ДРУЗЬЯ,СОС:)
English Spelling
English ___ first written down in the 6th century. At that time, writers _____ use the twenty
three letters of the Latin alphabet to write down ____ they heard. Because English has sounds
that do not exist in Latin, they added letters to represent the forty-four sounds of English. This
resulted ___ some irregular spelling. After the Norman invasion of England in 1066, French
became the language spoken by the king and other people in positions of power and influence.
Many French words ____ introduced and the spelling of many English words changed ____
French patterns. The result was a rich and irregular mix ___ spellings.
The printing press was ___ in the 15th century. Many early printers of English texts spoke ___
first languages, especially Dutch. They often paid little attention ___ how English words were
spelled. Sometimes technical decisions were made to give columns of print straight edges. To
do ____, letters were taken off the ends of words and sometimes added to words. With time,
people became used to ____ words spelled in the same way. Fixed spellings were therefore
created ____the printers` decisions. Spoken English, however, was not fixed. It continued to
change, ___it still does. _____ that English spelling seems irregular. Words such as although,
through and cough, for example, all have the same spelling at the end, but are pronounced
differently. Words such as feet, meat and seize, on the other hand, are spelled differently but
have ___ same sound in the middle.3
1. A. was B. were C. is
2. A. had to B. were to C. must
3. A. what B. which C. that
4. A. had B. were C. been
5. A. followed B. follow C. to follow
6. A. of B. in C. from
7. A. invent B. invented C. inventing
8. A. other B. another C. others
9. A. at B. to C. on
10. A. this B. these C. such
11. A. see B. saw C. seeing
12. A. by B. on C. at
13. A. like B. as C. though
14. A. There is no wonder B. It is no wonder C. It is no wonder
15. A. - B. a C. the