Fascinating. I particularly liked " Embody each of the following words in a sentence, in such a way as to shew that you clearly apprehend its meaning":
You mightalso be interested in questions that native speakers were dealing with a few years earlier.
London University Matriculation Examinations
1. Account for the letters in italics in - nam e, these, those, passenger, sovereign, wettest, cities, potatoes, sceptre, sceptic, handiwork, righteous, tomb, could, our.(1879)
2. What was the ancient form of the Feminine Gender? What traces remain of it? How has it been supplanted? Discuss the meaning an origin of the termination -ster (1879)
3. Classify the pronouns. (1879)
4. Trace as fully as you can the history of the inflexions of thou, and of he, she , it, in singular and plural (1880)
5. Distinguish between Syntax and Prosody. Define a perfect rhyme.(1880)
6. Discuss the words italicised in the folloowing:-
'Long ago we were wont to let plain living accompany high thinking.'
'Methinks you might have spoken, but you durst not.' (1881)
7. Parse must in 'He says he must go' and 'He said he must go,' and mention some other words that are similarly unchanged. What do you know of the verbs quoth and wot? (1887)
8. Derive the following county names: Middlesex, Northumberland, Cornwall, Durham. Hampshire, Surrey.
College of Preceptors Senior Certificate:
1. Analyse into clauses only, naming in each case the kind of clause, and showing the way in which the different clauses are related:-
............................To bleed for others' wrongs
In vindication of a cause, to draw
The sword of the Lord and Gideon - oh, that seems
The flower and top of life! But fight because
Some poor misconstruing Trifler haps to say
I lie, when I do not lie,
Why should I? Call you this a cause? I can't.
Oh, he is wrong, no doubt; he misbehaves -
But is it worth so much as speaking loud ?
And things so merely personal to myself
Of all earth's things do least affect myself.
2. Parse the words italicised in the above passage. (1903)