Fall Vocabulary List #3

Fall Vocab Words #3

Accolade: any award, honor, or laudatory notice

Acerbity: sourness, with roughness or astringency of taste.

attrition: a reduction or decrease in numbers, size, or strength

Bromide: a person who is platitudinous and boring.

chauvinist: a person who is aggressively and blindly patriotic

Chronic: constant; habitual

expound: to set forth or state in detail

factionalism: of a faction or factions.

immaculate: free from fault or flaw; perfect

imprecation: cursing someone.

ineluctable: incapable of being evaded; inescapable

mercurial: animated; lively; quick-witted

palliate: to relieve or lessen without curing; mitigate; alleviate.

protocol: the customs and regulations dealing with diplomaticformality, precedence, and etiquette.

resplendent: shining brilliantly; gleaming

stigmatize: to set some mark of disgrace or infamy upon

sub rosa: confidentially; secretly; privately.

vainglory: excessive elation or pride

vestige: a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is nolonger present or in existence

volition:the act of willing, choosing, or resolving

Vocabulary Sentences

1. Because of his heroism, the city gave him accolades for his deeds.
2. The lemon sorbet had a strong acerbity to it.
3. Because of the recession there has been an attrition in employment rates.
4. Students began to doze of because of the bromide teacher's lecture.
5. Some people believe that soldiers who go off to war are chauvinists because they defend a country of people they don't know.
6. Some people suffer from chronic diseases or illnesses such as depression and must be on constant regimens of medication.
7. In order to have support from the board, they must expound the proposal and address their concerns.
8. When war erupts many countries face the fear of internal and international factionalism. 
9. The car was immaculate after it was washed and waxed at the dealership.
10. Many people murmur imprecations at one another or strangers when they are frustrated.
11. Going to the doctor for a yearly physical is ineluctable.
12. The mercurial television show was a hit. 
13. In order to palliate the pain of her treatments they gave her prescription pain killers.
14. It is protocol to check the inventory once a month.
15. The resplendent ring attracted many prospective customers, but its high price caused many to think twice.
16. His family name was stigmatized when his father was convicted of murder in the first degree.
17. The government holds many meetings sub rosa for the sake of confidentiality and protocol.
18. The artist had vainglory in his work and was shocked when his painting wouldn't sell at his top price.
19. Dinosaurs have left several vestiges of their existence all around the world.
20. The jury decided that the defendant was acting of his own volition when he stole millions of dollars from the bank. 

Beowulf

[Beowulf Fights Grendel’s Mother] (Lines 1383-1650)
1.      Beowulf tells Hrothgar that they should embrace each other as brothers and have faith in each other.
2.      Beowulf tells the people, before he enters the mere that he will go alone and that he will return, but they must wait for his return.
3.      Beowulf goes into battle with an iron sword given to him by his men that has never failed in battle.
4.      When Beowulf goes into the mere he is attacked by supernatural serpents that are seemingly invincible. What is surprising about where Grendel and his mother live is that it is a waterless cave within the mere and has both weapons and gold strewn across it.
5.      Unferth’s sword proves to be completely useless in the battle against Grendel’s mother because it can’t penetrate her skin.
6.      He grabs her hair and shoulder and pulls on her until she falls to floor so that he could escape.
7.      Beowulf beheads Grendel’s mother with a magical sword crafted by giants and once she is dead the serpents that had attacked him and the spells that cursed him while in the lair disappeared. As a trophy for his great victory, he takes her head with him to the surface.
8.      Hrothgar and his men eventually lost faith in their hero and left for their homes, but the Geatish earls all waited for their lord, Beowulf. So when Beowulf returns to the surface he is both pleased to see that the Geats waited for him, but disappointed that Hrothgar and his men had so little hope.

[Further Celebration at Heorot] (Lines 1651-1798, pp. 68-71)
1.      Beowulf tells Hrothgar and his men how he defeated the monster mother and gives him the golden hilt of the sword because that is all that remains.
2.      After hearing Beowulf’s boasting, Hrothgar tells him the story of the evil Danish King, Heremod who killed everyone at his table and was bloodthirsty. He tells Beowulf this because Heremod was also very boastful and it is because of his actions that he later was banished and died.
3.      Beowulf gives Unferth his own sword because Hrunting was destroyed in the mere.

[Beowulf Returns Home] (lines 1799-2199, pp. 71-79)
1.      Hrothgar tells Beowulf that if his lineage does not survive and Beowulf still lives, he may come and rule the Danes.
2.      Queen Hygd is the model wife and queen of King Hygelac and is the complete antithesis of Modthryth because she has killed many men and is only changed when she is married off to Offa.
3.      Hrothgar wants Freawaru to marry Ingeld so that there will be permanent peace between the Heathobard and the Danes, but Beowulf fears it will warrant war. This shows the more strategic side of Beowulf because we all know that Beowulf is more than just brawn.
4.      Beowulf reports on nearly every detail of his adventures and does so pretty accurately.
5.      Beowulf formally presents all his gifts from Hrothgar and in return, Hygelac gives him land, hides, a jeweled sword and makes him a lord.

[The Dragon Wakes] (lines 2200-2509, pp.79-86)
1.      We go forward 50 years and Beowulf is the king of Geats because Hygelac and his successor have both died in battle.
2.      The dragon is angry because the slave took its favorite item, the golden chalice.
3.      The dragon burn’s a town and Beowulf’s home.
4.      Beowulf thinks his home is burnt because he somehow offended God. So in retaliation, he orders a new shield that the dragon won’t be able to burn and knows that he is destined to die in this battle.
5.      Hygelac died in battle and after his death Beowulf swam to shore where Queen Hygd offered him the throne because she didn’t believe her son was suited for the throne; Beowulf only acted as regent so that Headred would take the throne when he matured.
6.      A group of exiled Swedes visited Heardred’s court and murdered him. Beowulf avenges the death of Heardred by killing the king of the Swedes, Onela.
7.      Eleven men accompany Beowulf, not including the slave, to go meet the dragon.
8.      The eldest prince, Herebeald, was killed in a hunting accident by his brother, Haethcyn. King Hrethel abandoned his kingdom, leaving it to his sons, and retired. The Swedes and Geats, two different tribes of Swedish descent, continued their feuding. The Swedes and Geats, two different tribes of Swedish descent, continued their feuding and as one of Hygelac's lords, Beowulf killed a great Frankish warrior, Dayraven.

This is my section of a group effort in completing these comprehension questions. My partners are:  Matt Patel, Chanel Yamaguchi, Owen Iness, and Iliana Gutierrez

Pathbrite Essay Feeback

I know that some people have been having trouble giving feedback on pathbrite so for those of you who have read my essays but can't figure out how to comment on that site, your feedback is welcome here!

Socratic Seminar: Do you have the right to your own opinion?

Although I do agree that we do have a right to have an opinion in any circumstance, I also agree with the author in that we don't have the right to impose our opinion on others because we think that our opinion is more correct than the other person's. On several issues, typically hot button issues, opinions are based on religious affiliation, personal experience, and/or research on the subject, but what needs to be understood is no matter how much research a person does whether it be within themselves or on a computer, they will never be able to understand everything of anything, it is physically impossible (unless you have some sort of divine power and you are able to read everyone's mind and know the repercussions the opinions will have on a grander scale [in short, you must probably be God]). When a person "enforces" their right to their opinion they are making a proclamation that their opinion is the right one, and since the person they're discussing with refuses to accept the knowledge being so kindly given to them, they are ending the conversation. It is because people use their right to their opinion as a sort of end all be all  for the conversation without backing their opinion up with the proper information that it becomes a fallacious argument. So in a more detailed sense, we do have the right to have an opinion, but you have the duty to make sure that if you ever impose your opinion you have the proper information to back up your claim and accept knowledge given to us so that when the conversation ends you can have a better understanding of the other person's opinion.

Reflections On Week 1

1. I believe that as long as I have access to the Internet I should be able to manage pretty well until I can try to get a smart phone in December. Not having a smart phone does present the challenge of having to use extra steps in order to either find the same information or post certain things but I've found that it is not impossible to get these tasks done, so I am confident that even though I may come up against an obstacle or two I have the tools and the ability to find a way to finish strong.
2. The best learning experience I had actually changed who I was entirely at a very young age. I had this epiphany, or "Ah hah!" moment as Oprah Winfrey likes to call them, where I learned the real power of my experiences. I remember clearly the moment it happened, I was pretending to read in the living room of the two bedroom apartment my family and I lived in, and I couldn't focus on the book because my mind was racing with all these questions I had since I was about eight years old. I wondered if any good would EVER come out of my experience and I could tell that if I didn't get the answer to my question, I might just go insane. So I got up from the table and started asking questions. I asked my mother, brothers and grandfather, but of course no one had the answer. So with a defeated sigh, I sat on the couch and started watching science videos with my older brother. In one of the videos they began talking about Newton's Third Law: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." At the time I didn't realize what a profound affect that one line would have on me, but it stuck with me all the same. Since that day I have learned that for every punch I take on the chin, I get the same opportunity with equal force, but I use my education to take my power back. There are very few things in life that can't be taken away and I had to learn that the hard way, but a person's knowledge and experience is one thing that can never be taken away. 
3. The thing I'm most excited about is being able to experience something I will probably never experience anywhere else on this campus. I look forward to learning to being able to open my mind to opinions and points of view I had previously never considered and I am excited to see how this will help me transition from traditional high school to university. 

Additional Thoughts: Austen/Montaigne Essay

When I left class and rested my mind a little bit I realized that I actually had a better understanding than I thought I did. The interruption during the essay did cause me to forget important parts of my thought process that I would've wanted to have written in my essay and when I returned to class I spent a while trying to get my mind back in "the zone." Usually when it comes to essays, whether they be in class or at home, I rather just sit down for however long I have and bang out the essay by just writing what comes to mind. Yet for the sake of not embracing complete whining because it won't get anyone anywhere I am just going to continue by writing down what I hope I would've said in my essay.


Extended metaphors were a key player in providing a window into Montaigne's thoughts because his use of them would ultimately reflect the main theme of his essay. In his essay "That Fortune is Often Times Observed to Act by the Rules of Reason", Montaigne uses the story of the Duke of Valentinois having decided to poison the Cardinal of Corneto in order to begin expressing his thoughts on greed and deception. By using extended metaphors Montaigne is able to make clear how much he truly dislikes lying and selfishness and does a much better job of capturing his thoughts in a general sense. This differs from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice because Austen uses characterization and symbolism in order to capture her thoughts on a general scale. For example, Mr. Darcy's letter to Elizabeth Bennet is a symbol of people's failure to give others the benefit of a doubt and not hold prejudice against others which directly connects to the theme of not allowing a person's supposed reputation stop you from getting to know them for yourself. Though Montaigne and Austen were able to capture the outline of their thoughts we once again see that we can only make broad assumptions because we will never know the fine details of their introspection.

David Foster Wallace once wrote that, What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant.” After reading Montaigne’s work I believe this to be true because even though he gives several examples as to what he is trying to explain, I will never be able to know his entire thought process. The same goes for Jane Austen, even though she provided us with an entire novel to give us a window into her mind we will never know the full extent of her contemplation because the mind is simply too “huge” and complex. Yet through their use of themes, educated diction and syntax, and use of literary tools they were both ultimately able to give us broad paint strokes of their thoughts. Although they used different mediums in order to portray these thoughts, the end result was still more or less the same.