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Introduction
At the ripe old age of thirty-five, apprentice architect Tom Pinch has at last seen through his devious master Seth Pecksniff and is sitting on the box seat of the London coach, putting Salisbury behind him. And what a coach it is! Not simply a wooden carriage strapped to four horses, but a single organism, a living and breathing microcosm of London’s breathless glamour.
AND really it might have confused a less modest man than Tom to find himself sitting next that coachman; for of all the swells that ever flourished a whip, professionally, he might have been elected emperor. He didn’t handle his gloves like another man, but put them on — even when he was standing on the pavement, quite detached from the coach — as if the four greys were, somehow or other, at the ends of the fingers. It was the same with his hat. He did things with his hat which nothing but an unlimited knowledge of horses and the wildest freedom of the road could ever have made him perfect in. Valuable little parcels were brought to him with particular instructions, and he pitched them into his hat, and stuck it on again; as if the laws of gravity did not admit of such an event as its being knocked off or blown off, and nothing like an accident could befall it.
Précis
Tom Pinch has only just boarded the London stage at Salisbury, but is already overwhelmed by the experience. The professionalism of the driver, down to the way he handled his whip, gloves and hat, was a wonder to Tom, and he felt in a confused way that the driver was completely at one with his horses and the road. (59 / 60 words)
Tom Pinch has only just boarded the London stage at Salisbury, but is already overwhelmed by the experience. The professionalism of the driver, down to the way he handled his whip, gloves and hat, was a wonder to Tom, and he felt in a confused way that the driver was completely at one with his horses and the road.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, because, if, must, or, ought, unless, whether.
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.
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