📙 “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 »
📗 ‘Feeling that Peter was on his way back, the Neverland had again woke into life. We ought to use the pluperfect and say wakened, but woke is better and was always used by Peter.’ – J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan (1904) … Perhaps you have heard or even watched a movie on Peter Pan,
📘 ‘He seemed so brave and innocent, that although I had not proposed the contest, I felt but a gloomy satisfaction in my victory. Indeed, I go so far as to hope that I regarded myself while dressing as a species of savage young wolf or other wild beast. However, I got dressed, darkly wiping
If you are interested in classic English literature (and if you are reading these Lessons, why wouldn’t you be? 😊), you have surely heard of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations (1861). 📘 “Well, then, understand once for all that I never shall or can be comfortable— or anything but miserable— there, Biddy!— unless I can lead
Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year … – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ‘Paul Revere’s Ride’ (1860) It may be that your experience with reading poetry goes back to
Many students have struggled with understanding the differences between two essential adverbs: gradually and eventually. So in this Lesson I will try to define each with plenty of examples and synonyms where possible. I mentioned in yesterday’s Lesson (on Cecilia, by Frances Burney) that this week we would be looking at some novels that either
Have you ever struggled with knowing exactly when to use the words ‘probably’, ‘possibly’, ‘maybe’, or ‘perhaps’? In this Lesson we will look at all the different ways you can emphasise the likelihood or chance that something is going to happen. I cannot think of a better book full of helpful examples than Frances Burney’s
As we saw in the first part of this Lesson, Samuel Johnson spent nearly ten years working on his dictionary. Our next dictionary-writer (or lexicographer), Noah Webster, probably spent decades (tens of years) preparing the research for his dictionaries. In his lifetime, he saw several editions of his dictionaries being published, and each time he tried to improve and refine
If every English language student has one book in common, it is almost certainly an English dictionary! The question would be: which one to choose? 📚 There are so many nowadays, but if we could travel back a few hundred years or so, we would be lucky to find a copy of one. I am
One theme that often appears in English literature – novels and poetry – is that of a lost paradise. Christina Rossetti, one of the major female poets of the Victorian era, penned (wrote) a poem on this very theme, and since Saturdays are our days for enjoying a little bit of poetry, we will look at ‘Shut
Lesson #181: Remembering a lost paradise: Christina Rossetti’s Poem ‘Shut Out’ Read More »
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 »