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What the Signalman Saw
The southern portal of Hog Hill Tunnel on the old Stanhope and Tyne Railway in County Durham. Running to about 120yds, it was one of the world’s very first railway tunnels. The line is, alas, no more: passenger services ceased on May 23rd, 1955 (showing once again that Nationalisation offers no guarantee whatsoever to social amenities). The tunnel itself is still standing.
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The southern portal of Hog Hill Tunnel on the old Stanhope and Tyne Railway in County Durham. Running to about 120yds, it was one of the world’s very first railway tunnels. The line is, alas, no more: passenger services ceased on May 23rd, 1955 (showing once again that Nationalisation offers no guarantee whatsoever to social amenities). The tunnel itself is still standing.
“I RAN out again, faster than I had run in (for I had a mortal abhorrence of the place upon me), and I looked all round the red light with my own red light, and I went up the iron ladder to the gallery atop of it, and I came down again, and ran back here. I telegraphed both ways: ‘An alarm has been given. Is anything wrong?’ The answer came back, both ways: ‘All well.’”
Resisting the slow touch of a frozen finger tracing out my spine, I showed him how that this figure must be a deception of his sense of sight. “As to an imaginary cry,” said I, “do but listen for a moment to the wind in this unnatural valley while we speak so low, and to the wild harp it makes of the telegraph wires!”
That was all very well, he returned. But he would beg to remark that he had not finished.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
The signalman searched not only the tunnel but the signal outside it, still without finding anyone. He communicated with colleagues up and down the line, but they reported nothing to warrant the mysterious figure’s frantic warnings of disaster. The narrator of the tale began to rationalise it all, but it seemed that there was more to hear. (57 / 60 words)
The signalman searched not only the tunnel but the signal outside it, still without finding anyone. He communicated with colleagues up and down the line, but they reported nothing to warrant the mysterious figure’s frantic warnings of disaster. The narrator of the tale began to rationalise it all, but it seemed that there was more to hear.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, besides, must, or, since, unless, who.
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Alarm. Back. Tunnel.
2 Beg. Five. Moment.
3 Above. Seem. Sit.
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.)
Homophones Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that sound the same, but differ in spelling and also in meaning. Compose your own sentences to bring out the differences between them.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
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Picture: By Johannes Moreelse (?1602-1634), Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.
Posted February 24
Charles Dickens sketches for us the shyly ingratiating youth who gets himself in a tangle in the presence of Beauty.
Picture: By William Beechey (1753-1839), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted August 16 2017
In Charles Dickens’s tale set around Mugby Junction, a man sees his life flash by like a ghostly train.
Picture: © Nick MacNeill, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted July 29 2017
