English is the study of the English language. The goal is to improve communication skills by practicing listening, speaking, reading, writing, and understanding language rules like pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
Choose the option opposite in meaning to the word or phrase underlined.
I have had enough of your impudence.
Options:Choose the option nearest in meaning to the underlined word(s).
The mistake brought the show to an ignominious end.
Options:According to the Novel, How would you describe Dr Samuel Johnson?
Options:There is one fascinating question that arises out of the contemplation of mud sculpture. Why should anybody use unbaked mud, the most perishable of materials? Is it because no other material is readily available? The question is not easy to answer definitely. Mud, is, of course, the cheapest and most readily available material. Yet there is ample proof that mud is not used merely because it is easy to get hold of and cheap. Many Igbo Mbari houses are the only buildings in the village that have an imported corrugated iron roof – which prove that the people who built them shun no cost to make them look important. In all the areas where I have seen mud sculpture, wood carving and brass casting are also known and practiced. In Yoruba country, stone is also used as a medium for sculpture.
One important thing to realize is that different materials are not necessarily used because they have lasting, durable qualities. In Yoruba country today, brass can only be used by Oshun or Ogboni worshippers. Ivory can only be used by Obatala worshippers, copper by Sonponna, iron by Ogun and so on.
Materials are used for their mystic properties of absorbing or repelling human radiation. The Obatala worshippers used Ivory as protection, in the sense that it is protecting him from the destructive psychic influences of a man whose mentality is basically different or opposed to his. Similarly Oshun worshippers uses brass figure in their shrines – not because brass last longer than wood, but because brass possesses certain magical qualities that are sacred to Oshun.
It is not difficult to understand why mud is considered the appropriate medium for Ala (the Igbo earth goddess). Olokun (the Bini god of the ocean), or Legba (originally an earthgod of the Fon). The fact that the material is perishable and sometimes does not even last five years does not enter into the consideration. One does not interfere with the natural life of a carving. When it perishes, a new one simply has to be made.
'Basically as used in the above sentence means Options:I was on top of one of my palm trees yesterday, tapping the tree and collecting the wine for the morning when I saw two soldiers at the foot of the tree. They made signs at me, so I concluded that they wanted my palm wine. On descending from the tree I gave them the wine to sample, as is customary. Not only did they drain all the wine in the calabash, they said they had come to conscript me into the army. I ask them weather they wanted me or somebody else, and they said they had come for me. I asked them weather an enemy sent them or they came on their own. To cut it short, they said i was wasting their time s they had to catch twenty men that day. Only a foolish man willingly disobeys armed soldiers. I told them I had something very important to say.
‘Say it, then’ one of them cut in impatiently, looking at his watch. It was approaching midday, by which time it was considered unsafe to drive around in a car for fear of enemy planes which had learnt to strafe individual vehicles on the highway.
‘Yes, what I want to say is simple’ I said, ‘My first son, the boy who should have succeeded me when I died, joined the army voluntarily with my full backing. He was a brilliant boy, always first in his class. He was in his last year at school when the war began. He was killed. The two children who came after him are girls. The next boy is still in primary school. If he were old enough, I would have asked him to join the army not, minding that the fact that my first son’s head had already been sacrificed to the same war. For no person who breathes, will say that he has no part in this war.
‘But let me add this: - If this war has reached the stage when a man of my age is given a rifle by force and sent to the war fri9ont, then the time has come for you to blow the whistle and end the war. That is all I want to say!’.
From the man's concluding statement, you can infer that Options:In the question below, choose the expression or words which best completes each sentence:
He acts _____ he were a manager
Options:Fill the gap with the most appropriate option from the list following the gap.
One _____ be too careful these days; times are uncertain and walls have ears?
Options:The passage below has gaps numbered 16 – 25. Immediately following each gap, four options are provided. Choose the most appropriate option for each gap
When a mother is afraid that her child would die when it has only a pimple or a slight headache, we speak of anxiety. But if she is afraid when the child has a serious illness, we call her reaction ….16…. [A. hysteria B. xenophobia C. fear D. foolish]. If someone is afraid whenever he stands on a height or when he has to discuss ….17…. [A. workshop B. a seminar C. a topic D. an exercise] he knows well, we call his reaction ….18…. [A. incompetence B. anxiety C. anger D. immaturity]; if someone is afraid when he loses his way high up the mountain during a heavy thunderstorm, we would seek of ….19…. [A trepidation B. ignorance C. depression D. apprehension]. Thus far, we have a simple and near distinction between the two, namely, one is a reaction that is proportionate to the danger one has to face whereas the other is ….20…. [A. an unrelated B. a dissimilar C. an equal D. an unparalleled] reaction to danger or even a reaction to ….21…. [A. imaginary B. unrealistic C. ominous D. unusual] danger. This distinction has one ….22…. [A. direction B. flavor C. flaw D. meaning], however, which is that the decision ….23…. [A as to B. as from C. as in D. as of] whether the reaction is proportionate depends on the average knowledge existing in the particular ….24…. [A. medium B. culture C. feature D. institution]. But, even if that knowledge proclaims a certain attitude to be unfounded, a neurotic will find no difficulty in giving his action a ….25…. [A. rational B. reactional C. proactive D. radical] foundation.
In question number 17 above choose the best option from letters A- D that best complete the gap Options:Whatever may be its wider implications, the explosion of hydrogen bomb is, for the meteorologist, simply another atmospheric disturbance. It should therefore be classed with certain rare natural...such as volcanic ...12... But there are certain features of a man-made disturbance that requires special examination. As with all events on this ...13...It is impossible to describe what happens in details. However we can be reasonably sure of the main effects, and most impressive of these arises from ...14...The immediate result of the ...15... is that the air surrounding the bomb is raised very rapidly to an enormously high...16... The hot gases expand violently as great....17...compressing the air around them into what is called...18... or blast wave that is responsible for much of terrible destructive power of the weapon.
Another kind of wave arises because of the weight of the air. The force of the explosion lifts the ...19...waves. Waves of this type are normally felt by human beings and they have their effect on the weather.
Adapted from Ayoola K.(2007) University for All Students, Lagos, Nigeria: Olive Free Venture
Choose the most appropriate answer in the numbered 12 Options: