphs are of the same setting, the image of the same place is described at each time. So, the consistent place makes the comparison between the two more distinctive and reliable. The imagery of the place is very vivid in the past, not only within the visual sense, but also within the auditory and olfactory senses, whereas that of the past only relies on the sense of sight. For example, in the past, âthe neighborhoodâ is depicted as âthe center of something new and wildâ in âthe city where the sound of guitars drifted all nightâ and âwhere the stores â¦ smelled the way â¦ Arab bazaars must smell.â This is detail, imaginative and lively, even the âArab bazaarsâ creates a somewhat mystical and adventurous atmosphere. This interesting and passionate depiction is being minimized in the present into three words: an âimitation of itself.â It is now âa watered-down carnival for tourists,â which gives a sense of inactivity and boredom. Also, the stores now âall sell essentially the same things,â such as âsouvenir T-shirts.â This seems to be dull, with no excitement or creativity or passion. This changed imagery, depicted by the character, rather shows the change in the character's perception. The change in perception is demonstrated more clearly within the notion of the âdoorâ and âalley.â In the past, she says, âif you passed through the wrong door or down the wrong alley you would meet a fate,â however, in the present, she âknows that behind these doors, and down these alleys lies nothing more or less than people living their lives.â In the past, she seems to be more concerned with the 'inner' world of thought or imagination. Whereas in the present, she seems to be more grounded in the external world of physical reality. As like the previously discussed change in the sentence structure, she is now more sophisticated, knowledgeable and realistic than the past. Also, as like the image of the place, her perception changed from the creative, interesting and adventurous to the boring, predictable and filtered way. Thus, the contrasting imagery of the past and present reflects the similar change in the character's perception.

While the structure and the imagery convey the distinctive change in the characteristics of the character, the contrasting use of language supports those differences. More specifically, the diction [dash]shown in the past and the present[dash] is comparable. Reflecting the imagery of the varied senses, the words and expressions used in the past are also varied and animated, such as âincense and richâ and âdung-y dustâ describing the smell of the stores. These two expressions, âincense and richâ and âdung-y dustâ are contrasting; they express the diversity of the object. Moreover, the speaker creates a non-existing adjective, âdung-y.â The extra adding of â-yâ grants a more animated image, and it gives a sense of freedom and even somewhat childishness. The âsmellâ is then described as âsomething fruitily, fertilely rotting.â Again, she creates a non-existing adverb, âfruitily,â expressing the scent rather vividly, which would be sour as it ârots.â The other adverb âfertilelyâ contributes to create a sense of abundance and richness of the imagery. However, the use of those two positive adverbs, modifying the negative verb ârottingâ seems to be oxymoron in âfruit[full]â or âfertile,â as well as the use of adjective âdisreputable,â following ânew and wild.â The oxymoron adds an unpredictable sense to the imagery and hence to the depicter's thoughts. On the other hand, in the present, the adjectives used to describe the âcityâ and the âstores,â are ânothing,â âless,â âsame,â and âstill.â All of them are negative and reflect the boredom, dullness and hopelessness. More significantly, the speaker uses the adverb, âGrotesquelyâ before describing how âthe same bars and coffeehouses are still [th]ereâ, showing the character's cynical characteristic. So does the use of the adjective âcheapâ for the goods at the stores. Thus, in the past, the character uses language interestingly [dash] it is diverse, lively and creative [dash] whereas that of the past is inactive, hopeless and cynical. These differences are directly reflecting the character's contrasting, changed characteristic.

The change of the characteristic seems to be abrupt. As a cause, something would have happened to her, that is not shown in the passage. However, an assumption can be drawn within the evidences from the passage. There is a shift in the first paragraph within âHere,â showing the shifted tense from the past to the past perfect. In the past perfect, there is a scene of Clarissa, the major character, and her boyfriend Richard. She seems to appreciate Richard a lot, for example, she does not use the pronoun 'he' for âRichard,â even though he is the only male character. So, in a sentence, Richard is successively repeated three times, âwith Richard, when Richard â¦ when Richard.â Moreover, she describes his appearance in detail; he âwas nineteen,â âa firm-featured, hard-eyed, not-quite-beautiful dark-haired boy with an impossibly long and graceful, very pale neck.â So, to describe Richard, she combines an adjective and a noun to create a single adjective, such as âhard-eyed.â This shows her seriousness about describing him precisely. His âimpossibly longâ and âvery paleâ neck would seem negative, if not for the complementary adjective âgraceful.â Also, the adverb âimpossiblyâ gives a sense of special and unusual feeling for the person. Besides the use of language, the use of punctuation should also be noted. There are many commas, causing the sentences to seem choppy. This would be imitating the feeling of uncertainty and the tension in the situation. The uncertainty of the situation is shown in the line, ââ¦about what? A kiss? Had Richard kissed her, or had she, Clarissaâ¦,â also the tension created as they âhad certainly argued.â Then, the reason for the âargu[ment]â is explained: âClarissa wanted her freedom and Richard wanted, well, too much.â It is notable that as Richard âwanted â¦ too muchâ relating to the âkiss,â the pronoun 'he' is used as âdidn't he always?â In this case, however, the pronoun 'he' seems to more likely indicate every 'man', rather than particularly âRichard.â Thereafter the paragraph ends, and the paragraph of the present starts. It is not sure whether the abrupt change in Clarissa's characteristic is due to âRichardâ or not. Although it is not, it is evident that Clarissa once considered and cared about him quite specially.

Despite of the uncertain reason, the change in the Clarissa's characteristic from the past to the present is shown clearly throughout the contrasting structure, imagery and language. The characteristic includes the thoughts and perception, which were unrestricted, unfiltered, creative and animated in the past; whereas in the present, they are shown restricted, filtered, dull and inactive. The change is extreme, but no particular evidence for the extremity is being suggested, except the short scene with Richard. Thus, this passage not only introduces the setting and the character, but also evokes the reader's curiosity: What has happened to Clarissa?

------------------------------------------------

I really really really appreciate for your help... Thank you..!

Re: Me vs. My Teacher

Grammar Geek — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:40:15 GMT

I'm more surprised that she didn't object to especially special! It's common to but a comma before a conjunction that joins two independent clauses. In the negative, the comma makes a semantic difference. I think it's good style to include it.

I don't know why she objected to "there were no trees." Perhaps she thinks "there weren't any trees" is better. I don't agree with her correction on this one.

She must have felt that a dash was too informal for the writing. That's also a style thing. I uses dashes all the time, but it depends on the formality of the writing.

I completely disagree with her on this one. Your use of the colon was correct.

However, she may be picking up on the disdain you feel for her, and as a results, shemay be taking extra pains over your work. I would be careful about "laughing at her ignorance" too much. You may not agree with her style choices, but she's the one with the grade book.

Re: Semi-colon or period?

davkett — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 01:09:28 GMT

Sextus wrote:

Well, I could replace "indispensable" by "necessary". That would eliminate one negative.

Sextus

It's amazing what that does for me! I personally thank you for that one.

Re: Semi-colon or period?

Sextus — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 00:52:19 GMT

Well, I could replace "indispensable" by "necessary". That would eliminate one negative.

Sextus

Re: Semi-colon or period?

davkett — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 00:42:26 GMT

Sextus wrote:

Well, what about this long one?

Long sentences don't particularly bother me. What I always find complicated is a string of negatives, like "being non-skeptical... is not... indispensable...for rejecting..."

Those strings slow me down every time.

Re: To Pedanticus

MrPedantic — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 13:47:43 GMT

Hello Sextus

Here you go:

1) âThe past few years have witnessed the publication of a considerable number of books and papers on the influence that ancient scepticism (broadly defined) [has] exerted upon early modern philosophy.â
You suggest here the present perfect. But as Iâm referring to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it sounds strange to me.
- Sorry, you're quite right. I hadn't allowed for context.

2) âThere have been two main reactions to this work: some scholars have regarded Popkinâs view about the decisive import of scepticism in moulding modern philosophy and science as exaggerated, whereas others have sought to reinforce his thesis either by deepening the study of the role played by scepticism in figures discussed by him, or by revealing the influence of scepticism in other modern thinkers.â
First, I used âto regardâ, but maintained the present perfect.
- Fine!
Second, with regard to âdeepening the studyâ, maybe I should say âdeepen the understandingâ. But I preferred to employ âstudyâ, but I donât know which verb I should use.
- 'either by further study of the role'?

3) âHere Paganini seems to interpret the notion of phainomenon as used by Sextus as referring exclusively to any appearance deriving from sensory perception, assimilation he explicitly operates later on (72-73, 74)â. [last clause odd - âan assimilation he explicitly operates on laterâ?].
I donât understand whether by adding âanâ before âassimilationâ, the sentence is correct, or whether I should rewrite the whole clause.
- Adding 'an' is better. I do find it difficult to get a meaning here; though maybe a specialist would have no trouble.

4) âThere are few passages of Sextusâ work where this term is restricted to the realm of sensory perception, the most relevant of these is probably Pyrroneioi Hypotyposeis (PH) I 8-9.â
I used âfewâ because I believe there are not many passages where that happens. I donât know how you would say it. In any case, I donât understand what you mean by saying that that word has a ânegativeâ sense.
- 'I've found few bookshops that sell the works of Sextus E.' - negative: the speaker regrets the fact.
- 'I've found a few bookshops that sell the works of Sextus E.' - positive: the speaker is quite pleased. It's 'half empty vs half full'.
So here, I think you want 'a few'; probably with a semi-colon after 'perception'.

5) âNow, it is clear that the appearances the Pyrrhonist has in virtue of his natural capability to think, the laws and customs of his community, and the skills he has gained are not sensory appearances.â
> 'by virtue of'?
I'm not sure 'has' is strong enough here. It has an auxiliary air.

6) âThough I agree with his interpretation, I think that sometimes he either disregards some facts, or is not entirely fair to some of the scholars with whom he discusses. Indeed, Gisela Striker adopts this view in some of her papersâ.
First, you proposed âdebates these questionsâ, but actually Iâm not referring to any issues, so Iâve preferred to use âto discussâ without any object.
- 'discuss' without direct object sits oddly here. 'engages'?

Second, you suggested âseveralâ instead of âsomeâ. Then I added âof herâ in order to keep âsomeâ, because the papers are three.
- fine!

See you
MrP

Re: How to enter into business relationship with a buyer directly

anon1 — Thu, 26 Aug 2004 16:33:59 GMT

Dear Guest,

I changed the emphasis of your letter slightly. I didn't want to bother explaining the pitfalls of the broker relationship. I am sure that they have not been happy either. Besides, nobody really wants to read about the negative stuff, just tell me how things will improve. I am sure that they will read between the lines.

I also have you being more assertive at the end. You are giving them an opportunity to respond, but if they don't, you will call them. This is an indication of the new relationship. I want action/information, I want it accurate, and I want it now. This is an example of what you can expect from us in the future--an enhanced attention to detail.

I hope this meets your needs, and if not, then please post back.

MountainHiker

Dear Mr. John Doe: (get the person's name and be sure to use a colon for business writing)

The purpose of this letter is to outline a strategy for strengthening our business relationship.

Our company (use your Company's name) wants to deal with you directly instead of working through various intermediaries. By working with you directly, you will have better access to technical information and we will have quicker response times for financial transactions. With stronger customer relationships in place, we believe that we are better positioned to become one of the major OEM players in the hearth and home industry.

In support of our goal of becoming a major OEM player, we have create a talented, motivated, and experienced sales team. We believe this sales team will exceed the level of performance you previously enjoyed from the brokers. Moroever, with just-in-time market information and dynamic technology exchanges, we expect more and better future mutual benefits.

We have already used this increased customer focus strategy in another product Peforating Cases with tremendous success. We will sell Peforating Cases directly to the buyers in the States next year.

Your business and relationship is very important to us. We believe that our enhanced customer focused strategy is beneficial to you. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me direct at XXX-XXXX-XXXX. Otherwise, please respond promptly that our new direct relationship is acceptable to you. If I have not heard from you within one week, I will contact you directly.

Best regards,
Kevin