Antonyms, actions and 'lest'

Words from the poem:

• hastened: hurried ('The students hastened to complete the project');
• heeded: paid attention to ('They were brought to safety because they heeded our advice');
• stir: move slightly ('the baby stirred in the cradle');
• lend (a hand): give help;
• piled: heaped up;
• offered: came forward to give, without being asked (just what the boy did).

Opposites (antonyms):

• firm ↔ fragile;
• meek ↔ bold;
• merry ↔ sad;
• kind ↔ cruel;
• anxious ↔ peaceful (calm);
• bent ↔ straight.

Learning a word with its opposite helps you remember both.

Lest. An old-fashioned joining word. It means 'so that something bad does not happen'. The easy way: swap it for 'just in case'.

• 'She showed all the documents lest we doubt her' = just in case we doubted her.
• In the poem: 'afraid to stir lest the carriage wheels… should crowd her down' = just in case they knocked her over.

After 'lest' comes the bad thing you want to avoid, never the good thing you want.

Analogies (pairs that share a link):

• chill : winter :: heat : summer (each season's feeling);
• hurt : harm :: old : aged (words that mean almost the same);
• whispered : shouted :: humble : proud (opposites);
• eyes : glance :: legs : walk (a body part and what it does).

And a crowd of people packed closely together is a throng.