Free Essays on The Destructors

â€Å"The Destructors† is a great example of a good kid gone bad. The main character displays knowledge and leadership skills but does not have an opportunity to put them to good use. For this reason, Trevor is a victim of society. The story takes place in London shortly after the end of World War II.. The protagonist in the story is Trevor. His father lost his job as an architect in the high class society where his family has lived all of their life. The family was forced to move into less expensive housing. His son Trevor had troubles adapting to the change. Trevor soon made friends around his neighborhood and became a member of the Wormsley Common Gang. Early on, the other boys could tell that he did not fit in. The gang made fun of his name, Trevor, because it was typically an upper class name and unheard of where they lived. Trevor adapted and demanded that they call him â€Å"T.† Trevor gained the favor of the other gang members when he told them his plan to tear down Mr. Thomas’ house. Trevor had been inside the house before and used his knowledge of architecture that he learned from his father to devise a plan to tear the house down from the inside out. The gang was successful and build a reputation for themselves. Revenge against the upperclass is the underlying theme of the story. To understand why, we must first make an important distinction between the upper and lower class. The upper class have better education and are given the opportunity to create, whereas the lower class do not have these norms, which causes anomie and results in an adverse affect of a child’s development. It is easier for the upper class to strive because their lifestyle encompasses opportunities that gives them the ability to create a positive environment for their family. The children are nurtured in this environment and are given a chance to grow. However, the lower class children are not born into such an environment. They generally have ... Free Essays on The Destructors Free Essays on The Destructors â€Å"The Destructors† is a great example of a good kid gone bad. The main character displays knowledge and leadership skills but does not have an opportunity to put them to good use. For this reason, Trevor is a victim of society. The story takes place in London shortly after the end of World War II.. The protagonist in the story is Trevor. His father lost his job as an architect in the high class society where his family has lived all of their life. The family was forced to move into less expensive housing. His son Trevor had troubles adapting to the change. Trevor soon made friends around his neighborhood and became a member of the Wormsley Common Gang. Early on, the other boys could tell that he did not fit in. The gang made fun of his name, Trevor, because it was typically an upper class name and unheard of where they lived. Trevor adapted and demanded that they call him â€Å"T.† Trevor gained the favor of the other gang members when he told them his plan to tear down Mr. Thomas’ house. Trevor had been inside the house before and used his knowledge of architecture that he learned from his father to devise a plan to tear the house down from the inside out. The gang was successful and build a reputation for themselves. Revenge against the upperclass is the underlying theme of the story. To understand why, we must first make an important distinction between the upper and lower class. The upper class have better education and are given the opportunity to create, whereas the lower class do not have these norms, which causes anomie and results in an adverse affect of a child’s development. It is easier for the upper class to strive because their lifestyle encompasses opportunities that gives them the ability to create a positive environment for their family. The children are nurtured in this environment and are given a chance to grow. However, the lower class children are not born into such an environment. They generally have ...

5 More Misplaced Modifiers

5 More Misplaced Modifiers 5 More Misplaced Modifiers 5 More Misplaced Modifiers By Mark Nichol The syntax of the English language is fairly flexible, but one rigid rule is that a word or phrase that modifies a word or a phrase should be positioned so that its interrelationship with the target component is clear. These five sentences illustrate the importance of this rule. 1. â€Å"People watched a television broadcast reporting on North Korea’s nuclear test at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday.† The sentence structure suggests that the nuclear test was conducted at a South Korean railway station. Rearrange the phrasing so that the modifying phrase about the location of the observation is adjacent to the description of the observation: â€Å"People at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, watched a television broadcast reporting on North Korea’s nuclear test on Tuesday.† 2. â€Å"She adopted the term biracial after hearing it in discussions about being a person of mixed-race origin while an undergrad at Wellesley College. This sentence gives the reader the impression that discussions were about temporary ethnic designation about being a person of mixed-race origin only during one’s college years. But it was the subject’s self-designation, not her ethnicity, that changed during her college years, as this revision indicates: â€Å"While she was an undergrad at Wellesley College, she adopted the term biracial after hearing it in discussions about being a person of mixed-race origin.† 3. â€Å"According to historical records, he emancipated the slaves he owned in his will.† The modifying phrase â€Å"in his will,† as appended to â€Å"the slaves he owned,† implies that the slaves he freed were those located in his will, which implies that other slaves not contained therein were not necessarily freed. To eliminate ambiguity, insert the modifying phrase as a parenthetical following the introductory phrase: â€Å"According to historical records, in his will, he emancipated the slaves he owned.† 4. â€Å"It’s about a guy whose presidency is going up in flames named George W. Bush.† This syntax creates the impression that the flames are named George W. Bush. The phrase â€Å"named George W. Bush† does modify â€Å"guy whose presidency is going up in flames,† but for the sake of clarity, insert the phrase after guy and before the rest of the phrase, which itself modifies guy: â€Å"It’s about a guy named George W. Bush whose presidency is going up in flames.† 5. â€Å"That cycle can only be corrected when we come to value the vital role of private preserves.† Incorrect location of only in a sentence is the most common type of misplacement of a modifier. Comprehension of a sentence’s meaning is rarely compromised by this error, but only should be put where it belongs. In this case, it modifies corrected, not can, so it should follow corrected: â€Å"That cycle can be corrected only when we come to value the vital role of private preserves.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Passed vs PastBetween vs. In BetweenRunning Errands and Doing Chores