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

The Wrong Hand

Davy Copperfield is not pleased at having to compete for his mother’s affection with Edward Murdstone.

Length: 118 words

Sport and Sportsmen

The Sayers-Heenan Fight

Victorian England was agog at the prospect of Tom Sayers meeting a confident but unproven challenger from the USA.

Length: 116 words

Music and Musicians

On Thin Ice

Charles Villiers Stanford found it necessary to play dumb on a visit to snowy Leipzig.

Length: 111 words

History of Australia

The First Fleet

Having brought hundreds of convicts to New South Wales, Arthur Phillip then had to conjure order out of their chaos.

Length: 112 words

Greek and Roman Myths

Niobe’s Tears

Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, was so proud of her fourteen children that she brazenly claimed the privileges of a goddess.

Length: 118 words

The Second World War

Hearts of Steel

The Maharaja of Jodhpur called on his subjects to do their bit and stop the Nazis.

Length: 112 words