Saturday, March 21, 2020

The United States of Inefficiency essays

The United States of Inefficiency essays The United States of America is typically portrayed as one of the top countries in the world with an amazing economy, society, and political structure. This trifecta should create an environment conducive to societal interaction with and within politics, but has worked against its own interests. Our political system affects every citizen within the country as it provides them with a myriad of services; military protection, regulatory committees to protect our markets, and a Congressional and Executive branch to react to both internal and external stimuli on a world scale. Reasonable taxes are a small price to pay for such encompassing protection for you and your family; past, present and future. With literally everything from political relationships, to our markets, to our understanding of math and sciences changing before our very eyes, it's to be expected that Americans would want a dynamic system to adequately react and prepare for further changes in the world structure not only b y building upon what we have, but by tearing down old and unpopular legislature. Unfortunately American politics has begun to stagnate at an impressive rate. Politicians have never been so dramatically separated along party lines in American History since the Civil War, and legislative advancement has been at its slowest in recent history. There is a debate right now as to whether the inefficiencies of our political efforts are due to our electorates or the system they're placed in to, when both are the issue. The American political system historically works, but years of politicians on both sides working to maintain their incumbency has created a debacle in which our government is as corrupted as those creating it. The Republican Party in the United States typically stands for more conservative values. They wish to reduce the state of government welfare, expand military influence and reduce overall government size and market interference. The Republica...

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

How to Talk About Wondering in Spanish

How to Talk About Wondering in Spanish Although you can translate the English verb to wonder, meaning to not know and to be curious about using the Spanish verb preguntarse, Spanish speakers often convey such a sense of uncertainty in their choice of verb tense. Using Preguntarse Use of preguntarse is straightforward if youre familiar with reflexive verbs. It can be literally translated as to ask oneself, and has basically that same meaning. Me pregunto si es amor lo que siento o es solo un capricho. I wonder if it is love I am feeling or if it is only a whim.Nos preguntamos si este invierno volver a nevar. We wonder if it will snow again this winter.Yo me preguntaba lo mismo. I wondered the same thing. ¿Quà © es la vida buena? se preguntaban los griegos. What is the good life? the Greeks wondered.Nunca se preguntaron como podà ­a ser posible. They never wondered how it could be possible. Using the Future Indicative Tense When speaking of wondering about something that is occurring in the present, it is common in Spanish to use the future indicative tense in the form of a question. For example, to say, I wonder where my keys are, you could say,  ¿Dà ³nde estarn las llaves? (The same sentence might also be translated as Where can my keys be?) It is important to understand that  ¿Dà ³nde estarn las llaves? does not (unless the context makes clear otherwise) mean Where will my keys be? There is a difference, however, between asking the direct question,  ¿Dà ³nde estn las llaves? (present tense, Where are my keys?) and using the future tense as in  ¿Dà ³nde estarn las llaves? In the latter case, the speaker isnt necessarily looking for an answer. Following are some other examples of what is sometimes called the suppositional future. In the examples below, two English translations are given. Either one (and possibly others) would be possible.  ¿Quià ©n ir a la fruterà ­a? I wonder whos going to the fruit stand. Who might be going to the fruit stand? ¿Quà © querr decir el autor en esta oracià ³n? I wonder what the author is saying in this sentence. What could the author be saying in this sentence? ¿Quà © pensarn de nosotros en Japà ³n? I wonder what the Japanese think about us. What could they be thinking about us in Japan? Using the Conditional Tense In the same way, the conditional tense can be used to express speculation about the past, although this is less common than the use of the future tense explained above:  ¿Quà © querrà ­a la policà ­a con à ©l? I wonder what the police wanted with him. What would the police have wanted with him? ¿Dà ³nde estarà ­an los secuestrados? I wonder where the hostages were. Where could the hostages have been? Both the future and conditional tenses have uses other than those explained in this lesson. As usual, context rules when seeking to understand what Spanish speakers are saying.