Welcome to Clay Lane
Clay Lane is inspired by textbooks written by NL Clay, used in English schools before the educational changes of the 1960s.
It is for people who appreciate our heritage of strong, plain-spoken English from Shakespeare and the King James Bible to Austen, Dickens and Kipling, and who enjoy playing with words, sentences and ideas.
“The course should train pupils to observe, learn more of the world they live in, think clearly, use the imagination and to speak clearly.”
NL Clay, Think and Speak (1929)
Post Box : Get In Touch
New and archive material, updated frequently. Passages for reading, brainteasers for solving, and music for listening.
Latest • December 25
Latest • December 24
Latest • December 23
Post Box : Just ask for help
From A Coy and Humorous Dame
Nothing is more certain than that Trade cannot be forced; she is a coy and humorous1 Dame, who must be won by Flattery and Allurements, and always flies Force and Power; she is not confined to Nations, Sects, or Climates, but travels and wanders about the Earth, till she fixes her Residence where she finds the best Welcome and kindest Reception.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
The words in this puzzle are taken randomly from a list of 927 common words. You can change e.g. cat → cats, go → went, quick → quickly.
1 Generation. Nation. Tell.
2 Court. Just. Smile.
3 Inside. True. Window.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
