Minis
Mini Copy Book

Each post in this section is a short précis (summary) of a passage in The Copy Book. All of them are in modern English. They are intended for students of English as a Foreign Language at Elementary Level.

Extracts from Literature

A Solemn Duty

Monsieur St Aubert falls seriously ill on a walking tour with his daughter Emily, and before the end asks an unexpected favour.

Length: 113 words

Extracts from Literature

The (Fairly) Honest Lawyer

Andre-Louis Moreau lives for vengeance on the master swordsman who killed his friend.

Length: 171 words

Poets and Poetry

‘The Overland Mail’

A tribute to the postal workers of British India, and to the kind of empire they helped to build.

Length: 111 words

Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)

The Sneeze of History

It was the opinion of Leo Tolstoy that even Napoleon was never master of his own destiny.

Length: 57 words

Liberty and Prosperity

Big Spenders

Adam Smith warns that politicians are the last people who should lecture the public about how to run their affairs.

Length: 53 words

French Revolution

The Glorious First of June

Admiral Lord Howe battered a French fleet far out in the Atlantic, and helped prevent the spread of bloody revolution.

Length: 57 words