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.

Indian History

Wellington’s Secret

The future hero of Waterloo dealt with political ambush as comfortably as he dealt with the military kind.

Length: 60 words

Character and Conduct

A True Gentleman of Verona

A young man from the Italian city on the Adige River demonstrates that class has nothing to do with wealth.

Length: 60 words

Extracts from Literature

One Last Question

English lawyer Sydney Carton goes to the guillotine in place of a French aristocrat.

Length: 110 words

Poets and Poetry

Northumberland

A poem of nostalgia for the sea breezes and yellow gorse of Northumberland.

Length: 50 words

Poets and Poetry

‘Sussex’

A meditation on our instinctive love for the place in which we live.

Length: 59 words

Character and Conduct

Triumph in Adversity

Two famous figures, one from the sciences and one from the arts, who turned suffering to advantage.

Length: 59 words