On these beautiful long summer evenings, I often go for walks to admire the sunset. It is at these moments that I occasionally get nostalgia (remembering with fondness something that is past). I remember significant influences in my life – people I met and places I have been to – whenever I look at the […]
📕 ‘You have moral and literary tastes in common. You have both warm hearts and benevolent feelings; and, Fanny, who that heard him read, and saw you listen to Shakespeare the other night, will think you unfitted as companions?’ – Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (1814) … Our lesson today is a ‘Reading Comprehension Lesson’, which
📗 But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life,
Lesson #287: Adjectives, Adverbs, And Intensifier Adverbs in Eliot’s ‘Middlemarch’ Read More »
It goes without saying (it is obvious) today’s literary author is a well-known figure, someone whom you have undoubtedly heard of before: William Shakespeare. You might have heard about his longest play, Hamlet. 📜 Additionally, you may well recognise the famous quote, ‘To be, or not to be – that is the question’, derived from
If you have been following my Short Lessons for a while, you might remember that every so often I like to return to the poetry of one of my favourite American poets, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).🌼 My recent lessons have been filled with explanations and thorough guidance. Today’s lesson will be different because you will have
In light of the ongoing war and widespread migration of refugees throughout Europe, many of us are reconsidering what languages we are studying and why. In what way does having another language help you? 💭 Practically speaking, it can help us to find a job, to secure accommodation, to make friends and even communicate with
📘 “We got together in a few days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable – not pretty to look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable spirit.” ― Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island (1883) For a long time I have been intending to prepare a special Lesson on Robert Louis Stevenson’s most
It has been quite a long time since we enjoyed a poem together. One that comes to mind from time to time, and which seems so appropriate for the day (being his birthday) is the American poet Robert Frost’s poem, ‘A Tuft of Flowers’. 🎕 Let’s take a step away from grammar today and enjoy
In light of the recent events that are taking place in Ukraine even as I write, I have been reflecting a lot on how the media documents and shares its findings with audiences everywhere. I have also been thinking about how people act – if they act differently at all – after reading the news.
📙 The old man, contrary to expectation, seemed to be on the way to recovery, when one night Silas, sitting up by his bedside, observed that his usual audible breathing had ceased. – George Eliot, Silas Marner (1861) How would you describe something dramatic and memorable that happened to you ‘one night’, as happened to
The book was interesting and it was old and it was long and it was a French book too. This is a very odd sentence! ❔ Do you know how it could be improved? In a nutshell (in a few words), we could replace all the ‘and it was’ phrases with commas. So we would
Have you heard of negative prefixes in English before? 🧐 👩🏫 While the grammatical term is a bit of a mouthful, they are nothing to worry about. In fact, they are useful little syllables that we place at the beginning of a word (a noun, adjective, adverb, or verb) to indicate that its meaning has