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Recent Posts In This Sign Conquer The Marks of a Tyrant Keep It Short Go to the Ant

Garden of Jane Austen’s house, Chawton.

© David Short, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0. Source
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The English Language

Passages illustrating the importance of the English language, and the duty of the citizen to keep it in good repair.

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There are sixteen posts in The Copy Book tagged The English Language. To see all our posts, go to the Archive.

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1

Keep It Short

By Plutarch

Plutarch argues that it when it comes to strong speech, less is always more.

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Picture: By Johannes Moreelse (?1602-1634), Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.

Posted February 24

2

Nouns of Number

By William Cobbett

William Cobbett gives his son James some helpful examples of collective nouns.

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Picture: By John Wallace, via Wellcome Collection and Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.

Posted February 13

3

Who’ll Turn the Grindstone?

By Charles Miner

Whenever Charles Miner suspected an ulterior motive, he would say quietly ‘That man has an axe to grind!’

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Picture: By Just L'Hernault (1832-1922), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.

Posted February 1

4

Rich Harmony

By John Galsworthy

John Galsworthy urges the English to love their language as they love their country.

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Picture: © Derek Bennett, Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

Posted January 23

5

The Abuse of Literacy

By William Hazlitt

Reading and writing should have taught the people more than name-calling and how to manipulate opinion.

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Picture: By Clara Taggart MacChesney (1860-1928), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.

Posted January 13

6

Who Are We to Criticise?

By Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle felt that English criticism of Goethe revealed more about his critics than his poems.

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Picture: By Sir John Everett Millais (?-1896), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.. Source.

Posted December 8 2024

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★ The Persistence of Thomas Clarkson Today, the slave trade is a £150bn global business. Back in the late 18th century, it was making a lot of influential people very rich too, but some in England were determined to stop it.

For Today • March 28 • The birth of Thomas Clarkson

★ The Story of ‘Charlotte Dundas’ The invention of the steamboat was a formidable challenge not just of engineering, but of politics and finance.

For Today • March 28 • William Symington’s ‘Charlotte Dundas’ successfully tested

In This Sign Conquer Bishop Eusebius recalls what Constantine told him about the vision that brought him the crown.

Posted February 26 • The Copy Book

Phrases Use phrases such as ‘to the town’ in sentences, with nouns or with verbs.

Posted February 26

The Marks of a Tyrant Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle explains what it is that defines a tyranny.

Posted February 25 • The Copy Book

Keep It Short Plutarch argues that it when it comes to strong speech, less is always more.

Posted February 24 • The Copy Book

Anagrams Shuffle the letters of each of these words to make new ones. See if you can match the number indicated.

Posted February 23 • Think and Speak

Polyword: Mere Make as many words as you can using the letters of one nine-letter word. Can you beat our score?

Posted February 21 • Think and Speak

Go to the Ant Solomon recommends taking lessons from one of God’s smallest but most hard-working creatures.

Posted February 20 • The Copy Book

Chariots of Steam Erasmus Darwin imagines how steam power will change the world.

Posted February 16 • The Copy Book

Music Video Modest Mussorgsky: Sorochinsky Fair: Gopak

Posted February 16

Fragments Develop these short phrases into complete sentences.

Posted February 15 • Think and Speak

The Moral Case for Family Farms Richard Cobden called on Parliament to support small, family-owned farms.

Posted February 14 • The Copy Book

Hiawatha Takes a Photograph Lewis Carroll records a suburban photoshoot in the style of Longfellow.

Posted February 13 • The Copy Book

Nouns of Number William Cobbett gives his son James some helpful examples of collective nouns.

Posted February 13 • The Copy Book

Hiawatha’s Inspiration Henry Longfellow tells us how his tale of a heroic Native American warrior came to him.

Posted February 12 • The Copy Book

Near Synonyms These words have very similar meaning but they are not the same — can you show the difference?

Posted February 12

Music Video Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Hiawatha: And They Said Farewell Forever

Posted February 12

Music Video Leroy Anderson: Irish Suite: II. The Minstrel Boy

Posted February 11

The Travellers and the Axe Two men find an axe, and then find some trouble, but they aren’t keen on sharing either of them.

Posted February 11 • The Copy Book

Train

Posted February 9 • Think and Speak

The Prophecy of Peter of Pomfret Peter foretold that King John would cease to be England’s sovereign, and he was right, though John still wore his crown.

Posted February 9 • The Copy Book