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5. " English grammar lias gradually cleared itself of redundancies and intricacies due to Saxon and Latin influences, and our language has thus become an improved instrument for individual thinking and for the communication of thought to others." Illustrate the truth of this statement. 6. " The shortest description of modern English spelling is to say that it represents a Victorian pronunciation of ' popular' words by means of symbols imperfectly adapted to an Elizabethan pronunciation; the symbols themselves being mainly due to the Anglo-French scribes of the Plantagenet period, whose system was meant to be phonetic. It also aims at suggesting to the eye the original forms of 'learned' words. It is thus governed by two conflicting principles, neither of which, even in its own domain, is consistently carried out."—(Skeat.) Illustrate the truth of these remarks. 7. Point out merits or defects of style in the following passages : (a.) " No man exercised so much influence on the age. The reason is obvious. On no man did the age exercise so much influence. He was perhaps the greatest of those whom we have designated as the critical poets; and his literary career exhibited, on a reduced scale, the whole history of the school to which he belonged—the rudeness and extravagance of its infancy—the propriety, the grace, the dignified good sense, the temperate splendour of its maturity. His imagination was torpid, till it was awakened by his judgment. He began with quaint parallels and empty mouthing. He gradually acquired the energy of the satirist, the gravity of the moralist, the rapture of the lyric poet."— (Macaulay on Dryden.) (b.) "On some isolated mountain at daybreak, when the night mists first rise from off the plain, watch their white and lakelike fields, as they float in level bays, and winding gulfs, about the islanded summits of the lower hills, untouched yet by more than dawn, colder and more quiet than a windless sea under the moon of midnight; watch when the first sunbeam is sent upon the silver channels, how the foam of their undulating surface parts and passes away, and down under their depths the glittering city and green pastures lie like Atlantis, between the white paths of winding rivers; the flakes of light falling every moment faster and broader among the starry spires, as the wreathed surges break and vanish above them, and the confused crests and ridges of the dark hills shorten their grey shadows upon the plain."—(Buskin, " Frondes Agrestes.") 8. Write an essay, not more than seven paragraphs in length, on one of the following subjects: (a) Agricultural studies in schools; (b) Training in observation; (c) A lesson in history; (d) First studies in Latin.

English Grammar and Composition. — For Class E and Junior Civil Service. Time allowed: 3 hours. 1. As an exercise in spelling, write words and sentences dictated by the Supervisor. 2. State, with examples, the several uses of the present indefinite tense in English. 3. Are the following grammatically correct or not ? Give a reason for your answer in each > ease :—Some verbs take both the nominative and the accusative cases. Who do you suppose me to be ? I remember it being done. The paid officers are a Secretary and Treasurer. This house is to let. Fare thee well. 4. Where now thy pomp, which kings with envy viewed ? Where now thy might, which all those kings subdued ? But 'twas once a good business, I understand, Baying and selling the Cltristchurch land. Parse the words printed in italics, and analyse the second couplet. 5. What is meant by metaphor? and by mixed metaphor? Point out anything you think faulty in the metaphorical expressions in the following sentence: The harvests of knowledge he had garnered during his earlier days were now brought before the eyes of his mind, and he w T ove them into golden strains which have cast a ray into many minds. 6. Punctuate the following passage, and put capital letters where required : "Their conversation was interrupted by one of the band of pensioners I was sent said he after looking at them attentively to a gentleman who hath no cloak or a muddy one you sir I think addressing the young cavalier are the man you will please to follow me he is in attendance on me said Blount on me the noble earl of Sussex's master of horse I have nothing to say to that answered the messenger my orders are from her majesty and concern this gentleman only so saying he walked away followed by Walter Blount's eyes almost starting from his head with the excess of his astonishment at length he gave vent to it in an exclamation who would have thought this and shaking his head with a mysterious air he walked to his own boat embarked and returned to Deptford." 7. Explain the meaning and, as far as you can, the origin of the following phrases : Building castles in the air; to take time by the forelock ; a white elephant; Hobson's choice ; to carry coals to Newcastle ; to win one's spurs; a Job's comforter; to bury the hatchet. 8. (a.) The Earl of Falmouth and Mr. Coventry were rivals who should have most interest in the Duke, who loved the Earl best, but thought the other the wiser man, who supported Pen, who disobliged all the courtiers even against the Earl, who contemned Pen. (b.) He was overjoyed to - see him, and he sent for one of his most intelligent workmen, and told him to consider himself at his service, as he could not take him as he wished about the city, (c.) Some of his arrangements for the organization of the force are not without interest at the present day, in so many particulars do they foreshadow those of the army of Volunteers, whose efficiency, if ever hostile invasion should render their services necessary, would prove one great defence of the kingdom, as the feeling of loyalty, to which the force not only owes its origin, but which still more admirably brings it around its standards in yearly-increasing numbers, is an honour to the whole nation. Ecw r rite (a) and (b) so as to avoid the repetition of " who," " he," and " him," and (c) so as to express the meaning in a more coherent form.

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