A. IF B. IF NOT C. ONLY IF D. UNLESS(76-80). READ THE PASSAGE BELO...

75. a. If

b. If not

c. Only if

d. Unless

(76-80). Read the passage below carefully and choose the correct answer a, b, c or d.

ENGLISH SPELLING

English was first written down in the 6th century. At that time, writers had to use the

twenty-three letters of Latin alphabet to write down what 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 in 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 were introduced and the spelling

of many English words changed to follow French patterns. The result was a rich and

irregular mix of spelling.

The printing press was invented in the 15th century. Many early printers of English texts

spoke other first languages, especially Dutch. They often paid little

attention to how English words were spelled. Sometimes technical decisions were made

to give columns of print straight edges. To do this, letters were taken off the ends of

words and sometimes added to words. With time, people became used to seeing words

spelled in the same way. Fixed spellings were therefore created by printers’ decisions.

Spoken English, however, was not fixed. It continued to change, as it still does. It is no

wonder 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 the same

sound in the middle.