beside a mossy seat and from the turf a fountain broke and gurgled at our feet Preposition governing 'seat.' Common noun, third person, singular number, neuter gender, objective case, governed by the preposition 'beside.' Copulative conjunction.' Preposition governing '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,' indicate 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 preposition 'at.' OBSERVATIONS. 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 larger percentage of bad spellings occurs 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," eg., 'Behold, I lay in Zion a stone:" perfect tense "laid," e.g., "Slowly and sadly we laid him down;" perfect participle "laid," &c. eg., "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), eg., "There lay the steed with his nostril all wide;" perfect participle "lain," e.g., "After having long lain under this imputation," &c. (3.) The intransitive "to lie," to tell an untruth; present tense lie," .g., "(He) knoweth that I lie not;" perfect "lied," e.g., "But he" (the old prophet) "lied unto him;" perfect participle "lied" eg,, "Thou hast not lied unto men," &c. 66 The blunder in the parsing of the word "broke" is instructive, as affording an example of one of he ways in which not only "passes " 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 hun. dred and nine million nine thousand and ninety-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. OBSERVATIONS. 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 this 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 ought to be done by that method; but more likely from ignorance of the rule. Now a candidate has hard work before him in the course of his first year if previously quite unpractised in reduction; and, again, though this paper does not contain any correctly worked exercise in weights and measures, it must not be forgotten that an acquaintance with them is necessary for admisson to apprenticeship. GEOGRAPHY.(1.) What names are given (a) To mountains near each other, but scattered about irregularly? Answer, "Group," as the Cumbrian, the Cambrian. (b) To mountains extending nearly in a straight line? Answer, A "Chain," as the Pennine Chain in the north of England. (c) To mountains dividing rivers which flow one way from rivers flowing the opposite way? Unattempted. (d) To burning mountains? Answer, "Volcanoes," as Mount Etna in Sicily, Mount Vesuvius in Italy. (e) To moving masses of ice which descend from mountains? Unattempted. (f) To the highest points of mountains? Answer, "Peaks," as the Peak in Derbyshire, Snowdon in Wales. Give examples of each, and say where they are. One example of (a), (b), (c), should be in England or Wales. (2.) Name in order the principal Seas, Bays, Gulfs, and Straits connected with the Atlantic Ocean. Explain each word printed in Italics (above). Answer, Baltic Sea, White Sea, Black Sea, the Bay of Finland. A Sea is a part of an Ocean, having a particular name, as the Irish Sea, A Bay has a wide opening, and runs but a little way into the land, as the Bay of Biscay. A Gulf has a wide opening, and runs a great way into the land, as A Strait is a narrow strip of water which connects two larger portions, as the Strait(s) of Dover. |