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MY HOBBY
Reading Newspapers and magazines , Net Surfing , watching and playing cricket .
READING -:
Definitions
Although you probably have encountered numerous definitions in your life, you may not have thought of them as being the
subjects or results of argument. When you look up a word, such as “table,” in a dictionary, you find
a neat definition right there. So where’s the argument? Did you ever stop to wonder, though, where that definition
came from? The English language did not come to us with a glossary attached. Someone had to come up with that definition,
and that someone conducted painstaking research to create it. He or she probably examined numerous instances in which writers,
speakers, or both used that word and, from those instances, drew a conclusion about the word’s meaning. The resulting
definition is, then, open to argument, though most speakers will probably agree on the basic outlines of the definition.
Imagine, however, how much more contestable might be definitions of other things. For example, many people define a fetus
as a human being, while others define it as something slightly different. When you write an argument of definition, you argue
that something has particular features or belongs to a particular category. Often you will use a set of criteria in making
your argument. As always, you will want to address counterarguments and to present plenty of evidence to support your claim.
How would you define "native speaker of english"?
An interesting question.
My first instinctive answer - anyone from an English speaking country who learns from birth from a parent - falls apart
now I stop to consider. A person could be raised in a non-English speaking country by native-English speaking parents and
that would, in my opinion, also make them a native speaker.
Tricky. I could say they need to learn it from birth and have native English speaking parents but on the other hand, there
are plenty of second generation British people, whose parents may not actually have good English, but who themselves I would
consider native speakers as they have grown up in a native English environment, and their English is perfectly 'native'.
So I guess I would say there needs to be at least one of two conditions:
To grow up exposed to the language of a native English speaking country and/or
To have native English speaking parents.
But again, on consideration there are problems with this. Someone whose parents are native speakers of a different language
to the country they are growing up in, quite often are not completely fluent in their parents' original language. (Again with
the example of second generation immigrants in mind).
Also, some countries are officially English speaking, but it is not the same as what I would call a native version of
the language. Again, an example, I know a lot of people from Nigeria, whose official language is English and have learnt it
from virtual babyhood along with an African language, and have done all their schooling in English. However, they are not
native speakers and would not describe themselves as such once they have encountered actual native speakers. One said it came
as a terrible shock to come to Britain and find a terrible language barrier after speaking what he thought was British English
for nearly 50 years. He was unable to understand most people, and most people were unable to understand him.
So, what does everyone else think? It is just people from Britain, USA, Australia and NZ who are the native speakers or
do other versions of English also count as 'native'? If I'm being really cheeky, perhaps only British people speak native
English - as even the USA has left the British version behind, and it was our language originally?
So,
MAGAZINES -:
DEFINATION -:
A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles on various subjects.
The term, magazines, is usually used to indicate the popular, or non-scientific periodicals.
A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles.
Magazines are typically published weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly or quarterly, with a date on the cover that is
in advance of the date it is actually published. They are often printed in color on coated paper.
They fall into two broad categories: consumer magazines and business magazines.
Consumer magazines are aimed at the public and are usually available through retail outlets. They range from general-interest
titles such as Time, Esquire and Cosmopolitan, which appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, to highly specialist titles covering
particular hobbies, leisure pursuits or other interests. Among the hundreds or thousands of topics covered by specialist magazines
are, for example, computer games, fishing, particular marques of automobile, particular kinds of music, and particular political
interests.
While most of these magazines are available in the whole of the country in which they are published, some are specific
to a local area, and a relatively small number are available internationally - often through localised editions so that, for
example, the copy of Maxim bought in the USA does not contain the exact same articles as the edition on sale in the UK. Some,
such as TV Guide are even tailored for local markets within a country. Most make the bulk of their money from advertising,
and earn a smaller amount from the purchase price paid by readers; a few are free.
The other broad category of magazine is the business magazine, sometimes called a trade magazine or B2B (business-to-business)
magazine. These publications carry news and other information relevant to a particular profession or industry. Some are sold
through retail outlets, and indeed some of the most general such as Forbes and Business Week are in many respects similar
to the current-affairs-oriented consumer magazines.
However, many business magazines are available only, or predominantly, on subscription. In some cases these subscriptions
are available to any person prepared to pay; in others, free subscriptions are available to readers who meet a set of criteria
established by the publisher. This practice, known as controlled circulation, is intended to guarantee to advertisers that
the readership is relevant to their needs. Very often the two models, of paid-for subscriptions and controlled circulation,
are mixed. Advertising is also an important source of revenue for business magazines.
Although similar to a magazine in some respects, an academic periodical featuring scholarly articles written in a more
specialist register is usually called a "journal". Such publications typically carry little or no advertising.
"Periodical" is the word usually used to describe magazines, journals, newspapers, newsletters, and anything
else that is published in regular intervals for an indefinite period of time, but "serial" is sometimes used, especially
in librarianship.
Many weekend newspapers incorporate magazine supplements, such as Parade and LIFE in its most recent incarnation, both
in the USA, and the Sunday Times Magazine in the UK.
The Gentleman's Magazine, first published in 1731, is considered to be the first general-interest magazine. The oldest
magazine still in print is The Scots Magazine, which was first published in 1739, though multiple changes in ownership and
gaps in publication totaling over 90 years weaken that claim.
The most widely distributed magazine in the world is Reader's Digest (founded in 1922). Its worldwide circulation including
all editions comprises 21 million copies and over 100 million readers
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