Answering the 20 marker - Section (a)

Ok so here it is in my own words. I'll try to keep this as short as possible, because the last thing you want is to take one look at it, and convince yourself its too complicated to bother with.

You should ALWAYS bother with it. Take a guess at EVERY question. Even if you only get one out of every five right, that's still FOUR marks you wouldn't have had if you just left it blank.

So...

There will always be a part a, b, c, d to this question. The way the marks are spread about may vary.

Part a - 4-6 marks

This ALWAYS asks you to identify word classes and archaic spelling patterns. So your answers would be something like (Vnusual = adjective, displaying u/v interchange) or (Somtimes = adverb, with omission of medial 'e')

All you have to do is learn the archaic spelling patterns and use your common sense to identify the word class (look at the function it is playing in the sentence - if you don't recognise the word, read it a few times. It may be a word that you know, but is obscured due to an interchange or something.)

If the spelling issue doesn't seem to fit one of the archaic spelling patterns you know, describe it anyway. You have nothing to lose by guessing. (eg, if the word was 'rumning' as in 'the suspect was seen rumning away', you can clearly see what the issue is. One of the Ns is written as an m. So just say something like - present participle verb with one n substituted for an M. You may get nothing for it, but it is better to try)

Here are the archaic patterns you need to memorise:

§Extra final –e (vowel) or you could say appended –e or inflected vowel

§Doubling (vppon, natural, seurall) and Single consonants (maners)

§Omission of medial e: wherby, somtimes

§Omission of final e: diuers

§Interchange: I/Y or U/V for example

§Inconsistencies or idiosyncratic spelling

§Phonetic spelling

§Loan Words : French/Latin or borrowing (like the text A in travel writing example)