📘 ‘The King of France … called the Duke of Burgundy in contempt a waterish duke, because his love for this young maid had in a moment run all away like water. – ​Charles ​and ​Mary Lamb​,​ Tales from Shakespeare ​(1807)​ If you have been reading and understanding these short lessons, chances are that you are […]
Perhaps you have wondered what kinds of books native English-speaking children read and study at school. While today’s book is not currently a school textbook, it was originally intended for children when it was written over 200 years ago – Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare (1807). It includes retellings of Shakespeare’s plays in
​Nearly everyone knows about – even if they have not read – Jane Austen’s famous novels: Pride and Prejudice (1813), Sense and Sensibility (1811), Persuasion (1818), and Emma (1815), not to mention Mansfield Park (1814)and Northanger Abbey (1817). 📚 But most people, including native English speakers, are less familiar with Austen’s earlier (or unpublished) writings. Works like The
Lesson #162: All About Hyphens and Dashes (in UK and US English) Read More »
📙 Here was one of the advantages of having lived alone so long! The little bustling, active, cheerful creature existed entirely within herself, talked to herself, made a confidante of herself, was as sarcastic as she could be, on people who offended her, by herself; pleased herself, and did no harm. If she indulged in
​📗 ‘I cannot express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of my creation, if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff’s miseries, and I watched and felt each from
Lesson #159: Wondering Wildly in ‘Wuthering Heights’: Expressions Using ‘If … Then …’ Read More »
If you missed the first part of this lesson where we described the main functions of ‘either/or’, ‘neither/nor’, and ‘both’, you can check it out here. This is part 2 of our lesson on these important word groups, where we consider how they relate to the preposition ‘of’, their word order and verb conjugation rules,
​📘 ‘​Lucy was never visible at these times, being either engaged in the school-room, or in taking an airing out of doors; but, knowing that she was now comfortable, and had given up the, to him, depressing idea of going off to the other side of the globe, he was quite content.​’​ – Thomas Hardy,
If you have ever read books set in Victorian Britain, you may have noticed that women were generally discouraged from reading any books that might cause them to become intellectual. While novels, magazines, and some plays were considered acceptable for them to read, they were discouraged from reading works of science, philosophy, theology, or the
A new year, and new beginnings! 🌼 This small snowdrop in our front garden reminds me of British novelist Charlotte Bronte, who was described by her neighbours as looking ‘just like a snowdrop’ on the day she got married. It brings to mind a passage in Jane Eyre (1847) – very suitable for the beginning of a
As a short break from the grammatical lessons we have had of late, todays’ lesson will be short and sweet! I have been looking forward to an opportunity to share a favourite poem of mine by William Blake (1757-1827). It is called ‘The Tyger’ (an archaic or old-fashioned way of spelling ‘tiger’) and is often
Lesson #153: How Writing Is Made Memorable: Three Observations On A Poem Read More »
‘I am sorry I have been so long, ma’am,’ said she, gently, as she finished her work. ‘I was afraid it might tear out again if I did not do it carefully.’ She rose. 🧵 ‘I don’t know how to thank you for all you are doing; but I do love you, and will pray
📜 Miss Tita confided to me that at present her aunt was so motionless that she sometimes feared she was dead; moreover she took hardly any food—one couldn’t see what she lived on. – Henry James, The Aspern Papers (1888) If you have been studying or reading in English for a while, chances are that you have