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 […]
If you have been learning English for some time, you may have listened to speeches given by politicians, actors, or artists. A common trope (literary or artistic feature) you will notice in such speeches is that of repetition – the repetition of some words or phrases for effect. English literature also has plenty of examples
📗 “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843) What better
📙 … For Mark had some practical knowledge of such matters, and Martin learned of him; whereas the other settlers who remained upon the putrid swamp (a mere handful, and those withered by disease), appeared to have wandered there with the idea that husbandry was the natural gift of all mankind. They helped each other
Welcome to Part 2 of our Lesson on homographs! In Part 1 we already looked at what homographs mean (quick reminder: they are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings and often different pronunciations). We also covered some key homographs in the English language, starting with those word pairs that share the
How familiar are you with homographs? 🤔 You might not recognise at first what a homograph means, but you have probably been using them (or at least noticing them) without even realising it! Homographs are basically words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. ✍️ Sometimes these word pairs are related because they
📘 I really do not know whether I felt that I did this for Estella’s sake, or whether I was glad to transfer to the man in whose preservation I was so much concerned some rays of the romantic interest that had so long surrounded me. Perhaps the latter possibility may be the nearer to
📘 No; I should not have minded that, if they would only have left me alone. But they wouldn’t leave me alone. They seemed to think the opportunity lost, if they failed to point the conversation at me, every now and then, and stick the point into me. I might have been an unfortunate little
📗 “I have broken where I should have bent; and have mused and brooded, when my spirit should have mixed with all God’s great creation. The men who learn endurance, are they who call the whole world, brother. I have turned from the world, and I pay the penalty.” – Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge (1841)
Lesson #206: Understanding, Identifying, and Using Relative Adverb Clauses in Writing Read More »
📘 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 »
📘 ‘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