‘WE are running’ explained an elephant with dignity ‘because the world is crumbling.’ ‘Really?’ said the lion, surprised. ‘Where did you see this, elephant?’ The elephant admitted that he had it from a fox. ‘Ask the deer’ said the fox hastily. ‘The rabbits told us’ said the deer. Then the rabbits began nudging one another and whispering, until one said in a frightened squeak, ‘I heard it begin, I heard the sound of the earth crumbling by the wood-apple tree!’
‘Let us go and look’ said the lion soberly. So with some misgivings the rabbit rode on his golden back all the way to the tree, where the shattered wood-apple was still lying on the sunbaked ground. ‘That is what you heard, you foolish rabbit’ said the lion, and padded back to tell the others that the world was not crumbling after all. And they believed the wise King of Beasts, or they might all be running still.*
Addressing students at the Royal College of Music in 1918, Sir C. H. Parry spoke about two kinds of mistake: the good kind, mistakes we make when we are taking personal initiative, and the bad kind, “that unfortunate herding instinct of the race which makes people take their cues from one another, and lean up against one another, and do stupid things because so many other stupid people do them.” See Mistakes, Right and Wrong.
Archive
Word Games
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 Another. Fool. Three.
2 Deer. Lumber. Wise.
3 Grind. Once. Wake.
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.)
Statements, Questions and Commands Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in a sentence. Try to include at least one statement, one question and one command among your sentences. Note that some verbs make awkward or meaningless words of command, e.g. need, happen.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Explain. 2 Look. 3 Close. 4 Stand. 5 Branch. 6 Run. 7 Surprise. 8 Lie. 9 Wake.
Variations: 1. use a minimum of seven words for each sentence 2. include negatives, e.g. isn’t, don’t, never 3. use the words ‘must’ to make commands 4. compose a short dialogue containing all three kinds of sentence: one statement, one question and one command
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding -less.
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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