Verbal Exam Questions Essay Example for Free

Verbal Exam Questions Essay 1. What is meant by the term â€Å"fear of failure†? That is, what does it mean to you personally and professionally. Fear of failure means being afraid of going after what you want because you might not be able to get it. People who experience this believes that it is okay to not achieve their dreams as long as they do not see themselves fail. Many people prefer to play it safe and do not like to get out of their safety zones because they do not want to be disappointed or they do not like changes to happen in their lives. 2. Describe a past experience with fear of failure. Please explain. In the past, I had several chances of running for a position in the school body but I was too afraid that I would not be elected or do a good job. This made me decide that it would be better for me not to run for a position and just enjoy my time as a regular student but still active with other school activities. The down side of this is that I did not get to experience and do what I wanted to do. 3. In general do fears affect employee performance on the job and employer relationships with fellow employees? Also, relate this to yourself as the manager in the scenario and Marcus. How do fears affect you and Marcus? Being afraid does affect employee performance, as well as the relationships of employers and employees because some people might not understand this fear that certain employees or employers experience. As a manager to Marcus, I think that I would not like how he behaves when it comes to changes. Changes are important, especially when this would bring more money to the company and all employers do want their companies to succeed. This kind of behavior would create conflicts between Marcus and I. 4. This is a key question. Is failing OK? What about mistakes? What is gained? What is lost? Contrary to what many people believe, failing is actually okay because this is when people learn from the experience. Without failures, people would not be able to realize what they are capable of. It is important that people remember that they are allowed to make mistakes because they are not perfect. Nobody is perfect and making mistakes is only normal. They lose only when they give up and not try. Failure can make people humble and would make them want to achieve more and do better in the future. 5. Can you use your own fears to your advantage? How can you be used by your fears? Relate the lessons you have learned to you in the scenario and how you would approach Marcus. Relate this to yourself as the manager. Fears can be used to ones advantage when a person believes that fears will produce positive outcomes no matter what. Overcoming fears will give people the experience even if they fail. However, when people let their fears use them and get the better from them, they will be limited and would have no worthwhile experience from life. 6. How can you encourage your employees to reduce their fear about making mistakes, and failing? How would you tell an employee so that he understands and believes you? Be specific and realistic in your answer. It is always good to have an open communication with everyone, especially employees. It would especially be beneficial if managers and employers would encourage their people to conquer their fears and assure them that making mistakes are normal. I would relate a past experience about my fear of failure and how I overcame it to inspire them to do the same. 7. What is the story about? Please summarize it. Why did you choose the topic? What makes you feel interested in the choice of the topic? The story is about a manager and his employee named Marcus and demonstrates how Marcus is afraid of change. Although Marcus was a very good employee and performs his job in a very satisfactory way, the manager realizes that he does not do well when it comes to applying changes. He would often make excuses just to get out of the situation, and the manager feels that he should do something about it. I chose this particular topic because I believe in the importance of overcoming ones fears, especially in the workplace. Being afraid is a normal human experience but people should not let this feeling limit them on the things that the should be experiencing because they might be missing out on something great like a

Context Clues

Context Clues Schatz, Elinore K., Baldwin, R. Scott (1986). Context Clues are Unreliable Predictors of Word These experiments were done to help the researchers and educators decide whether context clues help students with defining words. The two researchers were Elinore Kress Schatz and R. Scott Baldwin. Schatz is from the Greater Miami Hebrew Academy and R. Scott Baldwin was a former English teacher who became a professor of Teaching and Learning at the University of Miami. He is currently the Dean of Edinboro Universitys school of Graduate studies and research (http://www.edinboro.edu/departments/university_comm/President/pec-members/baldwin.dot). There were three different experiments done during this particular study. In the first experiment, there were 53 tenth graders and 48 eleventh graders from a private school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida who were tested. The demographics of the school consisted of students from a middle class background who were mainly Caucasian. Before the testing began, researchers tested a group of college bound tenth graders to see if they knew the meanings of the words that were going to be used on the test. If 65% or more of those students knew the meaning a word, then the word was thrown out because the researchers saw this as the students prior knowledge. The students were given two tests with one test having the words-in-context and the other with the words used in isolation. The researchers did the two tests to determine which method helps the students more. The words- in-context came from twenty-five paragraphs from novels used at this school for the tenth and the eleventh grade students. Some examples of those books include The Scarlet Letter and The Pearl. Paragraphs were chosen by their location in the book and by determining which words were low frequency words. Some examples of those words include imperious and inexorable. The words- in -context test was set up like a multiple choice test with a paragraph using the word and the students would have to identify which option shows how the word was used. The words in isolation test were a multiple choice vocabulary test. The students were then randomly assigned tests. The words in isolation testing took around ten to fifteen minutes to complete and the words-in-context testing to ok around thirty to forty minutes to complete. The results showed that â€Å"there was no statistically significant difference between the means of the no-context group (M= 9.14, SD=2.08) and the context group (M=8.76, SD= 3.72)† (Schatz Baldwin 443). These results were then tested in the second experiment to see if the results were accurate or based on the type of literary work. In the second experiment, there were 39 eleventh graders from a private school in Miami, Florida who were tested. The demographics of the school was the same as the previous school with most students being middle class. There were two tests once again but this time the words in the passages were from the four content areas. The mediums used included science textbooks (biology and physics), novel passages (same novels as other test), history textbooks, and magazines (Schatz Baldwin 444). Both tests had the same words on them but one used the words- in-context and the other test had them in isolation. All students took the words in isolation test first. The students finished the first test in 45 minutes and the words-in-context testing took two days to complete. The results of this test indicate that there was no real significant change whether the words w ere in isolation or in-context. In the third experiment, the researchers used 84 tenth and eleventh graders from a private Hebrew school in Florida. The materials were the same as the first experiment except that the tests were not multiple choice anymore. The students had to write out the meaning of the words. The two researchers then graded the papers not knowing whether the one they were grading was the test with the words- in-context or the words in isolation. They determined that multiple choice testing did not hurt the testing. The overall conclusion they came up with it that teachers need to look at a better way to help students understand the meanings of words.

Essay on Prospero in Shakespeares The Tempest -- Tempest essays Willi

The Greatness of Prospero in William Shakespeare's The Tempest      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No man is an island. It takes a strong, mature man to forgive those who hand him misfortune. It takes a real man to drop to his knees and repent. The character of Prospero in Shakespeare's Tempest is a man who has suffered much. Prospero is a puppet master throughout the play, but releases everything to save himself from his own self. The enemies in the play are not those whom he shipwrecked, they are of little consequence, and he plays them easily. Propero's purpose in The Tempest is only to make everything right again. "Ariel is accordingly shown as the agent of Prospero's purpose. He is Prospero's instrument in controlling and developing the action" (Knight 138). Prospero is the artist, and Ariel the art. Upon Prospero's words, Ariel tempts the murderer's and thwarts their effort, plays tricks on the drunks and turns them to danger, and brings Ferdinand and Miranda together. Prospero's character may be an extension of Shakespeare himself. "...the play is a certain measure autobiographical..." (Garnett, 221). While Shakespeare did not model Prospero in his own likeness, "It shows us more than anything else what the discipline of life had made of Shakespeare at fifty-a fruit too fully matured to be suffered to hang much longer on the tree." (Garnett, 221). Shakespeare wanted to "write a play that would satisfy himself , by expressing something, or many things, that were still unexpressed," (Murray 111). Shakespeare, like Prospero, was making amends and rebuilding burnt bridges as he entered the final chapter in his life. Prospero's presence of character is strengthened by the weaknesses of the other characters in the play. While Trinculo... ...all the events, we perceived him as an omnipotent being, who acted in a perfect manner. But in the end he is just a man. He is only a man. How many men forgive their enemies? How many men "take from the past not the ashes, but the fire?" (Anon) How many men save their enemies instead of killing them? Few. There are few great men. There are few great men that beg for forgiveness for themselves and others.    Works Cited Garnett, Richard. "Irving Shakespeare" The Tempest (and selected criticism). Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke (eds.) Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. 1903. Knight, G. Wilson. "Shakespearian Superman" The Tempest D.J. Palmer (ed.) Macmillan & Co. 1968 Murray, J. Middleton. "Shakespeare's Dream" The Tempest D.J. Palmer (ed.) Macmillan & Co. 1968 Tillyard, E.M. "The Tragic Pattern" The Tempest D.J. Palmer (ed.) Macmillan & Co. 1968

Conservation in the Peak District National Park

Conservation in the Peak District National Park involves more than preventing damage and leaving the countryside alone. Management is needed to maintain the variety and interest of the landscape. This involves * Looking after the best features of the landscape, eg well maintained moorland and listed buildings. * Improving neglected features eg rebuilding stonewalls and replanting woodlands. * Managing development so that damage is limited eg building and recreation activities. (2) Extent of Activity Now English Nature has designated 3.4% of the Park as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). These SSSI's cover 23,862 hectares of the Peak District. In these areas, manages must consult English Nature before making any changes which would adversely affect the Nature Conservation interests. The Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve includes parts of 5 limestone dales and is managed by English Nature. Country Wildlife Trusts manage reserves totalling 300 hectares. (3) Policies Governing Activity Many organisations are involved in the Peak District National Park these are, * English Nature- the official body responsible for promoting nature conservation nationally. * English Heritage- responsible for archaeology and the built environment. * Peak Park Joint Planning Board- they formulate the conservation policy for the Peak Park. * National Trust, RSPB, Wildlife Trusts- are all also involved with the decisions about the Park. The forestry commission and water companies own large areas of the Peak Park. (4) The Benefits/Importance of Conservation Conservation protects the land from being eroded by overgrazing and tourism. As well as this it monitors development so no unsuitable buildings are built which may spoil the traditional settlements and landscape within the Park. Conservation helps to protect wildlife in particular rare species, which may only be found within the Peak Park. For e.g. Grouse and Sphagnum moss. Conservation protects the characteristics of the Park by encouraging farmers to carry out traditional activities, such as dry stone walling. All of this means that as many people can enjoy the Park as possible but most importantly it's beauty can be viewed by future generations. (5) The Future In the next 50 years we would like to see a continue in the protection of the Peak Park as a living and changing environment. However in order for the park to fulfil it's main aim, which is to show the diversity of life, to provide a beautiful place for city dwellers to visit and to limit development in order to sustain the natural environment restrictions on certain activities must be enforced. We would like to discontinue the use of quarries, as quarrying causes unnecessary noise and air pollution and causes great scars in the natural landscape, which can never be totally repaired. As this is not appropriate as a large majority of Britain's limestone and Fluorspar is provided from the Peak Park, we would not allow any NEW quarries to be started. We would like to limit tourism to such a degree that erosion and damage caused by recreation would be stopped, however once again this would not be possible. It would be more reasonable to limit tourism to certain areas, which may be maintained when required or a small charge in place in order to repair any damage caused. The small roads and villages were not made for the amount of traffic, which is currently running along them. So many cars cause much pollution, which is likely to affect the quality of air. For this we would like to introduce a ban on private transport and would like to see an improvement in park and ride schemes and public transport! The traditional activities of current farmers should be maintained to show the culture of the county side and the slower pace of life. Fertilisers should be positively rejected as these would soon damage the delicate balance of the current Peak Park. Small developments are fine but any major ones, which would spoil the natural feel of the Peak Park, should not take place. We must strive to provide a beautiful place for people from cities to visit and enjoy, however at present it seems that people are wrecking the very place they have come to admire!

Novelist Charles Dickens Essay

What impression does Dickens give of Miss Havisham and Estella in Chapter 8 of â€Å"Great Expectation† and how does he achieve this? The story is set in the Victorian times. It is written by a novelist called Charles Dickens. It is about an orphan called â€Å"Pip†, who is reminiscing on his past. The novel is written in a 1st person narrative perspective. Chapter 8 fits into the rest of the novel because it is about how Pip learns the way of life and the road to being a gentleman. Pip gets into debt and receives money from a childhood acquaintance – Magwitch, an escaped convict. During the novel we not only see Pip’s life we also follow the life of his love, Estella. After falling into debt and running away from the consequences of his reckless actions, Pip realizes that he can no longer be a real gentleman. The first meeting Pip has with Miss Havisham and Estella has a big impact on Pip because it changes his life by showing him exactly how much of a lower class person he is compared to Miss Havisham and Estella. Dickens makes Miss Havisham seem rich, but poor, and scary by the way he describes the outside of her house. He uses irony to describe Miss Havisham’s house, saying that the house â€Å"was of old bricks, dismal and had a great many iron bars to it. † This makes Miss Havisham look scary and the house look broken because the phrase â€Å"had a great many iron bars to it† suggests that whatever is in there, has been locked up and is not allowed out of there. The use of â€Å"old bricks† suggests that the house it tatty and hasn’t been refurbished in a long time. It also suggests that Miss Havisham is poor because if she were rich, she would have gotten the houses bricks fixed. The word â€Å"Dismal† suggests that the house is gloomy and of poor quality. The phrase â€Å"had a great many iron bars to it† could also mean that Miss Havisham doesn’t want to be disturbed and doesn’t want to be involved with the outside world. Dickens also uses Miss Havisham’s room to show the reader that Miss Havisham is of a higher class citizen than Pip. He does this by using phrases like â€Å"all clocks and watches stopped at twenty to nine† and â€Å"dresses lying around† and also â€Å"no glimpse of daylight could be seen†. The phrase â€Å"all clocks and watches stopped at twenty to nine† shows the reader that Miss Havisham might be mentally disturbed because normally people would make sure at least one clock works, but in this case none of the clocks work and all of them happen to have stopped exactly twenty minutes to nine. However, the phrase â€Å"dresses lying around† could suggest that Miss Havisham doesn’t know how to clean and could also suggest that there was once a lot of people there but not anymore. â€Å"No glimpse of daylight could be seen† indicates to the reader that the house is very dark inside and it is abandoned. It could also mean that whatever lives there has been trapped. This is a perfect use of irony because normally a rich person would have a house that didn’t have iron bars on the front and also they would have a tidy, clean and under control house, but although Miss Havisham is rich her house is nothing like what you would expect from a rich and upper class person. Dickens uses the characters to give an impression of Miss Havisham and Estella. He uses sentences like â€Å"Dressed in rich materials† and â€Å"satins, and lace and silks – all of white†, â€Å"Bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands† and â€Å"I had been taken to see some ghastly waxwork†. The phase â€Å"rich materials† implies to the reader Miss Havisham is rich and she can afford the materials that are in her dresses. Also the use of â€Å"satins, and lace and silks – all of white† suggests to the reader that Miss Havisham is a ghostly and spiritless character with no human emotions. The phrase â€Å"Bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands† could also suggest that Miss Havisham is rich because they â€Å"sparkle† and she likes to show off by wearing the jewels on her neck and her hands. However, â€Å"ghastly waxwork† shows the reader that Miss Havisham’s body has not moved for ages and therefore is rotting and therefore it has turned into a waxwork. The word ghastly implies to the reader that Miss Havisham body is informal and unpleasant. The irony is that you wouldn’t expect someone as rich as Miss Havisham to look informal or unpleasant when they have guests. On the other hand the word ghastly could mean that Miss Havisham is ill and can’t afford medical care. One way Dickens makes Miss Havisham look rich but poor at the same time is by the things he says she does. He says she sits in the dark â€Å"corpse like† and that she â€Å"watches Pip and Estella play†. The use of corpse indicates that Miss Havisham is dead. The phrase â€Å"watches Pip and Estella play† suggests that Miss Havisham enjoys watching the children play and that even though she is rich, and therefore should have a nanny for the children, she still doesn’t mind watching the children even if it might affect her social status. However the phrase corpse like could suggest that Miss Havisham isn’t dead but wants to be dead. Dickens also shows the reader that Miss Havisham is of a higher social status than Pip by the way she says things. For example instead of calling him Pip, Miss Havisham calls him â€Å"boy† Also, she says â€Å"Who is it†¦ Pip? † as if she didn’t know it was him that came even though she asked for him to come. The use of â€Å"boy† suggests to the reader that Miss Havisham is of a higher social status than Pip because in the Victorian times a person who is of a higher social status usually didn’t call a person who is of a lower social status by their name. Also, the way Miss Havisham doesn’t recognize Pip even though she asked for him suggests that she doesn’t remember much. However, the use of â€Å"boy† could also suggest that Miss Havisham doesn’t have the decency to call Pip by his name because he is a guest at her house and guests should be treated with respect. Dickens gives the impression that Estella is a good-looking girl and that Pip likes her. He does this by using phrases like â€Å"young lady, who was very pretty† and â€Å"her light came along the dark passage like a star†. â€Å"Young lady, who was very pretty† emphasizes the point that Estella is an attractive girl because the word â€Å"pretty† means pleasing to look at and that is exactly what Pip thinks when he looks at her for the first time. However the use of â€Å"her light came along the dark passage like a star† could suggest that Estella is attractive to look at but is also blinding in a bad way because a star is pretty but if you were close to it or stared at it for a long time it could make you go blind. Dickens gives us the impression that Estella is evil because she â€Å"stands in the dark passageway until called repeatedly† and she â€Å"chucked food at me as if I were a dog† The phrase â€Å"stands in the dark passageway until called repeatedly† indicates that she likes the dark because she is evil and she doesn’t come as soon as she is called, she comes after being called â€Å"repeatedly†. Also, the phrase â€Å"chucked food at me as if I were a dog† suggests that Estella is evil because you would expect a normal person to give food to another person with respect and into their hands but Estella â€Å"chucks† the food at Pip as if he were a â€Å"dog†. Dickens shows us how the upper class liked to insult or find the fault in everything a lower class person does. Estella insults and intimidates Pip as shown by â€Å"I misdealt, as way only natural when I knew she way lying in wait for me to do wrong† and â€Å"she denounced me for a stupid, clumsy labouringly boy†. This shows the reader how Estella had been trained to look for the fault in people and to be cruel. However the use of â€Å"I misdealt, as way only natural when I knew she was lying in wait for me to do wrong† could suggest to the reader that Estella is impatient and can’t be bothered to play with someone who is of a lower social status than her. Dickens describes many feelings of Pip’s which change throughout the visit. This is shown by â€Å"I think she is very pretty† and â€Å"I think she is very insulting†. This is what Pip whispers into Miss Havisham’s ear about Estella. This also shows that he has mixed feelings for Estella. Dickens further describes Pip’s feelings about the visit â€Å"as if I were a dog in disgrace. I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry – I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart – God knows what its name was – that the tears started to my eyes† and â€Å"as I cried, I kicked the wall, and took a name, that needed counteraction†. This clearly highlights Pip’s feeling to the reader. He feels a huge amount of rage that he cannot even describe it himself. He has never felt in such a way before as he has been insulted and offended about it his natural social state and at the same time has mixed feelings about what he feels for Estella.

Free Essays on Environmental Inequalities

Andrew Hurley, in â€Å"Environmental Inequalities,† seems to be answering the same question throughout his telling of class, race, and industrial pollution in Gary, Indiana. From 1945- 1980 there were three distinct groups in Gary. There were the middle-class made up of white doctors, lawyers and management, the working class composed of semiskilled workers earning a moderate pay, and African Americans generally working the jobs that white workers did not want. Wage earnings gradually declined from the middle-class down to African American workers. Throughout this reading Hurley continually answers the question of how industrialization in Gary shaped human activity through pay and pollution, and in turn how humans shaped their environment. Starting with the middle-class citizens of Gary, Indiana, Hurley tells how they are identified by fresh air, beautiful landscapes and space. Hurley says, â€Å"Through the 1970’s, the preservation of suburban amenities would remain the driving force behind middle-class opposition to industrial pollution† (Hurley, 47). The relatively high income of the middle-class, although it varied greatly depending on occupation, allowed for families to move into suburban areas. With the combination of greater pay and efficient transportation, Gary was able to decentralize. This resulted in the primarily white middle-class moving a few miles outside of the downtown area, having more space and concentrating more on health issues. This was also made possible through government programs that further solidified the line between middle-class and working-class citizens. The Federal Housing Authority lowered initial down payments and extending repayment schedules. However, these types of mortgages were not allotted to low-income, inner-city neighborhoods because they were too risky. This was not the case for all Gary residents. â€Å"Even by the 1970’s, Gary remained a predominantly working-class community with almost ... Free Essays on Environmental Inequalities Free Essays on Environmental Inequalities Andrew Hurley, in â€Å"Environmental Inequalities,† seems to be answering the same question throughout his telling of class, race, and industrial pollution in Gary, Indiana. From 1945- 1980 there were three distinct groups in Gary. There were the middle-class made up of white doctors, lawyers and management, the working class composed of semiskilled workers earning a moderate pay, and African Americans generally working the jobs that white workers did not want. Wage earnings gradually declined from the middle-class down to African American workers. Throughout this reading Hurley continually answers the question of how industrialization in Gary shaped human activity through pay and pollution, and in turn how humans shaped their environment. Starting with the middle-class citizens of Gary, Indiana, Hurley tells how they are identified by fresh air, beautiful landscapes and space. Hurley says, â€Å"Through the 1970’s, the preservation of suburban amenities would remain the driving force behind middle-class opposition to industrial pollution† (Hurley, 47). The relatively high income of the middle-class, although it varied greatly depending on occupation, allowed for families to move into suburban areas. With the combination of greater pay and efficient transportation, Gary was able to decentralize. This resulted in the primarily white middle-class moving a few miles outside of the downtown area, having more space and concentrating more on health issues. This was also made possible through government programs that further solidified the line between middle-class and working-class citizens. The Federal Housing Authority lowered initial down payments and extending repayment schedules. However, these types of mortgages were not allotted to low-income, inner-city neighborhoods because they were too risky. This was not the case for all Gary residents. â€Å"Even by the 1970’s, Gary remained a predominantly working-class community with almost ...

Accessing and Managing MS Excel Sheets With Delphi

Accessing and Managing MS Excel Sheets With Delphi This step-by-step guide describes how to connect to Microsoft Excel, retrieve sheet data, and enable editing of the data using the DBGrid. Youll also find a list of the most common errors that might appear in the process, plus how to deal with them. Whats Covered Below: Methods for transferring data between Excel and Delphi. How to connect to Excel with ADO  (ActiveX Data Objects) and Delphi.Creating an Excel spreadsheet editor using Delphi and ADORetrieving the data from Excel. How to reference a table (or range) in an Excel workbook.A discussion on Excel field (column) typesHow to modify Excel sheets: edit, add  and delete rows.Transferring data from a Delphi application to Excel. How to create a worksheet and fill it with custom data from an MS Access database. How to Connect to Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a powerful spreadsheet calculator and data analysis tool. Since rows and columns of an Excel worksheet closely relate to the rows and columns of a database table, many developers find it appropriate to transport their data into an Excel workbook for analysis purposes; and retrieve data back to the application afterwards. The most commonly used approach to data exchange between your application and Excel is  Automation. Automation provides a way to read Excel data using the Excel Object Model to dive into the worksheet, extract its data, and display it inside a grid-like component, namely DBGrid or StringGrid. Automation gives you the greatest flexibility for locating the data in the workbook as well as the ability to format the worksheet and make various settings at run time. To transfer your data to and from Excel without Automation, you can use other methods such as: Write data into a comma-delimited text file, and let Excel parse the file into cellsTransfer data using DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange)Transfer your data to and from  a worksheet using ADO Data Transfer Using ADO Since Excel is JET OLE DB compliant, you can connect to it with Delphi using ADO (dbGO or AdoExpress) and then retrieve the worksheets data into an ADO dataset by issuing an  SQL query  (just like you would open a dataset against any database table). In this way, all the methods and features of the ADODataset object are available to process the Excel data. In other words, using the ADO components let you build an application that can use an Excel workbook as the database. Another important fact is that Excel is an out-of-process ActiveX server. ADO runs in-process  and saves the overhead of costly out-of-process calls. When you connect to Excel using ADO, you can only exchange raw data to and from a workbook. An ADO connection cannot be used for sheet formatting or implementing formulas to cells. However, if you transfer your data to a worksheet that is pre-formatted, the format is maintained. After the data is inserted from your application to Excel, you can carry out any conditional formatting using a (pre-recorded) macro in the worksheet. You can connect to Excel using ADO with the two OLE DB Providers that are a part of MDAC: Microsoft Jet OLE DB Provider or Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers. Well focus on Jet OLE DB Provider, which can be used to access data in Excel workbooks through installable Indexed Sequential Access Method (ISAM) drivers. Tip: See the  Beginners Course to Delphi ADO Database Programming  if youre new to ADO. The ConnectionString Magic The ConnectionString property tells ADO how to connect to the datasource. The value used for ConnectionString consists of one or more arguments ADO uses to establish the connection. In Delphi, the TADOConnection component encapsulates the ADO connection object; it can be shared by multiple ADO dataset (TADOTable, TADOQuery, etc.) components through their Connection properties. In order to connect to Excel, a valid connection string involves only two additional  pieces of information -  the full path to the workbook and the Excel file version. A legitimate connection string could look like this: ConnectionString : ProviderMicrosoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data SourceC:\MyWorkBooks\myDataBook.xls;Extended PropertiesExcel 8.0;; When connecting to an external database format supported by the Jet, the extended properties for the connection needs to be set. In our case, when connecting to an Excel database, extended properties are used to set the Excel file version.   For an Excel95 workbook, this value is Excel 5.0 (without the quotes); use Excel 8.0 for Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and ExcelXP. Important:  You must use the Jet 4.0 Provider since Jet 3.5 does not support the ISAM drivers. If you set the Jet Provider to version 3.5, youll receive the Couldnt find installable ISAM error. Another Jet extended property is HDR. HDRYes means that there is a header row in the range, so the Jet will not include the first row of the selection into the dataset. If HDRNo is specified, then the provider will include the first row of the range (or named range) into the dataset. The first row in a range is considered to be the header row by default (HDRYes). Therefore, if you have column heading, you do not need to specify this value. If you do not have column headings, you need to specify HDRNo. Now that youre all set, this is the part where things become interesting since were now ready for some code. Lets see how to create a simple Excel Spreadsheet editor using Delphi and ADO. Note:  You should proceed even if you lack knowledge on ADO and Jet programming. As youll see, editing an Excel workbook is as simple as editing data from any standard database.