Introduction
Cornish Professor of Chemistry and multi-award-winning scientist Sir Humphrey Davy invented a safety-lamp for mines in 1815; but up in Newcastle, colliery employee George (‘Geordie’) Stephenson (1781-1848) was already working on his own design – as if his life depended on it.
ONE day in 1814, panic-stricken pitmen burst into George Stephenson’s cottage yards from Killingworth colliery. The pit was on fire!
Stephenson led them to the pit-head, descended the shaft and, with every man looking at him expectantly, called for volunteers. Choking in fumes, six men helped Stephenson build a wall at the mouth of the burning tunnel. Within minutes the fire was out, suffocated in its own smoke. Afterwards, miner Kit Heppel pleaded with Stephenson to do something about naked lights in the mine. The price of coal, he said, was now pitmen’s lives.
So Stephenson commissioned from Newcastle tin-smiths and glassmakers an ingenious lamp, and on October 21st, 1815, took it down the mine to a place where explosive gas fairly hissed from the coal. For a few tense minutes he was lost to sight; but when he returned, the flame had suffocated itself in its glass chamber, with no risk of explosion.
Stephenson had bet his life on it.
Précis
In 1814, at great personal risk George Stephenson extinguished a fire in the mine where he worked by starving it of oxygen. Drawing on that experience, he devised and successfully tested - again at great personal risk - a lamp which gave miners light, but would extinguish itself rather than ignite explosive gases. (51 / 60 words)
In 1814, at great personal risk George Stephenson extinguished a fire in the mine where he worked by starving it of oxygen. Drawing on that experience, he devised and successfully tested - again at great personal risk - a lamp which gave miners light, but would extinguish itself rather than ignite explosive gases.
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: although, despite, may, not, otherwise, ought, unless, who.
Archive
Word Games
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 Pit. Return. Say.
2 Lose. They. Volunteer.
3 Smith. Take. Within.
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.)
Statements, Questions and Commands Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in a sentence. Try to include at least one statement, one question and one command among your sentences. Note that some verbs make awkward or meaningless words of command, e.g. need, happen.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Risk. 2 Look. 3 Man. 4 Price. 5 Bet. 6 Mouth. 7 Smoke. 8 Place. 9 Gas.
Variations: 1. use a minimum of seven words for each sentence 2. include negatives, e.g. isn’t, don’t, never 3. use the words ‘must’ to make commands 4. compose a short dialogue containing all three kinds of sentence: one statement, one question and one command
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.
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.
lgs (7+3)
eulogies. lags. leagues. legs. logos. logs. lugs.
elegies. eulogise. luges.
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