A Flea and a Fly Practicing the F Sound

Tongue twisters are fun word games we use to challenge our pronunciation. As an English learner, you can use tongue twisters to help with pronunciation of certain sounds. In this tongue twister, A Flea and a Fly, you can work on your fs. Use lots of breath to help you get the fricative f sound strong. Remember that f is voiceless—pronounced without the voice by a strong push of air through pursed lips. A Flea and a Fly A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.Said the flea, Let us fly!Said the fly, Let us flee!So they flew through a flaw in the flue. Listen to Flea and Fly  a number of times and then try it for yourself! Improving Your Pronunciation of F A Flea and a Fly helps you practice f. The f sound is voiceless and sometimes confused with the v sound which is voiced.  Practice the difference in these sounds with minimal pairs—words that only have a difference between the f and v sound.   vie - fiefood - voodoofain - vainvan - fan Feel the Difference Between Voiced and Voiceless Sounds Place your hand on your throat and say van and you will feel a vibration for the v sound. Place your hand on your throat and say fan and youll feel no vibration at all for the f—a voiceless sound. More Tongue Twisters Peter PiperBetty BotterSea Shells by the Sea ShoreWoodchuck

The Cultural Identity Of The African American Community

The African American community has sat at the end of a discriminatory lens from the moment they set foot in the United States. For that reason, black communities have undergone the process of community building to ensure that all members feel a sense of belonging. Race, gender, nationality, ethnicity, poverty, and sexual orientation, all play a role in developing one’s identity and more often than not, these multiple identities intersect with blackness. Being that American society has deemed colored people and populations as minoritarian subjects, African diaspora people can be seen making safe spaces for themselves to survive as individuals and as a part of communities. Stuart Hall’s Cultural Identity and Diaspora focuses on the current issues of identity, cultural practices and cultural representations. He analyses the visual representations of Afro-Caribbean’s and challenges the notions of identity from African and European places. Hall then goes on to explain how Caribbean cinema has chosen to both, refute and embrace European influence. He presents two different forms of thinking about cultural identity. In the first position, Hall defines ‘cultural identity’ in terms of one, shared culture, which people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common. The first model uses â€Å"stable, unchanging and continuous frames of reference and meanings’ to present the idea of shared culture, history, and ancestry rooted beneath ‘more superficial imposed ‘selves’† (Hall, 223).Show MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Sexual Identity Development1243 Words   |  5 Pages The sexual orientation iden tity development is a theoretical model that conceptualized the resolution of internal conflict related to the formation of individual sexual identity. For sexual minority people, it is commonly known as the coming-out process (Bilodeau Renn 2005). There have been many different models elaborated to explain such process. All of them share similar stages: awareness, crisis, and acceptance (Loiacano 1989). When individuals become aware of their queer feelings and attractionRead MoreToni Morrison s Song Of Solomon1087 Words   |  5 PagesMorrison’s novel Song of Solomon was written in 1977, revolving around the African-American man and his life in the city of Michigan. Song of Solomon is the third novel of Morrison which gave her the wider recognition. Chronologically the novel is structured as the narrative from the childhood to the adulthood. The novel shows the traits of the African culture, which represents in the adequate and ruthless story of the community delivered by the example of the single family. However, the author raisesRead MoreHip Hop Rap Music And Subculture1643 Words   |  7 Pagesand a subculture. In particular, the issue of focus is the association of the hip-hop rap genre with the black youth subculture in America. As a youth subculture, hip-hop emerged in the 1970s from New York City’s borough of the Bronx. The African American community was the root of the music genre, which gained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. As part of its growth, the genre developed its own distinct language, music style, and lifestyle values, which have influenced widespread recognition of itsRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance Movement By Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, And Ralph Waldo Ellison931 Words   |  4 Pagesimpactful movements on African American arts, the Harlem Renaissance Movement represented a period of artistic and intellectual change that initiated a new identity on black culture. Often called the â€Å"New Negro† Era, the Harlem Renaissance opened doors for African American to express themselves in the form of visual arts, musical elements, and even performing arts during the 1920s. Due to this movement, Harlem became the city that â€Å"gave African Americans a physical cultural c enter.† [1] Renowned blackRead MoreAfrican American Vernacular English Language Essay1732 Words   |  7 PagesAfrican American Vernacular English African American Vernacular English can be described as an assortment of American English that is mostly used by urban-working class and mostly bi-dialectical middle-class black Americans. The language is also commonly known as Black Vernacular English or Black English. In some cases, particularly outside the academic community, it is referred to as Ebonics given its distinctive features and similarities with other non-standard English varieties. The similaritiesRead MoreEthnic Variability Of Hispanic Latino936 Words   |  4 Pagesethnic aspects of Latino/Hispanic identity as part of this governmental decree: â€Å"The racial and ethnic categories set forth in the standards should not be interpreted as being primarily biological or genetic in reference† (The White House.org, 2015, para.17). Therefore, 1997 was the specific date in which this policy became active in distinguishing race from ethnicity in population variability in the Hispanic/Latino community. In terms of Hispanic/Latino identity, the five most common subgroups areRead MoreDisability, Health, And Health Care Of The African American Community874 Words   |  4 PagesDisability: When it comes to disabilities, causation, health and health care in the African American community, much of their beliefs around receiving treatment piggybacks on their values and beliefs in religion and spirituality, including traditional health practices such as healers and â€Å"Root doctors† (Goode, Jones, Jackson 168), as well as believing in karma, folk tales, faith and destiny. While some African American community members may see a child being born with a disability to be a blessing, representingRead MoreRacial Segregation And The Civil Rights Movement1407 Words   |  6 PagesIn contrast, the white relationship to funk was one characterized mostly by confusion and distrust. White communities in the United States could not understand how it was possible that, even in light of the c oncessions made during the Civil Rights Movement, members of black communities were listening to funk and embracing their own racial identity rather than considering themselves American. In the eyes of many, the times of racial division had ended with the laws passed during the Civil RightsRead MorePersonal Statement : Personal Identity Research Paper Essay916 Words   |  4 Pages Personal Identity Research Paper I chose to interview my nephew, Jeremy for this paper. Jeremy and I are members of the same family; but, have different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. My family is a very large family and consists of; six brothers, sister in- laws, and fifteen nieces and nephews. My brother, Joe, married an African-American women (Sandra) and had two sons; but, they look nothing alike. Surprisingly, Jeremy’s appearance is African-American and Anthony looks CaucasianRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance1317 Words   |  6 Pagesbe stressed was the freedom of African Americans. For so long they were slaves and treated extremely poorly. Eventually, they became free people. However, they were still not viewed as equal. It took many years to move even one step in the right direction. A specific movement did help the African America appear independent and equal. One of the most influential movements and still occurring to this day is the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance is the cu ltural movement of the 1920’s. The movement

Comparison between Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess Essay Example For Students

Comparison between Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess Essay In Porphyrias Lover, Browning sets the scene by describing the turbulent weather. The vexatious wind blowing on the trees and the moody lake is a metaphor of the Lovers mind in the poem. It symbolises the violence and anger he has within himself. The Lover is full of hatred inside. The bad weather images is like an omen or a forewarning of whats to come. Maybe its also his insecurities and fears as well as anger how hes waiting for Porphyria, and fears she will not come. Theres a sense of changing of scene after the first four lines describing the weather, which is like an outside circumstance. Once Porphyria enters the cottage in which the lover lives, she shut the cold out and the storm (Line 7). From then on, the outside world is forgotten about. We know that the lover lives in a cottage (Line 9), while Porphyria has just come from a gay feast. This tells us their difference in rank, Porphyria is obviously of a high social rank than her lover. The word Porphyria is the name of a precious jewel, this suggests that she is rich. We have the sense of Porphyria, stepping down her rank when she makes the fire as this is the kind of job usually done by the servant : And kneeled and made the cheerless grate Blaze up, and all the cottage warm Fire symbolises warmth and brightness but it could also mean destruction too. So, like the bad weather outside, the fire is in a way like another warning of what is to happen. Its clever how Browning puts the words Blaze up at the beginning of the line. This makes the words sound like whats happening i.e. the noise of the fire, the room brightened up by the fire. The words Blaze up also sounds very dangerous too. When Porphyria enters, the Lovers hatred towards her is blinded by her beauty. He could be angry because she cant marry him since theres a social difference between their ranks. Lines 11-13 describe Porphyria taking off her dripping cloak and shawl, her soiled gloves and her hat. This detail shows the beauty of Porphyria. This slows down the scene and gives a sense of passing of time. Its almost as Porphyria is exposing herself in Line 11-13, shes allowing her real skin to be seen, its a metaphor of herself, opening out to him, or letting everything out in the open. The word soiled used to describe her gloves is a strong word. It emphasises Porphyria making the fire and making her gloves dirty. These very sensuous and physical language describes the sexuality of their love. Porphyria called her lover but there was no reply. Then she put my arm about her waist, And made her smooth white shoulder bare These two lines feel very unnatural, it is like Porphyria has learnt this. It is like a seduction. Porphyria is telling the Lover to notice her, shes offering herself. Porphyria is too weak and too proud to break her vainer ties with the people of her rank but love breaks all boundaries and the desire she has for him sometimes overcomes that. She left her party, she had come through wind and rain to see him and when she murmured how she loved him, the Lover was surprised and overwhelmed with pride and pleasure that she worshipped him. The moment in which the lover witnesses the womans apparently wholehearted love is also the moment that the Lover attempts to preserve by killing her. He wanted to keep that moment forever. On Line 36, the repetition of mine has the purpose of letting the readers know how controlling he is. He is obsessed with her. Porphyrias Lover wants her to remain pure because he had about Porhyrias independence, her liberty puts his masculine self-estimation at risk. The readers probably think that hes stroking her hair in Line 38 and 39 when on the next line they realise that hes strangling her! Most of the lines of the poem so far had been quite misty and ambiguous in a way but death when it comes is almost a matter of fact and mathematical. Three times her little throat around, And strangled her.. The Lover chose strangulation as the method of murder probably because it ensures that all the important appearance of Porphyria will remain unblemished, her beauty will still remain. The way in which she was strangled by her lover with her own hair is like she strangled herself almost as a way of releasing herself. And strangled her. No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain The Lover assures himself that he did not really hurt her, that Porphyria didnt struggle, she wanted to die at that moment so that she could be with him forever : So glad it has its utmost will,.. Because the poem is quite ambiguous, therefore it could also be that Porphyria does want to be killed. She wanted to marry him inside his heart but she cant because of her social background. Maybe she accepts what hes doing to her and knew that it was going to happen. A wonderful simile and image is used by Browning to describe the horrific moment when he opens his dead loves eyes : As a shut bud that holds a bee, I warily open her lids : again Laughed the blue eyes without a stain. The Lover is scared that the bees will sting him, maybe that after her death, she will still refuse him. But hes convinced that shes laughing and smiling with happiness and content. When Porphyria is dead, the Lover ..propped her head up as before, Only, this time my shoulder bore Her head, which droops upon it still We can see a reverse of roles here, after her death, the Lover is supporting her head, a simile of his control over Porphyria now that shes dead. Towards the end of the poem, Line 58 onwards ha gone to present tense. Hes now thinking of what hes done. He committed suicide. And yet God has not said a word! God is like his conscience, maybe hes waiting for that to awaken. While the language used in Porphyrias Lover is quite formal, My Last Duchess is different in its tone. My Last Duchess is more of a conversational tone, we can see that in the first few lines, the Duke is like introducing someone : Thats my last Duchess painted on the wall Victorian Poems EssayThe whole twist of Porphyrias Lover depends on the reader thinking that this is about a very sentimental, romantic love and then discovering at the end that it is actually about a different sort of love an obsessive, dangerous sort of love. The title is quite conventional and suggests that this poem is about a kind of noble, romantic love, with Porphyrias Lover as the hero. In a way, it could be said that the love in Porphyrias Lover is actually self-love, as the lovers obsessions means that he feels he must kill the woman he loves in order to keep her forever, but of course, he destroys their love as he destroys her life. Yet, we only realise the full extent of the lovers madness once we have read the whole poem. This love is exactly the same love presented in My Last Duchess but in this poem, this love is more subtle but is equally sinister. The lover in Porphyrias Lover killed his lover because he wanted to control her and keep her forever and similarly in My Last Duchess, the Duchess was killed so that she cant go off anywhere. The Duke in this poem shows how cruel, vain and possessive he is. He talk about his possessions and he clearly though his last Duchess was a possession as well. Duke gives himself away and reveals the cruelty underneath his confident manner. Browning satirises the Duke. The Duke thinks he is a man of culture and learning but we, the reader, realise that he is an unpleasant person who is only interested in collecting people like objects. In a way, this poem is very sad because embedded inside is a picture of a beautiful innocent girl whose life was cut short simply because she smiled too much and took pleasure in many things. She is probably killed without evening knowing the reason why. It is easier for the Duke to give commands to servants to have his wife killed than to point out what he dislikes or what he was dissatisfied about. It is also interesting to see how the social rank of the male and the female in the poems differ from each other. In Porphyrias Lover, the male is a man who lives in a cottage while Porphyria is of a social ranking much higher than him. He was afraid of losing her because people will disapprove of their relationship because of the social ranking difference. In My Last Duchess, the Duke in the poem is obviously a man of wealth and authority. Were not sure of the Duchesss social ranking before she married the Duke but it is safe to assume that she was in the same social ranking as the Duke. This is because he obviously cares a lot about dowry ( Line 51 ). A dowry is a gift given by the brides family in arranged marriage usually money, jewels, property and/or land. If the marriage between the Duke and the Duchess was arranged then they must be more or less the same social ranking. Also he probably wouldnt have married her if there was not a sufficient amount of dowry for him. The bigger the dowry, the more important the husband to be bought. The Duke was actually dissatisfied with her because he felt that she didnt respect his aristocratic background and always gave her attention to other unimportant people of lower rank. The lunacy that Browning exposes is that the two of his monologists crime in My Last Duchess and especially in Porphyrias Lover can be regarded as rational. It shows us how apparently reasoned justification can be founded on jealousy, fear, and obsession. It can also be founded on fantasy as shown in Porphyrias Lover, what the Lover has done is not fantasy in his mind but he probably has played the scene of killing his lover in his mind over and over again. The verse form and rhyme pattern is very interesting in both Porphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess. In Porphyrias Lover, the rhyming scheme works in groups of five A B A B B but the informal phrasing doesnt really emphasise the rhyme, so that we seem to be hearing the spontaneous thoughts of the speaker in the monologue. There is also an effect of moving on. The unexpectedness of the rhyme pattern is a metaphor of the unexpected twist of the murder in the poem. In My Last Duchess, the verse form is couplets, and theyre pentameter line with five stress. The poet chose to use this particular verse form so that it seems conversational as the Duke in the poem is actually talking to someone. Theres also enjambement in the poem sense of sentence running on to the next line : Looking as if se were alive. I call That piece a wonder Browning also uses enjambement very effectively in Line 16 : to say Her mantle laps Over my ladys wrist too much The sentence runs on to the beginning of the next line and echoes the effect of the cloth falling over her wrist, its acting out what the words are describing. The enjambement makes the rhyme less obvious and so its not drawn to our attention. The rhyme keeps the structure of the poem while the enjambement has a more natural effect. This is just like the Duke in the poem, he lives life by regularity, his life is in a very controlled pattern, very regular and formal, just like the couplets. Hes had emotional things that he cant tolerate, and the shift in enjambement disturbs the formality of his life. The effect of enjambement disguises the fact that the Duke lives by rules. When you read the poem, you have to change the way you say it and might need to take some time to try and get the stresses in the right place because of the effect of enjambement. My Last Duchess is like a play, and the pentameter line helps to make it seem like a story. Youll notice that both poems is only in one stanza. In My Last Duchess, this effect makes the poem seem like half story and half poem. It seems like a story because its all in one stanza and it seems like a poem because it has rhymes. Because it has no separate stanzas, it has no interruption. Porphyrias Lover also only has only one stanza, but its five line groups is quite odd and signals the strangeness of the events in the situation in Porphyrias Lover. The events in Porphyrias Lover are more disturbed and distorted than My last Duchess.

Romeo And Juliet Essays (463 words) - Characters In Romeo And Juliet

Romeo And Juliet Lovers are often stopped from falling in love, but lovers have faith to help them love each other. In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers are paused from falling in love, due to two family feuds. Fate leads Romeo and Juliet to meet and to die. Romeo and Juliet are fated to meet, although they are from different worlds. For example, when Romeo tells Benvolio of his first love, Benvolio tells him that they will soon be together, but Romeo claims "in that bit you miss. She'll not be hit with Cupid's arrow, she hath plans wit" (I, I, 216-217). Rosaline was not meant for Romeo. Their love shared was unreal. Cupid knows that someone else along the way is destined for him. In addition, when preparing for a party at the Capulets' house, Romeo believes "his mind misgives some consequences, yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date," (I, iv, 113-115) if he attends the party. The stars are predicting Romeo's future. They know that he will meet someone, but something between the two was just not meant to be. Furthermore, when Juliet asks Romeo how he found her, he replies, "'By love, that first did prompt me to inquire. He lent me counsel, and I lent him my eyes. I am no pilot'" (II, ii, 85-87). Romeo's instincts lead him. Juliet is his true love and his soul knows where to guide him. Even if fate helped the two lovers to be together, it also helped bring them to punishment. Romeo and Juliet's path of love is fated for disaster. For example, when Juliet learns that Romeo is a Montague, she realizes "[her] only love springs from [her] only hate" (I, iv, 52). Juliet knows inside that falling love with Romeo will only make the family feud even worse. Juliet also knows that the two can be killed for loving across their group. In addition, Juliet believes all men fickle and that Romeo "be fickle, for [she] hopes thou wilt not keep him long, but send him back" (III, v, 60-64). Juliet hopes that Romeo will plays with her heart. She wants this because she wants the two lovers to end up in grief together, then they can be happy again. Furthermore, Juliet believes that she will meet Romeo "by leaving earth... [to] comfort [her], counsel [her]" (III, v, 218-220). Romeo and Juliet's love is too strong to be broken down. The only way the two lovers can be happy is in heaven; therefore, death is the answer. Romeo and Juliet rely on death to satisfy them. Because the Montagues and Capulets disapprove of the couple meeting, they must die together to please themselves. They do not care what people say, they just want to be happy. Nowadays, couples still rely on death to help satisfy them, like Romeo and Juliet.