14. Give the etymologies of the following: Bissextile, thimble, calf (of the leg), jealousy, vermilion, crimson, peck, furlong, moiodore, penny, firkin, sterling. 15. Give the etymologies of the following: Dean, parson, parish, chancellor, sexton, beadle, sheriff, seneschal, nabob, admiral, dauphin. 16. Give the derivations of the following: Sergeant, soldier, pioneer' hussar, dragoon, colonel, sentinel, artillery, claymore, carbine, halberd, parapet, ambuscade, blunderbuss, calibre, bivouac, trench. 17. Give the etymologies of the following: Biscuit, rum, brandy, whiskey, bulwark, troop, cohort. 18. Explain the following: Abbot, nun, monk, minster, hermit, friar, pew, pulpit, steeple, chancel, gown, Easter, Lent, liturgy, heathen, pagan, diocese, shrine. 19. Explain the following words: Booby, brag, bosh, chouse, balderdash, canter, fiacre, flash, isinglass, jeopardy, jollyboat, ogre, poltroon, lumber. 20. Explain the following words: Cheer, danger, denizen, gazette, grouse, haggard, host, imbecile, inveigle, kerchief, lobster, malady, meeting, minaret, muggy, mustard, nostril, palfrey, pamphlet, porpoise, pony, ransack, rhubarb, savage, samphire, saloon, surgeon, usher, vignette, yacht, voyage, zodiac. WOOLWICH COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION. DR. DASENT. THE following questions were set by Dr. Dasent at the competitive examinations for admission to the R. M. A., Woolwich, 1857-1869. The questions are not given in papers as they were proposed, because many of them have been very often repeated. 1. The English is a composite language: mention the languages from which its chief components are derived. 2. How many languages are now spoken in the United Kingdom, and in what district? 3. Mention any words or terminations in the names of places in the United Kingdom, which indicate the occupation of the country at a former period by foreign races. 4. In what way are the cases of substantives expressed in English? Give examples of English cases, and compare their formation with that in use in any other language. 5. Explain accurately the use of the verb, adjective, substantive, and adverb in a sentence. 6. In how many ways are diminutives formed in English? 7. Define gender, number, and case in English nouns. 8. Give the plurals of the following words: Cow, sow, knife, wife, dwarf, staff, ox, die, house, wealth, and phenomenon. 9. Is there anything etymologically remarkable in the following words: Its, chickens, what, seamstress, brethren, pence, shepherdess, which, vixen, am, welkin, seldom, whilom, cavalry, spinster? 10. What is the ordinary way in which the plurals of nouns substantive are formed in English? Give as many exceptions to that mode of formation as you may remember. 11. Explain the meaning of the terms positive, comparative, and superlative as applied to adjectives. 12. Give a list of the irregular comparatives and superlatives in English. 13. Distinguish between derivation and composition in English, and state which is earlier in any language. 14. Examine the verb substantive in English, and show out of how many verbs it was originally composed. 15. Compare this method of formation in English with that pursued in any other language with which you may be acquainted. 16. They may talk as they will of the dead languages: our auxiliary verbs give us a power to which the ancients with all their variety of mood and inflexion of tense never could attain.' Examine the truth of this statement, and give examples of the use and force of the auxiliary verbs in English. 17. What is the difference between regular, irregular, and defective verbs? 18. Explain the use of pronouns in a sentence. How many kinds are there in English? Give one or two examples of their use. 19. Is it an invariable rule that a singular noun should be followed by a singular verb? If it is not, give instances of variation, and explain them. 20. What is the use of the subjunctive mood in English? Give examples of its use. 21. Explain the meaning and construction of the following passages, and give the derivations of the underlined words : The man lay a dying. For John his sake. I have broke with her father, and his good will obtained I pray you have him presently discharged. For he is bound to sea, and stays but for it. He doth bestride the world like a Colossus. You may come to-morrow, in the morning. 22. Give as complete a list as you can of foreign words which have been naturalised in English during the last two centuries. 23. What do you understand by a figure of speech? 24 Explain accurately the terms Word, language, dialect, idiom, provincialism, vulgarism, plagiarism. 25. What do you understand by Syntax, Concord, and Regimen in English Grammar? 26. Of how many parts does every grammatical sentence consist? Name those parts and analyse three such sentences. 27. What is meant by Etymology, Orthography, Orthoepy, and Prosody? 28. Explain the use of adverbs in a sentence. Show how they are formed in English, and give a list of adverbial terminations. 29. Is it possible to write a sentence which shall not contain a Saxon word? Write one or two Saxon sentences. 30. Give a few plain rules for writing good English. 31. Explain the meaning of the first syllable in the following words: a-dying, a-bed, aboard, abroad, ashore, agape, aghast, aloft, aloof, alone. 32. Explain the following terms as applied to language: Accent, orthoepy, orthography, and etymology. 33. To what extent can English Substantives be said to possess gender, number, and case? 34. Explain the following passages : Woe worth the day. And every thing that pretty bin. Those eyes They have not wept a many tears. They hung me up by the heels, and beat me with hard sticks. All winds blow fair that did the world embroil; Your vipers treacle yield, and scorpions oil. The rising sun o'er Galston muirs Wi' glorious light was glinting, The laverocks they were chanting. 35. Give the derivations of the following words, and explain how they acquired their present signification: Pagan, companion, savage, villain, infantry, pioneer, cavalry, artillery, gun, engineer, cannon, musket, soldier, corporal, serjeant, ensign, lieutenant, captain, colonel, general, marshal. 36. What do you understand by a Figure of Speech? Write a series of short sentences, each containing an example of a figure of speech. 37. State in prose the sense of the following passage; mention the kind of verse in which it is written; and explain the derivations of the words and the allusions contained in the sentences printed in italics : Captain, or colonel, or knight in arms, Whose chance on these defenceless doors may seize, If deed of honour did thee ever please, Guard them, and him within protect from harms. To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare. 38. Distinguish the following pairs of words by accentuation: An attribute The month of August A compact To conjure (magically) Desert (wilderness) To attribute. An august person. Compact (close). Conjure (enjoin). Invalid (a weakly person). Minute (small). Supine (easy). 39. Is there any etymological connection between the words in italics in the following expressions? If there be, explain it. (a) He is a puny child. He is a puisne judge. (b) The ship is outward bound. The man is bound in chains. (c) I have a deal to say. The table is made of deal. We played at cards, and it was my deal. (d) The nightingale's thrilling note. The horse's nostril. The carpenter's drill. The lassie thirled at the pin. The pikeman trailed his pike, 40. Prove the existence of several successive races of conquerors in the British Isles by the traces of their languages which remain at the present day in the names of persons and places. 41. Explain the derivation and original and present meaning of the following words: Alderman, mayor, sheriff, hustings, parliament, assize, lords, commons, exchequer, county, hundred, parish, church, and chapel. 42. Explain the origin and derivation of Protestant, Puritan, Roundhead, Quaker, Cavalier, Trimmer, Orangeman, Whig, Tory, Non Juror, Jacobin, and Radical, when used as party names. 43. Examine critically the English and versification of the following passage, and explain the historical allusions contained in it: Edward and Henry, now the boast of Fame, |