E porfolio 3 -- Clean Water supply

Clean water supply has been a critical issue in this 21^st century. Human life has been afflicted severely by this scarcity. This is largely due to the uneven distribution of water sources around the globe. However, partly it is also caused by natural climate or even political and economic barriers. In a technological perspective, engineers have to develop a more sophisticated method to overcome this issue. This is because current technology could not support the increasing of water usage. Moreover, most of the world’s water is in the ocean which is salty, causing it unsuitable for most purposes. One of the most widely used methods is the diversion of water supply. Clean water is directed to various regions that faces water shortage. However, this method is not so practical since it could not meet all of the society needs, especially in the agricultural sector. Political controversy may also arise due to unfairness in distribution. Desalination is also another common yet costly method in which it is a salt extraction process from sea water. Its contribution is limited to seaside cities and rich countries since the operation requires high amount of energy. Even though this technique is modified into a more advanced system, new strategies still have to be developed in order to overcome the global water crisis. For example, further improvement on recycling wastewater and sewage treatment are being developed with the help of nanotechnology. The “drip irrigation” method is also another prospective approach to reduce water usage especially in the agricultural field. In additional, small distribution units are also being invented to overcome water distribution problem in rural areas. However, there were still ongoing plans to make this technology more affordable. All in all, besides improvising new technologies, equality in clean water distribution should not be neglected in addressing the issue of clean water supply.

National Academy of Engineering , WSEAS Groups, February 20, 2008

E-porfolio 2

One of the most common English Grammar mistakes which I often commit is preposition. A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition. It is used to express used to express position, direction or time. For example,
(a) I am sitting on the stool. (Position) (b) I am walking to her. (Direction)
(c) I do my homework at night. (Time)

Even though it might sound easy, sometimes it will be quite confusing because certain groups of preposition can be used in the same category. For example, “in”, “at”, and “on” can be used to indicate time. However, there are some differences of usage between them.

(a) At is used for times of the day
Examples:At half past 7, At breakfast time, at midnight
(b) On is used for days and dates
Examples:ON 5th of June, On Tuesday
(c) In is used for longer time of period
Examples: In April, In 1987
(d) No preposition is used for some “ time” words
Examples:Yesterday, next, tomorrow

Sometimes, “on” and “upon” can be quite confusing as well. Actually, ‘On’ is used to show position. For example: She sat on a chair. In the other hand, ‘Upon’ is used to indicate motion. For example: The cat sprang upon the cat.

Besides that, there is a difference between ‘at’ and ‘in’ when we use them to express places. ‘At ‘is used with small places like “At Hill Town” or “At Gaya Street”. On the other hand, ‘in’ is used with large towns or countries, such as “In Singapore” or “In Hong Kong”.

A part from that, there are certain words followed by certain prepositions in a fixed way. It is important to identify the suitable preposition when it is used with a word. Otherwise, it will be inappropriate since it will give a different meaning.For instances, 'I seldom talk to him anymore' is different with' Do not talk about sensitive issues in the public'. The preposition 'to' used in the first example , is used to direct the reader to some , while the preposition 'about' used in second sentence is used to describe or discuss a matter.Other examples are as the followings: ‘parted from’ and ‘parted with’, ‘known to’ and ‘know for ’, ‘glance at’ and ‘glance for’.
All in all, it is important that we aware of preposition usage so that confusion can be avoided and the message can be presented clearly.



Exercise1
Complete the sentences with ‘in’, ‘on’, or ‘at’.

1 I start work _9.00.
2 My birthday is_ December.
3 He goes shopping_ lunchtime.
4 My holiday starts _the 2nd of August.
5 In Canada it's very cold the _winter.
6 I don't work _Sundays.

Answers: 1. at 2.in 3.at 4.on 5.in 6.on

Exercise 2
1. My mother was fond _ children
2. He was born _ India_ poor parents
3. In order to find the solution for this question, we must look _ the matter more closely.
4. It depends how do u look_ this issue.
5. He is known_ his great contribution to the poor
6. He is made known _ her by his grandparents.
7. We shall fight_ terrorism by cooperating with government
8. Who shall we fight_?
9. Even though both of them are twins, they are different_ each other just by looking_ their physical appearance.
10. Most pianists are different_ their playing style

Answers: 1. Of 2.In, to 3.into 4.at 5.for 6.to 7.against 8. For 9.from 10.in

References:
1. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammarchallenge/pdfs/gc_16_timepreps_%20explanation.pdf
2. http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/preposit.html
3. Practical English Usage, English as a Second Language, Book 3, English Language Research Service, T.S. Kon
4. http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/englishfile/elementary/a_grammar/file03/grammar03_d02/