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.
About Clay Lane
VIPs: Very Important Posts
In Quotations: What We Stand For
Materials for the study of good, correct, straightforward English.
Traditional, pre-Sixties methods and content.
Read interesting passages from history and literature.
Practise writing your own English sentences.
Ask for help if 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)
“If ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ are to be more than catchwords,
clear communication must be the rule, and not the exception. 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)
Post Box
: Get In Touch
New and archive material, updated frequently.
Passages for reading, brainteasers for solving, and music for listening.
Browse hundreds of short passages from history,
fiction, poetry and legend.
Brainteasers for developing vocabulary, grammar and expression.
Ask your questions, and get personalised help with your English
from me, Nicholas.
Puzzles with words and their letters, just for fun.
The incomparable English of the King James Bible,
the Prayer Book, and more.
From
Thus Was the Empire Born
By
Rudyard Kipling
1865-1936
And thus, gentlemen — not in a fit of absence of mind — was the Empire born. It was the outcome of the relaxations of persecuted specialists — men who for one cause or another were unfit for the rough and tumble of life at home.
Read
In each group below, you will find words that are similar to one another, but not exactly the same. Compose your own sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between them, whether in meaning, grammar or use.
1.
Answerable.
Responsible.
2.
Certain.
Sure.
3.
Comfort.
Console.
4.
Forestall.
Install.
5.
Formally.
Formerly.
6.
Insular.
Peninsula.
7.
Its.
It’s.
8.
Service.
Servitude.
9.
Unclean.
Dirty.
Extracts from Fiction
Posts
116
Romance, adventure and comedy from the very best fiction writers, including Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, John Buchan, and many more.
Fables and true tales about animals, including a dog who regularly commuted to Matlock, a horse who didn’t approve of bad language, and a cat who saved her owners from an earthquake.
Stories from our cousins in the East, from Rurik the Viking and the Baptism of Rus’ to trade with Ivan the Terrible, a visit from Peter the Great, and the last Emperor.
Discovery and Invention
Posts
115
Tales of scientific innovation and merchant enterprise, from steam power and life-saving medicines to new trade partners far away, and new ways to reach them.
Stories about the British transport revolution that changed the world, from the first locomotive and the first whistle to Flying Scotsman.
Abolition of Slavery
Posts
36
Heart-breaking tales of slavery, in which Britain played a shameful part; and heart-warming tales of Abolition, in which she played a courageous one.
See All
