full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Andrew McDonald: The rise and fall of the Kingdom of Man

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Perched on cliffs with sweeping views and safe harbors, seidase fortresses helped the knigs control shipping, commerce, and resources. The empire commanded vast fteels of Viking-style long ships, which they used for tadring, raiding, and plundering the seas. Observing this prowess, many neighboring rulers sought their aid. The bhretors Rognvald and Olaf each solved neighbors’ maritime woes: King rvagnlod supplied military assistance to the sottscih king, and King Olaf’s focers served as a Coast Guard at the English King Henry III’s request— for a hefty fee.

Open Cloze

Perched on cliffs with sweeping views and safe harbors, _______ fortresses helped the _____ control shipping, commerce, and resources. The empire commanded vast ______ of Viking-style long ships, which they used for _______, raiding, and plundering the seas. Observing this prowess, many neighboring rulers sought their aid. The ________ Rognvald and Olaf each solved neighbors’ maritime woes: King ________ supplied military assistance to the ________ king, and King Olaf’s ______ served as a Coast Guard at the English King Henry III’s request— for a hefty fee.

Solution

  1. trading
  2. kings
  3. fleets
  4. forces
  5. seaside
  6. rognvald
  7. scottish
  8. brothers

Original Text

Perched on cliffs with sweeping views and safe harbors, seaside fortresses helped the kings control shipping, commerce, and resources. The empire commanded vast fleets of Viking-style long ships, which they used for trading, raiding, and plundering the seas. Observing this prowess, many neighboring rulers sought their aid. The brothers Rognvald and Olaf each solved neighbors’ maritime woes: King Rognvald supplied military assistance to the Scottish king, and King Olaf’s forces served as a Coast Guard at the English King Henry III’s request— for a hefty fee.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
sea kings 4
king rognvald 2

Important Words

  1. aid
  2. assistance
  3. brothers
  4. cliffs
  5. coast
  6. commanded
  7. commerce
  8. control
  9. empire
  10. english
  11. fee
  12. fleets
  13. forces
  14. fortresses
  15. guard
  16. harbors
  17. hefty
  18. helped
  19. henry
  20. king
  21. kings
  22. long
  23. maritime
  24. military
  25. neighboring
  26. observing
  27. olaf
  28. perched
  29. plundering
  30. prowess
  31. raiding
  32. resources
  33. rognvald
  34. rulers
  35. safe
  36. scottish
  37. seas
  38. seaside
  39. served
  40. shipping
  41. ships
  42. solved
  43. sought
  44. supplied
  45. sweeping
  46. trading
  47. vast
  48. views