Before you begin...

I’d like to use analytics cookies so I can understand how visitors use Clay Lane. This helps me to create relevant content and make improvements. Learn More →

Close Menu

Search Clay Lane

Clay Lane The Copy Book Think and Speak Comfortable Words About Clay Lane Search Clay Lane Cookies
The Copy Book The Copy Book Subjects Authors Podcasts
Think and Speak Think and Speak Worksheets Exercises
Word Games Add Vowels Crosswords Doublets High Tiles Honeycomb Game Polywords
Comfortable Words Old Testament New Testament Apocrypha Hymns Prayers
Welcome

A cobweb in hoar frost, on a steppe near Lopukhovka, Saratov, Russia.

© Anastasia Vasilevna, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source
‹ › all (87/92)

Solon of Athens ?630-?555 BC

Laws are like spiders’ webs, which stand firm when any light and yielding object falls upon them, while a larger thing breaks through them and makes off.

Diogenes Laertius (AD 180-240), Lives of the Eminent Philosophers.

Read # Liberty and Prosperity

Editor nicholas@claylane.uk

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.

More...

“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

Follow

The Blog

New and archive material, updated frequently. Passages for reading, brainteasers for solving, and music for listening.

Latest • December 21

Read English

The Copy Book

Browse hundreds of short passages from history, fiction, poetry and legend.

Latest • December 21

Christmas at Coverley Hall

Write English

Think and Speak

Brainteasers for developing vocabulary, grammar and expression.

Latest • December 20

Pronunciation

Learn English

Ask your questions, and get personalised help with your English from me, Nicholas.

Post Box : Just ask for help

Play Games

Think and Speak

Puzzles with words and their letters, just for fun.

Quick Links

Polywords • Honeycomb Game

High Tiles • Doublets

More...

Read the Bible

Comfortable Words

The incomparable English of the King James Bible, the Prayer Book, and more.

Quick Links

Search the KJV • Read the KJV

Psalms • Prayers • Hymns

More...

From National Sympathy

By Mandell Creighton 1843-1901

Let us remember that suffering gives an insight into regions where thought cannot penetrate; and the man who has not suffered is wise if he learns some lessons from those who have. History should teach us sympathy with the national past of other peoples.

Read

Opposites Find in Think and Speak

Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.

1. Abundant. 2. Accuse. 3. Approximate. 4. Ask. 5. Come. 6. Grace. 7. Irate. 8. Pride. 9. Refined.

Show Useful Words (A-Z order)

Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding un-.

Liberty and Prosperity

Posts 170

Stories from Britain and elsewhere confirming the social and economic benefits of keeping politicians and their cronies out of the trade and business of ordinary people.

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.

Music and Musicians

Posts 64

The artistic struggles and triumphs of composers from the British Isles and abroad, many in their own words — and accompanied by their music.

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.

Extracts from Fiction

Posts 114

Romance, adventure and comedy from the very best fiction writers, including Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, John Buchan, and many more.

India

Posts 91

Stories from the ancient and mighty civilisation of India, from classical mythology to the Mughal Emperors, the East India Company and the British Raj.

See All

Clay Lane

Clay Lane Blog

Comfortable Words Blog

The Copy Book

Think and Speak

Comfortable Words

About Clay Lane

Exercises

Word Games

The Tale of Years

The Copy Book

Subjects

Authors

Events

Search

Think and Speak

Exercises

Word Games

Comfortable Words

Blog

The Authorized Version

Hymns

Clay Lane About Clay Lane Email Support nicholas@claylane.uk

Latest

Posted Yesterday • The Copy Book

Christmas at Coverley Hall : Sir Roger explains why he makes Christmas such a special time for all his neighbours.

Posted December 20 • Think and Speak

Pronunciation : Create sentences in which a particular consonant features prominently and frequently.

Posted December 19

Music Video : Richard Addinsell: Scrooge Suite

Posted December 17 • Think and Speak

Doing Without If : Rewrite these conditional sentences in such a way that the word ‘if’ is not used.

Posted December 16 • Comfortable Words

Stupendous Height of Heavenly Love : A profound Christmas hymn by Charles Wesley, welcoming the rising of the Sun of Righteousness.

Posted December 16 • Think and Speak

Words of Character : Explain what these nouns tell us about our colleague John.

Posted December 15 • Think and Speak

Jigsaws : Combine each pair of ideas into one sentence, in as many ways as you can. See if you can work in one or more of the words suggested.

Posted December 15

Music Video : Eric Coates: Four Centuries Suite: II. Pavane and Tambourin

Posted December 15 • The Copy Book

The Death of Baldur : Baldur was the toast of Valhalla, but Loki was determined to take him down.

Posted December 13 • The Copy Book

Always Keep A-Hold of Nurse : In this ‘Cautionary Tale’, we hear what happened when naughty Jim gave his nurse the slip.

Posted December 13 • Think and Speak

New Polyword : Make as many words as you can using just nine letters. Can you beat our score?

Posted December 10 • The Copy Book

Picking On Cotton : The politicians of Georgian England went to surprising lengths to shield domestic businesses from overseas competition.

Posted December 8

Music Video : Frank Bridge: Berceuse

Posted December 8

Verbs : Use these verbs in the right past form.

Posted December 8 • The Copy Book

Who Are We to Criticise? : Thomas Carlyle felt that English criticism of Goethe revealed more about his critics than his poems.

Posted December 7

Music Video : Sir Arthur Sullivan: Overture to ‘Marmion’

Posted December 6

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

Posted December 6 • Think and Speak

Tide : Make as many words as you can using the letters of one nine-letter word. Can you beat our score?

Posted December 5 • The Copy Book

A Ministering Angel : As Lord Marmion lies dying on Flodden Field, there is no one near to tend him but the woman he has wronged.

Posted December 5 • The Copy Book

The Court of the Past : We should not force ourselves and ‘our values’ onto the writers of the past.