Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
When health workers first came to the village and talked about family planning, no one took, them seriously, including Amusa, whose young wife was then pregnant with their first baby. Had their fathers and fore before them not had as many wives and children as they desired? And had the not been able to take care of their families? So everyone shunned the family planning clinic which was established in the village shortly afterwards.
Twelve years later, Amusa was a clerical assistant in the city and lived with his wife and eight children in a single room because he could not afford larger quarters. For as long as he could remember, his large family had been gong sent going through difficult times, which appeared to be worsening lately. Only yesterday, his third child had been sent away from school because her parents could not replace her old and torn school uniform. Last year, their first son could not proceed to the secondary school as the family could not afford the cost. Then recently, the landlord had announced his intention to increase the rent.
Amusa found himself thinking about the days when he was himself a young child. His own father had had two wives and thirteen children, yet as far as he could remember, the family had not faced anything similar to what he was going through now. He suddenly realized that this was because the times had changed and that the requirements of modem living put great pressure on large family sizes. His father’s time and age had been different: he had been a successful farmer in the village, had lived in his own house, employed members of his large family as farm hands and fed everyone from the abundance of the farm. On the other hand, Amusa lived in the city on a limited income. He had no farm land nor Amusa’s shoes became wiser only when it was too late. family. And at four or five times what they cost a few years before! even a vegetable garden, and had to pay for everything, from his rented room to the smallest domestic need of his.
It was then that he sadly remembered the health workers and their gospel of family planning. How he wished he had listened and taken their advice! Unfortunately, he had not. And what was even more unfortunate was that the millions in Amusa’s shoes became wiser only when it was too late.
(a) What advice do you think the health workers gave to the villagers?
(b) Give two reasons why the villagers did not take the health workers seriously.
(c) Give two indications of Amusa’s financial difficulties.
(d) Mention any two differences between Amusa’s condition and his father’s
(e) “And what was even more unfortunate… (I) What grammatical name is given to this expression as it is used in the passage?
(ii) What is its function?
(f) “And had they not been able to take care of their families?”
(i) What literary device is used in this expression?
(ii) What does it mean?
(g) For each of the following words or phrases, find another word or phrase which means the same and which can replace it as it is used in the passage: (i) shunned; (ii) established; (iii) announced; (iv) going through, (v) limited; (vi) shoes
Explanation
(a) The health workers advised the villagers to practise family planning, i.e.to limit their family size and not to have too many children.
(b)The villagers did not take the health workers seriously because: (i) their fathers and forefathers had large families and they were reluctant to abandon their traditional way of life. (ii) They were able to take care of their family.
(c)The indications of Amusa's financial difficulties are:
(i) Amusa could rent only one room for his large family.
(ii) He could not replace his child's old and torn school uniform. (iii) He could not send his son to secondary school.
(iv) He could not feed his family adequately.
(d)The differences between Amusa's condition and his father's are:
(i) His father had been a successful farmer (in the village) while Amusa was a poor clerical assistant (in the city).
(ii) Amusa was a tenant while his father had owned his own house.
(iii) His father could easily feed his family while Amusa had difficulty in doing so.
(e)(i) The grammatical name given to the expression is Noun clause.
(ii) The function of the expression is that it serves as subject of (the•verb) "was"
(f)(i) The Literary device used in the expression is Rhetorical question.
(ii) It means they took care of their families
(g)(i) shunned — rejected, avoided, disregarded, ignored (ii) established — built, set up, constructed, founded.
(iii) announced - disclosed, stated, declared, made known, expressed, revealed
(iv) going through — enduring, suffering, experiencing, undergoing, encountering, facing,
(v) limited — meager, low, poor, little, small
(vi) shoe —position, predicament, circumstance, situation, plight, condition, state
(a) The health workers advised the villagers to practise family planning, i.e.to limit their family size and not to have too many children.
(b)The villagers did not take the health workers seriously because: (i) their fathers and forefathers had large families and they were reluctant to abandon their traditional way of life. (ii) They were able to take care of their family.
(c)The indications of Amusa's financial difficulties are:
(i) Amusa could rent only one room for his large family.
(ii) He could not replace his child's old and torn school uniform. (iii) He could not send his son to secondary school.
(iv) He could not feed his family adequately.
(d)The differences between Amusa's condition and his father's are:
(i) His father had been a successful farmer (in the village) while Amusa was a poor clerical assistant (in the city).
(ii) Amusa was a tenant while his father had owned his own house.
(iii) His father could easily feed his family while Amusa had difficulty in doing so.
(e)(i) The grammatical name given to the expression is Noun clause.
(ii) The function of the expression is that it serves as subject of (the•verb) "was"
(f)(i) The Literary device used in the expression is Rhetorical question.
(ii) It means they took care of their families
(g)(i) shunned — rejected, avoided, disregarded, ignored (ii) established — built, set up, constructed, founded.
(iii) announced - disclosed, stated, declared, made known, expressed, revealed
(iv) going through — enduring, suffering, experiencing, undergoing, encountering, facing,
(v) limited — meager, low, poor, little, small
(vi) shoe —position, predicament, circumstance, situation, plight, condition, state