The Open Book

I have taken the liberty of rewritting this wonderful story in language that I think you will understand. The vocabulary level is 89% below the Oxford 3000. You should be able to guess the meaning of the other 11% from context.
Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

The Most Wonderful Christmas Story Ever Written - Insider's English Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google+ StumbleUpon Pinterest Shares O. Henry was an American short story writter. He lived in New York from 1862-1910. As many of you know, Original English stories are very difficult for language learners, especially stories written over 100 years ago! I have re-written t...

English Phrases and Quiz -1 - Insider's English How do English speakers really talk? Test your self on the English phrases quiz first and then read the explanations and dialogues.

Part one: to be continued....

The Young Prince and the Merchant’s Daughter
Written by V Curlette

Once upon a time there was a clever young prince who lived in a wonderful castle in a far away land. His father, the king, wanted the young prince to learn the language of the neighbouring land so that he could do trade with them. The king bought the young prince all the best grammar books and brought in the most talented grammar teachers from all over his kingdom.
Every day the young prince studied his grammar books, learned all the irregular verbs by heart and he memorized lists and lists of difficult vocabulary.
He could say things like, “drink-drank-drunk, speak-spoke-spoken and big words like hippopotamus and ambidextrous.” Everyone was so proud of his progress.
The young prince studied all the grammar rules and learned them so well that he was often better at grammar than his teachers. He knew that the third conditional needed a past perfect in the condition clause and the result clause needed a perfect infinitive. He also knew all the verbs that were followed by a gerundive and all about participle clauses. He never made a mistake in any of his exercises.
In his classes, the teachers corrected him every time he made a mistake and made him repeat difficult phrases. They corrected his pronunciation every time he spoke. Although this made him feel a bit embarrassed and often caused him some anxiety, he never complained and told himself that he needed to study harder and for longer hour. The young prince was as stoic as a monk on a silent retreat.
After six months the grammar teachers decided that the young prince had become the kingdom’s leading grammar expert in his own and the new language. The king ask him when he would be able to visit the neighbouring kingdom to begin to discuss the trade agreement.
“Well father”, the young prince replied, “I believe I shall be ready in another year. I still have a few things to perfect.” And so, the young prince retreated back to his ivory tower and continued his diligent studies.
We’ll leave the young prince to his studies for awhile and move on to the story about the merchant’s daughter.