Introduction
Edmund Burke reminded the House of Commons that her enviable international influence did not depend on government bureacracy or complex trade deals or military might. It arose from Britain’s ‘unique selling point’, a love of liberty her colonies could find nowhere else.
AS long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces towards you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have; the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obedience.
Slavery they can have anywhere. It is a weed that grows in every soil.* They may have it from Spain, they may have it from Prussia. But, until you become lost to all feeling of your true interest and your natural dignity, freedom they can have from none but you. It is the spirit of the English constitution, which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies every part of the empire, even down to the minutest member.
This phrase and indeed the substance of Burke’s argument was recalled in his final speech to the Commons by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in 1937. The speech can be read and heard online at The British Library.
Précis
The eighteenth-century MP Edmund Burke urged London to remember that what held Britain’s colonies together all around the world was not armies or laws, but the fact that the colonies saw Britain as a beacon of liberty in a world where colonies were more usually expected to serve the mother country like a slave. (54 / 60 words)
The eighteenth-century MP Edmund Burke urged London to remember that what held Britain’s colonies together all around the world was not armies or laws, but the fact that the colonies saw Britain as a beacon of liberty in a world where colonies were more usually expected to serve the mother country like a slave.
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, despite, if, just, otherwise, ought, since, whereas.
Archive
Word Games
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 Choose. Face. Keep.
2 May. Wisdom. Worship.
3 Consecrate. Constitution. Perfect.
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.)
Confusables Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that are similar to one another, but not exactly the same. Compose your own sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between them, whether in meaning, grammar or use.
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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