Clay Lane: the Blog

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44 7 May

Join each group of ideas together to form a single sentence, in as many different ways as you can. You may change any words you like so long as the overall meaning remains the same. See if you can work in one or more of the words suggested.

1 Alf wanted to stay at the crime scene. He wanted to go home with the news. He could not decide what to do.

Between. Happen. Tear.

2 I sat for forty-five minutes. I could see the Ladies’ Room door. I never saw her come out.

Tell. Visible. Watch.

Sentences based on the novels of Dorothy L. Sayers. Developed from an exercise in Exercises 12-13 (1933) by NL Clay.

45 6 May

The First Traffic Lights

from The Express

Introduction — The first traffic lights in the world began operation outside the Houses of Parliament on December 9th, 1868. The previous evening, readers of the Express learnt about the ingenious if somewhat ungainly new technology, and looked forward to a time when all busy junctions would be made safe by traffic lights.

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46 5 May

Good Companions

Express in other words:

1 It is a consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery.

Publius Syrus (fl. 85-43 BC)

2 Every man is like the company he is wont to keep.

Euripides (?484-?407 BC)

47 5 May

The Rule of the Road

by A. G. Gardiner

Introduction — In 1917-18, Arthur Ransome (who would later write Swallows and Amazons) was in St Petersburg, then named Petrograd, reporting on the Communist revolution for the Daily News. One of his tales tickled fellow journalist Alfred Gardiner, who nonetheless drew from it a serious lesson about liberty, a word bandied about as carelessly then as it is today.

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48 4 May

Blind Courage

by George Santayana

Introduction — Writing in 1905, American essayist George Santayana was full of admiration for the common soldier, and for the ordinary citizen who stands up to a bully. But to bellicose politicians and generals, and to anyone who romanticised war, he had some stern words to say.

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49 4 May

Patience

Join this group of ideas together to form a single sentence. Try to do this in at least two different ways. See if you can use one of more of the suggested words.

We passed by a table. A man was sitting there. He was playing patience.

Where. Which. Who.

Sentence based on Greenmantle (1916) by John Buchan.

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