đ âWhen it was hot we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the trees, and when it was cold we had a nice warm shed near the grove.â – Anna Sewell, Black Beauty (1877) ⊠âIfâ and âwhenâ are two small conjunctions describing time that are often confusing for English language […]
đ One question I am often asked is: âwhich classics are good for English language learners?â It is one of my favourite questions because it allows me to recommend great books that can be useful and enjoyable for you. đ As you can tell from this Lessonâs title, I recommend getting started on childrenâs classics
đŒI wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils ⊠– William Wordsworth, ‘The Daffodils’ (1807) đŒ This is Part 2 of our Lesson on âDifferent Ways of Seeingâ: having read Wordsworthâs poem in Part 1, we
đ”ïž The first of March â also known as âSt Davidâs Dayâ, Walesâ national day, when the Welsh like to wear small daffodils (or leeks) as a national symbol. That, together with our own daffodils, crocuses, and snowdrops has brought to mind one of the most famous poems in the English language, William Wordsworthâs âThe
đ„ ‘Does it not make you think of Cowper? “Ye fallen avenues, once more I mourn your fate unmerited.”‘ – Fanny Price in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park Austen fans will be interested to know that William Cowper (1731-1800) was her favourite poet, as well as her contemporary. Cowper (pronounced COO-per) was known not only for his
Lesson #199: Observing changes in English words over time, through Cowper’s ‘The Rose’ Read More »
đ One of Charles Dickens’ most famous novels is Oliver Twist (1838), also one of his earliest works. Even if you haven’t read the book, you may well have watched one of the musicals or movies that have been made on the story. I watched the 1968 Oliver! musical when I was young, and it has remained one of
Lesson #198: Appreciating Descriptive Writing from Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’ Read More »
đ âTake care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.â – Lewis Carroll, Aliceâs Adventures in Wonderland (1865) One of the most famous childrenâs books in the word is certainly Lewis Carrollâs Aliceâs Adventures in Wonderland (1865), which has been translated into at least 174 since it was first published over
đ âAs though a rose should shut And be a bud again.â – Thomas Hardy, Far From The Madding Crowd (1874) đ„ … If you have been around native English speakers enjoying a casual conversation, you are likely to have heard them use the word âlikeâ often when making a comparison of some kind. âïž
Lesson #196: ‘As If’ vs ‘As Though’ through Hardy’s ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ Read More »
đ So the Swallow flew over the great city, and saw the rich making merry in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates. Â He flew into dark lanes, and saw the white faces of starving children looking out listlessly at the black streets. Â Under the archway of a bridge
đł I am sharing a poem with you today from my 110-year-old volume of John Greenleaf Whittier’s poems (published in 1894 and this edition dating from 1911)! Anyone who knows me knows of my love of books, and especially any old copies I can find. What makes the acquisition (the fact of owning or getting)
Lesson #193: ‘A Song of Harvest’: Some Observations on Whittier’s Poem Read More »
If you have ever heard someone mention âLilliputâ or âBrobdingnagâ, you have heard a reference to one very early English classic, Jonathan Swiftâs Gulliverâs Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World (1726). đ It is a fantasy story of a surgeon and captain called Lemuel Gulliver who is shipwrecked on islands of tiny people
đ “And one day, I remember, I met Miss Matty in the lane that leads to Combehurst; she was walking on the footpath, which, you know, is raised a good way above the road, and a gentleman rode beside her, and was talking to her, and she was looking down at some primroses she had
Lesson #190: Understanding the Difference between ‘Beside’ vs ‘Besides’ Read More »