87 October 8
Complete each of these statements with a little request for confirmation.
Tag questions are those little questions such as aren’t I? or wouldn’t you? that we attach to the end of a statement in the hope of confirmation. See if you can dream up tags for these sentences. The sentences come from the novels of Agatha Christie.
1 “Life is full of trials, ________?”
2 “She’s not been kidnapped, ________?”
3 “They keep it in the Tower, ________?”
4 “You'd think so, ________?”
5 “So we can’t go and ask the dog, ________?”
Now see if you can make up sentences for these tags.
Do we. Isn’t it. Wouldn’t she. Must I. Haven’t we. Were we. Has he. Have they. Didn’t he. Oughtn’t it. Can you.
88 October 5
Persian scholar Al-Ghazali canvassed the opinions of ancient thinkers and ascetics on the right use of knowledge.
I recently added this post, The Perils of the Learned.
Al-Ghazali (1056-1111), known in Mediaeval Europe as Algazel, was one of the towering figures of Islam at around the time of Anselm of Canterbury in England. In 1091, Al-Ghazali (who was from Tus, now Tous near Mashhad in Iran) was appointed to a prestigious teaching post in Baghdad, but four years later he abruptly gave it up and embarked on a ten-year pilgrimage to Damascus, Jerusalem and Mecca, his faith in academe shaken by the intrigues of Court and University alike. The fruit of his soul-searching was The Revival of the Religious Sciences, in which he examined what the search for knowledge should be like for the truly religious man.
This short extract finds Al-Ghazali canvassing the views of various Muslim authorities on the dangers of learning. It includes a neat aphorism by Al-Khalil ibn-Ahmad (?718-?791), compiler of the first Arabic dictionary, which in various forms may be found in English books of quotations, and which NL Clay set as a test of elocution:
He who knows and knows that he knows,
Is wise; follow him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows,
Is asleep; wake him.
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not,
Is a fool; shun him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not,
Is a child; teach him.
Al-Ghazali’s views on education are quite well summed up by another English writer, William Hornbye, who wrote in his Horn-Book (1622):
Learning’s a ladder, grounded upon faith
By which we clime to heaven (the Scripture saith);
And ’tis a means to hurry men to hell
If grace be wanting for to use it well.
Copy Book Posts (45)
89 October 5
Fill the empty boxes with letters, using the clues to help you find the right ones.
A new crossword for the collection.
Fill the empty boxes with letters to make words running across and down. Use the numbered clues to help you find the right words. Click any box to get started.
2 across A sudden flood of e.g. river water, burglaries. 5 letters
4 across Unwise. 7 letters
5 across Mark of punctuation. 5 letters
1 down Former name for Iran. 6 letters
2 down Lazy, drooping posture. 6 letters
3 down Apparently effortless skill or style. 6 letters
Crosswords (5)
90 October 3
Give these words various different shades of meaning just by the way you say them.
Read each of these words out aloud, varying the intonation. Explain how your intonation adds shades of meaning.
If you are doing this with someone else, one of you can say the word and the other can try to describe the mood.
1 Yes. No. Again.
2 Try. Tomorrow. Never.
3 Goodbye. Well. Now.
4 Chocolate. Sorry. Oh.
Questioning. Doubting. Affirming. Denying. Angry. Pleading. Soothing. Annoyed. Impatient. Offended. Outraged. Pleased. Excited.
91 October 3
These words have very similar meaning but they are not the same — can you show the difference?
To what extent are these words synonymous? Give examples.
1 Brave.
2 Foolhardy.
3 Valiant.
See also Confusables.
92 October 1
When the Reformers sold off the treasures of Durham Cathedral, they sold a priceless piece of Scottish history into oblivion.
I recently added this post, The Black Rood of Scotland.
It comes from The Rites of Durham, a look back at the abbey at Durham Cathedral as it was before the Protestant Reformation that began with Henry VIII’s break with Rome in 1534. The Rites was written by an anonymous author in 1593; however, for this extract I have used an edition made in 1671, because it has more modern spelling and vocabulary.
This particular passage has to do with the Battle of Neville’s Cross, in which English forces repelled a Scottish invasion on October 17th, 1346, at Redhills just west of Durham. King David II of Scotland carried a priceless relic, the Black Rood, into the battle. The author of the Rites recounts the legend of how David came to possess it, and then goes on to tell us what happened to it after the battle, and why.
Composition
Join each group of ideas together into one sentence in at least two different ways, using different words as much as you can.
1 David fought in the Battle of Neville’s Cross. He wore the Black Rood on his breast. He hoped it would protect him.
2 A stag menaced David. He raised his hands. A cross appeared in them. The stag vanished.
3 David built an abbey. He put the Black Rood in it. He named the abbey Holyrood.
Copy Book Posts (45)