8. Read the following extract from a British Rail brochure entitled 'The way to enjoy the great outdoors' and then answer the questions below it:

Whether tent or caravan, taking your own home with you is the free and easy way to motor around Europe or Ireland. Not only are you free to go as you please, but you can stop for a day or a week whenever you see a place which takes your fancy -without the worry of looking for somewhere to stay every night or the inconvenience of making your plans fit in with hotel mealtimes. And, of course, camping or caravanning does allow you to have a marvellous holiday in Europe without spending a fortune. Your itinerary can be tailored to your needs.

On the Continent people take camping very seriously, and unless you particularly want a spartan holiday you'll find it can be very luxurious.

Most camp sites have all the mod cons you would wish for.

Washing and toilet facilities, hot and cold showers, electric razor sockets, ironing rooms, restaurants, bars, shops - even electricity sockets for lighting.

An all-inclusive scheme which gives you hire of a caravan, and ferry tickets for car and passengers, costs from about £26.50 per person. Caravans are collected in France or Ireland - so there's no need to tow it to the English port or pay for its ferry crossing.

(a) An opponent of caravan holidays says: 'They are cheap but very inflexible'.

How far does the extract support or contradict this statement?

(b) Explain what you understand by any two of the following: the great outdoors; a spartan holiday; an all-inclusive scheme; itinerary.

(c) Your employer is considering taking his family for a caravan holiday during the middle of the summer. Prepare a short informal memo to him, set out correctly, in which you explain the convenient or desirable features of such a holiday (using the extract for your information). As a thoughtful secretary, add any comments of your own about any possible drawbacks that occur to you.

(d) Your employer has a wife and teenage son. Having looked at the brochure he decides that £100 should easily cover the cost of a three-week caravan holiday on the Continent, using the British Rail all-inclusive scheme. Can you make any comment on this?

(e) The term 'British Rail' is a relatively new one. The earlier form was

'British Railways', another possible form would have been 'British Railroads'. Comment on the suitability of rail, railways, and railroads in this context. Which do you think is the best modern choice, and why?

(f) Mention any two features of the style or language of the extract

(quoting briefly if you wish) which indicate that it is designed to catch the attention of the casual reader and have a forceful sales impact.

(LCC Private Secretary's Certificate)