Introduction
ONCE upon a time in Athens, there was a man who was in debt, and his creditor was pressing him to repay.
His first response was to ask for an extension on his loan, as (so he said) he could not raise the money.
But his creditor was not to be persuaded, so our man brought out his one and only pig, and offered it for sale.
An interested buyer and asked whether the pig ever had piglets. ‘Piglets?’ replied the man. ‘Why, she litters girl pigs every year for sacrifice at the Mysteries of Eleusis, and boy pigs every four years for the Panathenaic Games.’
Seeing the buyer was dumbfounded at this revelation, the debtor pursued his advantage. ‘That’s nothing. Dionysius doesn’t care for pigs, so on his feast she’ll give you baby goats.’
Which goes to show that some people won’t hesitate to swear to the most frightful lies to get what they want.
Précis
People will say anything to get what they want. One man, who was forced by his debts to put his only pig up for sale, claimed that for any given festival, the pig could produce whatever sacrificial pigs were required. Or, if the god didn’t like pigs, goats. (48 / 60 words)
People will say anything to get what they want. One man, who was forced by his debts to put his only pig up for sale, claimed that for any given festival, the pig could produce whatever sacrificial pigs were required. Or, if the god didn’t like pigs, goats.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 45 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: may, must, or, ought, since, unless, until, whereas.
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.
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 Extension. Reply. Want.
2 Every. Loan. Press.
3 Only. Pursue. Revelation.
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.)
Adjectives Find in Think and Speak
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Careful. 2 Careless. 3 Interesting. 4 Frightful.
Variations: 1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb. 2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best). 3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
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.
crtd (5)
carted. courted. crated. created. curated.
