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Updates from across the site
6
Monday
On January 13th, 1878, John Bright MP assured his constituents in Birmingham that reports of an imminent Russian invasion of Europe were utter delusion. Some in the Commons said that sending troops to aid Turkey in the Russo-Turkish War (now a year old) was in the ‘British interest’, but Bright reminded them how the Crimean War in 1853-56 had achieved nothing but a million dead young men.
7
Sunday
Use the following words in sentences of at least ten words in length. Make sure you use them as nouns.
IArena. IICost. IIIDecision. IVIntention. VMatter. VIQualm. VIIWalk.
Based on an exercise in Think and Speak (1929) by NL Clay.
8
Saturday
Suggest answers to these questions, in passages of at least 20 words.
1 If the earth isn’t flat, why does it look flat?
2 How can I tell whether a word is being used as a noun?
3 Why is it that the thing we are searching for is always in the last place we look?
Based on an exercise in Think and Speak (1929) by NL Clay, and Better English: Fifth Year (1930) by Harry Jewett Jeschke, Milton C. Potter and Harry O. Gillet.
9
Saturday
J. William Jones was a Baptist minister and former chaplain to the Confederate Army in the US Civil War. While in Chattanooga, Tennessee, attending the Southern Baptist Convention held there on 8th-14th May, 1896, Jones was asked to give a speech at a state school, during a ceremony honouring the Union flag. These were his closing remarks, as given in Confederate Veteran magazine that August.
10
Friday
Describe half an hour in one of the following:
IA vet’s waiting room. IIA broken-down lift. IIIA bus.
What pictures come into your mind? Try to describe them.
From an exercise in Exercises 12-13 (1933) by NL Clay.
11
Friday
Sir Guyon, the Knight of Temperance, has been commissioned to help an old man whose land is troubled by a wicked witch. The journey is fraught with dangers, and Sir Guyon has been cast into an endless swoon by Mammon, the money-god, for refusing to be his slave. As the knight slumbers, Spenser reflects on God’s care for the helpless.
