Think and Speak

Exercises in oral and written expression, based on old school textbooks

April 24 ns April 11 os

These mental agility puzzles are similar to those NL Clay gave to pupils aged 12-13 between the Wars. They are not tick-box interrogations, but invitations to free, clear and creative thinking using your own ideas, observations and imagination. Think and Speak (1929) was Clay’s first book.

In Think and Speak

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Active and Passive

Show by means of sentences whether these verbs can be used both in active and also in passive constructions.

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Metaphors

Choose one of these words and use it metaphorically, not literally.

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Tag Questions

Complete each of these statements with a little request for confirmation.

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Impossible Adjectives

Find a way of saying something can’t be measured, admitted, or changed — in just one word.

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By Neoclassicism Enthusiast, Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Fragments

Say whether these short utterances make whole sentences or not; and if they don’t, add whatever is necessary.

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Sentegrams

These sentences, taken from English literature, have been jumbled up like an anagram; see if you can piece them back together.

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Apple of My Eye

See if you can imagine an appropriate situation for these phrases, all taken from the English Bible published in 1611 and all still used in everyday speech.

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