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Written Words School of English
Приєднався 18 лис 2022
Do you love reading and writing in English? Would you like to read more deeply and write with a little more style and flair? With examples from great writing and a wealth of linguistic knowledge, Written Words has plenty of material to help you on your literary journey.
A new structured lesson is posted every Monday, with additional shorter videos about all aspects of the written word posted in between. Each lesson has an accompanying worksheet and these can be downloaded from our website at writtenwords.uk.
Happy reading and writing!
A new structured lesson is posted every Monday, with additional shorter videos about all aspects of the written word posted in between. Each lesson has an accompanying worksheet and these can be downloaded from our website at writtenwords.uk.
Happy reading and writing!
Getting to know George Eliot
Following my recent trip to Nuneaton, the home town of George Eliot, here are a few things I learned about this much loved writer. I also try out the 'page 47 method' on a couple of her books.
#georgeeliot #classicliterature #englishliterature
#georgeeliot #classicliterature #englishliterature
Переглядів: 96
Відео
A literary walk around Gainsborough
Переглядів 57День тому
Thomas Miller's book 'Our Old Town', first published in 1857, describes his home town of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, in the first half of the nineteenth century. In this video I take a walk around the town, and compare Miller's descriptions with the town today. The Gainsborough Heritage Trail which I mention in the video, can be found here: www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2022-09/Ga...
If Ovid came from Yorkshire...
Переглядів 4821 день тому
'Actaeon's Odyssey on Ilkley Moor' is my Yorkshire dialect retelling of Ovid's story about Actaeon and Diana from his 'Metamorphoses'. Ovid was one of the writers who influenced the work of Nikolai Karamzin, and Karamzin's tale 'A Knight of Our Time' is based on this same story. My versions of both stories are included in my book 'Sentimental Tales'. For more stories from 'Sentimental Tales' se...
The Great British Mealtime Debate
Переглядів 115Місяць тому
Do you have breakfast, lunch and dinner? Or are you a breakfast, dinner and tea person? And what about supper? In this video I explore the delicious confusion over the names of mealtimes around the UK. #englishlanguage #regionalenglish #britishenglish
Bornholm Island
Переглядів 41Місяць тому
'Bornholm Island' is my favourite story from my collection 'Sentimental Tales'. In this video I share a readalong version of my English translation of this story by Nikolai Karamzin, originally published in 1793. With a mixture of Sentimentalist and Gothic elements, it tells the story of a sea voyage and a strange encounter on the Danish island of Bornholm. If you liked this story you might als...
Pesky apostrophes and where to put them
Переглядів 35Місяць тому
Do you find apostrophes confusing? Do you know where to put the pesky little things when you're writing? This video explains how to use them correctly, and when not to use them at all. #englishgrammar #apostrophe #englishlanguage
A poem inspired by a river
Переглядів 12Місяць тому
The town where I live is on the banks of the River Trent, and I recently ran a poetry workshop where we wrote poems inspired by the river. 'Leading Lady', is my poem about the Trent, and it is part of my collection, 'Endless Procession'. To listen to more poems from 'Endless Procession', take a look at these other videos: Enough: ua-cam.com/video/kkraZmIQYv8/v-deo.html Feathers are the things w...
Visiting Charles Dickens
Переглядів 952 місяці тому
A few weeks ago, I visited the Charles Dickens Museum in London, and in this video I share some of my thoughts and impressions. For more information on the Charles Dickens Museum, visit: dickensmuseum.com/ If you enjoyed this video, you may be interested in some of my previous videos on Dickens: ua-cam.com/video/qcFvaEg-RHY/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/YL4y7K2h_v4/v-deo.html #charlesdickens #cha...
Poor Liza
Переглядів 1273 місяці тому
In this video I share a read-along version of Nikolai Karamzin's classic story 'Poor Liza'. This is my own translation of the story which was originally written in Russian, and it is one of several newly translated stories in my collection 'Sentimental Tales'. To learn more about 'Sentimental Tales' visit writtenwords.uk/books/ My previous video on Karamzin and his Sentimentalist writing is her...
Enough
Переглядів 103 місяці тому
Following on from my previous video discussing 'Exposure' by Wilfred Owen and 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Tennyson, here is a short poem of my own on the subject of war. The poem is from my collection 'Endless Procession', and more details about the book can be found here: writtenwords.uk/books/ #warpoetry #poetrylovers #poetrywriting
GCSE texts - Poetry
Переглядів 143 місяці тому
In the last of my videos on the texts for GCSE English literature, I take a look at the poetry anthology. The anthology is in two sections, and candidates can study either the 'Love and Relationships' or the 'Power and Conflict' selection. In our house, we're studying 'Power and Conflict' so I take a look at the similarities and differences between 'Exposure' by Wilfred Owen and 'The Charge of ...
How to write a play
Переглядів 1553 місяці тому
Have you ever thought about writing a play? In this video we consider the process of playwriting with the help of some well-known playwrights. Also, why are 'playwriting' and 'playwright' spelled the way they are? #creativewriting #playwriting
An Inspector Calls
Переглядів 204 місяці тому
This video explores another popular GCSE text - 'An Inspector Calls' by J.B.Priestley. We take a look at the background and plot, and have a go at a sample essay question on one of the characters. #aninspectorcalls #gcseenglishliterature #literaturelovers
Can you write like Dickens?
Переглядів 654 місяці тому
This video explores a piece of writing by Charles Dickens (from Bleak House) and then challenges you to have a go at writing in the same style. A sheet to accompany the video is available to download for free from writtenwords.uk/blog/ If you enjoyed this video, you may also 'A Tense Situation' which examines Dickens' use of tenses in Bleak House: ua-cam.com/video/OvtMaTKNRyM/v-deo.html #dicken...
Book review: Shakespeare Made Easy
Переглядів 435 місяців тому
In this 'More than a book review' I revisit a book that I first read back in the 1980s, when I was studying 'Macbeth' at school. Alan Durband's 'Shakespeare Made Easy' series aims to make Shakespeare's work accessible to those encountering it for the first time. Here's a little peek inside and a few thoughts on who might find this book useful and why. #shakespeare #macbeth #englishliterature
She is the author of my favourite novel - Middlemarch. Very interesting talk. (from Lorna Hunting)
Interesting window into rural life in the past.
Thank you so much teacher
A very good video. Modern texting is ruining Our language. I am sure that I misuse commas, texting for just pauses in thought.
I am planning to do a video on commas in the near future
A very pleasant video. 🤔 It was always breakfast, dinner and supper for me. I first heard it as lunch in school but I am from Oklahoma.
Oh, that's interesting. So, dinner as the midday meal is not confined to northern Britain.
Since watching your video I ask some fellows at work their opinion and they agreed with me. A possible explanation could be that very many Scots (and some Irish) settled in Appalachia, the South. After the war of Northern Aggression there was terrible persecution against the Southerons during the Reconstruction. So, many and my family moved west and brought their culture with them.
Recognise that crockery wedding present 1969.
Ours was a wedding present, too! It was clearly a popular wedding gift.
Hello, I have just now discovered your lovely videos! Thankyou for this video in particular, this helps me a lot for my a-level studies. :) You've got a new subscriber!
I'm glad you found it useful. Good luck with your A-levels!
Your voice is well-suited for audiobooks!
Thank you!
Lovely video, thank you. I'm often in that part of London, so hope to get there myself at some point.
It's definitely well worth a visit if you're in the area.
Interesting video, thanks! Is the word gorming related to gormless?
That’s an interesting question. According to my dictionary, ‘gormless’ originates from the Old Norse ‘gaumr’, meaning ‘heed’ or ‘attention’, so a gormless person is someone who pays no attention to things or is heedless. I suppose if you are looking at something, you are also paying attention to it, so the etymology may be the same, but I don’t know for sure. Quite a lot of Lincolnshire words have their roots in Northern European languages, from Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands, because of Lincolnshire’s geographical location on the east coast and the movement of people across the North Sea over the centuries.
Yellow Belly turn coats😂😂😂
The reason Marley is "dead to begin with" is that this novella was actually written by believers in spiritualism, not by Charles Dickens the skeptical lover of ghost stories. Or this is what my 15 years of intensive, independent research has revealed to me. The original authors of "A Christmas Carol," according to those research results, were an American couple named Mathew and Abby Whittier. Of course, if a student put this on an exam, he or she would be flunked for it (and probably called into the office for a parent-teacher conference). But it is the upcoming generation who will be more open to the possibility that all of Academia has been fooled by Charles Dickens' lies, the lies of his publicist John Forster, and the lies of organizations like the Dickens Fellowship who have enforced the official myth.
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I enjoyed this poem very much. An interesting way of working which I will try.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Good luck with your writing!
Thank you so much, Professor Hagon, for your wonderful teaching.
Thank you for your kind words. I hope you find the videos helpful.
You are welcome. Of course, all your lessons are helpful.
Hello Professor Helen. My name is Sophie. I am so glad to discover your podcast. I believe this is a fantastic program. I speak three languages as well. Persian(Farsi), French, and English. As you may know, we have wonderful poets like Hazi, Rumi, and Khayam. Also many other wonderful contemporary poets. My goal is to be able to translate the Persian poems into English. Therefore, I will follow your instructions. Thank you so much for your teaching and your support.
I'm glad you found the videos useful. Good luck with your Persian poetry project! Translating poetry is great fun and very rewarding.
Merci beaucoup.@@writtenwordsschoolofenglish
I found you!
In James Herriot's case, he's clearly somebody who's trying to portray dialect without really having been exposed to dialect writing much. All of the words he uses at least in this extract are don't give much inkling as to exactly which Yorkshire dialect is being spoken. The only thing that would indicate a specific place, at least from my knowledge, is "ewer", a North/East Riding word for "udder". It's unlikely that a person who knows such vocabulary doesn't at least have some very notable pronunciation features in equivalent words to standard English as we've seen in the other extracts.
Similarly, the version of text you have for Wuthering Heights is also anglicised versus the original (This was made specifically to make it easier for people unfamiliar with West Riding dialect to read it). There are also some features which are flat out wrong in your version, such as the use of "no" for "not". Here's the original as it was: "T'maister nobbut just buried, and Sabbath nut oe'red, and t'sahnd uh t'gospel still i' yer lugs, and yah darr be laiking! Shame on ye! Sit ye dahn, ill childer! Ther's good books eneugh if ye'll read 'em; sit ye dahn and think uh yer sowls!
That's interesting. My version states it is a 'facsimile reproduction of an edition published in 1905 by Collins' Clear-Type Press, London and Glasgow', so I wonder whether discrepancies might be due to errors introduced during the reproduction process as a result of poor paper/print quality etc.
@@writtenwordsschoolofenglish the errors perhaps, some changes like for example the removal of "ah" spellings for the vowel in words like "mouth" and "down" were made on purpose for the second edition onwards to make it easier to understand for outsiders.
It's important to note here that the version of "on Ilkla Mooar Baat hat" given here is somewhat Anglicised towards standard English. Originally it would have been "Wheear wor-ta baan when Aw saw thee/wheear hes-ta bin sin Aw saw thee" On Ilkla Mooar baat hat Tha's bin a-cooartin Mary Jane Tha's baan to catch thi deeath o cowd Then we sall ha to bury thee Then t'worrums'll come an eit thee up Then t'ducks'll come an eit up t'worrums Then we sall come an eit up t'ducks Then we sall all ha etten thee! That's wheear we get uz awn back!
Very nice ❤❤
P r o m o S M 💯
Saw this at random, and was delighted to see a video about my home city. It's nearly 40 years since I moved away, and much has changed, but so many memories evoked by your photos.
Glad you enjoyed it. Lincoln really is a beautiful and interesting city!
Sounds interesting! This might just be what I need to up my game.
This book looks magnificent, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I viewed the Book of Kells on many occasions while living in Dubin.
It really was a joy to read!
Respected Madam please send your email or other Id
Feel free to send any questions or comments via the contact form on the Written Words website: writtenwords.uk/contact/
Great job, thank you 💖
If I was allowed to play it I’m sure I’d enjoy 😂
Hehe! You should have a listen - you were the inspiration for the story ☺ 'She is eighteen, uni-ready, and about to board a train to London where her new, adult life is waiting for her...'
Very helpful video