Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Superlative Forms of Modifiers - Definition and Examples

Superlative Forms of Modifiers s The superlative is the form or degree of an adjective or adverb that indicates the most or the least of something. Superlatives are either marked by the suffix -est  (as in the fastest bike) or identified by the word most or least (the most difficult job). Almost all  one-syllable  adjectives, along with some two-syllable adjectives, add -est  to the base to form the superlative.  In most adjectives of two or more  syllables, the superlative is identified by the word  most or least.  Not all adjectives and adverbs have superlative forms. After a superlative, in or of a noun phrase can be used to indicate what is being compared (as in the tallest building in the world and the best time of my life). Exercises and Quizzes Exercise in Using the Comparative and Superlative Forms of AdjectivesPractice in Forming the Comparative and Superlative Degrees of Adverbs Examples and Observations This is the saddest story I have ever heard.(Ford Maddox Ford, The Good Soldier, 1915)The [New York City] subway is a gift to any connoisseur of superlatives. It has the longest rides of any subway in the world, the biggest stations, the fastest trains, the most track, the most passengers, the most police officers. It also has the filthiest trains, the most bizarre graffiti, the noisiest wheels, the craziest passengers, the wildest crimes.(Paul Theroux, Subterranean Gothic. Granta, 1984)[O]f all forms of tyranny, the least attractive and most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth.(Theodore Roosevelt,  Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, 1913)Bart Simpson: This is the worst day of my life.Homer Simpson: The worst day of your life so far.(The Simpsons Movie, 2007)In one second, without any previous training or upbringing, he had become the wettest man in Worcestershire.​​  (P.G. Wodehouse, Very Good, Jeeves, 1930)I responded in what I thought was the most truthfulor least untruthfulmanner, by saying no.(James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, explaining why he told Congress in March 2013 that the National Security Agency doesnt intentionally collect data on millions of Americans) To the man who loves art for its own sake, it is frequently in its least important and lowliest manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived.(Arthur Conan Doyle)[T]he newspaper business, despite its many flaws, managed to do a lot of good. And it employed, in its newsrooms, the smartest, hardest-working, funniest, quirkiest, most cynical and at the same time idealistic group of borderline insane people Ive ever known.(Dave Barry, Ill Mature When Im Dead. Berkley, 2010)It is turning out to be the most beautiful, most quiet, largest, most generous, sky-vaulted summer Ive ever seen or knowninordinately blue, with greener leaves and taller trees than I can remember, and the sound of the lawnmowers all over this valley is a sound I could hum to forever. (Nicholson Baker, The Anthologist. Simon Schuster, 2009)The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.  (William James) Double Comparatives and Superlatives Speakers of vernacular dialects often use double comparatives and superlatives such as more higher and most fastest. Although such constructions may seem redundant or even illogical, in reality both standard and nonstandard varieties of all languages are replete with such constructions. In English the redundant comparative dates back to the 1500s. Prior to this, in Old and Middle English, suffixes, rather than a preceding more or most, almost always marked the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs, regardless of word length. In the Early Modern English period . . . [double markings were commonly used to indicate special emphasis, and they do not appear to have been socially disfavored.​  (comparative, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., 2000) Unusual Superlatives Make sure your gathering is the meatiest, cheesiest, feastiest ever with our platters, cold subs, salads, snacks, and desserts.  (Firehouse Subs, Savannah, Georgia)- Another of Springfield’s belovedest citizens has been murdered.  (Kent Brockman in The Simpsons) Pronunciation: soo-PUR-luh-tiv

Monday, March 2, 2020

VB.NET Solution and Project Files sln and vbproj

VB.NET Solution and Project Files 'sln' and 'vbproj' The whole topic of projects, solutions, and the files and tools that control them is something that is seldom explained. Throwing Food One of the big advantages of the way Microsoft has designed solutions and projects is that a project or solution is self-contained. A solution directory and its contents can be moved, copied, or deleted in Windows Explorer. A whole team of programmers can share one solution (.sln) file; a whole set of projects can be part of the same solution, and the settings and options in that .sln file can apply to all of the projects in it. Only one solution can be open at one time in Visual Studio, but a lot of projects can be in that solution. The projects can even be in different languages. You can get a better understanding of just what a solution is by creating a few and looking at the result. A Blank solution results in a single folder with just two files: the solution container and the solution user options. If you use the default name, youll see: Add Privacy The main reason you can create a blank solution is to allow project files to be created independently and included in the solution. In large, complex systems, in addition to being part of several solutions, projects can even be nested in hierarchies. The solution container file, interestingly, is one of the few text configuration files that isnt in XML. A blank solution contains these statements: It might as well be XML... its organized just like XML but without the XML syntax. Since this is just a text file, its possible to edit it in a text editor like Notepad. For example, you can change HideSolutionNode FALSE to TRUE and solution wont be shown in Solution Explorer anymore. (The name in Visual Studio changes to Project Explorer too.) Its fine to experiment with things like this as long as youre working on a strictly experimental project. You should never change configuration files manually for a real system unless you know exactly what youre doing, but its fairly common in advanced environments to update the .sln file directly rather than through Visual Studio. The .suo file is hidden and its a binary file so it cant be edited like the .sln file. You will normally only change this file using the menu options in Visual Studio. Moving up in complexity, check out a Windows Forms Application. Even though this might be the most elementary application, there are a lot more files. In addition to a .sln file, the Windows Forms Application template also automatically creates a .vbproj file. Although the .sln and .vbproj files often useful, you might notice that theyre not shown in the Visual Studio Solution Explorer window, even with the Show All Files button clicked. If you need to work with these files directly, you have to do it outside of Visual Studio. Not all applications need a .vbproj file. For example, if you select New Web Site in Visual Studio, no .vbproj file will be created. Open the top level folder in Windows for the Windows Forms Application and youll see the four files that Visual Studio doesnt show. ssuming the default name again, they are: The .sln and the .vbproj files can be useful for debugging difficult problems. Theres no harm in looking at them and these files tell you what is really going on in your code. As we have seen, you can also edit .sln and .vbproj files directly although its usually a bad idea unless there is no other way to do what you need. But sometimes, there is no other way. For example, if your computer is running in 64-bit mode, there isnt a way to target a 32-bit CPU in VB.NET Express, for example, to be compatible with the 32-bit Access Jet database engine. (Visual Studio provides a way in the other versions), but you can add the following: To the elementspropertygroup.. .:l in the .vbproj files to get the job done. Both the .sln and .vbproj file types are normally associated with Visual Studio in Windows. That means that if you double-click either of them, Visual Studio opens. If you double-click a solution, the projects in the .sln file are opened. If you double-click a .vbproj file and there is no .sln file (this happens if you add a new project to an existing solution) then one is created for that project.