Edecel Applied Business Unit 11 Finance Task B Essay Example

Edecel Applied Business Unit 11 Finance Task B Essay Example Edecel Applied Business Unit 11 Finance Task B Essay Edecel Applied Business Unit 11 Finance Task B Essay Working Capital is the money used by the business to fund revenue expenditure; this is the day to day expenses. Day to day funds are needed in order to fund a business. The working capital would be used to buy resources such as raw materials, fuel, wages and fees etc. Working capital can also operating liquidity that is available to them. Working capital has two components which are; things owed (current liabilities) and things owned (current assets). They are used when calculating the working capital: WK = CA CL. If companys assets are less then their liabilities then this results in a bad working capital because they will not have enough cash in the business to pay current liabilities; and therefore will owe more then they own. This is why working capital is very important in order to run an efficient business. A business will have many current liabilities that they owe banks, people and other businesses. These can include things such as, bank overdrafts and bank loans which businesses would of borrowed from, these are common methods of borrowing money as it can be fairly easy for businesses to get loans and overdrafts. Credit Card debts are also common in businesses. A businesses liabilitys also includes accruals and these are something that businesses will owe and these are all the extra things such as electricity bills. Hire purchase, dividends proposed and trade credit will also fall within a businesses current liabilities. Businesses current assets are thing that they have or own. These can be general things such as stock, unfinished goods and raw materials for stock. These can be the hardest assets to turn into actual cash. The businesses money in the bank and investments are also current assets as well as any debtors the company has and prepayments which are deposits. Working Capital Management the Problems When looking at working capital is important to analyse where cash is used in the day to day running of Thomas Cook; this can be known as a liquidity cycle. The start of Thomas Cooks cycle would begin with them securing the hotel room and flights needed for their future customers, these would be on credit. They then sell these to the customers and take deposits/receivables. Thomas Cook need to ensure they get the correct balance between the hotels and flights they book and the correct amount of customers. This may be a big problem for their working capital if demands drops, and this will be likely in the current recession. To have a good liquidity Thomas Cook needs to ensure deposits quickly, because the longer it takes them to sell their holidays the more liquidity problems it will create. The next step is for Thomas Cook to pay the suppliers; Thomas Cook will use the customer deposits to pay them however this will not cover the whole of the costs. Therefore Thomas Cook need an injection of cash and this is likely to be an overdraft. By having an overdraft will ease the flow of cash around the business and help liquidity. However banks may not want to give businesses an overdraft or loan if they are worried the company will not pay it back. This is more common recently with the recession as banks are becoming more careful with their money. By resorting to an overdraft does have its advantages, but overall in the long run it will increase costs for Thomas Cook as they will have to pay back extra interest fees. This can therefore reduce the profit for Thomas Cook which they will not want. Banks may also think that the business is not doing well if it needs a loan and this could be a risk for the bank. If Thomas Cook cannot receive any injection of money then they will struggle to pay back suppliers on time and this can result in bad relationships and they may withdraw their trade credit or decrease the credit period. This will have a negative effect on the working capital. The final part for Thomas Cook is to collect the rest of the customers payments so Thomas can pay back the bank their overdraft and likely to make a profit, however it can still create problems for Thomas Cook. Customers may cancel their holidays as it would have been several months since they booked it so many people change their mind. This means that Thomas Cook will only have deposits to pay back banks etc. They will have to sell extra rooms and flights last minute and cheap and they could lose money. One solution to this would be to increase the deposit price therefore customers would feel like they are losing more money and they would be unlikely to cancel. It also means there is a safer barrier for Thomas Cook and they would have more money which will help ease they liquidity. We have suggested that over booking hotel rooms and flights is bad for Thomas Cook as they may not be able to gain enough customers but what about the opposite? Thomas Cook may have customers waiting and not have any rooms or flights available, this would be a missed opportunities for Thomas Cook. This is why it is extremely important for them to get the balance between securing the hotels and flights, and the amount of customers. Ratios Current Acid Test Ratio Ratios can be used to help asses the working capital position of Thomas Cook and look at the management to Thomas Cook. The first ratio will let us directly measure liquidity and this is the current ratio. It will show us how much current assets there are to a Euro of debt. Formula for current ratio: Current assets / current liability = current ratio Looking at the balance sheets of Thomas Cook we can work out the current ratio for 2009 and 2008. 2009: 2008: 2303.2 / 3737.9 = 0.6:1 1386.2 / 2077.8 = 0.7:1 Another ratio that can use is the Acid test ratio this is the same as the current ratio however it takes away the stock as stock is not easily converted to cash. Formula for Acid Test ratio: (Current Assets Stock) / Current liabilities = Acid Test Ratio Looking at the balance sheets of Thomas Cook we can work out the acid test ratio for 2009 and 2008. 2009: 2008: 2303.2 274 / 3737.9 = 0.6:1 1386.2 105 / 2077.8 = 0.7:1 By looking at the current ratio we can see that for every euro of debt/current liabilities it has 60cent of current assets which are stock, cash and debtors. This doesnt appear a situation for Thomas Cook as they cant afford to clear its short term debts with its current assets. For example if their overdraft was reduced and their trade credit stopped Thomas Cook would not be in a liquid position. The suggested standard acceptable ratio is 1:1 which means business have equal assets to liabilities so they can easily pay back short term debts. A 1:1 ratio means the assets and liabilities are equal and surely it would be better to have a 2:1, however for firms such as Thomas Cook it is easy for them to raise finance and thats why it is acceptable. Another factor we can look at is the time period; these figures were taken from a balance sheet in October and there wouldnt have been a lot of current assets coming into the business as October is not their peak month. We have to keep in mind that Thomas Cook are a seasonal business and therefore figures will be very different during periods of the year. In October it would be likely that Thomas Cook are spending money to securing next years holidays and they could also be borrowing money to do this. By taking this into consideration we can judge that the ratio may be acceptable and these figures are likely to be industry wide. We can also compare 2009 to 2008; the position from 2008 has gone down in 2009 and therefore it is a negative trend. This can be seen as bad for the businesses liquidity however by looking at other aspects of the balance sheet this could change the view. Trade and other payables is a lot higher in 2009 and this could indicate they are securing more holidays for the coming year. This looks like a good sign as they will be likely to secure more customers and therefore receive more profit. On the other hand we can look at it as it has created extra liability for Thomas Cook and we have to ask what if Thomas Cook cannot secure the extra customers; this would mean they would lose money. The Acid test ratio has received the same results as the current ratio, this is because Thomas cook are not a production business and therefore do not have many stock as they offer more of a service. Only a tiny portion of their current assets are stock and therefore it will not have much effect on the acid test ratio. The suggested accepted ratio is 0.75:1 for this ratio as it takes the stock into consideration. We can see that Thomas Cook is very close to this ratio and therefore there are virtually no liquidity problems. However by looking at the 2008 ratio we notice the downward trend and this would be a bad trend to continue. Nevertheless we have identified the reasons for it and as a result we can understand the trend. Debtor Collection The debtor collection ratio looks at the management of debts and how well Thomas Cook covers their debts. Thomas Cook mainly receives debts from their customers as they offer holidays on trade credit. Thomas Cook has a policy where their customer has to pay six weeks prior to their departure. This settles any outstanding money that customer owe Thomas Cook. Problems can arise for example if a customer pay late it will be Thomas Cooks duty to chase they money back. If not Thomas Cook may decide to sell they holiday to someone else however this may be costly for them. To work out how many days it takes Thomas Cook to receive back their debts we use the debtor collect ratio and the formula is shown below: Debtors / turnover x 365 = no. of days 2009: 2008: 1240.1 / 9439 X 365 = 48days 600.6 / 7780 X 365 = 28days This shows a negative trend and Thomas Cook has to wait an extra 20days for them to receive their monies in 2009. It is good if Thomas Cook receives money as soon as possible as this can enable them to have cash ready in order to buy more holidays for future customers. On the other hand in 2008, we can see that they are receiving there money well before the six week period; this is good because they can receive cash sooner and therefore have more available for longer. However comparing this too 2009 we can see that it takes just over 6weeks for them to receive their debts back. Although the time period is only just over 6weeks this should not become a constant trend otherwise Thomas Cook will not have cash ready in time. Credit Payment Days The credit payment days looks at how long it takes Thomas Cook to pay back their creditors and this is any money that they owe. This is usually to the hoteliers and for the rooms and flights they have booked in advance. To work out how many days it takes Thomas Cook to pay their creditors we use the credit payment days ratio and the formula is show below: Trade creditors / turnover X 365 = no. of days 2009: 2008: 2046.1 / 9439 X 365 = 80days 1208.7 / 7780 X 365 = 57days These answers also shows us a deteriorated trend between 2008 and 2009, as in 2009 it takes Thomas cook 23 more days to pay back their debts. We can assume that Thomas Cook creditors gives a payment time period of 60days and in 2008 they have made this payment but in 2009 they have gone 20days over. By taking longer to pay back debts can be risky as the hoteliers may reduce their credit period as they may feel like Thomas Cook has taken liberties. They could also choose to take away their credit completely or even stop trading with them and trade with a competitor instead. This is unlikely to happen as Thomas Cook are a large company so they are a valued customer, but if the trend becomes regular then their creditors might decide otherwise. Although Thomas Cook are not paying on time this can work as an advantage for them. The sooner that customers pay Thomas Cook and the later Thomas Cook pays their creditors means that they will have ready cash for a longer period of time. If Thomas Cook can get away with a longer time period to pay back their creditors then it will ease their working capital as they will have more cash in hand for longer to put to use. Evaluation I am going to make a judgement on the working capital of Thomas Cook by looking at all the analysis. The current and acid test ratio demonstrates how liquid Thomas Cook is and how able it is to pay its short-term debts. The ratio revealed that there is declining trend in the figures between 2008 and 2009. It also showed that Thomas Cook do not have equal debts to assets which may mean future problems for Thomas Cook. The Debtors days ratio demonstrates how well Thomas cook gains back their debts in days. This also shows a negative trend as it took them longer in 2009 to receive back there monies. The Creditors day shows how well Thomas Cook pay their creditors and this ratio shows that Thomas Cook were taking longer to pay their creditors in 2009. The main negative trend that the majority of the ratios shows may raise concern for Thomas Cook especially when paying back short term debts as this should be easy for big companies to do. Also the fact that it takes Thomas Cook 80days to pay their creditors may be worrying; do they not have enough cash to pay them, or are the securing the financial inflows and therefore playing it safe? When analysing the financial position of Thomas Cook we always need to take into consideration what time of year the balance sheets are from. This can make a large change to the figures and outcomes of analysis especially because Thomas Cook is a seasonal business. During October Thomas Cook will be out of their peak stage therefore there balance sheets are likely to show some negatives. We can conclude that during this stage Thomas Cook may be waiting to book holidays for next year therefore they are saving up the cash in order to purchase them in the next few months. If we look at the balance sheet s during June or July we would see a big difference as ratios would look better as there would be a greater income into the business. The management of working capital of Thomas Cook is satisfactory from looking at the balance sheets; the business is not booming, however this is due to the seasonal nature of the business. By taking this into account we can believe Thomas Cook has no major financial problems which will affect the business. I feel however they can make improvements in resolving there negative trends shown by the debtors days ratio. They could do this by managing the inflows coming in and also working out a more agreeable period of payback to their creditors. Overall I think that Thomas Cook management of working capital is fairly good with consideration to the time period.

Write the benefit part of the issue Is It Time to Think Seriously Essay

Write the benefit part of the issue Is It Time to Think Seriously About Climate Engineering - Essay Example and Atlantic ice sheets which pose a great environmental danger to the ecosystem thus an alternative measure to curb this â€Å"long term effects† menace. Carbon levels and other heat trapping gases have been on the increase and to some extent surpassed the tipping point; as of May 2012, carbon dioxide had reached 396.18 parts per million in the atmosphere which is way over the 350 parts per million upper limit, a stable climate’s relative point. With earth’s atmosphere monitoring stations over the last two decades indicating an increase in annual carbon emissions by 41% mainly from the fossil fuel combustions, indicate that the carbon concentration has approximately been increasing with 2 million parts per million each year; with this trend, it might be more than twice of the pre-industrial levels by the end of century resulting to further ecosystem damages. Geo-engineering measures more so the suggested strategies of pumping 5million to 10 million tons of sulphur dioxide in to the stratosphere; where they cannot be washed away easily by rain, intended to form microscopic particle to shade the planet from direct radiation, advancing bio-technological research on the algae fertilization to enhance carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere and invention of an alternative to fossil fuels, will go an extra mile in combating the global warming menace. Despite these measures being faced by a couple of limitations such as lack of effective understanding of ecological problems, increasing the acidity of the oceans, ineffective measure of full implication tests and barriers from the economically benefiting segments and organizations/governments with interests in these biodegrading activities, extensive research more so on the geo-engineering to curb the radiation and carbon emissions. A further global warming of 1 degree centigrade defines a critical threshold with the earth creating more Venus like conditions characterized by unhealthy and unlivable conditions

Pan-Arabism and Pan-Islamism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pan-Arabism and Pan-Islamism - Essay Example eology that involves Islam as an integral part of the regulatory framework of the country (like laws) but they believe that the government needs to separate Islamic religious ideologies and bring more secular sorts of governments and therefore the Islamic teachings merely reflect as a symbol of culture and not integrated in country as a religious marker. Pan-Islamism involves the integration of Islamic states under one Caliphate or a united Islamic state or a European Union sort of international organization based on Islamic principles without taking into consideration the ethnicity while pan-Arabism only involves independence and unity of Arabs without considering religion. As a kind of religious nationalism, the ideology of Pan-Islamism distinguishes itself from rest of ideologies such as Pan-Arabism, by ruling out ethnicity and culture as principal components towards conjugation. Although both are political ideologies involving Arab nations, both have distinct targets. The Pan Arabism originated between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as the Arab nations of the Middle East acquired more education which in turn brought in a literary and cultural renaissance in the region. This imparted to political agitation and contributed to the independence of majority of Arab states from the European administrations during mid twentieth century and from the Ottoman Empire in 1918. On the other hand, the political movement of Pan-Islamism was started by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, in Turkey, during the end of nineteenth century with the intention to fight against the westernization process and to nurture the unification on the basis of Islamic principles. With the progression of colonialism, Pan-Islamism turned to be a defensive ideology that was directed against the European military, political, missionary and economic penetration. This ideology placed the Turkish sultan as a worldwide caliph and thus all Muslims were obliged to show commitment and obedience

World Literature Essay Example for Free

World Literature Essay Flaubert’s Madame Bovary was published to critical acclaim and public scandal during Second Empire France (1852–1870). Government censors cited the novel for offending public morality and religion, though prosecution and defense both acknowledged the artist’s achievement. Flaubert was tried and acquitted for a compelling portrait of his heroine’s unhappy marriage, adulterous love affairs, financial ruin, and suicide. The creation of a powerful and profoundly conflicted male imagination, Emma Rouault Bovary is a polarizing figure. She embodies yet challenges archetypal images of women (virgin/mother, madonna/whore, angel/siren) arising from male experience. She calls into question education, marriage, and motherhood, institutions that inculcate these dichotomous views of women. Thomas Manns Death in Venice opens, like Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, on the scene of Aschenbachs creative composure shattered by an unfamiliar nervous excitement. As Aschenbachs mind spins unproductively, we sense immediately that Venice itself will be ultimately just a picturesque exterior, the backdrop to a story whose cardinal events belong to a mental world– to what Mann called â€Å"reality as an operation of the psyche† (Mann 29). Thomas Mann has spared no allusion to suggest that the hero of the story resembles its author at least with regard to his literary production. Yet Aschenbach is said to have achieved in earnest the classical style befitting a conqueror of the abyss the very style which Flaubert parodies in telling the tragic story of Madame Bovarys disillusion and downfall. The societal scandal of Madame Bovary is as remote now as the asceticism of the spirit practiced by Flaubert and Mann, who seem almost self indulgent. Emma seems as boisterous as Aschenbach. With these heroes the novel enters the realm of inactivity, where the protagonists are bored, but the reader is not. Poor Emma, destroyed by usury rather than love, is so vital that her stupidities do not matter. A much more than average sensual woman, her capacity for life and love is what moves us to admire her, and even to love her, since like Flaubert himself we find ourselves in her. Why is Emma so unlucky? If it can go wrong, it will go wrong for her. Flaubert, like some of the ancients, believed there were no accidents. Ethos is the daimon, your character is your fate, and everything that happens to you starts by being you. Rereading, we suffer the anguish of beholding the phases that lead to Emmas self-destruction. That anguish multiplies despite Flauberts celebrated detachment, partly because of his uncanny skill at suggesting how many different consciousnesses invade and impinge upon any single consciousness, even one as commonplace as Emmas. Emmas I is an other, and so much the worse for the sensual apprehensiveness that finds it has become Emma. Whenever Emma is seen in purely sensuous terms, Flaubert speaks of her with a delicate, almost religious feeling, the way Mann speaks of Aschenbach. Flaubert punished himself harshly, in and through Emma, by grimly mixing in a poisonous order of provincial social reality, and an equally poisonous order of hallucinated play, Emmas fantasies of an ideal passion. The mixing in is cruel, formidable, and of unmatched aesthetic dignity. Emma has no Sublime, but the inverted Romantic vision of Flaubert persuades us that the strongest writing can represent ennui with a life-enhancing power. Flaubert despised realism and said so over and over throughout his life; he loved only the absolute purity of art. Madame Bovary has little to do with realism, and something to do with a prophecy of impressionism, but in a most refracted fashion. All of poor Emmas moments are at once drab and privileged. At moments of more overpowering sensuality there even emerges a â€Å"formula† for Emmas sensual intensities, a characteristic style of sensation which, as we know from Flauberts other works, wasnt invented for Emma alone but rather seems to be a basic formula for Flaubertian sensation in general. Sexuality in Flaubert is frequently expressed in terms of a rippling luminosity. â€Å"Here and there,† Flaubert writes as part of his description of Emmas first happy sexual experience (with Rodolphe in the forest near Yonville), â€Å"all around her, in the leaves and on the ground, patches of light were trembling, as if humming-birds, while in flight, had scattered their feathers† (Flaubert 56). Much later, as she lies alone in bed at night enjoying fantasies of running away with Rodolphe, Emma imagines a future in which â€Å"nothing specific stood out: the days, all of them magnificent, resembled one another like waves; and the vision [cela] swayed on the limitless horizon, harmonious, bluish, and bathed in sun† (Flaubert 94). A world heavy with sensual promise (and no longer blindingly illuminated by sexual intensities) is, in Flaubert, frequently a world of many reflected lights blurred by a mist tinged with color.

Red Chevy vs Spilled Salt :: essays research papers

Rape is a crime of violence and aggression that not only hurts a victim and the assailant for the moment, but it shatters their entire lives. Rape is defined by society as "any kind of unlawful sexual activity, usually sexual intercourse, carried out forcibly or under threat of injury and against the will of the victim." This definition has been redefined to cover same-sex attacks and attacks against those who are incapable of valid consent, including persons who are mentally ill, intoxicated, and drugged .Rape crimes affect all races, cultures, ages, and economical classes. In the chronicles of the "Red Chevy? and ?Spilled Salt, rape was the issue in both stories, though the two stories are tedious, ?Red Chevy? is better. In the sense that the two stories are alike, they fluctuate in points of view. The "Red Chevy uses first person and the victim tells the narrative. There is a use of the five senses in this narrative. In ?Spilled Salt?, the story is narrated partially by the rapist?s mother. Because the rapist?s mother narrated the tale, the imagery of this tale wasn?t intense. The stories dealt with the circumstances in different ways. In ?Spilled Salt? the mother runs away from her dilemma, she didn?t cope with it well. She had no understanding of why her son would do such a dishonor as rape. On the other hand, the victim in Red Chevy accepted the fact that she was raped, she tried to move on with her life, though she was confused about why it happened to her. The life after the situation was different in both stories .In ?Spilled Salt?, the rapist was full of pain because of his family. There was of stress brought down on him for that act of dishonor. In Red Chevy, the girl bought stress on herself. It was like she was in prison. She stated, ?I climbed into my bed for three days. I spent seventy-two hours staring at the ceiling and vomiting. When I finally emerged form my emotional coma, I could not eat or sleep." People cannot control life, the acts of others, nor death. Whether good or bad, things from rape to everyone getting alone happen.

Multiplication and Addition

If students see that addition and altercation is similar because In multiplication you simply repeat the Dalton problem several times then they will have an easier time learning to multiply numbers. A way in which students can relate Dalton and multiplication Is by teaching them and having them work on grouping. By grouping the students will need to draw circles for the first number that Is being multiplied and starts Inside the circles for the second number that Is being multiplied.For example In the student will need to draw 3 circles and then the student will need to draw 5 stars inside each circle. This way the student will be able to see that they are simply adding 5 three times. The commutative property states that the order in which you add or multiply two numbers does not affect the result. (ABA=baa) For example 3*5=5*3=15. A way that this property is connected to thinking strategies is by grouping. The teacher may have the students first draw 3 bubbles and 5 stars inside eac h bubble and then have them count the stars for the total of 15 stars.Then the teacher can have the students draw 5 bubbles and put 3 stars inside each bubble ND once they have done this the teacher can once again make the students count the stars and they will realize that it once again equaled 15 stars, signifying that the two ways came out with the same answer, teaching them the commutative property. The associative law states that when you add or multiply numbers, the grouping of the numbers does not affect the result ((ABA)c=a(BC). For example (2*6)3=2(6*3)=36. The associative property can be worked out by drawing it out and grouping together.For example for the (2*6)3=2(6*3) problem the students can draw 3 bubbles and raw 12 stars inside each bubble or draw out 2 bubbles and draw 18 stars inside each bubble, if the students count both of the different group of stars there will be 36 stars in each picture, therefore showing the students that the order In which the numbers are m ultiplied does not affect the outcome. The distributive law states that multiplying a number by a group of numbers added together Is the same as doing each multiplication separately. When the distributive property Is used you distribute a number to get the same answer. (b + c) = ABA + AC and (b + c)a = baa + ca) For example 2(3+4)= With the deliberate property the students can connect It to a thinking strategy Is by skip counting. For example In the problem 2(3+4) the students can either break the problem apart and do It separately or do It together, they can skip count by as 3 times and then by as 4 times and add the numbers or skip count by as 7 times, both will equal 14. One conceptual error that may be associated with addition and multiplication Is that students may rush themselves ND not look at the sign if it is addition or multiplication.One way to help the worksheet using highlighters. Once the worksheet is handed out to the students the teacher can ask the students to take out their highlighters and when they are working out each problem they must first highlight the sign, whether it is addition or multiplication, this way they will take their time and look at the sign to correctly answer the problem. A second misconception associated with multiplication is that the students may not correctly work out the distributive law.In a problem such as (2+4) they may forget that they must distribute the 3 to each number and instead do 3*2+4. A way to help the students not commit this error is to first hand them out a worksheet that they only need to write the next step they will take, such as 3(2+4)=3*2+3*4. A second way to help the students not commit this error is to have them draw an error from the number three to the number to and a second arrow from the number three to the number 4 for each problem, this way the students will remember that they must multiply the first number to each number inside the parenthesis first.

Exordium - Definition and Examples

In classical rhetoric, the introductory part of an argument in which a speaker or writer establishes credibility (ethos) and announces the subject and purpose of the discourse. Plural: exordia. Etymology: From the Latin, beginning Observations and Examples: Ancient rhetoricians gave elaborate advice for exordia, since rhetors use this first part of a discourse to establish their ethos as intelligent, reliable, and trustworthy people. Indeed, Quintilian wrote that the sole purpose of the exordium is to prepare our audience in such a way that they will be disposed to lend a ready ear to the rest of our speech (IV i 5). However, in Book II of the Rhetoric, Aristotle contended that the main purpose of the introduction was to make clear what is the end (telos) of the discourse (1515a). Other functions of introductions, according to Aristotle, include making the audience well disposed toward the rhetor and the issue and grabbing their attention.(S. Crowley and D. Hawhee, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, Pearson, 2004) Analysis of the Exordium of Dr. Kings I Have a Dream Speech The exordium [paragraphs 2-5] breaks down into two parts, both of which make a similar syllogistic argument while shifting its major premise. The syllogism takes the form of (a) America consists of a promise of freedom, (b) the Negro in America still is not free, therefore, (c) America has defaulted on its promise. The major premise of the first argument is that the Emancipation Proclamation constituted a promise of freedom for Afro-Americans. The major premise of the second argument is that the American Founding as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution constituted such a promise. In both cases, King argues, the promise has not be fulfilled.Kings exordium is essentially moderate. This is necessary because he must win the attention and trust of his audience before he can make his more militant plea. Having established his ethos, King is now ready for confrontation.(Nathan W. Schlueter, One Dream or Two? Lexington Books, 2002) Exordium of John Miltons Address to His Classmates (An Academic Exercise) The noblest masters of rhetoric have left behind them in various screeds a maxim which can hardly have escaped you, my academic friends, and which says that in every type of speech--demonstrative, deliberative, or judicial--the opening should be designed to win the goodwill of the audience. On those terms only can the minds of the auditors be made responsive and the cause that the speaker has at heart be won. If this be true (and--not to disguise the truth--I know that it is a principle established by the vote of the entire learned world), how unlucky I am! What a plight I am in today! In the very first words of my speech, I am afraid that I am going to say something unbecoming to a speaker, and that I shall be obliged to neglect the first and most important duty of an orator. And in fact, what good will can I expect from you when in as great an assembly as this I recognize almost every face within eyeshot as unfriendly to me? I seem to have come to play an orators part before an utt erly unsympathetic audience.(John Milton, Whether Day or Night Is the More Excellent. Prolusions, 1674. Complete Poems and Major Prose, ed. by Merritt Y. Hughes. Prentice Hall, 1957) Cicero on the Exordium The exordium ought always to be accurate and judicious, replete with matter, appropriate in expression, and strictly adapted to the cause. For the commencement, constituting the introduction and recommendation of the subject, should tend immediately to mollify the hearer and conciliate his favor. . . .Every exordium ought either to have reference to the entire subject under consideration, or to form an introduction and support, or a graceful and ornamental approach to it, bearing, however, the same architectural proportion to the speech as the vestibule and avenue to the edifice and temple to which they lead. In trifling and unimportant causes, therefore, it is often better to commence with a simple statement without any preamble. . . .Let the exordium also be so connected with the succeeding parts of the discourse that it may not appear artificially attached, like the prelude of the musician, but a coherent member of the same body. It is the practice of some speakers, after having p ut forth a most elaborately finished exordium, to make such a transition to what follows, that they seem solely intent upon drawing attention to themselves.(Cicero, De Oratore, 55 BC) Pronunciation: egg-ZOR-dee-yum Also Known As: entrance, prooemium, prooimion