Welcome

Felicia Dorothea Hemans 1793-1835

The stately homes of England!
How beautiful they stand,
Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
O’er all the pleasant land!

‘The Homes of England’

Welcome to

Clay Lane

Straightforward English

Straightforward English

Clay Lane is a website for people who want to feel comfortable reading and writing good English, and who truly care about the language and heritage of the English people. It is inspired by textbooks written by Yorkshire schoolmaster NL Clay, used in English schools and homes from the 1920s to the 1960s, so it is ideal for those who prefer traditional methods and content.

Clay believed in ‘straightforward English’, that is, in no-nonsense speaking and writing that is clear and correct, and is the result of serious reflection, not just a desire to build a following. Freedom and democracy, he warned, would be mere catchwords without it. See Straightforward English.

Read short passages of good, straightforward English, from Shakespeare and the Bible to Defoe, Austen, Dickens and Kipling.

Broaden your knowledge of history, ideas and literature as you read.

Solve brainteasers in oral and written composition, like those Clay gave to his Grammar School pupils.

Ask for help with your English if you feel you need it.

“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)

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Blog Latest

December 6

Opposites

Compose sentences to showcase a word and its opposite — whatever you think that may be.

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Clay Lane Blog

Stay informed about new posts, revisit posts from the Archive, try your hand at some brainteasers from the 1930s classroom, and listen to classical music.

About Clay Lane About NL Clay

The Copy Book

Hundreds of short passages of history, fiction and poetry from Britain and around the world, with study notes and brainteasers on grammar and vocabulary.

Authors Subjects

Think and Speak

Exercises in expression and imagination based on those given to pupils aged 12-13 in English schools in the 1930s.

Exercises Word Games

Comfortable Words

The King James Bible of 1611, a model of straightforward English made for reading aloud, with a selection of prayers and hymns.

Hymns KJV Bible Prayers

Word Games

A selection of games with words and their letters, including Crosswords, Polywords and the Honeycomb Game.

Add Vowels Honeycomb Polywords

The Tale of Years

Find Copy Book posts in chronological order, from the story of Abraham to Julius Caesar, and from Caratacus to the outbreak of the Second World War.

Featured Music

Sir Arthur Sullivan: Overture to ‘Marmion’

Read more about this music

Find more music on The Clay Lane Blog

Featured Post

From Hudson Bay

It was not until 1602 that the channel later known as Hudson Strait was discovered by George Weymouth, an English mariner. He apparently had no knowledge of the great inland sea to which the way was opened, having proceeded only about one hundred leagues up the strait. A few years later Weymouth’s log books fell into the hands of Henry Hudson, who had already won renown in the search for a North-East Passage to Asia.

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Featured Exercise

Verb and Noun Find in Think and Speak

Many words can serve as noun or verb depending on context: see if you can prove this with the examples below. Nouns go well with words such as the/a, or his/her; verbs go well after I/you/he etc..

1 Rain. 2 Report. 3 Edge. 4 Ride. 5 Start. 6 Profit. 7 Play. 8 Golf. 9 Laugh.

Variations: 1.if possible, use your noun in the plural, e.g. cat → cats. 2.use your verb in a past form, e.g. go → went. 3.use your noun in a sentence with one of these words: any, enough, fewer, less, no, some.

Featured Subjects

Character and Conduct

Posts 117

Stories illustrating noble deeds in matters both great and small, such as the noble gesture of Sir Philip Sidney, and the determination of Benjamin Disraeli.

Free Speech and Conscience

Posts 23

Passages defending the right and obligation of every citizen to judge whatever is good and true, and to talk back to those who govern him.

America and the US

Posts 25

Tales from our cousins to the West, telling of their independence from Britain, their bloody civil war, their runaway prosperity, and the slender thread by which it hangs.

Greece

Posts 53

Tales about the cradle of Western civilisation, from Socrates and the first democracies to the fall of the Roman Empire, the Ottoman yoke, and Britain’s part in the fight for independence.

France

Posts 29

Stories about our friends across the Channel, from Roman times to the Hundred Years’ War, her bloody Revolution, and the giddying rise and fall of Emperor Napoleon.

British National Character

Posts 15

The passages in this section illustrate how people have thought of the Englishman over the centuries. They include the impressions of writers from England and also from abroad.

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