2011 English Language Theory Past Questions

You are about to leave secondary school and a friend of yours who is attending school in another town has written to enquire about what you wish to do after leaving school. Write a reply to him, explaining your plans.

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Write an article suitable for publication in your school magazine on the effects of drug abuse

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Write a letter to the Minister of Education in your country on the poor state of schools in your area and its effect on the performance of students.

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Your house master has just been promoted to head another school. As the house prefect, write a speech you would deliver during the send-off party organized for him.

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Write a story to illustrate the saying: A stitch in time saves nine

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

As 1 watched Musa step out of the plane, I concluded that diligence, intelligence and the luck had turned Musa from the rusty pauper of thirty years earlier to a highly successful professional. Here was a village boy of yesteryear, an orphan from early life, cheated out of his heritage by his half-brothers and uncles whose actions forced him to fend for himself. So, how did he become an internationally acclaimed computer wizard?

When his well-to-do father died three years after his mother, he had just gained admission to a fee-paying secondary school. Had his parents lived, that would not have been a problem. But his closest relatives were more interested in sharing assets than handling liabilities; f hey shared the three buildings in the city, as well as several cocoa plantations with hundreds of palms. None considered it right to take on the care of the poor boy.

Left in the lurch, he clung on to a classmate who had longed to work in the city as a petty clerk. They moved to the city. Both were engaged by a big-time retailer in all sorts of goods, which he gave out to the boys to hawk on the busy roads. There were no salaries; all they had were commissions from each day’s sales. Musa and his friend could be out in the streets from 6.00 a.m. till almost midnight. That way, they were able to keep body and soul together.

But Musa soon decided that his returns could cater for a little more than that His yearning for education still very keen, he cut short his daily schedules at 4.00 pm to attend an evening school organized by some secondary school teachers. And he made very rapid progress. Often after classes, he would return to the streets. He never fared worse than any of the other learners, most of whom attended classes after normal school. In time, lie sat for and passed all his school certificate papers with flying colours. Indeed, his results were among the best in the country.

An oil company which had a policy of sponsoring the university education of the best students in the various disciplines awarded him a scholarship. Thus, his university education in computer science was fully sponsored. Eventually, he emerged as the best graduate in the university. The training made him a top 3-D computer programmer in engineering and architectural designs.

So, as he stepped out of the plane, returning from one of his several international conferences, I could not but reach the conclusion I had made earlier.

(a) Where was the writer when he arrived at the conclusion with which he opened the passage?

(b) What tragedy had beset Musa early in life?

(c) What worsened Musa’s plight?

(d) How did Musa solve the problem of acquiring secondary education?

(e) What element of luck contributed to Musa’s success?

(f)        “………….keep body and soul together”

(i) What figure of speech is contained in this expression?

(ii)       What does it mean?

(g)       “……..who had longed to work in the city… ”

(i)        What is the grammatical name given to this expression as it is used in the passage?

(ii)       What is its function?

(h)       For each of the following words or phrase, find another word or phrase which means the same and which can replace it as it is used in the passage:

(i)        fend for;

(ii)       considered;

(iii)      engaged;

(iv)      yearning;

(v)       eventually;

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

Although rural people needed kerosene for lighting, they relied on it more for cooking. However, persistent fuel scarcity had made the commodity hardly affordable where it was available. Fetching dry wood from the forest became inevitably the order of the day.

Early one morning, Jojo and I, armed with cutlasses and axes, joined other young people, who were more conversant with the forest, in search of dry wood. It soon dawned on us that this “essential commodity” had been driven so far away that we had to wander into the heart of the forest before we could find a huge branch of a tree that looked dry. Convinced that it was, we went into action, each cutting from his own side.

Scarcely had we started when Jojo suddenly jumped up from her position and exclaimed “Goodness”. When I inquired what had happened, she explained that the ground on which

she was standing was lifting her up. This sounded weird and I went closer to examine the ground. It appeared level and was full of dry leaves. There was no sign of anything other than the bare ground. Mockingly, I asked her to return to work, adding that her phobia about the forest was changing into an illusion. Nevertheless, I struck the ground with my cutlass, cutting through it to reassure her that there was nothing to fear. But before I could leave, we noticed blood trickling out of the cut on the ground and we scampered away, developing goose-flesh.

As we watched from the distance, we observed that there was a writhing movement and gradually, a curled creature stretched into full Length of about three and a half feet. The earthy but splendid design of the skin became visible and it started what was like its last struggle away from the spot. Its pace was decreasing with every effort to crawl on while more blood was being lost as a result of the deep cut it had received. Whether it was shock or fear that prevented me from finishing up what I started. 1 cannot say. But though we accomplished our aim of going to the forest that day. I was haunted by the guilt of an unwilling murderer many days after.

(a)        Why was kerosene important to rural people?

(b)       State two reasons why people sought an alternative to kerosene.

(c)        What lifted Jojo up?

(d)       What did the narrator start that he could not finish?

(e)        “…….the heart of the forest…..”

(i)        What figure of speech is contained in this expression?

(ii)       What does it mean?

(f)        As we watched from the distance. .. “

(i)        What is the grammatical name given to this expression as it is used in the passage?

(ii)       What is its function?

(g)       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)        persistent;

(ii)       inevitably;

(iii)      weird;

(iv)      mockingly;

(v)       splendid;

(vi)      accomplished.

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

People are usually unwilling to make changes in their lives after being accustomed to a certain style of life. However, this can cause a lot of problems, as changing circumstances often make a change in lifestyle inevitable. Take, for example, people who leave their country and go abroad for various reasons. Such people will inevitably face many challenges. First, they have to adapt to a new culture and habits that are completely different from what they were used to in their own country ‘They will also have to adapt to the weather and may need to leam a new language, or now, communicate regularly in a language other than their mother tongue, which they used more frequently before their relocation.

Again, at some point in their lives, some people may have cause to change their career. The reasons for this may be varied and need not concern us here. But career changes inevitably necessitate the acquisition of a different set of skills and experience in the new job, a new routine and adaptation to new friends and colleagues at work. In the face of economic recession and related circumstances, people may lose their jobs as the organizations they work for try to adjust to the adverse situation by retrenching many of their workers. (Terms such as “down-sizing”, “right-sizing” and “restructuring” are the modern-day euphemisms for this phenomenon) A worker who suddenly loses his or her job obviously has to adjust to a new lifestyle – at least until a new job comes along.

Closely related to job loss is retirement. Many people carry on at their jobs as if they will remain at such jobs forever. But retirement is inevitable not only for the paid work but also for the self-employed. Retirement in most cases means a change from active working life to a more sedentary lifestyle. It often requires giving up official property such as accommodation and vehicles and the replacement of a regular salary with a modest pension, which may not be regular. Because of these, the prospect of retirement is often viewed with apprehension by many, as they are not prepared for it.

Outside the work domain, other changes inevitably continue to take place. For example, at some point in their lives, young men and women come together and get married and start their own families. The transition from bachelorhood or spinsterhood, of course, means adaptation to a spouse, raising children, and discarding many of the habits, often feckless and impulsive, of unmarried life.

Finally, as painful and undesirable as it is, death is inevitable. The untimely loss of a loved one – a wife, a husband, a parent – often turns people’s lives upside down, and necessitates a drastic change in lifestyle. Many people never anticipate such a loss, and if unfortunately, it does occur, it can be quite devastating. In conclusion, People have to be ready for any changes that may occur in their lives, as change is inevitable and there is no guarantee for anyone that life will be stable forever.       \

In six sentences, one for each, summarize the six factors that can cause a change in lifestyle as discussed in the passage.

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