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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Eleven Plus Guarantee

Back in the Middle Ages Latin still had great prestige in international learning. Newton, for example, wrote about theory of gravity in Latin. When the apple fell on his head he may not have said:

“Oh dear!” but may have offered a Neuter Noun:

Caput a head
Capitis of a head
Capiti to or for a head
Capite by, with or from a head

At the time of the Reformation controversialists wanted to reach as many people as possible – and so English was used to try to reach the masses.

But later on national feelings gave rise to the need for English to be written for the English, French for the French and Italian for the Italians. The English speaking public `borrowed’ many words from Latin:

Client
Conviction
Recipe
Dissolve
Comet

There were also many abstract words like:

Adoption
Conflict
Imaginary

Other words an eleven plus child may encounter include:

Area
Radius

Any or all of the above words may have appeared at one time on an another on an eleven plus paper or specimen paper.

Many parents will remember from school phrases like:

Felix est rex quem omnes cives laudant.

Fortunate is the king whom all citizens raise.

It would be fantastic if we could write:

“My child passed the eleven plus.” Many of us would relearn Latin if we could guarantee a statement of this nature!

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