Welcome to the Clay Lane blog
This page keeps you up-to-date with recent additions, alerts you to posts you may have missed, and invites you to tackle exercises similar to those NL Clay gave to pupils aged 12-13 in the 1930s.
Add Vowels Every Day • Think and Speak
Make as many words as you can by adding vowels (AEIOU) to these consonants.
mp (5+1)
amp. imp. map. mop. mope.
ump.
Spinners Every Day • Think and Speak
Pick any group of three words, and see if you can still remember them in an hour, and still remember them tomorrow. For a further challenge, try using all of your three words together in a single sentence.
The words in this puzzle are taken randomly from a list of 927 common words. You can change e.g. cat → cats, go → went, quick → quickly.
1 Medical. Save. Turn.
2 Audience. Five. Owner.
3 Institution. Live. Watch.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
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On This Day
The sounds of an English country Christmas helped Tennyson in his deep mourning for an old friend.
3
In a sermon for Christmas Day, St Bede confronts his brethren with the truth about Mary’s wonderful child.
Join this group of ideas together to make a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.
Jesus was a man. Jesus was God. Mary gave birth to him. [Baby. Both. Only.]
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4
Use these similar-sounding words in sentences and show the difference between them.
Use correctly in sentences:
IIt’s. IIIts. IIIWho’s. IVWhose. VWere. VIWe’re. VIIThere’s. VIIITheirs. IXLets. XLet’s.
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5
‘Alpha of the Plough’ thought the Victorians understood Christmas and New Year better than we do.
Join each group of ideas together to make a single sentence, in as many ways as you can.
People disparage the previous generation. Every generation does it. The next one will disparage ours. [Compare. Past. Parent.]
We send each other cards at Christmas. We write greetings in them. They reflect society’s values. [Exchange. Reveal. Wish.]
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6
A short prayer and poem from the Sarum Missal, for the night before Christmas.
7
JS Bach: Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns die Stimme
This is the Chorale from the Cantata Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns die Stimme BWV 140. The hymn was written by Philipp Nicolai, and published in 1599, and is a traditional hymn in Advent and at Christmas.
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Awake! the voice of the watchman
Calleth us from high upon the walls;
Awake, O City of Jerusalem!
This is the hour named midnight:
She calleth us with a clear voice.
Where are ye, O wise virgins?
Arise, the Bridegroom cometh;
Stand, and take your lamps in hand!
Alleluia! [Praise ye the Lord!]
Make ready for the marriage,
Ye must go out to meet him!