Clay Lane

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New posts, old posts, and a few brainteasers

December 26 December 13 OS

103

What is the best way to read these sentences out aloud?

James Boswell tells us that Samuel Johnson, who had a poor opinion of the way actors declaimed their lines, challenged celebrity actor-manager David Garrick to recite the Ninth Commandment,

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour,

and pronounced with glee that Garrick had read it improperly, by failing to stress the two words ‘not’ and ‘false’. Johnson’s biographer Sir John Hawkins (in whose recollection the example sentence was the Seventh, concerning adultery) said that Garrick put the stress on ‘shalt’.

How would you read it? And how would you read the following?

1 Behold, the half was not told me. [1 Kings 10:7]

When the Queen of Sheba came to see the glory of Solomon’s court.

2 There shall no deceitful person dwell in my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. [Psalm 101:10]

David promises to be more discriminating.

3 Thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. [Luke 15:27]

He was offended because his father had just ordered the fatted calf, no less, to be served in honour of his wastrel brother.

Posted October 16

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104

Choose one of these words and use it metaphorically, not literally.

A metaphor is a figure of speech, such as ‘I smell at rat’, ‘he’s just a paper tiger’, ‘the club is swimming in debts’, ‘he’s toast!’ or ‘Westminster is the mother of Parliaments’. As a rule, when we say such things we don’t mean them literally. We say them because they create a powerful mental image that is much more effective than the literal truth. The Bible is full of metaphors: I am the door, the Lord is my rock and my fortress, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, etc..

A related figure of speech is the simile. ‘My son is as brave as a lion’ is a simile. ‘My son is a lion’ is a metaphor. ‘She’s like a breath of fresh air’ is a simile. ‘She’s a breath of fresh air’ is a metaphor. With a simile, there’s always a tell-tale ‘as...as’ or ‘like’. Metaphors simply do without them. In creating a metaphor, it can be helpful to start with a simile.

Use each word below in a metaphor. Try to create sentences that show clearly why the word has been chosen.

IShield. IILadder. IIIProp. IVRoad. VBurn. VIBlow. VIIHeart.

Posted October 15

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105

Ministerial Myopia

We all want our politicians to be clever men, but being cunning isn’t the same as being wise.

Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, declared himself one of the Country Party, a loose and cross-bench federation of MPs speaking up (so they said) for the country as a whole, and not only for the elite only. In 1738, he wrote The Idea of a Patriot King for the benefit of Frederick, Prince of Wales, in which Bolingbroke distinguished between two kinds of politician.

Read

Join each group of ideas together to make a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.

He is short-sighted. He will not achieve anything. [Ahead. Fail. Unless.]

He is honest. Few politicians are. [Majority. Rare. Unlike.]

Posted October 15

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106

Make as many words as you can using the letters of one nine-letter word. Can you beat our score?

A Polyword is a game with words and letters. Make words of four letters or more from the letters of a nine-letter word, using each letter only once. Include the highlighted letter in every word you make. Can you beat our score?

Play

Posted October 15

107

A Most Successful Holiday

The best holidays are the ones that make us long for home.

A. G. Gardiner was a columnist for the Star (later absorbed into the Daily Mail) during and after the Great War, under the pseudonym of ‘Alpha of the Plough’. The following extract opened a piece titled “On Coming Home”, in which he reflected on what it is that makes for a really good holiday.

Read

Join each group of ideas together to make a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.

I’d like to be at home. I am on holiday. I will go home in a week. [End. Relief. Still. ]

She was on holiday. She wanted to go home. The holiday was a success. [Achieve. Mean. What.]

Posted October 13

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108

Suggests words that rhymes with these words, and see if you can match our score.

For each word below, suggest words that rhyme with it. See if you can think of at least the number indicated.

1 Water. (4)

2 Double. (4)

3 Love. (4)

Suggested Rhymes (A-Z)

Posted October 12

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