When I choose a novel to read, I tend to like books that have social morality or human motivation as some of their themes or topics. Anthony Trollope’s book, The Warden (1855), is one such book. It is the first of his collection of a series of novels he wrote called the ‘Chronicles of Barsetshire’. Anthony Trollope […]
📙 ‘He and his family had been weary when they arrived the night before, and they had observed but little of the place; so that he now beheld it as a new thing.’ – Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) … Although the principle of this lesson is a simple one, namely: ✍️ RULE: A singular
Lesson #179: Agreement Between Subject and Verb Form – 7 Rules to Avoid Common Mistakes Read More »
📗 He knew his power over her. He knew that she would not insist upon his leaving her. He knew that, her fears for him being aroused, she would be uneasy if he were out of her sight. For all his seeming levity and carelessness, he knew whatever he chose to know of the thoughts
In the last part of this lesson (see here), we covered the distinctive traits of the formal and informal registers in the English language. I recommend that you check this Part 1 first before reading this, since what we are going to addressed here builds on what was covered before! Through the help of Kenneth
Another childhood favourite (I seem to be sharing a lot of these lately!) is today’s classic, The Wind in the Willows (1908) by Kenneth Grahame, a Scottish writer at the turn of the twentieth century. His children’s classic is a story about four animals with human characteristics and personalities (a kind of writing called anthropomorphism, when an animal or
The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood As if they were changed into blocks of wood, Unable to move a step, or cry To the children merrily skipping by — Could only follow with the eye That joyous crowd at the Piper’s back. – Robert Browning, ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ (1842) … Once
Lesson #175: Browning’s ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ and the Magic of Prefixes Read More »
📗 Early as it was, every one had breakfasted, and my basin of bread and milk was put on the oven-top to await my coming down. Every one was gone about their work. The first to come into the house-place was Phillis with a basket of eggs. Faithful to my resolution, I asked – ‘What are those?’ She looked at me
Lesson #173: The Passive Voice in Gaskell’s ‘Cousin Phillis’ Read More »
In this second part of our lesson on modal verb forms ‘should/should have’, ‘could/could have’, and ‘would/would have’ to express past regrets or desires for the future, we will be focusing mainly on the differences between ‘could/could have’ and ‘would/would have’. 👉 If you would like to review our analysis of ‘should/should have’, you can find
📜 Here I come to one of the memoir writer’s difficulties– one of the reasons why, though I read so many, so many are failures. They leave out the person to whom things happened. The reason is that it is so difficult to describe any human being. So they say: “This is what happened”; but
Many English language students struggle with memorising the many different verb forms we have in our language. It can be difficult, especially when they are studied out of context. So in today’s lesson, I hope to share 3 essential verb forms that are not only commonly used on a daily basis by native English speakers, but
Lesson #168: 3 Important Irregular Verb Forms in Dickens’ ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ Read More »
📗 ‘O!’ says I, willing to give him a little lesson, ‘I have no fear of the justice of my country.’ ‘As if this was your country!’ said he. ‘Or as if ye would be tried here, in a country of Stewarts!’ ‘It’s all Scotland,’ said I. – Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped (1886) … We are approaching
📗 The fire being lit, the hearth swept, and a small kettle of a very antique pattern, such as I thought I remembered to have seen in old farmhouses in England, placed over the now ruddy flame, Frances’ hands were washed, and her apron removed in an instant; then she opened a cupboard, and took
Lesson #165: Affirming Something Emphatically With ‘The’, ‘Do’, or ‘Did’ Read More »