You witnessed the campaigns that preceded a local government election in your area in which the favourite candidate was defeated. Give a vivid account of the events before, during and after the election to your friends, explaining why you think the candidate lost.
You were one of those arrested by the police at the scene of a crime. Write a letter to the Commissioner of Police giving details of the crime, pleading your innocence and requesting to be released.
The topic of an essay competition organised by the Young Writers Club for final year students is: Our traditional marriage system is more suitable for the present generation of Nigerians than the English system. Write your entry for or against the topic:
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
Between 1921 and 1930, the population of Jos town rose from 8.000 to 11.000. These were very important years in the history of Jos town. It was in 1921 that the administrative headquarters of Jos Division was transferred from Naraguta to Jos. In 1926, Plateau Province was created with its headquarters in Jos also. The new province was carved out of the then Mubi, Nasarawa and Bauchi provinces. Jos, therefore assumed dual administrative functions as the divisional and provincial headquarters. A crop of new employees and labourers started moving into the city to serve the two administrations respectively. During the same period, the tin mining industry was experiencing a boom.
The boom was further buttressed by other developments in the area. In 1927, the Eastern Railway Extension reached its Jos terminus, via Kafanchan. A new era was in sight with promises of plenty for all, because the mining industry was passing through its greatest moment of prosperity. The said administrative change, the boom in the tin industry, the new communication network and similar developments on the Jos Plateau, created a myth of the wealth and prosperity in Jos. However, the boom was short-lived. By 1929 it receded, and then collapsed in 1931. The mine labourers were thrown out of employment and most of them trooped into Jos in search of food and shelter. During this depression, Jos was likened to a ghost city. The population of Jos shrank from 11,000 in 1930 to 9,000 in 1933.
By the mid 1930, the price of tin rose in the world market and the tin industry was about to pick up once more. A new characteristic feature of the growth of Jos came into sight. This was the influx of Indians and Levantines into Jos. This continued and increased after the Second World War in 1945. These were mainly traders, transporters and middlemen who, like their European counterparts, contributed in no small measure to the exploitation of Nigerians and the economy of the country.
The number of Europeans, up to the eve of independence in 1960, was second only to that of Lagos throughout the English-speaking West Africa. These white elements addressed themselves to the building of luxurious hotels for their exclusive use. The African elite, in their tradition as copy-cats, were not left behind. The European policy of segregation however, ensured that the Africans and the Europeans never mixed.
The European quarters were far removed from those of Africans. The provision of social amenities followed the same pattern. Thus, there were separate African and European hospitals, schools, clubs and the like. It is interesting to note that the situation has barely changed quantitatively since independence. The Nigerian elite in the civil service and the private sector have merely moved away from their own people into the positions formerly occupied by the Europeans.
(a) In four sentences, one for each, summarize the factors that were responsible for the growth of Jos as described in the passage.
(b) In two sentences, summarize the common features of the organization of social life in Jos as described in the passage.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
I am a foot taller than the tallest girl in my village and twice the weight of the fattest. On my only visit to a beautician. the woman said she found my face a challenge. Yet, despite these social disadvantages, I feel cheerful, happy, confident and secure.
Several years ago, I visited the city for the first time. and I saw something there that made me realize the stupidity of trying to conform – of trying to be like everybody else – even with particular physical disadvantages. There was a small plump woman all dressed up but looking really stuffed and funny in the fashion wear. She also carried a shooting stick. But because she was so plump, when she sat on the stick, it went deep into the ground and she couldn’t pull it out. She tugged and tugged. tears of rage in her eyes. When the final tug brought it out, she crashed with it to the ground. I saw her walk away. Her day had been ruined. She had made a fool of herself in public. She had impressed nobody. In her own sad eyes, she was a failure.
But hardly anyone took any notice of her and her misery in the busy street. I remember well when I was like that in the days before I learned that nobody really cared what you did. And watching that miserable small woman as she walked away gave me renewed inspiration.
(a) Briefly describe two physical characteristics of the writer as shown in the passage.
(b) Why is the writer not bothered about her social disadvantages?
(c)(i) How did the woman with the shooting stick feel after the incident? (ii) Why was the feeling unnecessary.
(d) …. when she sat on the stick… (i) What grammatical name is used to describe the above expression? (ii) What is its function?
(e) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it in the passage:
(i) disadvantages; (ii) conform; (ii) tugged; (iv) miserable; (vi) inspiration
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
Learning to speak one’s language comes naturally to a human being; we learn it without formal instruction. But writing is an unnatural activity; it must be taught formally and studied deliberately. Indeed, many of the problems that arise in learning to write are simply problems of finding proper written equivalent for the various features of speech. The spelling of our words is a clumsy attempt to reproduce the sound of our voices. The punctuation of our sentences and the settings of paragraphs are designed to give some approximation of the pauses and intonation we use automatically to give shape and point to our speaking.
The writer of English (or any other language) loses a whole world of gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice the minute he decides to write something rather than say it aloud. He loses the immediacy of direct contact with his audience. If there were no compensation at all for all these disadvantages, then communicating with other people through the medium of squiggles on paper would be as unsatisfactory as trying to wash your feet with your socks on.
Writing takes more effort than speech, but the effort we make simply to capture our words on paper can also lead us to compose things that are worth the effort. The unusual energy that goes into achievement in any art or sport can and should function finally to help the individual increase his own powers and perfect his abilities. Three hundred and fifty years ago, a clever man pointed out that practice in speaking makes a man ‘ready’ or quick in his responses while practice in writing makes a man ‘exact’, helps him to polish and perfect his thoughts.
(a) Why did the writer say that writing is an unnatural activity?
(b) Give two specific examples of problems encountered in learning to write.
(c) Mention any two disadvantages that arise in written communication.
(d) What major advantage comes from the acquisition of good written skills
(e) …that goes into achievement in any art or sport (i) What grammatical name is used to describe the above expression?
(ii) What is its function?
(f) For each of the following words find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as used in the passage:
(i) deliberately; (ii) equivalent; (iii) designed; (iv) compensation (v) responses; (vi) polish.
Write a story which ends with the words:… I really agree than a patient dog eats the fattest bone.
An elder sister of yours who has left school had confided in you in her last letter that she plans to elope with her lover whom your parents do not approve of. Write a letter to her advising against such action, and suggesting steps she could take to obtain your parents consent.
You have been involved in an incident in which very many of your friends criticized your role. Narrate the incident to a close friend and defend the role you played.
You are the main speaker in a school debate, the topic of which is: Bribery and corruption are worse enemies of our country than armed robbery. Write your speech for or against the topic.
Write an article for publication in a literary magazine on the need to promote the study of the indigenous languages of your country.
You are about to leave school after spending six years as a student. Write a letter to the principal, expressing your candid views on the strengths and weaknesses of the school and giving suggestions for improvement.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it
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The history of warfare reveals that man has come a long way. In the beginning man contented him self with simple hand-hurled missiles. Man threw the stone at other animals and. in warfare, at his enemies. Destruction was minimal, as this was determined by the size and roughness of the stone and the energy of the thrower. Even when man later invented the catapult, destruction was only slightly higher. The primitive catapult was made out of a tough rope at one end of which was tied a big stone. Its most limiting factor was that such a missile, no matter how strong the force behind it, could kill only one person at a time.
Things were relatively easier for the assailant with the invention of the bow and arrow. For the first time, man utilized very little strength to bring down his enemy, even at a fairly distant position. The size of the bow, the elasticity of its string, and the sharpness of the arrow, much more than the crude energy of the thrower, determined how far and fast the arrow traveled. The weapon became even more significant when man later learnt to fix a sharp metal to the tip of the arrow. And when that metal was dyed in highly lethal poison, it became even more effective in killing a man.
With the coming of metal, farm implements were developed. But man soon turned some of these, especially the machete. into weapons of combat. The sword is thus a very close cousin of the machete. Used in combat, the sword, especially when carried by a very skillful fighter on a horse, could wreak far more havoc than the bow and arrow. It is hence understandable that the foremost conquerors of the classical period, from Alexander the Great to Julius Caesar, used this simple hand-borne instrument of combat. And this, in its simple turn with the invention of the gun and the bullet. The arrival of the gun introduced destruction of human lives at an unprecedented rate with even the most elementary gun. In the hands of foot soldiers, it became possible to count casualties in hundreds in a single encounter. With practically no physical effort, apart from the moving of a finger on the trigger, the highly lethal bullet is sent through the barrel at a speed much faster than that of sound. The enemy, at a considerable distance, may thus be brought down without even hearing the sound of the shooting or seeing his assailant.
The development of grenades, bombs, missiles, nuclear and chemical war-heads have made all previous weapons appear little more than toys. With bombs delivered by fast-flying airplanes, and nuclear or chemical war-heads borne to their distant destinations by unnamed missiles, destruction of cities and, in fact, of whole countries within a matter of hours is now a great possibility. Today, man doesn’t need to be physically present to haul the stone, or throw the spear, or send the arrow. The missile has now replaced all these, and it does not need to be physically sent by an individual. Electronics and computers do the launching, and men die in hundreds of thousands.
In six sentences, one for each, summarize the six different types of weapons of warfare and their relative effectiveness.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
Years after he had left home for the capital, first as a student and later as a struggling businessman, Oliha returned to his village, having been informed of his father’s failing health. He was amazed that not much had changed since he left as a youth. Every experience shocked him: the coloured water with a strong taste: the eye-sore of a dung-hill on which everyone excreted; the absence of electricity and so on. As he went to bed late in the evening, after a meeting with his younger brothers,on how he would pay his own share of their father’s medical expenses, he prayed for the early arrival of the morning. He decided to leave early and put the trying experience behind him.
But morning brought him the greatest shock of his life. Informed by his niece that there was a bucket of water for him in the bath, he hurried down there, half-dressed, holding a towel. The bathroom. located by the side of the building, was an improvised rectangular enclosure made of palm fronds. Hissing to himself. he went in and used his clothes and large towel to cover some openings in the enclosure. He started bathing. Then it happened. With every inch of his body thoroughly covered with soap lather, hardly able to open his eyes, he heard someone removing his clothes and towel. With the corner of his half-opened eyes, he saw a man making away with the clothes and towel. Hardly giving the matter thought, naked except for the covering of soap lather. he ran out and gave the thief a hot chase.
As he ran after the thief. he heard everyone shouting. The lunatic has broken loose again! But as soon as the people saw him,, everyone shouted. ‘Ah. another mad man has broken loose!’ Men. women children all ran away, seeking refuge in their homes. slamming their doors. By the time he realized what was happening daring men were after him. Just as Oliha was about to beat a retreat, he was held by strong muscular men who overpowered him and carried him to the quarters of the village’s foremost occult healer who alone knew how to cure lunatics.
(a) Why did Oliha return to the village?
(b) Mention two basic facilities lacking in the village.
(c) What was the subject of the meeting which Oliha held with his younger brothers?
(d) Why was it possible for the thief to remove the clothes without Oliha stopping him?
(e)(i) Why was Oliha taken to the occult healer rather than to his father’s home?
(ii) What is the irony of the entire event in the passage?
(f) … who alone knew how to cure lunatics. (i) What is the grammatical name given to the above expression?
(ii) What is its function in the sentence?
(g) the early arrival of morning. (i) What figure of speech is the above expression? (ii) Why do you consider it so?
(h) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as used in the passage.
(i) shocked: (ii) trying; (iii) thoroughly; (iv) refuge; (v) foremost.
Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions on it.
The death last month of Chief Dende has opened my eyes. Throughout his life, we were very close friends. We grew up together, attended the same primary and secondary schools, and joined the civil service the same day. Although we benefited from different in-service training programmes and at different times during our respective careers, we were never too distant from each other And we were installed chiefs the same day. Above all, his wife, Adanma, and minehave been good friends over the years.
All these years, I believed that my friend kept no secret from me. I could, and did occasionally, defend his integrity. Anywhere people discussed him in my hearing, I was ready to take up his case vehemently. Predictably, people stopped discussing him any time I was around. I had assumed, erroneously as it turned out, that people had stopped discussing him because they were sufficiently educated and sincerely convinced about his integrity. Happenings . have since shattered that assumption:
The first shock came the day after his death. The major national newspapers carried his obituary, as advertised by ‘his wife Ngozi Dende, and her three children.’ If the timing of the advertisement, a day after the event was strange, particularly more puzzling was the advertiser. All my life, I had known only Adanma as his wife and her five children. Besides, the names of ‘his’ three children in the advertisement were entirely different from those of his five children by Adanma.
Before I recovered from the first shock, the next bombshell fell. Members of the Apata Fraternity, a most dreaded secret cult, which Dende and I had despised while he lived, announced in the dailies that they had the exclusive right to bury their ‘departed colleague’. The announcement warned all uninitiated persons to keep off In their own interest’. And so it was that members of the fraternity, supporting their claim with a hand-written will by Dende, collected his body from the hospital, performed the last rites on him and buried him in their sacred grove.
I have learnt, and I am still learning. I have reached the unpleasant conclusion that his critics were most probably right after all.
(a) Why was the writer always defending Chief Dende?
(b) Why was the writer puzzled about the advertisement by Ngozi Dende?
(c) Why was he also surprised about the advertisement by the Apata Fratenity?
(d) What lesson can we learn from this passage?
(e) the next bombshell fell. (i) What figure of speech is the above expression? (ii) What is its meaning?
(f) ……that his critics were most probably right after all (i) What grammatical name is given to the above expression?
(ii) What is its function in the sentence?
(g) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as used in the passage.
(i) careers; (ii) integrity; (iii) vehemently, (iv) erroneously; (v) shattered; (vi) exclusive.
Tell a story which ends with the words: …..and I have had to live with this stigma for the rest of my life.
Recently, there was a rainstorm which caused a lot of damage in your locality. Write an article for publication in your school magazine, describing the rainstorm, the damage caused and its effects on the people.
You were an eye-witness to a fight in your dormitory in which a junior student was given a black eye and the principal had threatened to expel all the boarders unless the facts of the matter were made known to him. Write a letter to the principal stating what actually happened.
The topic of a debate organized by the Directorate for Mass Mobilization for senior secondary schools is: The open ballot system is better than the secret ballot system for Nigeria. Write your contribution for or against the motion.
Write an article for publication in a health magazine stating the causes and effects, and suggesting what should be done in order to check it.
Your younger sister in SSII has written for your advice on what subjects she should study for the SSCE. As someone who knows her ability in the different subjects, write a letter to her giving advice on why she should choose certain subjects rather than others. There has been an outbreak of an epidemic in your area.