11 plus Letter-Position Bridge questions

What a Letter-Position Bridge question looks like

A Letter-Position Bridge question in 11 plus verbal reasoning is laid out as two sets of three words, like this: tram (try) wry, and then vote (?) new. In the first set, the word in brackets has been built letter by letter from the two words either side of it, taking one letter from a numbered position each time. The job is to work out which positions were used, and in what order, then do the same to the second set to find the missing middle word.

Nothing depends on meaning. The outer words are strings of letters with numbers underneath them, and the answer is a word of three or four letters, chosen from five options. Every rule draws on both outer words, so a rule that accounts for the middle word using only one of them has gone wrong somewhere. Here are three worked through in full.

The question. “tram (try) wry”, then “vote (?) new”. The options are vow, bow, cow, low and mow.

The method. Number the letters of the outer words in the first set: t-r-a-m and w-r-y. The middle word is try. Where does the t come from? Letter 1 of tram. The r? Letter 2 of tram. The y? Letter 3 of wry. So the rule is letter 1 of the left word, letter 2 of the left word, letter 3 of the right word. Now the second set. Letter 1 of vote is v, letter 2 of vote is o, letter 3 of new is w.

The answer. vow.

Why a wrong option tempts. All five options end in “ow”, so the only letter genuinely in dispute is the first one. A child who takes letter 1 of new instead of vote gets “now”, which is not on the list, and it is then easy to reach for a familiar word like cow and move on. When the options rhyme, the question is telling you which letter to check twice.

The question. “once (son) cast”, then “wok (?) rite”. The options are tot, two, tow, owe and owl.

The method. Number the outer words: o-n-c-e and c-a-s-t. The middle word is son. The s is letter 3 of cast, the o is letter 1 of once, the n is letter 2 of once. So this rule starts on the right-hand word and then goes back: letter 3 of the right word, letter 1 of the left word, letter 2 of the left word. Apply that to wok and rite. Letter 3 of rite is t, letter 1 of wok is w, letter 2 of wok is o.

The answer. two.

Why a wrong option tempts. tow. It uses exactly the same three letters, and it is what you get if you collect the t and then read wok forwards instead of following the rule’s order. The order of the positions is part of the rule.

The question. “fair (fail) lip”, then “mill (?) kin”. The options are mild, mill, milk, mile and mink.

The method. The outer words are f-a-i-r and l-i-p, and the middle word is fail. The f is letter 1 of fair, the a is letter 2, the i is letter 3, the l is letter 1 of lip. Three letters from the left word, then one from the right. Apply that to mill and kin: letters 1, 2 and 3 of mill are m, i and l, and letter 1 of kin is k.

The answer. milk.

Why a wrong option tempts. mill. Three of its four letters are right, and if you forget that the last letter comes from the other word, you copy the left-hand word straight across. Questions of this type put an outer word in the option list often enough that a child guessing at the last letter will land on it.

How to answer it

1. Write out the two outer words of the first set and number their letters. Do it on paper: this type is mostly bookkeeping, and the numbers make the bookkeeping visible.
2. Take the middle word one letter at a time. For each letter, find where it sits in one of the outer words and note the word and the position, for example “left word, letter 2”.
3. Check the rule against every letter of the middle word before going further. A rule that explains the first two letters but not the third is not the rule.
4. Number the outer words of the second set, then work through your list of positions in the same order, saying each letter as you take it.
5. Find your word among the options. If it is not there, the rule is wrong, so redo the first set rather than choosing whichever option looks closest.

Common mistakes

• Right letters, wrong order. One question builds the word “pool” and offers “loop” as an option. Reading an outer word forwards when the rule takes letter 2 before letter 1 produces a real word that looks convincing.
• Copying an outer word straight across. Alongside the answers fee, dust and east sit the options fed, rust and past, each an outer word of that same question. It is the natural mistake when the rule’s last letter gets forgotten.
• Expecting the letters to arrive in blocks. Rules alternate. One takes letter 1 of the left word, then letter 1 of the right word, then letter 2 of the left word. A child who assumes one word is finished with before the other begins hunts for a rule that is not there.
• Assuming the positions count forwards. Some rules take letter 4 of a word and then letter 3, or letter 2 and then letter 1. Position order and reading order are different things here.
• Losing count inside a long outer word. The outer words are not all short. Letter 3 of “wreck” is e, and letter 5 of “thrust” is s. Pointing at each letter while counting stops this.

How to practise 11 plus Letter-Position Bridge questions

This is one of the eleven plus question types where accuracy comes from a habit rather than from knowledge, so what is worth building is the numbering step: outer words written out, letters numbered, positions listed, all before any option is looked at. A child who does that reliably gets nearly all of these right, and a child who works them out in their head keeps meeting the rearranged wrong answer. 11+ Daily has a Letter-Position Bridge project among its verbal reasoning skills, and each explanation names the rule, checks it back against the first set, and only then applies it, which is the step children drop first. The questions are original to 11+ Daily, not past papers and not licensed from another publisher, and the bank is re-checked in rounds. The Today screen chooses which skills come round on a given day, so this one turns up alongside the rest rather than being drilled on its own, on laptop, tablet or phone. You can see where it sits among the other codes and sequences puzzles on the 11 plus verbal reasoning page.

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