Literature in English JAMB, WAEC, NECO AND NABTEB Official Past Questions

1

Point out the odd item in this list

  • A. Romeo and Juliet
  • B. Ozidi
  • C. Tom Sawyer
  • D. A Raisin in the Sun
  • E. Kongi's Harvest
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2
From the novel; Romeo and Juliet

The most quarrelsome character in Romeo and Juliet is

  • A. Benvolio
  • B. Tybalt
  • C. Paris
  • D. Mercutio
  • E. Juliet's nurse
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3

A woman cried out.The policeman who was edging nearer had been joined by another.Both were edging nearer.Carefully and slowly.But it was not that that had made the woman cry out.She had seen one of the men’s hand slip.He was now holding on by one hand only.The crowd was tense.This was the Kill.Automatically they moved forward in a body.The doctor was in the lead.
The author of this passage creates in the reader

  • A. disbelief
  • B. a feeling of nostalgia
  • C. a feeling of light hearted relaxation
  • D. suspense
  • E. unconcern
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4

The woods decay,the woods decay and fall,
The vapors weep their burden to the ground,
Man comes and fills the field and lies beneath,
And after many a summer dies the swan.
The theme of these lines is

  • A. the falling of leaves
  • B. the ground on which the leaves fall
  • C. man as a farmer
  • D. the power of death over every life
  • E. the flight of birds in certain reasons
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5
From the novel; Zambia Shall be Free

Kenneth Kaunda’s Zambia Shall Be Free is a non-fictional work because

  • A. it is about politics
  • B. it has no characters
  • C. it evokes no feelings
  • D. it is not written by a novelist
  • E. it deals with real life events
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6

Our attitude to the hero of George Elliot’s Sill Marner is one of

  • A. contempt
  • B. fear
  • C. sympathy
  • D. hatred
  • E. none of the above
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7

In a ‘Portrait’, a poet writes:
At mankind’s feast,i take my place
In solemn,sanctimonious state,
And have the air of saying grace
While i defile the dinner plate.
The tone of this passage may be described as

  • A. solemn
  • B. self-mocking
  • C. dead earnest
  • D. serious
  • E. angry
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8
From the novel; Mine Boy

Peter Abraham’s Mine Boy is about one of the following

  • A. opression through labour
  • B. the dignity of labour
  • C. happy childhood
  • D. conflict of the culture
  • E. none of the above
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9

We returned to our places,these kingdoms ,
But no longer at ease here,in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their goods.
I should be glad of another death.
The author of these lines is

  • A. W.B. Yeats
  • B. Chinua Achebe
  • C. Thomas Hardy
  • D. T.S. Elliot
  • E. E.G. Okara
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10

Mtchali’s ‘Nightfall in Soweto’is about one of the following

  • A. moonlight play at night
  • B. disease that attacks the body
  • C. a man fighting against a dangerous animal
  • D. an animal attacking a helpless man
  • E. a wicked man opressing a helpless man
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11
From the novel; Kossoh Town Boy

Kontiki Expedition demonstrates human

  • A. rashness
  • B. wastefulness
  • C. tactlessness
  • D. courage
  • E. recklessness
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12
From the novel; Kossoh Town Boy

In Kossoh Town Boy,the hero presents his father as

  • A. tyrannical
  • B. despotic
  • C. strict
  • D. weak
  • E. selfish
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13

The Adventure of Tom Sawyer depicts Tom’s

  • A. naivety
  • B. crass stupidity
  • C. ingenuity
  • D. hard heartedness
  • E. riches
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14

She rose up.She walked up to the table.She stirred up the food once more,and lifted it up from the hot plate.She picked up the second pan and placed it on the red coils.From underneath,in the cardboard box,she collected two enamel plates green with a red band.she wiped them with a white napkin hanging on the line over the bed.she brought out two forks and two spoons.
By using details, the author of the above passage makes the scene

  • A. monotonous
  • B. unattractive
  • C. realistic
  • D. bewildering
  • E. strange
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15

Modern African Stories
In Alex la Guma’s A Matter of Taste, it is a matter of taste to eat exactly what you want because

  • A. that is your own favourite choice
  • B. you can afford it
  • C. friends can always get it for you
  • D. you can always have it as bonus at work
  • E. your taste is always available
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16

In ‘Night’,Soyinka describes night as

  • A. horrifying
  • B. terrifying
  • C. protective
  • D. soothing
  • E. both protective and terrifying
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17

In ‘Telephone Conversation’, the tone of the question ‘You mean-like plain or milk chocolate? is

  • A. sarcastic
  • B. complimentary
  • C. admissive
  • D. pleading
  • E. commanding
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18

In Birago Diop’s ‘Vanity’,these two lines ‘Sad complaining voices of beggars
Who indeed will hear them without laughter?’contain

  • A. an exaggeration
  • B. a hyperbole
  • C. a paradox
  • D. an understatement
  • E. an illogicallity
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19

In ‘The Executioner’s Dream’,the first line ‘I dream I saw an eye,a pretty eye’ is

  • A. ironical
  • B. complimentary
  • C. exclamatory
  • D. rhetorical
  • E. interrogatory
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20
From the novel; The Concubine

The Concubine
‘Ihuoma,my child’ Wigwe began at last,’really i ought to have come here with more people,but i have avoided formalities because i want to spare myself any embarrassment.Formalities will come later if all goes well’.
Wigwe has come to Ihuoma in order to

  • A. marry her clandestinely
  • B. gain her consent before coming with relations
  • C. persuade her to marry his own son
  • D. dissuade her from marrying his own son
  • E. inquire about her health
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21

I lingered over the choice
But in the darkness of my doubts
You lifted the lamp of love
And i saw in your face
The road that i should take
In ‘The Mesh’ the poet ‘lingered over the choice’ because

  • A. he had quarelled with the lady
  • B. he is not yet sure of the lady's love
  • C. he is not yet sure of his love for the lady
  • D. the lady is not beautiful
  • E. the lady is too possesive
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