English Language JAMB, WAEC, NECO AND NABTEB Official Past Questions

Read the following passage carefully and then answer the question on it.

      Katsina has for years been famous for different reasons. Certain qualities have recommended the town as an inland port of call” for travellers. Katsina has long had an enviable record of possessing strong and resourceful farmers. Many of these have almost perfected the art of growing grains side by side with raising animals like goats, sheep, cows, horses and donkeys. Horses and donkeys are raised for their traditional role of keeping man’s company and facilitating his movement from one point to the other. The other animals have been kept as sources of milk, meat and economic strength.

      Katsina a.focal town has for long prided herself on the presence of a good crop of artisans and craftsmen. Their depth of originality has formed the theme of folklore and songs. Most of these artisans engage in such activities as blacksmithing, leatherwork and woodcarving. Their products easily provide some explanation for some of the queues of travellers who stream into Katsina. The elegance of these artisans’ output both real and imagined provides an extra attraction for the undecided visitors. Many would probably have remained unimpressed even with the commonly heard lines.

      ‘Those who can see admire the beauty of Katsina. Those who are blind simply inhale it’. Stories about the artisans have for ages successfully swayed many reluctant passers-by to make a stop in Katsina. Some of such calls have been brief and business-like with the callers simply focusing on satisfying their curiosity. Other callers have stopped, mixed with the people and forgotten to move on. This class of visitors would partly explain an interesting aspect of Katsina’s population. The town has witnessed moments of drought and famine but such have hardly left their mark on the population.

      Another segment of Katsina’s population has always occupied itself with some unique form of commercial participation..Some of these men and women might never be visibly engaged in moving wares. Most of them merely engage in passing the word on the availability of this or that produce or item. Some go on to arrange contacts between sellers and their potential buyers. In certain instances these information carriers might choose the location of the meeting, the time of day or night and the individuals that would form the requirements for a particular trade contract. It is not uncommon to find a chance meeting opening up a temporary or enduring association between a young lady and a prospective suitor.

      The beauty of Katsina has not been limited to its geographical and traditional eminence. The different groups of inhabitants have also combined to give the town a character of its own In six sentences, two for each group, summarise the major contributions by the following to the eminence of Katsina:

(a) farmers: (b) artisans: (c) traders.

Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions on it.

      It was Kola’s first day at work. That morning. he woke up at exactly five 0 clock. He had slept late the night before as he was getting ready for the D-day.  

      Securing a job was a relief to Kola and his parents. For two years. Kola had roamed  the streets in search of work. He had finished his mandatory national youth service two years. service two years before after returning from America where he obtained his master’s degree in Business Administration at the State University. During these years, he has been living on his parents. Of course they were happy caring for him as having him around was what mattered. They could not bear the pain of him returning to America after missing him for ten years. Kola detested this too much. He felt his freedom was being curtailed by his continued dependence on his parents for survival. There was nothing he could do for the moment. He was not then a man.

      Kola arrived at the office of the secretary to the Managing Director of Friendly Construction Company that morning full of smiles. He was to start as the company’s Personnel Manager. He was surprised to see the secretary already at her seat typing. She looked up from her typing with surprise. She wondered what could have kept the young man so late on the first day of his assumption of duties. She was sure the Managing Director would not take it lying down.  

      She was on the verge of asking him why he was late when the door to the Director’s office opened and the director stepped into the secretary’s office.

      Good morning Sir’, Kola greeted him.

      “Morning, Mr. Kola”, replied the Director. By my time he continued it is now two minutes after 9 o’clock. You are one hour two minutes late. This is a bad way to begin. Kola hurriedly checked his wrist watch, He wanted to speak, but he was stuck for words.

(a) Give one reason why Kolas securing of a job was a relief to his parents.

(b) In one sentence, explain what the writer meant by saying Kola had been living on his parents.

(c) Write a sentence to explain what you think prevented Kola from returning to America after waiting for two years without a job. (d) What in the writer’s opinion was responsible for Kola’s parents untiring care for him? Quote a sentence from the passage to support this.

(e) State in one sentence why Kola was then not a man.

(f) In one sentence or phrase. give the meaning of each of the following words or group of words as it is used in the passage

(i) D-day (ii) Roamed; (iii) Mandatory; (iv) Lying down; (v) Stuck for words.

(g) (i) What kind of grammatical structure is “with surprise” (ii) What is its function in the sentence?

Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions which follow.

      At the beginning of the century also, the British administration, after the control of malaria by quinine and the resettlement of whites on high ground at Hill Station. decided to change its policy of appointing Krios to high posts and appointed Europeans instead. some of them with lower qualifications.

      The religious societies also seemed to have lost faith in Krio leadership in the Church and sent out white missionaries to replace them in Sierra Leone and in Nigeria under the ageing black Bishop Crowther, the first black bishop since the Reformation.

      Thus, with economic power lost to the British and Lebanese merchants. civil and religious leadership lost to the British and with a strained relationship between them and the provincial people. the Krios have been a beleaguered community since the 1900s. In 1926 they even lost the cherished  control and mayoralty of Freetown which they had held since the 1790s regaining it only after about three decades of petitioning.  

      But their passion for education and Protestantism remained. Their teachers and clergymen at the Freetown secondary schools with degrees from Durham University with which the local Fourah Bay college had been affiliated in the 1870s maintained a high standard in Freetown and were in demand in neighbouring territories in the Gambia. Ghana and Nigeria, especially in northern Nigeria, where they served under Lord Luguard as both senior and junior officers. A clerk there was the main character in a novel Mr. Johnson written in that era by the late author Joyce Cary.

(a) Give one word that could replace each of the following in the passage. (i) ageing; (ii) beleaguered; (iii) cherished; (iv) petitioning; (v) affiliated; (vi) era

(b) In two sentences state why it is necessary to resettle the whites on the high ground.

(c) Give three areas in which the Krios found themselves discriminated against.

(d) Give two reasons which show that the Krios were determined people:

(e) Write down the clauses you can see in the first sentence of the passage.

One of your pen friends has written asking you to describe your favourite Nigerian dish to enable her to prepare it. Write back to her explaining how the dish is cooked.

You and a group of school mates were returning from an excursion when the bus in which you were travelling broke down in an isolated place. Write a report for the principal on the events that followed and how you got out of the situation.

You have been invited to lead the motion in a school debate for or against the proposition that’ the new 6-3-3-4 system of education will be beneficial to the youths of Nigeria’. Write out your speech.

Write an article for inclusion in one of your local newspapers on the importance of immunization against childhood diseases in your locality.

You were an eye-witness to an incident in which a crowd of angry traders beat a suspected thief to death. Write a letter to the Divisional Police Officer in your area giving an account of what happened.

Write a story in your school magazine beginning or ending with the sentence; I wish I had never met the man.

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
After he had tried for sometime, he realized that all his efforts were going to be …..

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
I hate that habit….

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
The press must cater for the needs of the …. public.

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
…..sacrifice was it that people talked about if for years.

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
I find it …. comfortable to travel by air than by road.

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
This is not …… house in the street but it is certainly bigger than yours.

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
Obi is … troublesome than I had imagined.

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
At eighteen, Bose is … to take good care of her sisters.

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
Having worked all day it is about time we … back home

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
Everybody has to do … homework

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
I want that spoon washed, I can still see … on it

From the words lettered A to D choose the word or group of words that best completes the sentence.
People are always afraid to visit Mr. Ade because he is ….