OK, now to round out a set of three context clues worksheets I posted today, here is another one on the noun coup de grace. It means a decisive finishing blow, act, or event. This is a relatively common expression in educated discourse.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“A Man for All Seasons: A play (1960), later a film (1967), by Robert Bolt (1924-95) about the Tudor statesmen Sir Thomas More and his opposition to Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon. The title was derived by Bolt from a description of More by his contemporary Robert Whittington (c. 1480 – c. 1530), who wrote:
‘More is a man of angel’s wit and singular learning; I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes; and sometimes of as sad a gravity: as how say: a man for all seasons.’
Vulgaria (1521)
Whittington in turn borrowed the tag from Erasmus, a friend of More’s, who had described More in his preface to In Praise of Folly (1509) with the words omnium horarum hominem (‘a man for all hours’).”
Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Henry VIII, which seems timely. Can your students think of any other selfish, gluttonous, tyrannical rulers with multiple divorces to their, uh, credit?
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“blockade: Action to prevent supplies reaching an enemy, either by placing ships outside its ports, troops outside a city or cutting off traffic across a country’s borders. Under international law a neutral merchant vessel attempting to breach a blockade may be confiscated by the blockading country. The tactic was first attempted in the Napoleonic wars when Britain’s navy blockaded France, Portugal, and Spain. A recent naval blockade was imposed on 12 April 1982 by Britain on the Falkland Islands to cut off supplies to Argentine troops occupying them; it was lifted following the retaking of the islands by British forces in May and June 1982.”
Excerpted from: Cook, Chris. Dictionary of Historical Terms. New York: Gramercy, 1998.
It’s a term that students really ought to know in an age where there are a number of true authoritarians running nation-states, so here is a context clues worksheet on the noun coup d’etat. It means “a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics; especially the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group.”
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
[N.B.: As he was almost constantly wont to do, Ambrose Bierce ironizes heavily here, using part of the United States Declaration of Independence to pun on the fact that Cromwell signed the death warrant that separated King Charles I from his head.]
“Abridge, vt. To shorten. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to abridge their king, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. –Oliver Cromwell“
Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities, readings/research
Here is a worksheet on the Latin word root nat, which means both birth and born. You will recognize it instantly as the basis of the word native, among many others. It is an extremely productive root in English.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“The trouble with me is that I inherited an insufficient amount of vengeful feeling. Kings, princes, dukes, and even local squires rode their horses so that they stepped upon the toes of my ancestors, who did nothing about it except to apologize. I would have joined most eagerly in pulling down the Bastille, but if anybody had caught me at it and given me a sharp look I’m afraid I would have put it back again.”
Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.
Posted in English Language Arts, New York City, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities
Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun coup, which means “a brilliant, sudden, and usually highly successful stroke or act.”
In the next couple of hours, I’ll post two more context clues worksheets that are related to this one.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“Alertness, flexibility, curiosity are the essentials; dogmatism, rigidity, prejudice, caprice rising from routine, passion, and flippance are fatal.”
How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative Process
Excerpted from: Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 1998.
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