Significant Contributions of the Roman Empire essays

Significant Contributions of the Roman Empire essays The contributions of the Roman heritage on the modern West cannot be overemphasized. Even from ancient times the Roman Republic, and later the Roman Empire, was regarded as a successful template for all of civilization. The Romans had an excellent ability to organize and administer to the needs of their citizens and also developed a great legal system that is fundamentally in use even today. In the early republic, social divisions determined the shape of politics. Political power was in the hands of the aristocracy – the patricians. They dominated the affairs of state, provided military leadership in a time of war, and monopolized knowledge of the law and legal procedure. The common people – the small farmers, artisans, and landless urban dwellers – had few of the patricians' advantages. They did, however, have a voice in politics but were mostly overshadowed by the patricians. One of the greatest institutions of the republic was the formation of the Senate, a council of noble elders who advised the king. The creation of several assemblies through which laws and policy decisions were made provided the foundation for a structured government in Rome. In comparing historical Roman political bodies to that of the present-day United States it is easy to understand the influence that Roman history had on the framers of our own constitution and system of government. The Roman senate retains its name and also its function. The Roman consuls relate to our country's legislative assembly while a Roman praetor most closely resembles a judge or attorney. The Roman system of law was one of the earliest in history to enforce the belief that all men were created equal and are the basis of modern civil law. Roman law also established the precedent that the burden of proof weighed on the accuser, creating the belief that someone is innocent until proven guilty. It also stated that a person could not be punished for thought but only action. T...

Another 3 Cases of Misplaced Modifiers

Another 3 Cases of Misplaced Modifiers Another 3 Cases of Misplaced Modifiers Another 3 Cases of Misplaced Modifiers By Mark Nichol Modifiers- phrases that provide additional information- are easily (and therefore often) misplaced, creating syntactical confusion. Here are three such sentences, each followed by a discussion and a revision. 1. I will follow up with some of the questions I did not have a chance to address in a future post. This sentence reads as if the writer presciently knows that he or she will be unable to address certain questions when he or she writes a subsequent post and will follow up at an even later time. What the writer means is that the questions will be addressed in a future post because he or she was unable to do so in the post in which the statement was written. That intended meaning is clearly stated in the following revision: â€Å"I will follow up in a future post with some of the questions I did not have a chance to address.† Even better, begin the sentence with the modifying phrase: â€Å"In a future post, I will follow up with some of the questions I did not have a chance to address.† 2. Most recently, a bill was proposed in Congress, dubbed the Financial Services Innovation Act of 2016, which seeks to create a financial services innovative office. Here, Congress is mistakenly given the name of a legislative act. But the parenthetical phrase in which the act is named pertains to bill, not Congress, so the phrase must appear immediately adjacent to the pertinent word: â€Å"Most recently, a bill, the Financial Services Innovation Act of 2016, was proposed in Congress that seeks to create a financial services innovative office.† (Alternatively, shuffle the sentence’s components around, keeping the appositives â€Å"a bill† and â€Å"the Financial Services Innovation Act of 2016† adjacent to each other, for this result: â€Å"Most recently, the Financial Services Innovation Act of 2016, a bill that seeks to create a financial services innovative office, was proposed in Congress.† 3. She and her husband started the firm that builds windows and curtain walls in their basement eleven years ago. The location of the phrase â€Å"eleven years ago† paradoxically implies that the firm continues to build the products at a previous point in time. However, the phrase refers not to when the construction occurred, but to when the company that does the construction began operations. It is best situated at the beginning of the sentence: â€Å"Eleven years ago, she and her husband started the firm that builds windows and curtain walls in their basement.† However, this sentence has another misplaced modifier that must be addressed- the windows and walls themselves were presumably not built in the basement; the point is that the company was started there, so further revision is called for. In this case, simply setting the phrase describing the purpose of the company off from the main clause as a nonessential phrase helps focus the sentence’s emphasis: â€Å"Eleven years ago, she and her husband started the firm, which builds windows and curtain walls, in their basement.† 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:Creative Writing 101â€Å"As Well As† Does Not Mean â€Å"And†Plurals of Proper Names