The Future of Quebec Province or Nation essays

The Future of Quebec Province or Nation essays The idea of any separation movement is an emotional one, and the secession movement by the Canadian province of Quebec is no exception. Quebec is a primarily French-speaking province of 7 million that has been frustrated with being part of the primarily Anglo Canada. It has held two independence referendums and in 1995 nearly voted to officially split from Canada. It is an emotional issue for both nationalists and separatists. It hurts both sides to know that they each see the nation differently. Nationalists see a Canada that includes Quebec; a province whose differences the Canadian government has respected ever since Quebec was gained from France by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. For separatists, the nation is Quebec, and only Quebec. They feel culturally isolated and wish to be politically isolated as well. For separatists, secession is a matter of pride. This is a province whose peoples pride and culture has felt threatened since the eighteenth century, when at the end of the Seven Years War the people of Quebec were handed over by France to Britain, as if they were property to be owned and traded. Although the people were not mistreated or oppressed by Britain, it was a bitter feeling then and remains so today. The provinces sad motto is Je me souviens which means I remember, and it appears on every Quebec license plate and is inscribed in flowers in Quebec City. It refers to a popular poem in which the author remembers being born happy under France, and raised unhappy under Great Britain. Still, is this unhappiness so deep, is the separation felt so strongly that the province needs to be even more separate? Why exactly do Quebecois feel threatened? One of their deepest complaints has to do with the protection of their language, the French language. It seems that from as far back as 1763 both the French and the English have been waiting for the other side to assimilat ...

Getting to grips with using that and which - Emphasis

Getting to grips with using that and which Getting to grips with using that and which That and which can sometimes be used interchangeably. But it’s not always correct to do so. The general rule is: use ‘that’ to define and use ‘which’ to inform or add information. Defining These are the spending cuts that the Board agreed. Here, the spending cuts in question are defined and limited to being the ones agreed to by the Board (as opposed to any others that might be enforced). It is actually not wrong to substitute ‘which’ here in British English, although American English would probably only use ‘that’. Informing The spending cuts, which the Board decided, have been very effective. Here, ‘which’ introduces additional information – the people behind the spending cuts. The main point is that all the cuts being discussed here have been effective; and, incidentally, they were (all) decided by the Board. Note the two commas necessary when using ‘which’ this way: the additional information within them could be removed and still leave a full sentence. Only ‘which’ can be used for this purpose. It’s incorrect to use ‘that’ when introducing extra information. Punctuating Although it is not wrong to use ‘which’ in place of ‘that’ to define or limit something, you have to be careful how you punctuate around it. There has been very positive customer feedback on the new desserts which are made with dark chocolate. With no comma before it, this ‘which’ is being used to define and limit the desserts which had good feedback as the ones made with dark chocolate. There are probably other flavours of dessert, but the response to those may have been less upbeat. There has been very positive customer feedback on the new desserts, which are made with dark chocolate. With a comma before it, this ‘which’ is being used to inform (the second comma has been replaced with a full stop). The part of the sentence after the comma is additional information about the first part. This means that all the new desserts had positive feedback and, by the way, they are all made with dark chocolate. As you can see, altering punctuation even slightly can change the meaning of your sentence and could result in you accidentally misleading your reader. Would you like more help with grammar? Have a look at our Essential grammar and punctuation training.