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 2681:

  CHOOSE THE OPTION THAT IS NEAREST IN MEANING TO THE WORD(S) IN BRACKET, FOR QUESTIONS below.

  The student's union leader delivered his speech [extempore]

  Options:
  A) out-of-hand
  B) accurately
  C) off the cuff
  D) courageously
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2682:

  Choose the option nearest in meaning to the underlined word(s).

  The girl's father was astounded to see her appear from the shrine.

  Options:
  A) collected
  B) overwhelmed
  C) embarrassed
  D) astonished
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 2683:

  This question is from the novel The Last Days at Forcados High school.

  What was the name of Jimi’s elder brother who stays abroad?

  Options:
  A) Wole
  B) Femi
  C) Ansa
  D) Jolly
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 2684:

  In order to approach the problem of anxiety in play, let us consider the activity of building and destroying a tower. Many a mother thinks that her 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-labor has puzzles 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 previous 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 2685:

  In the question below choose the word(s) or phrase(s) which best fills the gap(s):

  The hunter brought home _____ antelope.

  Options:
  A) alive
  B) a life
  C) a live
  D) a living
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2686:

  For this question, select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the question.

  These job cuts are just the thin end of the wedge.

  Options:
  A) Job cuts are very rampant
  B) Job cuts are the inconclusive
  C) Job cuts are the beginning of unpleasant situations
  D) Job cuts are the beginning of healthy rivalries
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2687:
  A British electronics manufacturer has built a factory in which quartz crystals can be grown in 3 weeks. The natural growth of quartz takes 3 million years, and very often the crystals are not sufficiently pure to satisfy the precise needs of science. However, the manufactured crystals are exceptionally pure, and this is important because quartz, in transistors is used in an astonishing number of devices where constant accuracy is required: radio and television transmitters and receivers, space satellites and computers are familiar examples. In order to make artificial quartz, very small pieces of the natural crystal imported from Brazil are placed in long, narrow, steel cylinders. A high pressure and a high temperature are maintained within the cylinders for 3 weeks, and at the end of this the small fragments have grown to the required weight of one pound. The quartz is then ready to be made into the tiny transistors that have replaced the much larger thermionic valves.
  Transistors have Options:
  A) helped to rodce quartz
  B) made radio and television inaccessible to the working populace
  C) made transmitters and receivers smaller and lighter
  D) retarded progress in electronics
  E) made transmitters and receivers bigger and heavier
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 2688:

  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.

  The Igbos often use corrugated iron for the roofs of their Mbari houses Options:
  A) inorder to make them look important
  B) inorder to protect the mud walls
  C) because it lasts longer than thatch
  D) because it is less imposing than thatch
  E) because it is expensive
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 2689:

  Choose the option nearest in meaning to the word underlined.

  The chairman advised the participants to follow convention in stating their points?

  Options:
  A) eloquence
  B) advice
  C) prudence
  D) tradition
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 2690:

  Fill in the gap(s) with the most appropriate option from the list following the gap(s).

  The director, no less than his workers _____ to blame?

  Options:
  A) is
  B) are
  C) were
  D) ought
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .