Welcome to the Clay Lane blog
This page keeps you up-to-date with recent additions, alerts you to posts you may have missed, and invites you to tackle exercises similar to those NL Clay gave to pupils aged 12-13 in the 1930s.
Make as many words as you can by adding vowels (AEIOU) to these consonants.
stls (5)
steals. steels. stiles. stoles. stools.
Pick any group of three words, and see if you can still remember them in an hour, and still remember them tomorrow. For a further challenge, try using all of your three words together in a single sentence.
The words in this puzzle are taken randomly from a list of 927 common words. You can change e.g. cat → cats, go → went, quick → quickly.
1 Business. Chance. Either.
2 Course. Few. Party.
3 Drop. Themselves. Try.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
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2
Make up sentences using these phrases, making sure you put plenty of action in.
For each of these phrases, compose a lively sentence that uses it. Your sentences should include at least one person, one object and one action.
IAt the foot of the cliff. IIUnder the pillow. IIIAcross the table. IVBehind the door. VBetween the pages. VIOn the platform.Adapted from an exercise in School Certificate English (1933) by NL Clay.
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3
Suggest words that rhyme with ‘love’.
Suggest at least FOUR words that rhyme with ‘love’.
Some possible words can be seen by clicking this button.
IAbove. IIDove. IIIGlove. IVGuv. VShove.
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4
Reading and writing should have taught the people more than name-calling and how to manipulate opinion.
Join each group of ideas together to make a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.
Public debate was low in quality. Hazlitt hoped more literacy would raise it. He was disappointed. [Fail. Talk. Write.]
He writes well. He writes about trivial matters. It is a waste. [Serious. Squander. Talent.]
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5
‘Alpha of the Plough’ hoped Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did not treat his old friends as he treated his favourite books.
Join each group of ideas together to make a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.
New books are published daily. Time for reading them is short. Reading any book twice shortens that time. [Already. Enough. Waste.]
Critics admire this new book. I don’t know any of the characters. I will re-read one of my old books. [Familiar. Instead. Realise.]
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6
Orlando Gibbons: Thus Angels Sung
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Thus angels sung, and thus sing we;
to God on high all glory be:
let Him on Earth His Peace bestowe,
and unto men His favour show.