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16
21 May
Words that indicate the ‘essence’ of something often use suffixes, e.g. leader → leadership, supreme → supremacy, and so on. Suggest at least three nouns of this sort for each suffix below:
I-SHIP. II-CY. III-TUDE. IV-TY.
IAuthorship, Courtship, Scholarship. IIBankruptcy, Candidacy, Constancy. IIICertitude, Fortitude, Magnitude. IVFrailty, Normality, Purity.
Based on Straightforward English (1949) by NL Clay.
17
21 May
In Crabbed Age and Youth, Robert Louis Stevenson argued that we should not try to silence the opinions of the young, however foolish they may seem. He did not pretend that the young are wise and pioneering thinkers. He thought they were mostly thinking nonsense. But it was better to come up with bad answers to good questions than to ask no questions at all.
18
19 May
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.
Consistency. Dressing. Fragrance. Gust. Path. Poultice. River. Scent. Squall. Stream. Trajectory. Viscosity.
19
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!’.
20
19 May
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.
21
19 May
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.
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