Introduction
In February 1916, Germany launched an offensive at Verdun in Lorraine, near the German border with France. To relieve the French forces, the British tried to draw the Germans north to the River Somme in Picardy.
THE first day of the Battle of the Somme, which began on the 1st of July, 1916, with the Battle of Albert, constituted a heavy defeat for the Germans, and overall the Somme was declared a victory for the Allies.
But the British lost over 60,000 men on that one day, the bloodiest in the history of the British Army.
By the time it was all over on the 18th of November, casualties on both sides had grown to more than a million.
The Somme marked the beginning of modern, industrial warfare. The British Army deployed tanks for the first time here, and sent aircraft to spy far behind enemy lines.
Artillery was more powerful, and armies were larger, than ever before. The battlefields were a maze of shell-craters and muddy, chaotic trenches; the noise was unrelenting, the sights were harrowing.
Learning how to fight like this was costly in the most heart-breaking way.
Précis
Hoping to relieve pressure on French forces in Verdun during the Great War, the British drew the Germans to the River Somme in northern France, where battle was joined on 1st July 1916. By mid-November, a million soldiers had died, the appalling toll driven by bigger, mass-produced weapons from a newly industrial age, including tanks and aeroplanes. (57 / 60 words)
Hoping to relieve pressure on French forces in Verdun during the Great War, the British drew the Germans to the River Somme in northern France, where battle was joined on 1st July 1916. By mid-November, a million soldiers had died, the appalling toll driven by bigger, mass-produced weapons from a newly industrial age, including tanks and aeroplanes.
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, if, not, or, otherwise, ought, until, 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 Declare. Heavy. Modern.
2 Beginning. Ever. Spy.
3 Before. More. Shell.
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.
pl (11+3)
pail. pal. pale. peal. peel. pile. plea. pole. polio. polo. pool.
opal. pele. pilau.
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