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Clay Lane

Straightforward English

Adapted from pre-Sixties textbooks for home and school written by NL Clay (1905-1991)

Get Started

“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)

Straightforward English

This site has been created for adults who, free from the burden of tests and examinations, feel they are now ready to develop a deeper interest in English culture, literature and history, to discover more of what is best in the English spirit, and to make good the gaps in an imperfect command of the English tongue.

Clay Lane is inspired by textbooks used in homes and schools across England from the 1920s to the 1960s. They were written by NL Clay, Senior English Master at Ecclesfield Grammar School in Yorkshire, to help citizens of a free and democratic society think clearly and speak plainly.

The Blog

Get started with The Blog, where you will find the latest stories and exercises, plus selections from our Archive.

The Copybook

Read passages similar to those NL Clay collected in his anthologies of prose and verse, to gain a feeling for the language, history and culture of the English-speaking world.

“We do not take enough pride in the simple but strong English that men of action have written. Nelson’s message, “England expects...”, ought to be in every boy’s memory, not merely as an expression of the English spirit but also as an example of clearness and directness. Samples of the literary part of our heritage have filled our school books. Little room has been left for what are equally important, passages showing the English tradition of making a clear account of something done.”

NL Clay, Record and Report (1947)

Think and Speak

Solve short mental agility puzzles similar to those NL Clay gave to pupils aged 12 to 13, for practising oral and written composition.

“If ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ are to be more than catchwords, clear communication must be the rule, and not the exception. In a totalitarian state it may be sufficient for the dictator and his henchmen to be able to use straightforward language. Do we want a society in which placid masses take their orders from bosses? The alternative to government by force is government by persuasion. The latter must mean that the governed can talk back to the governors.”

NL Clay, Straightforward English (1949)

Comfortable Words

Clay recommended the Bible as a model of ‘straightforward accounts’. It is included here in the Authorized Version of 1611, accompanied by some hymns and prayers in Church English.

“On your bookshelves at home you will have something to supplement any anthology. Open your Bible at the Acts of the Apostles if you want straightforward accounts.”

NL Clay, Straightforward English (1949)

Word Games

Last but not least... Some puzzles with words and their letters, just for fun.

“Never was any thing truer than the old saying, that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy; and, accordingly, all wise legislators, and, indeed, all legislators, till of very late, have taken care to reserve a certain, and not inconsiderable, portion of the year, to be devoted to rest, leisure and amusement.”

William Cobbett, Political Register (1805)