Здравствуйте! У меня возникли сложности с таким вопросом:

Read the text below and then decide which word A, B, C or D best fits each space (12points).

English spelling

Why does English spelling have the reputation for being difficult? English was first written down when Christian monks came to England in Anglo-Saxon (1)_____. They used the 23 letters of Latin to write down the sounds of Anglo-Saxon (2)_____ as they heard it. However, English has a

Английский язык. 9 класс. Стр. 4 из 5.

(3)_____ range of basic sounds (over 40) than Latin. The alphabet was too small, and so combinations of letters were needed to (4)_____the different sounds. Inevitably, there were inconsistencies in the way that letters were combined.

With the Norman invasion of England, the English Language was put (5)_____risk. English survived, but the spelling of many words changed to follow French (6)_____, and many French words were (7)_____into the language. The result was more irregularity.

When the printing press was (8)_____in the fifteenth century, many early printers of English texts spoke other first languages. They (9)_____little effort to respect English spelling. Although one of the short-term (10)_____of printing was to produce a number of variant spellings, in the long term it created fixed spellings. People became used to seeing words spelt in the same way. Rules were (11)_____and dictionaries were put together which printers and writers could (12)_____ to. However, spoken English was not fixed and continued to change slowly – just as it still does now.

1. a. ages b. centuries c. times d. years

2. a. chat b. communication c. discussion d. speech

3. a. deeper b. longer c. thicker d. wider

4. a. explain b. express c. perform d. tell

5. a. at b. in c. on d. under

6. a. guides b. patterns c. plans d. types

7. a. announced b. found c. introduced d. started

8. a. discovered b. invented c. made up d. taken in

9. a. brought b. did c. made d. put

10. a. actions b. conclusions c. effects d. meanings

11. a. drawn up b. filled c. got across d. handed out

12. a. check b. look c. refer d. see