Our dining tables: Our duties, demeanor and responsibilities
Vaatupura A. Jayaprakash

Food and family life go together in all cultures. Down the ages generations have evolved themselves more out of their own food cultures than out of anything else. Their eating habits have inscribed in them indelible marks of social values, duties and responsibilities which got incessantly promoted at their dining circles. It has been so until recently.

Lately, there developed a great attitudinal shift in this connection, and present generation has evolved a new food culture. This new attitude has started costing our social and family values dearly, and the most visible impacts of this crazy consumption psychosis is not just the medical uncertainty we find at our five star hospitals but it is the abysmal character and behavioural disorders we find in our new generation.

Our dining times of lore have silently given way to eating sprees at food courts and junk joints. We carry home alien dishes; we hangout and savour sandwiches, French fries, McDonalds, KFCs, pizzas and suck up those aerated cokes and colas. Coupled with these are our 24/7 working environment which leaves precious little to be expected of our new generation. They are what they wolf down. Junk.

Since our society is not so generous to accommodate a junk culture for long, it is time we looked at the finer side of this change in food habits and its impact on our character and behaviour. How we prepare our food, the way we eat that food, the times we eat it and who we eat that food with etc. have got much more to offer us by way of behaviour and character. This is a very rare process through which individuals get groomed themselves up to the expectations of the family and society they belong to. See how that grooming exercise works:

· A full-fledged kitchen is the laboratory that records and maintains the health indices of a given family.
· All the ingredients that go into the making of a traditional dish are components of a course of medicine.
· The hands, along with the mind and its mood, that prepare the dish leave a rare taste to it, and it is unique for every kitchen and the family it belongs to.
· It is not the quantity that matters when we eat at our family diner, rather it’s the quality with a tinge of love and likes that matters.
· Father, mother, sister, brother, some elders, like grandparents or relatives, together with a few occasional guests would make every dining an exclusive experience.
· When we eat food like this three times a day fairly unfailingly for quite sometime, we not only follow a balanced diet, but also we imbibe in our children a great sense of belonging, sharing, understanding, and above all a deeper sense of character and behaviour peculiar to our family and the culture.

It is, I repeat, it is this sense or the sensibility that we lose out when we go for an alien food culture. Besides the medical calamities our new generation comes to hit at eventually, we are losing out on our own ‘foodholds’ which have been evolved out of centuries. One day it would go extinct, and the coming generation would have to depend solely on a foreign food culture. Naturally, the new generation will come to have a character and behavioural order alien to our native culture and family values, contrary to our duties and responsibilities.

If ever we could identify a single human activity that has caused abysmal fall in social, family, personal duties and responsibilities, it is this: our fast disappearing family dining experience. Therefore, there is urgent need for reinventing our ethnic food culture so as to expect our new generation to be showing better signs of behaviour and character and respect for values that are indigenous to our make and of course our demeanor.

An exercise/sport you like

Swimming
· Swimming is probably the closest one can to be the perfect exercise.
· The buoyancy of water protects the joints of the body from exertion.
· The cushioning that the water provides makes swimming a special and safe sport.
· It tones our entire body while providing an excellent cardio vascular workout.
· It strengthens ones heart muscles and also improves delivery of oxygen to muscles.
· It is suitable for all age groups, whether one is nine years or ninety years.
· So, it is right to say one is not too young or too old to swim.
· And when it comes to expense, we can say swimming is the cheapest means of getting exercise.

End of the text. 115 words


An exercise/sport you like

Tennis
1. Tennis is of course an excellent sport, and it is getting popular even in rural areas.
2. Recreations tennis improves over all stamina, speed and strength.
3. It also enhances generally body coordination and agility because it demands change of body positioning to hit the ball.
4. And we need to change of direction very abruptly during play.
5. The sport employs nearly every muscle group,
6. Particularly those of the arms and legs get the best of movements.
7. It increases flexibility because so many moves especially the serve, require a full range of motion.
8. Something special about this sport is that it gives us company
9. And the every time there is a will to outperform our companion.
End of the text. 115 words


An exercise/sport you like

Cycling
· It is probably the most convenient and interesting sport activity available in our countryside.
· Especially when it is recreational, cycling is the best.
· It is a low impact exercise, especially appropriate for people who are unable to do weigh exercise.
· It is a non-weight bearing sport.
· The weight of the cyclist is borne by the saddle.
· It is essential that one should select a bike suited to one’s needs. What is required is this:
· Set the saddle to the correct position,
· Sit on the saddle and place the pedal on the lowest position.
· When we put our heel on the pedal, the knee need to come slightly bent.
· That is what one needs to do to get the best of cycling.
· It is only when the cyclist and the body are in harmony with each other that optimum performance can be achieved.

End of the text. 115 words

Introductions to seven questions.

Onto writing a paragraph on your own: www.jpsukham.blogspot.comNo less than 40 words: Time 60 Mns.

1. Investing in children is the best thing a state can do to its future. Comment on it.

When it comes to nation building, investing in children is the wisest thing a state can do to itself because children are the future resource or asset of a nation, and intelligent and healthy children will take a nation to new heights. 40 words

2. All medial professionals need to be required to work in rural areas for a certain period of time before they are allowed to take up any foreign assignment. Do you agree with this?

Making of a medical professional involves huge investments. But many professionals leave the country right after their studies. This needs to be discouraged. So it is good to make it mandatory that they serve the poor for some years before they go abroad. 42 words

3. All tourism destinations need to be held and run by the state. What is your opinion on this?

It is a fact that tourism is a huge industry and a revenue earner too. They are diverse and mostly run by private individuals. And running all these different tourism destinations cannot be done by the state because it involves huge investments and infrastructure. 43 words

4. If farm sector is not given as much importance as what is given to industries, a nation cannot achieve progress. Do you agree with this?

Progress of a nation is determined by many factors both big and small. Most important ones are farming and industries. Actually, these two are equally important because, without farming and ensuring food security, no country can achieve any industrial progress. 41 words

5. As ensuring water security to the state is the job of the state, all water reserves need to be controlled by the state. Comment on it.

It is a good idea for the state to control all the water reserves because water is precious. It is becoming scarcer, and misuse is the main reason for this. So if the state could control water reserves, water crisis could be solved to some extent. 45 words

6. Children undergo great stress before and after their exams. What are the causes and effects?

Exams have always scared children, and they suffer a great deal of stress before and after their exams. This is increasing day by day, and there are so many factors leading to this, and the effects of this stress are many. 40 words

7. Children undergo great stress before and after their exams and it is stress much higher today compared to the past. Why? Suggest your own ways to de-stress students.

Stress and strain before and after exam is not something new. But compared to the past, children today are exposed to greater stresses. It is mainly due to rising competition. There are so many ways to bust these stresses; like communication and counseling. 41 wordsStudy the above introductory paragraphs and see for yourself how plainly the topic is introduced and how comfortably you are taking the reader to the following paragraphs.

Write in your own way. Do not spend too much time on this. It all takes only 10 minutes. Once the introduction is done, the rest will follow if you have a skeleton of the essay prepared by storming your brain quickly. Good luck. A jaypeedoc. 20/11/09. Storming. www.jpsukham.blogspot.com

Spending on leisure is on the rise over the years, and this tendency has made leisure into a big industry involving huge investments.·

What are the cause and effects of this change?

Intro:1. One of the ingredients of happy life
2. Leisure makes life worth living
3. Life without leisure is unimaginable
4. Balanced life involves many things
5. Leisure is the spice of life.

Causes:·
Fast paced life leaves no room for leisure·
Time is calculated in terms of money·
Availability of tech-supported leisure·
Private participation in leisure·
Leisure got redefined into spending·
Nuclear family is popular

Effects:
1. Industrialization spoils peace
2. Traditional ones will go extinct
3. Leisure sans any involvement
4. Ignores the very purpose
5. Pressure on the environment
6. Makes man a tool, machine a master.

Concl:· It is good to enjoy the new ones·
Ignoring the native leisure options is no good·
Leisure has role. It is not mere free time.·
Industrialization may spoil its very purpose·
Leisure needs to be involving and enlivening

Visit. jpsukham.blogspot.com for more essay skeletons and model answers.

NOTE: It’s not the size and strength of the points that decide on your score, but it is your sense of language and presentation skills. Concentrate on your language. Every essay is a platform for you to perform in English. Let the examiner know that you know English.
Posted by jay at 5:45 AM 0 comments
Labels: Leisure spending on the rise. causes and effects. IELTS essay frame

Some people believe that luck is something that favours a select few people, while others are of the opinion that it is the result of sheer hard work.

How do you look at these two viewpoints? Prove your points with examples
jaypees.doc.www.jpsukham.blogspot.com

Though luck makes great differences in the lives of some people, there are differing views on whether luck is something that favours a few or it is the outcome of hard-work. An objective analysis may reveal that it is hard work that makes even the luckiest stay so all through his or her life. 45 words

It is obvious that luck favours some in the form of opportunities, unexpected wealth, birth right or providence. Some people are lucky by birth, some get lucky when they make use of the opportunities rightly, and there are some who happen to be lucky by winning some raffles or lotteries. In all the cases, being merely lucky is not enough to be successful all through one’s life. For example, if a poor man, who happens to get a million dollar lottery, is not able to manage that fortune effectively, he will end up nowhere and he may even become poorer than what he was. 90 words

On the other hand, there are innumerable examples to prove that some people are lucky just because of their grit, determination and hard-work. What makes them lucky is nothing but their being able to identify the hidden fire in them. Once it is identified, they would do everything possible to foster it and get the best out of it. For example, our former President A.P.J Abdul Kalam had a very humble beginning. But he was able to identify the scientist in him in his very early age itself. He kept on chasing that dream through great difficulties. He later proved himself to be not only lucky but world-famous as well. Had he not been working harder, would he have ever been lucky or popular? No. 100 words

So, looking at both the angles, it is right to conclude that luck is something that needs to be identified rightly and pursued relentlessly through hard work. Of course, there may be stray instances in which one may remain lucky with no reason at all. But real luck hardly favours whose who are not hard-working. 45 words

280 words.
jaypees.

Some are of the opinion that art and literature are supposed to fight against the ills and evils of the society, whereas some others say, art and literature are personal expressions meant for entertaining the people.

• How do you look at these two view points?

It has always been a controversy whether art and literature have some social role, or they are for their sake only. I feel that art and literature have a social role to play by criticizing the evils and bad practices of the society. This can be done in an entertaining way too. 45

When it comes to their responsibility of fighting against the evils of the society, it is right to look at the history of the world. We can cite innumerable examples to prove that art and literature have been instrumental to initiating changes and remedying social evils. For example, Indian freedom struggle was a success because the thinkers, artists and writers of those times had been able to project the evils of aggression, and people were able to respond to the calls of the freedom fighters by way of messages carried across the society via art and literature. 90

However, there is no denying the fact that art and literature are personal expressions. It is true that people go creative, and produce arts and literatures in order to express their feelings and thoughts. These feelings and thoughts have some social relevance and all their contributions naturally reflect the society they live in. The cartoons of R.K Lexman, the renowned Indian cartoonist, are typical examples. He has been able to express his feelings and fears he had of his society through his hilarious cartoon strips. However, there are some personal creations like music, dance etc, and they be viewed as something just to entertain people. 90

To conclude it, it is right to say that art and literature have always been powerful enough to make changes in the society and they have helped eradicate several social evils. It goes without saying that some of them are just for entertaining people. 40

265 words
Jaypees.doc. exam-going. 16/11/09

Multiple questions.
How do you know that? Did you know that?
How did you do it? Didn’t you do it?
How do they arrange the party? Did they arrange?
How did the students reach in time? Didn’t the students?
How could he operate the computer? Couldn’t he?

Why are you late? Aren’t you late?
Why do they want me to do it? Don’t they want me to?
Why are they coming here? Aren’t they coming?
Why did the driver stop the bus? Didn’t the driver stop?
Why do children dislike your class? Don’t children?

When are you going to Madras? Aren’t you?
When will you go to Madras? Won’t you go?
When can you complete this work? Can’t you complete?
When do they plan to return home? Don’t they plan to?
When do the politicians understand the poor? Don’t the poli

Where are they staying? Aren’t they ?
Where are you planning to settle down? Aren’t you planning to?
Where is the chief guest staying? Isn’t the chief?
Where can you find this much corruption? Can’t you find?
Where will you deposit this money? Won’t you deposit?


Who is he, the man next to the chief guest? Isn’t he the man?
Who are they, the boys in the front row? Aren’t they the?
Who are you waiting for? (somebody) Aren’t you waiting?
Who is there (anyone) in my office? Isn’t there any?
Who are they (students)playing cricket? Aren’t they playing?


First read the questions and understand the word order and meaning.
Then remove the interrogatives like when, where etc. and read the questions and understand the word order and meaning?

Multiple questions are easy to ask and it is a two way process that helps you learn more questions. More questions mean more conversation. You might remember. Good luck


Asking and answering is what conversation is all about.

1 Why don’t you do it?
2 Why can’t you do it?
3 Why won’t you do it?
4 Did you do that?
6 Didn’t you do that?
7 Does he do it? Did you do it?
8 Can you do it?
9 Can’t you do it?
10 Could you do it?
11 Couldn’t you do it?
12 Could you have done it?
13 Couldn’t you have done it?
14 Why can’t I do that?
15 Will you be doing it?
16 Won’t you be going there?
17 Will they be accepting your offer?
18 Should I do it? Shouldn’t I do it?
19 Would you accept this job offer?
20 Would you have accepted it, if they gave you Rs.10,000/-?
21 Wouldn’t you have accepted the offer, if they made it before?
22 Couldn’t you have been a doctor, if you had selected medicine? 23 Wouldn’t your father have retired this year, if he lived?
24 Wouldn’t the teachers have been working till 4, if there were no strike?
25 Wouldn’t you have worked yesterday, if there were no hartal?
26 Is it a matter of pride? Does it rain now?
27 Isn’t it a matter of pride? Is this bus going to TVM?
28 Was that an accident? Wasn’t it an accident?
29 Are they worried about you? Were you on your way home?
30 Aren’t your parents worried about you?
31 Were the students in the hall? Were marchers pelting stones at?
32 Weren’t they appearing for exams?
33 Weren’t the police at the site? Were they watching all?
34 Were the police at the site?
35 Has he got a car? Has it got an AC built-in?
36 Have we got anything more to do? How will you react if you win?
37 Haven’t they reported yet? Have we been asked to stay here?
38 Has he reported now? Will they be giving you 30 days’ leave?
38 Have they been asked to return today?
40 Haven’t they been asked to collect it?
41 Had he been in Madras before he went to Bombay?
42 Had the ministers been in the Gulf before they visited Washington DC? What the hell are they going to do in DC?
43 Has he got enough money in his account?
44 Has the bank got enough funds for today?
45 Has the locker got a number lock?
46 May I use your car? When will you get back?
47 Might they be reporting today?

Heritage tourism: what it is?

Cultural heritage tourism (or just heritage tourism) is a branch of tourism oriented towards the cultural heritage of the location where tourism is occurring.

Culture has always been a major object of travel, as the development of the Grand Tour from the 16th century onwards attests. In the 20th century, some people have claimed, culture ceased to be the objective of tourism: tourism is now culture. Cultural attractions play an important role in tourism at all levels, from the global highlights of world culture to attractions that underpin local identities. Culture, heritage and the arts have long contributed to appeal of tourist destination. However, in recent years ‘culture’ has been rediscovered as an important marketing tool to attract those travellers with special interests in heritage and arts.

Heritage tourism is the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry because there is a trend toward an increase specialization among tourists. This trend is evident in the rise in the volume of tourists who seek adventure, culture, history, archaeology and interaction with local people.

Heritage tourism is important for various reasons; it has a positive economic and social impact, it establishes and reinforces identity, it helps preserve the cultural heritage, with culture as an instrument it facilitates harmony and understanding among people, it supports culture and helps renew tourism. Cultural heritage tourism has a number of objectives that must be met within the context of sustainable development such as; the conservation of cultural resources, accurate interpretation of resources, authentic visitors experience, and the stimulation of the earned revenues of cultural resources. We can see, therefore, that cultural heritage tourism is not only concerned with identification, management and protection of the heritage values but it must also be involved in understanding the impact of tourism on communities and regions, achieving economic and social benefits, providing financial resources for protection, as well as marketing and promotion.

Heritage tourism involves visiting historical or industrial sites that may include old canals, railways, battlegrounds, etc. The overall purpose is to gain an appreciation of the past. It also refers to the marketing of a location to members of a diaspora who have distant family roots there.

Decolonization and immigration form the major background of much contemporary heritage tourism. Falling travel costs have also made heritage tourism possible for more people.

Another possible form involves religious travel or pilgrimages. Many Catholics from around the world come to the Vatican and other sites such as Lourdes or Fátima. Large numbers of Jews have both visited Israel and emigrated there. Many have also gone to Holocaust sites and memorials. Islam commands its followers to take the hajj to Mecca, thus differentiating it somewhat from tourism in the usual sense, though the trip can also be a culturally important event for the pilgrim.

Heritage Tourism can also be attributed to historical events that have been dramatised to make them more entertaining. For example a historical tour of a town or city using a theme such as ghosts or vikings.

Answer the following questions:
1. Define heritage tourism?
2. Why is it becoming a fastest growing segement of tourism?
3. Why is it becoming very popular today than it was in the past?
4. What all things come under heritage tourism?
5. Why do more and more people go for this tourism now?
6. Cultural heritage tourism is mainly concerned with two things. What are they?

Write no more than 150 words about heritage tourism possibilitiies in your country?

Corporate crimes - crimes, both financial and material, committed by corporate houses to augment their profit or enhance their market value - are found to be fleecing huge amounts off unsuspecting consumers, and most of the time these crimes do not get the attention they deserve.

• Why are corporate crimes rampant, and why do they not get due attention?
• Suggest a few ways to minimize these crimes.

Jaypee. 9 pm. 11.11.09


Advertising as a marketing exercise is found to be exploiting all possible means to lure customers to new products and services. One such ploy is to exaggerate the merits of a service or product. However, advertising serves us in many ways.

• What advantages does advertising as a means of information offer consumers in general?
• What are the disadvantages consumers suffer when facts and figures are exaggerated?

jaypees







Many celebrities - from politicians to films stars - are found to be promoting their children in their own fields, and ensuring that they are also in the limelight. Some say that it is their right to promote their children in their own fields. But there is yet another view that fame and name are to be earned out of one’s merit and difference.

• How justifiable is the right to make one tread his or her parents’ paths?
• How far can you endorse the latter statement?

jaypee. 9 pm. 11.11.09

Celebrations: The social science behind them
By. jaypee

What is the social science behind celebrations? Have we ever thought of how would our life be like without celebrations? Has anyone ever had the inclination to wholeheartedly participate in a particular celebration which is not his/her celebration? What purpose does a celebration serve when it is celebrated in isolation? And finally, if celebration is an occasion for better human well being, cannot all celebrations be participated by all? It is the last question I would like to answer in a social-scientific perspective. I think this line of thinking has got some relevance in today’s world of individual, polarized and nuclear celebrations?

What is a celebration?
It is an event that marks a special occasion. This may happen in a person’s life, family, school, community, society or the whole country!
They may include birthdays, presentation day, the opening of a new building in the community, or those days the whole nation celebrates - when our victorious cricket team is welcomed home.
Strengths of celebrations
If we look at the greater strengths every individual society enjoys in these days of polarized world of individual successes, we can see that celebrations down the ages, celebrations pertaining to individuals, families, societies, communities and nations, have contributed greatly to strengthening their social fabrics. This contribution is a kind of input to integration, and this is meticulously being done by people of all ages without knowing the very fact that they are doing something that cannot be equated in terms of any cache of money human exchequer could hold. So we are societies unique and at the same time different in our own ways.
‘In social science parlance, celebrations are periodic reinforcements that every society and individual needs to have for their own better subsistence in the constantly changing social orders of all times’. These celebrations themselves may take up changes, but the changes they take up due to their being subject to changes in attitudes, influences and other socio economic forces have a rare quality of adjusting themselves with the society they represent. This ubiquitous nature of celebrations makes people of all times absorb the changes as they are, and the days that follow coolly accept the fact that a particular celebration has taken up a ‘timely’ change in its form. What form we make it to have today is its ‘societal actual’ form, because it is not the form that keeps the social fabrics strengthened, rather it is the state of mind that celebration brings in to the minds of the people that does the miracle.
Weakness of celebrations
Do celebrations have some weaknesses? Or are they able to make some kind of weakening in the social, personal and cultural order of an established society? Social scientists say these celebrations are as constructive and strengthening as they are destructive and weakening. How does it happen? It is hard to believe that celebrations have done many damages to the society. These events are free times, and people do have a tendency to take everything for granted when this or that not-socially-acceptable activity is carried out during a celebration.
People conveniently cut it into what they call, it-is-not-everyday-we-get-to- do this or that. But in real terms, the licensing spree a celebration puts in the minds of the growing generation gets rooted deep as they grow up. And celebrations recur every year. When there is regularity for something, there is room for more possibilities. Possibilities portent practices. And when it comes to practices, it is worth remembering that unless they are good, they are worst. No celebration should be allowed to extend venues to pick up practices that disrupt the fabric of the society. Celebrations are for cementing healthy social activities; healthy social coexistence of people beyond borders set by religions, faiths and the so-called philosophies.
jaypeesarefire@gmail.com

Virtual words

Believe me, never ever are you going to find a language learning section like this one anywhere in the world of language learning books. The section named Virtual Words is going to fascinate you for sure. Many a times you would say, “yea, it is true, I have been aware of these words for long, but never did I know that they could have been this helpful when it comes to speaking”.

This is my finding that those who speak English better use these words to make their language convincing, clear and impressive. These words are used in all forms and tenses, but when it comes to their lexical forms, they are all the more useful. You will find these words getting into your language very often. But you would have had many occasions in your spoken language learning experience in which you wanted to be expressive in speech but failed to be so and you compromised your thoughts with alternative expressions.

There are ten such select words to help you out in such situations. They are simple and friendly without many linguistic complications. They are as common as find and keep. They are as common as get and look. They are as common as turn and run. And they are as common as seem, make, go and appear.

Let me make it clear here leaving no room for suspense anymore.

They are

o Find and keep
o Get and look
o Turn and run
o Run and appear
o Go and make
These ten ubiquitous words will help you really greatly because they are such flexible words that you would find scores of usages and applications for them in their corresponding slots in the dictionary. The point I would like to make you understand is this; these words are there virtually everywhere in your language.
No more discussion on these words. We are going to see them expressed. You have to study them. Along with that I request you to look for these words when you talk and listen to people. When you read English, keep an eye for these words.

1. Find and keep
2. Get and look
3. Turn and run
4. Run and appear
5. Go and make

Find and keep

1. Find something for me to survive on.
2. Did you find him last week?
3. Finding it difficult, he left his job.
4. Doctors are trying to find a cure for this.
5. I don’t find any reason in it.
6. How do you find India?
7. In the beginning you may find it hard.
8. Government’s funds find their way to wrong hands.
9. We have to find a lot of money for this.
10. Suddenly, I found myself lost.
11. He has found himself like this many times.
12. You will find yourself asking a lot of questions.
13. It is easy to find fault with others.
14. If you want to exist, find your voice and let it be heard.
15. Will you please find me something to write with?
16. Where do you find this much unemployment?
17. How can they find it out?
18. Is it a very big archeological find?
19. They have got many such finds in their museum.
20. How are you going to find it?

Though a good number of sentences above take the word find in almost-same manner, on close observation, you will understand that they all have their own finer and tender difference in meaning or sound of echo.

Combinations in conversation: Try to use these combinations to put in your ideas into english


A logical grouping of English words that help us create a complete idea.

Can cannot
Can be cannot be
Could could not
Could be could not be
Could have could not have
Could have been could not have been

May may not
May be (maybe) may not be
Might might not
Might be might not be
Might have might not have
Might have been might not have been

Should should not
Should be should not be
Should have should not have
Should have been should not have been

Must must not
Must be must not be
Must have must not have
Must have been must not have been

Will/would would not
Will/would be won’t be
Would have would not have
Would have been would not have been

Is am are was were be been
The Manger is /an Indian/ young/ Mr. Joseph/ tall/my friend/his relative/retiring this month/ efficient/angry/happy/above 55/ below 35 years/ promoted/dismissed/on leave/ one Mr. Tom.

The guests are/were from Bombay/England/friendly/angry/checking out today/Manages of a company/ on their annual vacation/ above 40 years/below 50 years/ at the front office/visitors launch etc. and the negatives.

I will be 25 next month/late/a manager within 2 years/in Bombay, the UK tomorrow/ calling you/meeting your manager/ sleeping then/ leaving at 5/ promoted/ dismissed/ questioned/over.

They (plural) have been/our guests for long/ friendly/cooperative/staying here for long/angry/a great company throughout their (his) stay/asked to check out before 7/to this place many times before.. He she, it (singular) has/had been….
A jpanicker.doc