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
- trading
- kings
- fleets
- forces
- seaside
- rognvald
- scottish
- 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
- aid
- assistance
- brothers
- cliffs
- coast
- commanded
- commerce
- control
- empire
- english
- fee
- fleets
- forces
- fortresses
- guard
- harbors
- hefty
- helped
- henry
- king
- kings
- long
- maritime
- military
- neighboring
- observing
- olaf
- perched
- plundering
- prowess
- raiding
- resources
- rognvald
- rulers
- safe
- scottish
- seas
- seaside
- served
- shipping
- ships
- solved
- sought
- supplied
- sweeping
- trading
- vast
- views