FSOT flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Dangling modifier

An introductory phrase that fails to modify the sentence's grammatical subject, creating an unintended meaning, as in "Walking home, the rain began."

Who versus whom

Who is the subject form and whom is the object form of the pronoun; substitute he or him to test, as in "whom did you call" equals "him."

Fewer versus less

Fewer modifies countable plural nouns such as items or people, while less modifies singular mass nouns such as water, time, or money.

Semicolon function

A semicolon joins two independent clauses not linked by a coordinating conjunction, and it separates series items that themselves contain commas.

Electoral College size

The Electoral College has 538 electors: 435 House members plus 100 senators plus 3 for the District of Columbia, with 270 needed to win.

Marbury v. Madison

The 1803 Supreme Court decision establishing judicial review, the power of federal courts to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional and void.

Senate advice and consent

The Senate ratifies treaties by a two-thirds vote and confirms major presidential appointments by simple majority; the House plays no role in either.

Pocket veto

If Congress adjourns within ten days of sending a bill and the president neither signs nor returns it, the bill fails without a formal veto.

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued by Lincoln and effective January 1, 1863, it declared enslaved people in Confederate-held territory free, making abolition a Union war aim.

Articles of Confederation

The first United States constitution, in force from 1781 to 1789, created a weak national government lacking power to tax or regulate interstate commerce.

Brown v. Board of Education

The 1954 Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson.

Nineteenth Amendment

Ratified in 1920, it barred denying the right to vote on account of sex, extending suffrage to women throughout the United States.

Peace of Westphalia

The 1648 treaties ending the Thirty Years' War that established sovereign territorial states and the norm of noninterference in other states' domestic affairs.

Treaty of Versailles

The 1919 settlement ending World War I that imposed reparations and territorial losses on Germany, fueling resentment and later political instability.

Fall of the Berlin Wall

In November 1989 East Germany opened the Berlin Wall, allowing free passage and symbolizing the end of the Cold War division of Europe.

Prime meridian

The zero-degree line of longitude passing through Greenwich, England, from which longitude is measured east and west to 180 degrees.

Rain shadow effect

The dry zone on a mountain range's leeward side, where descending air warms and retains moisture after precipitation falls on the windward slope.

International Date Line

An irregular boundary near 180 degrees longitude where crossing eastward subtracts one calendar day and crossing westward adds one.

GDP expenditure formula

Gross domestic product equals consumption plus investment plus government spending plus exports minus imports, measuring final output produced inside a country.

Price elasticity of demand

The percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price; demand is elastic when the absolute value exceeds one.

Money multiplier

The maximum expansion of the money supply equals one divided by the reserve requirement ratio, assuming banks lend out all excess reserves.

Comparative advantage

The ability to produce a good at a lower opportunity cost than another producer, which is the basis for mutually beneficial specialization and trade.

Quadratic formula

For ax squared plus bx plus c equals zero with a not zero, x equals negative b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus 4ac, over 2a.

Standard deviation

A measure of dispersion equal to the square root of the average squared deviation from the mean; larger values indicate more widely spread data.

Compound interest formula

A equals P times the quantity 1 plus r over n, raised to the power n times t, where n is compounding periods per year.

Central Limit Theorem

As sample size increases, the sampling distribution of the sample mean approaches normality with mean equal to the population mean and standard error sigma over root n.

Span of control

The number of subordinates a manager directly supervises; wide spans flatten hierarchy and require greater employee autonomy and self-management.

Herzberg two-factor theory

Hygiene factors such as pay and working conditions prevent dissatisfaction, while motivators such as achievement, recognition, and responsibility generate genuine satisfaction.

Tuckman team stages

The five predictable phases of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning, each characterized by distinct behavior and productivity patterns.

Active listening

A technique in which the receiver paraphrases content, reflects feelings, asks clarifying questions, and avoids interrupting to confirm accurate understanding.

Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes

Five conflict-handling styles plotted by assertiveness and cooperativeness: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating, each suited to different situations.

Johari Window

A self-awareness model dividing personal information into four quadrants, open, blind, hidden, and unknown, based on what is known to self and others.