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

Literature in English is the study of works written in the English language. It includes all forms of writing, such as novels, plays, short stories, and poetry. This subject involves exploring and analyzing these texts to understand their themes and meanings.

• Question 1931:

  This question is based on Wole Soyinka's

  The Trials of Brother Jero.

  JERO: In that case, since, Brother Chume,

  your wife seems such a wicked, willful sinner,

  I think ....

  CHUME: Yes, Holy One...?

  JERO: You must take her home tonight...

  Jero concedes to Chume taking his wife home and beating her in order to

  Options:
  A) keep his secret secret
  B) get the beating out of the way quickly
  C) enable jero get into his house
  D) keep Chume's loyalty
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 1932: In Mine Boy, the dominant shebeen queen who is described as 'tall and big, with the smooth yellowness of the Basuto women...'is Options:
  A) Ma Plank
  B) Leah
  C) Eliza
  D) Lena
  E) Maisy.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1933:

  'He glanced at his bitten nails, and with his chin resting on his knees, said, 'well, i ask them to let me go below to visit my pa in the cell. they feel sorry for me, and say its okay. So i go down to see him, this man what made my ma's life a misery like hell, and who never had a word for me, and did nothing but give me the belt'.

  From what he says, the kid in this passage

  Options:
  A) loves his father
  B) dislikes his father
  C) disowns his father
  D) feels sorry for his father
  E) is proud of his father.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 1934:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles.

  Lineation refers to

  Options:
  A) tracing family descent of poeple in verse
  B) the unit in the rhythmic structure of verse
  C) the arrangement of lines in verse from
  D) the grouping together of a number of units of rhythm
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 1935:

  This question is based on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man the Sea.

  The pot of the novel revolves around

  Options:
  A) the adventure of a great fish
  B) a man's adventure on the sea
  C) a man's fightwith a great fish
  D) a boy's fight with a great fish
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 1936:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles

  A short, carefully phrased expression meant to elicit amusement and surprise is

  Options:
  A) hyperbole
  B) limerick
  C) tercet
  D) wit
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1937:

  These question are based on selected poems from Johnson, R. et al (eds.): New Poetry from Africa; Soyinka, W. (ed.): Poems of Black Africa; Senanu, K.E. and Vincent, T. (eds): A Selection of African Poetry; Umukoro M. et al: Exam Focus: Literature in English; Eruvbetine, A.E. et al (eds.): Longman Examination Guides: Poetry for Senior Secondray Schools NWOGA, d.i. (ED.) wEST aFRICAN vERSE."Listen...they will tell you...

  To beat drums is mere children's play,

  The adult's is to start echoes...The lines above from Launkos' End of the War, enhance the

  Options:
  A) language of the poem
  B) use of imagery
  C) rhyme of the poem
  D) rythm of the poem
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 1938:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles and Literary Appreciation

  The main distinguishing feature of literature is that it

  Options:
  A) tells untrue stories
  B) is relevant to life
  C) deals with exciting and memorable events
  D) presents fictional accounts of human experience
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 1939:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles and Literary Appreciation

  In a work of literature, plot is constructed on

  Options:
  A) the principles of conflict
  B) exciting and memorable episodes
  C) the use of figurative language
  D) recurring events
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 1940:

  "There's no art

  To find the mind's construction in the face...'Based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth,the above statement means that there is no

  Options:
  A) artist who can construct a face
  B) skill of reading thoughts from the face
  C) skill of differentiating the face from the mind
  D) artist who can understand a man
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .