English-Language Exam Past Questions and Answers | JAMB, WAEC and NECO

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.

• Question 2021:

  Answer the following question below and choose the option opposite in meaning to the underlined word or phrase in.

  His gift to the poor was always infinitesimal

  Options:
  A) large
  B) small
  C) supportive
  D) shameful
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 2022:

  In the question below, choose the expression or words which best completes each sentence:

  I _____ a lot when I was a student.

  Options:
  A) used travelling
  B) was used to travel
  C) used to travel
  D) used travel
  E) was used to travelling
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2023:

  Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows.

  Curiosity is as clear and definite as any of our urges. We wonder what is in a sealed telegram or in a letter which someone else is absorbed or what is being said in the telephone booth or in low conversation. This inquisitiveness is vastly stimulated by jealousy. Suspicion or any hint that we ourselves are directly or indirectly involved in. But there appears to be a fair amount of personal interest in other people's affairs even when they do not concern us except as a mystery to be unravelled or a tale to be told. The reports of a divorce suit will have news 'value' for many weeks, They constitute a story like a novel, a play or a moving picture. This is not an example of pure curiosity. However, since we readily identify ourselves with others' their joys and despair then become our own concern.

  Adapted from Harris, W. and L.G Wilson (1963) The University Handbook,New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston

  Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?? Options:
  A) Suspicion often stimulates inquisitiveness
  B) Every human conduct often gives rise to curiosity
  C) Our environment always inhibits curiosity
  D) Curiosity is effective where there is no room for it
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 2024: The word in capital letters has the emphatic stress. Choose the option to which the given sentence relates.Your mother CAN cook the meal. Options:
  A) Who will cook the meal?
  B) Can my father cook the meal?
  C) Isn''t my mother able to cook the meal?
  D) What can my mother do?
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2025:

  Choose the option that has the same stress pattern as the given word.

  Student

  Options:
  A) Refuse(N)
  B) Propose
  C) Rebel(V)
  D) Superb
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 2026:

  fill in the blank spaces in the following sentences making use of the best of the five options :

  Joe had found a flat, so …. he will not be sleeping here, even if he still comes for meals.

  Options:
  A) Lastly
  B) Least
  C) Last
  D) At last
  E) At least
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is E .
• Question 2027: Choose the option that has a different vowel sound from the others? Options:
  A) rough
  B) dog
  C) cough
  D) rot
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 2028:

  In order to approach the problem of anxiety in play, let us consider the problem of anxiety in play, let us consider the activity of building and destroying a tower. Many a mother thinks that her little son is in a 'destructive stage' or even has a 'destructive personality' because after building a big, big tower, the boy cannot follow her advice to leave the tower for Daddy to see, but instead must kick it and make it collapse. The almost manic pleasure with which children watch the collapse in a second of the product of long play-labour has puzzled many, especially since the child does not appreciate it at all if his tower falls by accident or by a helpful uncle’s hand. He, the builder, must destroy it himself. This game, I should think, arises from the not so distant experience of sudden falls at the very time when standing upright on wobbly legs afforded a new and fascinating perspective on existence. The child who consequently learns to make a tower 'stand up' enjoys causing the same tower to waver and collapse; in addition to the active mastery over a previously passive event, it makes one feel stronger to know that there is somebody weaker ----and towers, unlike little sister, can't cry and call, 'Mummy!'

  According to this passage, it gives the child great pleasure

  Options:
  A) for Daddy to see the tower he has built
  B) to destroy the tower himself
  C) to see his tower accidentally destroyed
  D) to be helped to destroy the tower
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 2029:

  Boxing is sometimes called' the noble art of self defence'. According to some people, boxing appeals to the lowest instincts in the ...11... who have come to watch blood flow and their fellow human suffer Boxers who are medically fit appear in the ...12... The referee sometimes allows the...13... to go on for long so that one of the ...14... is reduced to a human punch bag.It may happen that the boxers are not well ...15... one being much stronger than the other, as a result of which he so much...16... his opponent that he wins ...17... Many boxers have suffered permanent brain...18... in the ...19... of punches that have been thrown at them during their ...20...

  Choose the most appropriate option for the gap labelled [...15...] above. Options:
  A) levelled
  B) groomed
  C) sparred
  D) staged
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 2030:

  Choosing the word or phrase from A to E which has the same meaning as the underlined word or words in each sentence:

  I listened with rapt attention as he never suspected that i knew he was telling me a cock and bull story

  Options:
  A) a story about a cock
  B) a story about bull
  C) an incredible story
  D) an interesting
  E) an eye witness story
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .