full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Stephanie Honchell Smith: History vs. Tamerlane the Conqueror

Unscramble the Blue Letters


They may have been friends, but he was a corrupt man who alienated a lot of people. Timur was right to oust him. arretwafd, he managed to reunite most of the khanate’s tteiirrores and put an end to decades of bloody infighting.

Okay, so where are we? I can hardly keep up.

1370, your honor.

And he’s khan now?

Well, not quite. Timur was not a direct descendant of gnghies Khan, so he couldn’t claim the title. Instead, he appointed figurehead khans and rreefred to himself as amir, or coamndemr, and later as güregen, or son-in-law, after he married a wmoan who was descended from Genghis Khan.

Open Cloze


They may have been friends, but he was a corrupt man who alienated a lot of people. Timur was right to oust him. _________, he managed to reunite most of the khanate’s ___________ and put an end to decades of bloody infighting.

Okay, so where are we? I can hardly keep up.

1370, your honor.

And he’s khan now?

Well, not quite. Timur was not a direct descendant of _______ Khan, so he couldn’t claim the title. Instead, he appointed figurehead khans and ________ to himself as amir, or _________, and later as güregen, or son-in-law, after he married a _____ who was descended from Genghis Khan.

Solution


  1. commander
  2. woman
  3. territories
  4. afterward
  5. referred
  6. genghis

Original Text


They may have been friends, but he was a corrupt man who alienated a lot of people. Timur was right to oust him. Afterward, he managed to reunite most of the khanate’s territories and put an end to decades of bloody infighting.

Okay, so where are we? I can hardly keep up.

1370, your honor.

And he’s khan now?

Well, not quite. Timur was not a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, so he couldn’t claim the title. Instead, he appointed figurehead khans and referred to himself as amir, or commander, and later as güregen, or son-in-law, after he married a woman who was descended from Genghis Khan.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
central asia 2


Important Words


  1. afterward
  2. alienated
  3. amir
  4. appointed
  5. bloody
  6. claim
  7. commander
  8. corrupt
  9. decades
  10. descendant
  11. descended
  12. direct
  13. figurehead
  14. friends
  15. genghis
  16. güregen
  17. honor
  18. infighting
  19. khan
  20. khans
  21. lot
  22. man
  23. managed
  24. married
  25. oust
  26. people
  27. put
  28. referred
  29. reunite
  30. territories
  31. timur
  32. title
  33. woman