Use And Problems Of Expert Witnesses In Court Law Essay

Use And Problems Of Expert Witnesses In Court Law Essay It is an ancient common law rule that on a subject requiring special knowledge and competence, evidence is admissible from witnesses who have acquired the necessary expertise on that matter, and such witnesses are known as experts.  [1]  The foundation of the use of expert witness in court was laid down by Lord Mansfield in Folkes v. Chadd  [2]  that the opinion of scientific men upon proven facts may be given within their own science. Although opinion evidence is inadmissible as a general rule, the main exception to this rule is the opinion of an expert on matters resting within his expertise, and this exception applies in both civil and criminal cases. Regarding the civil proceedings, the statutory recognition of the exception is reflected by section 58(1) of the Evidence Ordinance (Cap 8) that an experts opinion is admissible on any relevant matter on which he is qualified to give expert evidence. However, there is an issue of potential conflict of interest on the expert w itness.  [3]  On one hand, an expert witness has a paramount duty to assist the court; on the other hand, he is remunerated for his services by one of the parties under the adversary system, which assumed a more partisan role for them at the expense of impartiality.  [4]   This essay aims to examine whether the aspiration of expert objectivity is realistic in our adversary system. In the next part, we shall discuss the problem of adversarial bias as well as the duties of expert witnesses. In part 3, the applicability of court appointed experts in Hong Kong will be examined with reference to the inquisitorial system. In part 4, we will explore the problems associated with the small population of potential experts in Hong Kong, followed by the courts power in dealing with expert disagreements in part 5. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn in the last part of this paper. The problems associated with expert witness It is often said that the principal danger of adversary expertise is motivational bias.  [5]  As expert witnesses are employed by one of the parties to the litigation and they would purposely mould their views to fit their clients proceedings. In fact, the problem of lack of objectivity in expert evidence is not a new phenomenon. As early as in Lord Abinger v. Ashton  [6]  , Sir George Jessel said: Undoubtedly there is a natural bias to do something serviceable for those who employ you and adequately remunerate you, and expert witness may even considered themselves as the paid agents of their employers. The problem of adversarial bias is also widespread in Hong Kong.  [7]  As identified in the Interim Report of the Working Party on Civil Justice Reform, a major problem concerning expert evidence is the partisanship and lack of independence among experts.  [8]  Thus, it is suggested by Professor Gary Edmond that partisanship may be an unavoidable feature of knowledge p roduction and expert opinion.  [9]   Another reason for lack of objective expert evidence is due to the problem of expert shopping, which is a process of selecting opinions from one expert after another, until the most favourable opinion to the partys case is found.  [10]  Since the choice of experts lies with the parties, the expert evidence is selected on the basis that would serve the best interests of their clients cases. Consequently the court does not necessarily obtain the most independent or objective expert evidence. The practice of selecting the most favorable expert is indeed a distortion of the rationale behind expert evidence as well as a discredit to the administration of justice. 2.1 The duties of expert witness Due to the concern about the failure of experts to provide an independent and objective opinion, a developed code of conduct has been set out in National Justice Compania Naviera SA v. Prudential Assurance Co. Ltd. (The Ikarian Reefer)  [11]  to clarify the duties of an expert witness. The most important parts are the first two numbered paragraphs, which stated that: 1) Expert evidence presented to the Court should be the independent product of the expert uninfluenced as to form or content by the exigencies of litigation  [12]  ; 2) An expert witness should provide independent assistance to the Court by way of objective unbiased opinion in relation to matters within his expertise  [13]  . The Ikarian Reefer guidelines remain a good law in Hong Kong, and the relevant principles were set out in paragraph L1/58/7 of Hong Kong Civil Procedure 2009. The expert witnesss overriding duty to provide independent and unbiased assistance to court is also reflected in Order 38, rule 3 5A of the Rules of the High Court (RHC) as well as the Code of Conduct for Expert Witness in Appendix D of RHC. Further guidance is provided in Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. v. Commissioner of Rating and Valuation  [14]  that an expert also needs to ensure no omission of material facts that could divert from his concluded opinion. Although the adversary system may not have provided an ideal environment for the expert witnesses to maintain their independence and objectivity from their clients, I believed that the promulgation of code of conduct would have raised awareness of the expert witnesses in meeting the courts expectations, so that they will be less easily manipulated by lawyers, which can tend to rein in the widespread problem of expert bias in Hong Kong. Court-appointed experts Apart from a code of conduct for expert witnesses, some commentators have recommended other ways to reduce the problem of expert bias, and one of them is the appointment of court experts with reference to the inquisitorial system. It is common for the court to appoint experts in many continental jurisdictions, such as Belgium, Germany and France. Unlike the way to appoint experts under the adversarial system, the expert witnesses are selected and remunerated by an independent authority, usually the court rather than the parties, which may avoid the problem of adversarial bias.  [15]  Take an example of the French system of expertise, the judge would normally commission the expert witnesses from a list of official experts, and they will be questioned by the judge.  [16]  The major distinction between the adversarial and inquisitorial system of justice is that the parties play a minimal role in locating evidence and they need not actively engage with the expert witness in court , as the expert witness is infrequently cross-examined by the defendants. As the court-appointed expert has little interaction with the parties, they are more likely to give an objective and unbiased opinion to the Court. Nevertheless, it is argued that the appointment of court experts under the inquisitorial system is contrary to the principles of the adversarial system of justice. Apart from the loss of right for parties to select their own expert witnesses, there are a number of arguments that go against the inquisitorial court-appointed experts. First of all, the main problem is that the court may place undue reliance on the evidence provided by the court-appointed expert, which may lead to an ultimate result that it would be the court-appointed expert instead of the judge who decides the case.  [17]  This is also highlighted by Lord Denning in In re Saxton that the appointment of a court expert in England is a rare thing, as the litigants realize that the court would attach great weight to the report of a court expert, and are reluctant to leave the decision of the case so much in his hands.  [18]   Second, it is difficult to ensure the validity or test the applicability of the expert evidence in inquisitorial systems due to lack of cross-examination and involvement of more expert opinion, which are fundamental features of the adversarial system. In the absence of challenges to expert evidence, its quality and reliability is therefore doubtful as there is no way to test the correctness of the expert conclusion.  [19]  Moreover, the exercise of courts power to appoint an expert is rare under Order 40 of RHC in Hong Kong. It is indicated in the case of Nguyen Ho Others v. Director of Immigration  [20]  that the Court of Appeal has declined an invitation to appoint a court expert. Consequently, the inquisitorial court-appointed expert is difficult to integrate in our adversarial system, especially the important feature of cross-examination which encourages critical scrutiny of the expert evidence is lacking under the inquisitorial system.  [21]  It is also of my view that the adversarial expertise may benefit the fact-finder in another way by providing a range of perspectives or interpretations that allows verification of the validity and accuracy of the expert evidence in Court. Problems with small population of potential experts As Hong Kong is confronted with the problem of parties obtaining hired gun experts,  [22]  the concern of expert bias may also arise when the employer of the expert witness is the prosecution. This is particularly the case for criminal prosecutions, where the expert witnesses are commonly and closely connected with the police or prosecution authorities. In fact, the small population of available experts in Hong Kong would render the reliance on expert witnesses employed by the prosecution inevitable, for instance, police officers may be called by the prosecution as witnesses to give evidence in drug cases regarding the average dosage of drug addictsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc. One may nonetheless argue that relying on the prosecutions own officers as expert witnesses to provide opinion evidence would prima facie cast a doubt on their independence and objectivity in that case. Thus, it raises the problem of whether it is possible to restrict the officers of the prosecution from giving opin ion evidence as an expert in his field to support the prosecutions case. In R v. Chung Chen Hsin  [23]  (Chung), a police officer ballistics expert, who was possibly connected with the investigation, was called by the prosecution as witness to testify for them that the unusual weapon found in the defendants hand luggage was a firearm. The court has made some important points regarding the right of the prosecution authority to call its own officers as expert witnesses to offer opinion evidence. It is held that there is no requirement in a criminal proceeding where the expert witness ought to be independent of the prosecution authority, but a witness who is competent and properly qualified to provide his expertise would suffice.  [24]  Judge Stuart Moore also challenged the judgment in R v. Kai Tai Construction Engineering Company Ltd.  [25]  by claiming that it was not a material irregularity for the prosecution to have called a properly qualified expert from the same department responsible for that prosecution, and there must be powerful reaso ns to cast a doubt on the expert called by the prosecution in order to justify the refusal to allow the prosecutions own officers as expert witnesses.  [26]  Moreover, even the expert witness is so closely connected to the case that he may be biased in favour of the prosecution, it is ultimately a matter remained for the jury to assess the weight to be attached to his testimony and the question of admissibility is irrelevant. The rationale in Chung was reaffirmed in many recent cases, such as Tang Ping Choi Another v. Secretary for Transport  [27]  , where the court held that an experts evidence was not inadmissible merely due to the fact that he or she was an employee of one of the parties to the case. With limited human resources in Hong Kong, the fact that many expert witnesses have been employed by the party calling them is nearly inevitable, especially for the technical matters that require highly specialized experts to offer their opinion evidence. Despite the possible lack of independence of the expert witnesses employed by the prosecution, it has been made clear by the Hong Kong courts that the expert evidence would not be excluded merely on that basis. Even though the expert witness may have produced a biased opinion due to his or her vested interest in the outcome of the case, it is only relevant to the weight to be attached to that experts testimony rather than the admissibility of evidence. Expert disagreement With one of more expert witnesses giving opinion evidence at court, it is possible to have a clash of opinion between opposing experts. In fact, we may divide the discussion into two parts: one is the role the judge if this situation happens at the trial; while the other is the judges powers to limit the extent of expert disagreement before the trial. First of all, if there are conflicting experts opinions during the trial, the judge will need to direct the jury correctly. It is held by the Court of Appeal in Plait  [28]  that the judge should not direct the jury in a way that it is a case of choosing between their opinion evidence. Rather, the jury should consider if there is a reasonable possibility that either the opinion of the prosecution or defence expert, when taken in conjunction with all the other evidence, is correct; then the jury should proceed on that basis. For the second part, the introduction of Civil Justice Reform in Hong Kong has offered the courts more control over the expert evidence, including measures to reduce the expert disagreement before the trial. The most common way for the court to narrow expert disagreement is to direct an expert meeting and joint report  [29]  , where the experts of both sides will meet before the trial and indicate clearly in the joint report the reason for their disagreement with each other. The direction is supported by Justice Wood that experts moderate their opposing views in the expert meeting, or even reach agreement on the controversial aspects of their expertise.  [30]  It is also noticed that the experts have a duty to attend this pre-trial meeting and conclude with a proper joint report, or otherwise, the defaulting expert would have breached paragraph 12 of the Code of Conduct for Expert Witness. Furthermore, the court has an option to order the appointment of a single joint expert under Order 38, rule 4A of RHC. Under this scheme, parties may jointly choose the single joint expert, or the court can select from a list prepared by the parties or any manner as the court may direct. Although the use of single joint expert may allow the fact-finder to have a simpler and less-biased picture over the technical matter, it is stressed in the Woolfs final report that the appointment of a single joint expert is mainly used to deal with the problem of excessive and inappropriate use of experts instead of bridging the differences of opinion between experts.  [31]   As a result, it is believed that the direction of pre-trial expert meeting and joint report will be more useful to narrow the conflicting opinion between experts rather than the appointment of a single joint expert. Conclusion With increasing technological sophistication of issues in courts, it is no doubt that the expert witness is playing a more significant role in the judicial process. Unlike other witnesses, the expert witness has an overriding duty to the court to provide objective and unbiased opinion evidence. An absence of independence and objectivity on the part of the expert witness would be prejudicial to the court, and consequently lead to a devaluing role of the expert witness in the court proceedings. It is opined that the introduction of the code of conduct as well as the new rules under the Civil Justice Reform in Hong Kong have evolved new roles for the expert witness. By setting court expectations in respect of the expert evidence, the expert witness would strive to meet the high standards and adhere to their duties and responsibilities listed in the rules. Despite the effort of the expert witness, I believe the concerted efforts by all streams of the judicial system are also vital to restore not only the credibility of the role of expert witness, but also publics confidence in the administration of justice. BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS M. R. Damaska, Evidence Law Adrift (New Haven London: Yale University Press, 1997) Mike Redmayne, Expert Evidence and Criminal Justice (OUP, Oxford 2001) Peter Murphy, Murphy on Evidence (10th edn OUP, Oxford 2008) Simon NM Young, Hong Kong Evidence Casebook (Sweet Maxwell Asia, Hong Kong 2004) ARTICLES REPORTS Charles Pugh Marcus Pilgerstorfer, Expert Evidence: The Requirement of Independence (2008) Journal of Personal Injury Law 224. Chief Justices Working Party on Civil Justice Reform, Civil Justice Reform: Interim Report and Consultative Paper (2001) Gary Edmond, After Objectivity: Expert Evidence and Procedural Reform 25 Sydney Law Review 131. Gary Edmond, Judicial Representations of Scientific Evidence (2000) 63 Modern Law Review 216. J.R Spencer, Court Experts and Expert Witnesses: Have We a Lesson to Learn from the French? (1992) 45 Current Legal Problems 213. Lord Woolf MR, Access to Justice: Final Report to the Lord Chancellor on the Civil Justice System in England and Wales (HMSO, London 1996) Peter Alldridge, Forensic Science and Expert Evidence (1994) 21 Journal of Law and Society 136. Samuel Gross, Expert Evidence (1991) Wisconsin Law Review 1113. NEWSPAPER Cliff Buddle, Judge calls expert witness mercenary SCMP (22 March 2002) EDT 7. ELECTRONIC RESOURCES Justice Sperling, Expert Evidence: The Problem of Bias and Other Things (1999): accessed 13 March 2011. Justice Garry Downes AM, Expert Evidence: The Value of Single or Court-Appointed Experts (2005): accessed 13 March 2011. Michael Wilkinson, Recent Developments Affecting Expert Evidence in Law Lectures for Practitioners (1991): accessed 13 March 2011. CASES Folkes v. Chadd [1782] 99 ER 589 Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. v. Commissioner of Rating and Valuation [2004] 2 HKLRD 702 In re Saxton [1962] 1 WLR 968 Lord Abinger v. Ashton [1874] 22 WR 582 National Justice Compania Naviera SA v. Prudential Assurance Co. Ltd. [1993] 2 Lloyds Rep. 68 Nguyen Ho Others v. Director of Immigration [1990] Civ App No 135 of 1990 Plait [1981] CrimLR 332 Polivitte Ltd. V. Commercial Union Assurance [1987] 1 Lloyds Rep. 379 R v. Chung Chen Hsin [1996] 1 HKCLR 120 R v. Kai Tai Construction Engineering Company Ltd. [1996] 2 HKCLR 26 Tang Ping Choi Another v. Secretary for Transport [2004] 2 HKLRD 284 Whitehouse v. Jordan [1981] 1 WLR 246

Julius Caesar Essay -- essays papers

Julius Caesar William Shakespeare has written many plays that touched millions of people throughout the centuries. His works are still the most controversial ones favored by many Literature critics because his plays generate spontaneous debates on issues such as friendship, revenge, human ambitions and moralities that lead to dynamic discussion among people. In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, friendship vs. duty is one of the major themes that is developed. One's struggle over the choice between friendship and duty is depicted through the main character, Brutus, as he battles himself to choose between his duty to carry out people's will and his own conscious hitting on his faithfulness to his best friend Caesar. Although Brutus himself was skeptical if he made the right decision, he joins the conspiracy that plans for the murder of their leader Julius Caesar. The tragic aspect of the play Julius Caesar is that even though Brutus ‘s motives were immaculate, his fear toward Caesar's ambition, Cassius' persuasion, and his tragic flaw, idealism deluded him to make a tragic mistake of assassinating Caesar. While human ambition is considered an important requirement in achieving one's goal, it often leaves negative impressions to others. People do fear ambitious men because strong desire often leads to selfishness and dictatorship. As Caesar's popularity became more evident, his fellow officers and the nobles were worried that people of Rome might crown Caesar. As early as Act 1 scene one, two tribunes of Rome, Flavius and Marullus show concerns toward a possibility of a new dictatorship in Rome and remind themselves of their duty to protest against such power exercised by one person. Not surprisingly, the rumors of Ca... ...dealism. His tragic flaw, idealism, makes him to make initial decision, arrived at with such difficulty, that Caesar has to die. Brutus is wrong. Yet when we read carefully, the soliloquy in the garden, it becomes obvious that Brutus is deceiving himself. He confesses that he has "no personal cause" to fear Caesar and furthermore, that he has never known of potential of tyranny in Caesar. His honor and nobility were manipulated by Cassius and at the end, he finishes his life tragically by suiciding. The tragedy of Brutus lies here. Not that he attempted to free the republic of Rome from a tyrannous dictator and was killed in the action; but that, with the best of motives, he was responsible for the murder of Caesar.) (Mowant, P. 23 - 25) " Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of times." (Shakespear, Act 3, scene 1, 256 - 257)

Hershey Marketing

The Hershey Company 1. History and Overview The first Hershey’s Chocolate Bar was produced in 1900, six years after the firm that would become The Hershey Company (â€Å"Hershey†) was founded by candy-manufacturer Milton S. Hershey. 2. Strategic Planning, Corporate Vision Until late last year when Hershey announced plans to revamp how it organizes its business with two new strategic business units—one for chocolate and the other for sugar confectionery—the company’s marketing organization was comprised of five primary product groups and three divisions: Hershey North America, Hershey International and the Global Marketing Group.According to their 2009 Annual Financial Report, this organization structure allowed Hershey to capitalize on unique customer and consumer trends, leverage marketing and sales leadership in the US and Canada, and focus on key growth areas in global markets (Annual Report p. 2). As indicated by a November 2nd, 2010 press relea se, the new structure is meant to leverage competencies for global growth, strengthen regional focus with additional resources, and augment confectionery consumer insights and innovation capabilities. (http://www. hehersheycompany. com/newsroom/news-release-1490640. aspx) In 2009, Hershey put forth their first Corporate Social Responsibility Report. In the opening paragraphs of this report they call Corporate Social Responsibility integral to their mission of â€Å"Bringing sweet moments of Hershey happiness to the world every day. † Kotler and Keller (27) contend that not only should a mission statement be short, memorable, meaningful, and enduring, it should provide employees with a shared sense of purpose, direction, and opportunity.Hershey is attuned to these needs. The report elaborates, â€Å"Our employees are committed to our mission†¦In all of our efforts, we are guided by our values, which have enabled our company to succeed over the long term. † Hersheyà ¢â‚¬â„¢s internal marketing strategy is driven by their stated corporate values—â€Å"One Hershey: A global and diverse team, operating with integrity, working together, determined to make a difference (Hershey Our Values). Kotler and Keller (29) identify the importance of utilizing three specific nternal groups toward the goal of successful strategy making: employees with youthful perspectives; employees far removed from company headquarters; and employees new to the industry. In a concerted effort to encourage ideas from the younger generation, Hershey has implemented an innovative approach by putting in place an R&D mentoring program where new Millennial employees are paired with experienced Boomers. Hershey recognizes that Millennials have categorically received greater support from their schools and families and expect it from their employers as well.Hershey also has a program called Quality Through Excellence that engages â€Å"the most committed and energetic tho ught leaders from all over the company and from different functional areas. † Among other things, these employees are charged with the duty of provided feedback to the company about what’s going well and what needs to be changed. Further, they have redesigned their performance management system to reward employees for their contributions to the success of the company. Attracting, Developing and Retaining Talent p11) A superior value chain incorporates a high level of product quality, service, and speed (Kotler and Keller 23). The conjunction of these components allows marketers to achieve profitable growth by, among other things, building loyalty and capturing customer lifetime value. Hershey has an ongoing commitment to deal fairly and ethically with all parties in its global value chain which extends from the farmers who supply raw materials for ingredients to consumers all over the world.They are dedicated to conserving energy and reducing emissions throughout their value chain, beginning with a company-wide initiative in 2007 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in both their facilities and their transport operations. (CSR Report 26) 3. Strategic Planning-Business Vision Hershey relies on strong R&D efforts to continue making progress in the areas of cost reduction, quality assurance, and process improvement. Their research and development initiatives are centered on the creation/ improvement of new/existing manufacturing methods.Recent R&D activities have enabled Hershey to offer customized products which have turned out to be a major growth driver (SWOT 2). Hershey’s ability to capitalize on its internal strength in manufacturing continues to benefit the company. Another strength the company boasts is a robust and diverse product portfolio. However, though the company does not demonstrate an overdependence on a particular product segment, it does face the threat of dependence on a single customer.Hershey sells its products to va rious wholesale distributors, department stores and grocery stores, however, in 2009 more than a quarter of the company’s net sales were derived from sales to McLane Company, Inc. (SWOT 4). While Hershey has huge opportunities to expand in the emerging markets, specifically in India and China where disposable income continues to steadily rise, the company also faces the threat of a growing counterfeit goods market. This threat not only affects sales, it affects the image of established brands (SWOT 4). Underperformance of counterfeit products will have a significant negative impact on consumer confidence.In addition to the added competition the counterfeit market brings, Hershey will also continue to see new players enter the market. This will create a still greater challenge to keep costs down in order to stay competitive. When the company began more than one hundred years ago, it was granted immediate success with its low-cost, high quality milk chocolate. Though one of Mil ton Hershey’s founding principles that has persisted over the years is to â€Å"make and sell a high-quality product at a fair price† (CSR Report 7), another threat Hershey contends with is changing consumer preference. The company is experiencing changing consumer trends toward premium and trade-up product segments (SWOT 4). † In order to adapt to the changing marketplace, Hershey will have to continue to constantly develop, produce and market new products. 4. Marketing Strategies In 1963 Hershey acquired H. B. â€Å"Harry† Reese’s Candy Company which had been making chocolate-covered peanut butter cups since 1928. In the early 1980s Hollywood producer Steven Spielberg met with Hershey executive Jack Dowd.The two struck a deal and the newly developed Reeses’s Pieces appeared in the legendary box office hit, E. T. : The Extraterrestrial. Fortunately for Hershey, the candy shared in the success. (thehersheycompany. com) Early this year in Las Vegas, NV, at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, Hershey unveiled Reese’s Minis—smaller unwrapped versions of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. According to Anna Lingeris, spokesperson for Reese’s, â€Å"Techies at CES seek out cool innovations like min-tuners, mini-cams, nano-mice, mini-keyboards, and gotta-have gadgets so small you could fit a fistful in our pocket, so who says the next, big mini innovation can’t come from a candy company? (Business Wire 1/6/2011)† It remains to be seen whether this latest Reese’s marketing blitz is a success, however, the videos which spoof the â€Å"unboxing† trend in the tech world have had widespread play on YouTube and across a number of social networks (Business Wire 1/6/2011). This product falls in the popular hand-to-mouth category that, according to a recent Hershey presentation, presently makes up 16% of chocolate sales (adage. com 10/21/10).Erin Swanson, a Morningstar analyst, points ou t that this product is lower risk because it is an extension of an existing brand instead of an entirely new one. Hershey has tried its luck with some recent similar brand extensions. Modeled after Reese’s Pieces, early last year Hershey launched Almond Joy Pieces, York Pieces and Hershey’s Special Dark Pieces. According to a Hershey spokeswoman, Jody Cook, they launched these new products in hopes they would â€Å"entice consumers who eat the traditional form in a private setting to share a bag of Pieces in a social setting (nytimes. om 2/17/10)†. In 2005 the company introduced cookies by each of these three brands which were all discontinued a few years later. Hershey promoted the new product launch with a â€Å"wrapper reward program† which encouraged consumers to be one of the first 25,000 to mail in a wrapper from the full-size version of one of these candies. In turn, participants received a coupon for a free bag of the smaller product. Hershey reli es on promotional programs like this one as a marketing strategy to stimulate sales of certain products at various times throughout the year (2009 Annual Report p 5).We have a variety of promotional programs for our customers as well as advertising and promotional programsfor consumers of our products. We use our promotional programs to stimulate sales of certain products at various times throughout the year. Our sales are typically higher during the third and fourth quarters of the year, representing seasonal and holiday-related sales patterns. In late 2010 Hershey revealed plans to launch TV ads for PayDay and Hershey’s Syrup—two products that haven’t been promoted on television for a decade—alongside the new campaign for Reese’s Minis and Hershey’s Drops.According to CEO David West, this decision was made in response to the positive results from a pledge in 2008 to increase ad spending by 20% for two years. â€Å"Sales analysis consists of measuring and evaluating actual sales in relation to goals (Kotler and Keller 34). For the most part, the spending on these recent brands has exceeded expectations. Effective sales analysis highlighted the strong results Hershey won from their amped up efforts at promoting core brands like Kisses and Reese’s and caused them to later extend this effort to Twizzlers and Kit Kat.

Definition of Tag Question and Its Use in Spanish

A tag question is a brief question that follows a statement in which the person asking is seeking confirmation or denial of the statement. In both English and Spanish, it is common to use tag questions when the person making the statement expects the listener to be in agreement. In both English and Spanish, a tag question following a negative statement is usually in the affirmative, while a tag question following a positive statement is usually in the negative. The most common Spanish tag questions are  ¿no? and  ¿verdad?, with some usage of  ¿no es verdad?. English question tags usually take the form exemplified by are they?, arent they?, is it?, and isnt it?In both English and Spanish, a negative tag question is answered in the affirmative (such as yes or sà ­) if the responder is in agreement. This is in contrast with German or French, which have special words (doch and si, respectively) for giving an affirmative answer to a question that is negative in form. Also Known As Question tag in English, coletilla interrogativa in Spanish (although the term is seldom used). Examples of Question Tags Tag questions are in boldface: El presidente es loco  ¿no? (The president is crazy, isnt he?)No eres guatemalteca  ¿verdad? (Youre not Guatemalan, are you?)Este ordenador es nuevo  ¿no?  (This computer is new, isnt it?)No quieres comer  Ã‚ ¿verdad? (You dont want to eat, do you?)