Straightforward English
Clay Lane is inspired by textbooks on English language and literature written by Yorkshire schoolmaster NL Clay, and used in schools and homes across England from the 1920s to the 1960s. It is ideal for those who prefer traditional methods and content.
Clay believed in ‘straightforward English’, 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)
Featured Music
Sir Arthur Sullivan: Overture to ‘Marmion’
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Featured Exercise
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.
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-.
