full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: The Irish myth of the Giant's Causeway

Unscramble the Blue Letters

On the coast of Northern iarneld, a vast plateau of basalt slabs and columns called the Giant’s Causeway stretches into the ocean. The scientific explanation for this is that it’s the result of molten lava contracting and fracturing as it cooled in the wake of a volcanic eirtpuon. But an anecint Irish myth has a different accounting.
According to legend, the ginat Finn moaccol lived happily on the North Antrim coast with his wife Oonagh. Their only disturbance came from the taunts and tethars of the giant Benandonner, or the red man, who lived across the sea in solcantd. The two rreaod insults and hurled rocks at each other in dramatic shows of strength.

Open Cloze

On the coast of Northern _______, a vast plateau of basalt slabs and columns called the Giant’s Causeway stretches into the ocean. The scientific explanation for this is that it’s the result of molten lava contracting and fracturing as it cooled in the wake of a volcanic ________. But an _______ Irish myth has a different accounting.
According to legend, the _____ Finn _______ lived happily on the North Antrim coast with his wife Oonagh. Their only disturbance came from the taunts and _______ of the giant Benandonner, or the red man, who lived across the sea in ________. The two ______ insults and hurled rocks at each other in dramatic shows of strength.

Solution

  1. roared
  2. eruption
  3. maccool
  4. ancient
  5. scotland
  6. threats
  7. ireland
  8. giant

Original Text

On the coast of Northern Ireland, a vast plateau of basalt slabs and columns called the Giant’s Causeway stretches into the ocean. The scientific explanation for this is that it’s the result of molten lava contracting and fracturing as it cooled in the wake of a volcanic eruption. But an ancient Irish myth has a different accounting.
According to legend, the giant Finn MacCool lived happily on the North Antrim coast with his wife Oonagh. Their only disturbance came from the taunts and threats of the giant Benandonner, or the red man, who lived across the sea in Scotland. The two roared insults and hurled rocks at each other in dramatic shows of strength.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
north antrim 2
antrim coast 2
benandonner tore 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
north antrim coast 2

Important Words

  1. accounting
  2. ancient
  3. antrim
  4. basalt
  5. benandonner
  6. called
  7. causeway
  8. coast
  9. columns
  10. contracting
  11. cooled
  12. disturbance
  13. dramatic
  14. eruption
  15. explanation
  16. finn
  17. fracturing
  18. giant
  19. happily
  20. hurled
  21. insults
  22. ireland
  23. irish
  24. lava
  25. legend
  26. lived
  27. maccool
  28. man
  29. molten
  30. myth
  31. north
  32. northern
  33. ocean
  34. oonagh
  35. plateau
  36. red
  37. result
  38. roared
  39. rocks
  40. scientific
  41. scotland
  42. sea
  43. shows
  44. slabs
  45. strength
  46. stretches
  47. taunts
  48. threats
  49. vast
  50. volcanic
  51. wake
  52. wife