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

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

      For some, grass is just the green stuff outside the house that they have to mow. For farmers and football players, it is indispensable. For children it is the ideal playground. And those who live in most urban areas assume they have very little to do with grass of any sort. However, almost all of us have daily contact with some type of grass and the product made from it. 
      Grass makes up a major part of the vegetation that covers the earth And no wonder, since it is one of the most adaptable plant groups on earth, growing in polar regions and deserts in tropical rain forests, and on wind-swept mountain slopes. Entire vegetation areas are dominated by grass. 
      Unlike many other plants, grass grows, not at the tip but in growth areas above the nodes. New shoots might start from stems growing horizontally on or under the ground. So when the lawn mower or the cow cuts away the tip, or fire rages through a field. grass keeps growing whereas many other plants stop Furthermore. with most grasses, if the – stem is bent over by the wind or trodden underfoot, it can raise itself erect by growing faster on the side facing the ground. For these reasons, grass usually recovers quickly after being damaged. which gives it an edge over other plants in the fight for sunlight. 
      Grass is not only the most abundant but also the most important flowering plant family on earth. A botanist once described grass as the foundation of our food it is “like a dam protecting mankind from famine.” Try to remember what you ate today. Did you start with a bowl of cereal made with millet. rice, oats, or sorghum? Well, then, you ate grass seeds. Or perhaps you had a roll or other kind of bread. The flour used was made from grass kernels – wheat, rye, barley, and other grains are all grasses Cornflakes and other corn products are no exception. as corn or maize is a grass too. You had sugar in your tea or coffee? More than half of all sugar is made from sugarcane, a grass. 
      Grass is not only good for food, however. If your house has walls made of clay and straw, it is grass that gives them the necessary strength. In different parts of the world. roofs are thatched with grass. One of the advantages of such roofs is that they keep the interior of the buildings cool regardless of the external temperature. 
      Grass covers and adorns much of the earth. Apart from the beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing sight of a green meadow or a well-kept lawn, grass is a major oxygen supplier, because of the sheer mass of the green vegetation that it produces.

      Finally, its fine roots perform the all-important function of protecting the soil from erosion. Keeping its versatility in mind we are not surprised to learn that the usage and cultivation of grass has a long history. The next time you see a waving cornfield, a lush green meadow, or just humble blades of grass growing between stones in a sidewalk, you might stop and think of this marvelous and most versatile plant family! 
(a) In two sentences, one for each, summarize the two reasons why grass forms a major part of the earth’s vegetation. 
(b) In four sentences, one for each, summarize the four ways in which grass is useful to humans. 

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

      It is no longer news that the social and economic problems of African countries continue to worsen. What we experience daily  are the vicious consequences of unemployment, inadequate health and educational facilities, urban squalor resulting from a population bursting at the seams  and, most frightening of all, the rate at which crime is rising It is also no longer news that many Africans now see ”checking out” of their countries for other supposedly better ones abroad as the only solution to the problems. In this regard, the United State, Britain, Canada, Germany and Italy are the hot favourites. Most of these Africans are usually so desperate to leave that they fall easy prey to all sorts of passport and visa fraud, and often end up smuggling themselves abroad at all costs. In such countries, they have to do all manner of menial jobs, sometimes resorting to criminal activities, and are often cut off completely from families and relations back home. Young girls who have been enticed  with assurances of a rosy future often end up in forced prostitution, with all its unpleasant consequences! 
      Is “checking out”. the ideal solution to Africa’s social and economic problems? Of course not! What is baffling is why Africans cannot see abandoning their countries as a step that holds out  no solution at all. All that they achieve, in fact, is the substitution of one set of problems for another! 
      What then should we do? We must look inwards for a more realistic solution. First, we must develop the will to tackle our problems. Where there is a will, it is said, there is a way. If we abandon our problems instead of tackling them on, we will simply be leaving an unpleasant legacy for future generations. Secondly, we must orient ourselves tows res self-reliance and self-employment, instead of looking helplessly to our embattled government for salaried employment, 
      Finally, we must seek a long-term solution by addressing the population question. It is obvious that Africa’s outsize population is at the root of the problems. The question we should ask ourselves is. if the average family size in America or Britain were to be as large as the average African family, would these countries still be as attractive to us as they are now? The big puzzle is that we have adopted the white man’s lifestyle in all other respects, but have made an exception of family size. 
(a) Mention two sequences of the usual desperation of Africans to leave their countries. 
(b) The writer argues that escaping abroad is not the ideal solution to Africa’s problems. Quote one sentence from the passage that sums up the writer’s recommended solution. 
(c)According to the writer, why should Africans solve their problems rather than avoid them? 
(d) What does the writer consider the most serious cause of African’s problems? 
(e) What does the writer imply by using the word “supposedly” in the second paragraph? 
(f) “What we experience daily . ” (i) What grammatical name is given to this expression as it is used in the passage? 
(ii) What is its function? 
(g) ” a population bursting at the seams ” What figure of speech is contained in this expression? 
(h) 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) prey’ (ii) enticed: (iii) ideal; (iv) holds out; (v) tackle: (vi) head-on. 

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

      When Eze was invited to spend his Easter holidays with Uncle Chike in Lagos, he jumped for joy! He had always pictured Lagos as a wonderland of bright lights, paved roads, elegant people riding by in their expensive cars, and beautiful residential quarters. This invitation was the wonderful opportunity for him to leave his small village for the first time and experience first-hand the good life of the city that he had imagined so much about! 
      The fateful day came and Eze, happy as a lark, bid an excited good-bye to his family. The first leg of his trip started modestly in the back of the rickety lorry that plied the dirt road linking his village to the rest of the world, but Eze was sure that he would later ride triumphantly into Lagos on one of those legendary luxury buses that he admired so much. This was also an experience to look forward to!  
      When he arrived in Lagos, it was almost dark. The first things that struck him as he alighted from the bus were the teeming crowd with their desperate unsmiling faces, the deafening noise of the ceaseless traffic, the polluted air with its acrid smell of exhaust fumes and decay, the endless rows of dirty and crumbling concrete buildings, and the filth everywhere. What a sharp contrast with the city he had built up in his imagination! But surely there must still be much to look forward to. Back in the village, Uncle Chike was regarded as a well-to-do trader. So Eze was further surprised and disappointed to find that he lived in a single room in a sleazy part of the city. At night, it got hot and stuffy, but they dared not open the windows as this would bring an invasion  of mosquitoes. 
      Eze woke up the next morning feeling clammy, but he could still not have a bath. As his uncle took him to a shack across the street for a hurried  breakfast of thin tea and mouldy bread, he explained that they usually bought water from a mobile tanker that had not come for some time. Eze was still recovering from his surprise at this information when they rushed off for his uncle s market stall, and he had his first unpleasant ride in one of the notorious molue buses of the city. 
      As they struggled down from the bus, shoving against the solid mass of desperate, bad-tempered commuters, Eze thought of his village, and the city suddenly lost whatever was left of its attraction  for him. True, the village was small; life there was monotonous, and it lacked some essential amenities_ But it was peaceful; you drank clean water and ate what you wanted fresh; you moved about freely and breathed clean air; and everyone was friendly and helpful. Greatly disillusioned with the city, Eze longed to return to his beloved village! 
(a) State two experiences that Eze looked forward to. 
(b) Mention any two features of the city that Eze noticed at once 
(c) What two discoveries surprised and disappointed Eze when he arrived in the city? 
(d) Mention any two experiences in the city that Eze found unpleasant. 
(e) What conclusion did Eze draw from his experiences in. the city? 
(f) ” as a lark …” What figure of speech is contained in this expression? 
(g) “When he arrived. in Lagos,…” (i) What grammatical name is given to this expression as it is used in the passage? 
(ii) What is its function? . 
(h) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase which means the same and which can replace it as it is used in the passage. (i) pictured; (ii) stuffy; (iii) invasion; (iv) hurried; (v) attraction; (vi) monotonous. 

Write a story on the topic: “An experience I’d love to have again.”

You are the chief speaker in a debate on the topic “Wealth is more important than health,” Write your speech for or against the topic.

The poor state of the facilities in your school is causing the studens freat concern. As the Senior Prefect, write a letter to the chairman of the Board of Governors highlighting the problems and requesting him to come to the aid of the school.

Write an article suitable for publication in a national newspaper on the benefits that will be derived from the government showing interest in agriculture. 

Your father insists that you must study medicine at the University, but you have an entirely different course in mind. Write a letter to him explaining why you prefer this other course and why he should allow you make your own choice. 

In question numbered 100 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 99 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 98 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 97 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 96 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 95 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 94 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 93 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 92 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 91 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 90 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 89 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.

In question numbered 88 above, choose the best option from letters A – D that best completes the gap.