Saturday, March 21, 2020

Franny and Zooey essays

Franny and Zooey essays Franny and Zooey is a book is separated into two parts, both which ran as short stories in the New Yorker. Franny Glass, the protagonist of the first section, and Zooey Glass, the protagonist of the second are actually brother and sister. They come from a rather large family of seven children and are the two youngest kids. All of the Glass children were deemed gifted at a young age and all seven appeared regularly on a radio program called Its A Wise Child. Of course, all of them were expected to carry on with this greatness throughout the rest of their lives. Naturally, it was a source of terrible distress to Mrs. Bessie Glass when her very youngest, the baby, grew quite disinterested in college and suffered a breakdown of sorts. Franny was just twenty years old when her emotional breakdown occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Glass tried everything they could to accommodate their daughter when she returned to their New York City apartment, but Zooey was not so kind. A condensed version of thei r story is as follows. Franny is out on a lunch date with her boyfriend Lane when the first signs of the breakdown hit her. It could be said that Lane himself triggers her emotions, simply for the type of man he is. Franny tells Lane she is tired of all the stupidity around her in college along with all the overblown egos. She doesnt feel shes learning anything other than basic knowledge in her classes, nothing that will make her any wiser than she already is; for wisdom is what she yearns for, its what all the great minds she so admires have. At any rate, shes unsatisfied with her teachers, her fellow pupils, and generally anyone else she may happen to run into. On top of that, shes begun to develop a growing interest in the Jesus Prayer that shes read about. Its a prayer that, when repeated over and over, eventually engrains itself into yo ...

Thursday, March 5, 2020

French Impersonal Expressions

French Impersonal Expressions Impersonal expressions are those which do not have a specific subject. In grammatical terms, impersonal does not mean cold, but rather invariable by grammatical person. There are a few things you need to know about French impersonal expressions: The French impersonal subject is either il or ce, whereas the English impersonal subject is it.All of the French impersonal expressions can begin with il est or cest with no difference in meaning; however, cest is less formal than il est. Therefore, cest is more common in spoken French, while il est is more common in written French. (Note: this applies to il  est and cest only in impersonal expressions; in other constructions, there is a difference: cest vs il est) There are essentially two different types of constructions with impersonal expressions - either they are followed by que and a subordinate clause, or they are followed by a preposition and infinitive. With Que When using il est or cest adjective followed by que, the verb in the subordinate clause may need to be in the indicative or subjunctive, depending on the meaning of the impersonal expression:Il est probable que David le fait / Cest probable que David le fait.Its probable that David is doing it.Il est possible que David le fasse / Cest possible que David le fasse.Its possible that David is doing it. Without Que In expressions with il est or cest adjective followed by a preposition and infinitive, the choice of preposition depends on the type of subject:a) When the impersonal subject is a dummy subject, you need the preposition de, and there are two possible constructions:impersonal expression de intransitive infinitiveIl est difficile de parler / Cest difficile de parler.Its hard to speak. (Speaking is hard)orimpersonal expression de transitive infinitive direct objectIl est important de dire la và ©rità © / Cest important de dire la và ©rità ©.Its important to tell the truth.b) When the impersonal subject is a real subject and the infinitive is used intransitively as a passive infinitive, you must use the preposition :Il est bon savoir / Cest bon savoir.Thats good to know.Il est difficile faire / Cest difficile faire.Thats hard to do. Learn the Most Common French Impersonal Expressions Many impersonal expressions require the subjunctive. To find out which ones, check  The Subjunctivator!Il est bizarre / Cest bizarreIts oddIl est  bon  / Cest  bonIts goodIl est certain / Cest certainIts certainIl est clair / Cest clairIts clear/obviousIl est convenable / Cest convenableIts proper/fittingIl est difficile / Cest difficileIts difficultIl est  dommage  / Cest  dommageIts too badIl est douteux / Cest douteuxIts doubtfulIl est essentiel / Cest essentielIts essentialIl est à ©tonnant / Cest à ©tonnantIts amazingIl est à ©trange / Cest à ©trangeIts strangeIl est à ©vident  / Cest à ©videntIts obviousIl est facile / Cest facileIts easyIl est faux / Cest fauxIts falseIl est heureux / Cest heureuxIts fortunateIl est honteux / Cest honteuxIts shamefulIl est important / Cest importantIts importantIl est impossible / Cest impossibleIts impossibleIl est improbable / Cest improbableIts improbableIl est indispensable  / Cest indispensableIts essentialIl est i njuste / Cest injusteIts unfairIl est inutile / Cest inutileIts uselessIl est  juste  / Cest  justeIts right/fairIl est naturel / Cest naturelIts naturalIl est nà ©cessaire / Cest nà ©cessaireIts necessaryIl est normal / Cest normalIts normalIl est obligatoire / Cest obligatoireIts necessaryIl est  peu  probable / Cest  peu  probableIts not likelyIl est possible / Cest possibleIts possibleIl est probable / Cest probableIts probableIl est rare / Cest rareIts rareIl est regrettable / Cest regrettableIts regrettableIl est sà »r / Cest sà »rIts sure/certainIl est surprenant / Cest surprenantIts surprisingIl est temps / Cest tempsIts timeIl est triste / Cest tristeIts sadIl est urgent / Cest urgentIts urgentIl est utile / Cest utileIts usefulIl est  vrai  / Cest  vraiIts true