Express each of these ideas with a single word. Don’t be satisfied with the first word you think of: think of several, and choose the best.
IThickness or thinness of a liquid. IIMedicated cloth or pad applied to a wound or sore. IIILine of flight of a projectile such as a bullet or arrow. IVLong, open channel of flowing water. VPleasant smell. VISudden violent rush of wind.
Suggestions
Consistency. Dressing. Fragrance. Gust. Path. Poultice. River. Scent. Squall. Stream. Trajectory. Viscosity.
30
19 May
Explain what each of these common expressions means, using different words. Can you give an example of it in use?
IBreak a record. IIBreak faith. IIIBreak ground. IVBreak one’s heart. VBreak one’s journey. VIBreak the back of. VIIBreak the bank. VIIIBreak the ice. IXBreak the mould. XBreak the news. XIMake or break. XII‘Break a leg!’.
31
19 May
Blind Guide
by William Wirt
Introduction — William Wirt, a rising Virginian lawyer, published The Letters of a British Spy in 1803. He took the character of a British tourist (not a secret agent) in the US, and remarked on the habits of the Americans twenty years after the Revolutionary War. This famous passage brings to startling life a blind Christian minister in a roadside chapel in Orange County, as he preaches the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Read
32
19 May
It’s All in the Delivery
by Marcus Tullius Cicero
Introduction — Aeschines (389-314 BC) and Demosthenes (384-322 BC) were lawyers and statesmen of Athens, and rivals. Cicero, a Roman lawyer of a later generation, knew of their competitive relationship, and told this story to illustrate both their strength of feeling and also, hidden deeper than even Aeschines realised, their mutual respect.
Read
33
17 May
The Road to Ruin
by Bishop George Berkeley
Introduction — In 1721, Bishop Berkeley published an agonised response to the frenzy for get-rich-quick schemes then gripping the country, of which the infamous South Sea Company was just one startling example. The nation’s economy, he said, needed money and credit to cycle steadily through honest industry. Too many people were taking them out and staking them on the wheel of fortune.
Read
34
17 May
Suggest commands, warnings or prohibitions that you have seen publicly printed or exhibited, e.g. No Entry. How many of your signs are complete sentences? How could you make them into complete sentences? E.g. ‘Please do not enter this way’.
Suggestions
IKeep off the grass. IINo smoking. IIIKeep away from children. IVBox — recycle. VNo ball games. VIPost/stick no bills. VIINo exit. VIIINo through road. IXNo parking. XStaff only. XIDrive carefully. XIISilence. XIIIGive way. XIVMind the gap.
Based on an exercise in Think and Speak (1929) by NL Clay.
35
16 May
My Native Notes
by James Boswell
Introduction — James Boswell, Dr Johnson’s Scottish friend, believed that when anyone moves to a new area, the locals should not have to sweat at trying to understand him for any longer than is necessary. Migrants such as he was have a duty to learn to speak good English — but not too good.
Read
36
16 May
‘The Gloria Scott’ is a short story in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In that tale, James Armitage received the following letter, which threw him into a pitiable state of anxiety. See if you can spot the hidden message.
The supply of game for London is going steadily up. Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all orders for fly paper and for preservation of your hen pheasant’s life.
Solution
The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life.
The hidden message is revealed by separating the words of the original letter into groups of three, and then reading only the first word of each group.
Now see if you can compose another letter, using the same system, for the cable received by Carruthers in ‘The Solitary Cyclist’ (a story in The Return of Sherlock Holmes).
The old man is dead.
Suggestion
The train is old but their man says it is nonetheless running dead on time.