Skills

A quick review of Monday's catechism. Ask: what is the 'common good'? (The conditions that let everyone in a society flourish.) Why does authority exist? (To serve the common good and protect the dignity of every person, not to enrich the powerful.) Connect this to the week: the Western Schism showed what happens when those in authority fail their duty, and the Hundred Years' War showed leaders pursuing private claims at terrible public cost. End with a short prayer for just leaders, that those in authority would serve the common good.

The semicolon (;) and the colon (:) are precision tools. Master them and your writing instantly looks more mature.

RULE 1 — The semicolon joins two complete sentences (independent clauses) that are closely related, without a conjunction. Worked example: 'The plague killed a third of Europe; whole villages stood empty.' Each half could stand alone as its own sentence, but the semicolon shows they belong together. You may also use a semicolon before a conjunctive adverb like 'however' or 'therefore': 'Joan won at Orléans; however, she was soon captured.'

RULE 2 — The semicolon also separates items in a list when the items themselves contain commas (a 'super-comma'): 'The war touched three cities: Orléans, in central France; Agincourt, in the north; and Rouen, where Joan died.'

RULE 3 — The colon introduces a list, an explanation, or an example, and what comes BEFORE the colon must be a complete sentence. Worked example: 'The late Middle Ages faced three crises: plague, war, and schism.' Wrong: 'The three crises were: plague, war, and schism.' ('The three crises were' is not a complete sentence, so no colon.)

A colon can also introduce an explanation: 'Joan's reason was simple: she believed God had sent her.'

Today you will map the stage of the Hundred Years' War. England and France are separated by the English Channel, the narrow sea the English crossed again and again to fight on French soil. The war's geography is a story of an English-held foothold in the southwest (Aquitaine/Gascony, with its capital Bordeaux), an English ally in the northeast (the powerful Duchy of Burgundy), and a France squeezed between them, with the dauphin's loyal lands south of the Loire River. Three places define the war's turning points. Crécy (1346) and Agincourt (1415), both in northern France, were crushing English longbow victories. Orléans, on the Loire, was the city under English siege when Joan of Arc arrived in 1429 — relieving it was the turning point that let her lead Charles to be crowned at Reims (the traditional coronation city of French kings). Rouen, in Normandy, is where Joan was tried and burned in 1431. Notice how the Loire River was almost a front line: control of its crossings decided who could march on whom. By 1453 the French had driven the English out of everything but the port of Calais, ending the war and a centuries-long English dream of ruling France.

Look back at your map and your grammar practice. Write one sentence about the war that correctly uses either a semicolon or a colon, combining today's grammar and geography.