A BEAR was the next to congratulate the bride. ‘Who’s the lucky fellow?’ he growled. ‘Bring His Excellency an ox,’ teased Lisabeta, ‘and perhaps you’ll see!’
Soon sheep and ox lay ready, nicely skinned, outside Lisabeta’s earth. ‘You knock’ whispered the wolf. ‘No, you knock’ replied the bear. So they frightened a hare into knocking for them, while the bear climbed a tree, and the wolf hid beneath some leaves.
Tom ambled out, found the meat, and set to. ‘What an appetite!’ groaned the bear. ‘Such teeth and claws!’ whimpered the wolf, and the leaf-pile shivered. Tom spied it, and thinking ‘Mouse!’ he pounced joyfully. The leaves yelped, and something grey shot out. At the same instant, Tom shrieked, and raced for the treetops. ‘Alas!’ wailed the bear, ‘he has seen me!’ and crashed down through the branches, to vanish far into the wood.
Since that day, all the creatures of the wood have lived in awe of old Tom, their Head Forester, and they leave fresh meat at Lisabeta’s door each morning. But they still make the quivering little hare knock.
Précis
Both a wolf and a bear brought food for Cat Ivanovitch, hoping for a sneak peek at him; but as they lay hidden, Tom pounced on the terrified wolf, thinking he was a mouse, and then gave such a shriek of surprise that he frightened the bear too. And so the fearsome Tom was acknowledged by all as Head Forester. (60 / 60 words)
Both a wolf and a bear brought food for Cat Ivanovitch, hoping for a sneak peek at him; but as they lay hidden, Tom pounced on the terrified wolf, thinking he was a mouse, and then gave such a shriek of surprise that he frightened the bear too. And so the fearsome Tom was acknowledged by all as Head Forester.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, because, not, or, unless, whereas, who.
Archive
Word Games
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.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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 Explore. Married. Old.
2 Forester. Mouser. See.
3 Pet. Treetop. Vixen.
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.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
rd (18+2)
aired. arid. erode. radii. radio. raid. read. red. reed. rid. ride. road. rod. rode. rodeo. rood. rude. rued.
redo. roadie.
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