The Latin element may be traced in names of towns, as Leicester, Chester, &c., from castrum a camp; Stratford, from stratum a street; Lincoln, from colonia a colony, &c.

16. Decay of Roman Empire.-Rome besieged by barbarians, Goths, Huns, and Vandals seized provinces of Rome, dictating terms of peace to the proud city that had once been Mistress of the World.

Actual Answers to Government Examination

Questions,

WITH COMMENTS, NOTES, &c.

BY REV. W. WARBURTON, H.M. INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS.

(Candidates' Paper.)

It is hoped that the series of six very simple and elementary papers, of which this is the first, may be of use to Pupil Teachers and their instructors, though the writer fairly abandons the hope of their proving interesting to the general reader. It is intended to take the Pupil Teachers' papers of each year, from the first to the fifth, or close of apprenticeship, and treat each of them as that recently set to the Candidates is dealt with here. It appeared to be undesirable, for many reasons, to give what might be called "model answers" to the questions set: for example, in teaching the several subjects different technical terms are employed, and different methods and systems adopted, any one of which would probably be accepted by a Government examiner if the results arrived at were satisfactory.

It

The following is a copy, accompanied with a running commentary, of a paper done by a candidate for apprenticeship at a collective examination, held on the 27th of last November. may not, perhaps, be known to all our readers, that the Pupil Teachers' examinations are now simultaneous, and that the same paper of questions is given to all of the same standing throughout England and Wales. The paper selected for transcription and comment below is by no means a model exercise, but it may be taken as representing the standard of "Fair," a mark which in connection with tolerable reading and some promise of teaching power, would qualify a candidate for admission to apprenticeship.

DICTATION.-"I dreamed that I was conveyed into a wide, and boundless plain, that was covered with prodigous multitudes of people, which no man could number. In the midst of it, there stood a mountain, with its head, above the clouds. The sides were extremley steep, and of such a particular structure, that no creature, which was not made in a human figure, could possibly ascend it. On a sudden there was heard from the top of it a sound like that of a trumpet, but so exceedingly sweet and harmonious, that it filled the hearts of those, who heard it, with raptures, and gave such high and delightful sensations, as seemed to animate, and raise human nature, above itself.”

The handwriting in this case was ugly, and the letters too nearly perpendicular to please most people, but they were boldly and evenly formed, the curves regular though ungraceful, and the whole remarkably clear and easy to read-a quality which, while very important in itself, is, moreover, certain to propitiate an examiner. The errors in spelling occur in two of the seven words in which an experienced eye would be sure to look for them first. The piece is perhaps hardly up to the average of difficulty, and the candidate has escaped the snares which lay hid for him in "possibly," "ascend," "exceedingly," "animate," and delightful," but the errors into which he has fallen are worse than ordinary omissions or transpositions, for they seem to show a want both of Etymological tact and accuracy of eye. The employment of commas is a matter now left very much to the discretion of the writer, but the candidate has been here, and throughout his paper, indiscreetly lavish of this kind of stop. For instance, after the words wide, it, head, creature, those, animate, and nature, the commas are clearly redundant, and obscure rather than bring out the sense of the passage.

This may seem a trifling matter to dwell on in reviewing a candidate's paper, but it may serve to call attention to the general principle that at an examination it is far better to omit things altogether than to put them down wrong. An examiner may be disappointed at not finding as much as he expects, but he is bound to deal summarily with a blunder.

GRAMMAR.-To parse the passage below, which the candidate wrote down quite correctly and properly, word above word, in a column at the left side of the paper :

We

Personal pronoun, 1st person, plural number, common gender, nominative case to the verb 'lay,'

lay

beneath

a

spreading Oak

beside

a

mossy

seat

and

from the

turf

a

fountain

broke

and gurgled

at

our

feet

Part of the regular intransitive verb to lay; indicative mood, present tense, 1st person, plural number, to agree with its nominative 'we.'

Preposition governing 'Oak.'

Indefinite article prefixed to 'Oak.'
Adjective qualifying 'Oak.'

Common noun, third person, singular number, neuter gender, objective case, governed by the preposition " beneath.'

Preposition governing 'seat.'

Indefinite article prefixed to 'seat.'

Adjective qualifying 'seat.'

Common noun, third person, singular number, neuter gender, objective case, governed by the preposition 'beside.'

Copulative conjunction.

Preposition governing 'turf.'

Definite article prefixed to 'turf.'

Common noun, third person, singular number, neuter gender, objective case, governed by the preposition 'from.'

Indefinite article prefixed to 'fountain.'

Common noun, third person, singular number, neuter gender, objective case, governed by the verb broke.'

Part of the irregular transitive verb 'brake;' indicative mood, past tense, third person, singular number, to agree with its nominative fountain.'

Copulative conjunction.

Part of the regular intransitive verb to gurgle; indicative mood, past tense, third person, singular number, to agree with its nominative fountain.'

Preposition governing 'feet.'

Personal pronoun, first person, plural number, common gender, possessive case, governed by the noun 'feet.' Common noun, third person, plural number, objective case, governed by the prepositionat.'

If it were not for the bad mistake with respect to the verb "lay," and the unfortunate jumble about the word "broke," this parsing would be decidedly creditable to a candidate of the ordinary age. The exercise might be much reduced in bulk by using abbreviations, but a grammatical term when it first occurs in parsing should always be written in full, in order that the examiner may

be sure that the scholar can spell it; for, strange as it may seem, a large percentage of bad spellings occur in the technical words belonging to the several subjects,-words which pupils are constantly using and hearing,-than in others with which they might be supposed to be unfamiliar.

The verb of which "lay" is a form bristles with difficulty for young aspirants after accuracy in English. There are three verbs, the exact mutual relations of which should be early impressed upon pupil teachers. (1.) The transitive verb "to lay," present tense "lay," e.g., "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone:" perfect tense "laid," e.g., "Slowly and sadly we laid him down," passive participle "laid," &c. e.g., "Each in his narrow cell for ever "laid.” (2.) The intransitive verb "to lie," that is, "to be recumbent ;" present tense "lie," e.g., "I lie on the grass and look up at the sky;" perfect tense "lay" (identical in form with the present tense of the foregoing verb), e.g., "There lay the steed with his nostril all wide;" passive participle "lain," e.g., "After having long lain under this imputation," &c. (3.) The intransitive "to lie," to tell an untruth; present tense "lie," e.g., "(He) knoweth that I lie not; perfect "lied," e.g., "But he" (the old prophet) "lied unto him; passive participle "lied," e.g., "Thou hast not lied unto men," &c,

The blunder in the parsing of the word "broke" is instructive, as affording an example of one of the ways in which not only "papers" but even certificates are often missed. No person with sufficient intelligence to work the rest of the parsing correctly could have failed to notice the contradiction between this and the previous answer, had he taken the precaution, which no one under examination should ever omit, of reading over his paper before handing it to the examiner.

ARITHMETIC.

(1.) Write in figures nine hundred and nine million nine thousand and ninty-nine.

(3.) What sum will purchase an estate of 2,120 acres, when the price of each acre is £32, 5s. 6d. ?

(4.) The sum of £263, 8s. 11d. is distributed equally among a number of persons, so that the share of each is £37, 12s. 8d. Find the number of persons.

Unattempted.

The first of these answers is, of course, as bad as bad can be ; the second would be correctly done if the given multiplier had been 101 instead of 111; but here again is, I fear, an indication of a careless habit of working, by which the marks for a sum which the candidate probably knew how to do have been lost. Things were beginning to look serious at the end of second question wrongly answered, but the third sum was sufficient to redeem the others to a certain extent. It is hardly necessary to say that this last, though correctly and tidily done, need not have been stated as a proportion sum. The fourth question, involving reduction, is unattempted, possibly because it was not discovered that it could be done by that method; but more likely from ignorance of the rule. A candidate has hard work before him in the course of his first year if quite unpractised in reduction; and though this paper does not contain any exercise in weights and measures, it must not be forgotten that an acquaintance with them is necessary for admission to apprenticeship.