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 Post
From Robinson Crusoe Goes to Sea
Now I saw plainly the goodness of his observations about the middle station of life; how easy, how comfortable, he had lived all his days, and never had been exposed to tempests at sea or troubles on shore; and I resolved that I would, like a true repenting prodigal, go home to my father.
Featured Exercise
Statements, Questions and Commands Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in a sentence. Try to include at least one statement, one question and one command among your sentences. Note that some verbs make awkward or meaningless words of command, e.g. need, happen.
1 Invite. 2 Tune. 3 Ignore. 4 Recognise. 5 End. 6 Prescribe. 7 Number. 8 Machine. 9 Reveal.
Variations: 1. use a minimum of seven words for each sentence 2. include negatives, e.g. isn’t, don’t, never 3. use the words ‘must’ to make commands 4. compose a short dialogue containing all three kinds of sentence: one statement, one question and one command
