Introduction
Jane Loudon was a pioneering science fiction writer, whose novel “The Mummy!” of 1827 was a landmark in the genre. She also wrote an engaging account of her family pets that included several anecdotes about cats.
IT is generally said that male cats do not like kittens. We had, however, an instance to the contrary. A strange cat had two kittens in the stable belonging to our house; and one day, pitying the wretched condition of the cat, when I saw her in the garden, I ordered her some milk.
A large Tom-cat we had, watched our proceedings very attentively, and while the cat was lapping the milk, he went to the stable, and brought one of the kittens in his mouth, and placed it beside the saucer, and then fetched the other, looking up in my face and mewing when he had done so, as much as to say, “You have fed the mother, so you may as well feed the children,” which we did; and I must add, for the credit of Tom’s character, that he never attempted to touch the milk himself.
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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 Go. Never. Other.
2 Proceeding. Tom. Which.
3 Belonging. He. Wretched.
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.)
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding in-.
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 ()
