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 31:

  Another shoal of cars swam past.
  One, in particular, caught his eyes, a long slender thing,
  elegant as a swallow, all gleaming blue and silver;
  a thousand guineas it would have cost, he thought.

  In the first sentence, cars are described in terms of

  Options:
  A) birds
  B) ants
  C) fish
  D) lampposts
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 32:

  This question is based on Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

  Angel Clare is depicted as

  Options:
  A) a rebellious and self-opinionated character
  B) an independent-minded character
  C) a fastidious and garrulous character
  D) a flirtatious and impulsive young man
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 33:

  This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter .

  What special function does Ramatoulaye's diary perform?

  Options:
  A) It is a record of her personal experiences
  B) It brings succour to her in distress
  C) It helps her understand current events
  D) It aids her memory of pst events
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is B .
• Question 34: This question is based on General Literary Principles.In literary work, verbal irony refers to a Options:
  A) device in which the speaker means the opposite of what he says
  B) situation in which a character speaks or acts against the trend of events
  C) difficult situation which defies a logical or rational resolution
  D) device in which the actor on stage means exactly what he says
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 35:

  'All was quiet in this park

  Until the wind, like a gasping messenger, announced

  The tyrant's coming

  Then did the branches talk in agony'.

  There is in line 2 ('like a gasping messenger...') an example of

  Options:
  A) oxymoron
  B) metonymy
  C) alliteration
  D) simile
  E) personification.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 36: Which of the following novels was written by a Nigerian? Options:
  A) The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born
  B) Weep Not Child
  C) Mine Boy
  D) A Man Of The People
  E) Mission to Kala.
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .
• Question 37: This question is based on selected poems from R. Johnson and D. Ker, et al (ed.): New poetry from Africa; Wole Soyinka (ed.): poems Black Africa; K.E. senanu and T. Vincent (eds.): A Selection of African poetry; M. Umukoro and A Sani, et al (eds.): Exam Focus: Literature - in - English; A.E. Eruvbetine and M. Jibril, et al (eds.): Longman Examination Guides: poetry: E.W. Parker (ed.): A Pageant of Longer poems and D.I. Nwoga (ed.): West African Verse. The major theme of Thomas Gray''s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard'' is that death renders life Options:
  A) meaningless for the rich
  B) meaningful for the poor
  C) meaningless for all
  D) meaningful for all
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 38:

  This question is based on General Literary Principles and Appreciation.'If it is true that the world talks too much

  Then let's all keep quiet

  And hear the eloquence

  Of silence'

  If it is True' by Richard Ntini

  One striking device used by the poet above is

  Options:
  A) rhythm
  B) contrast
  C) alliteration
  D) end-rhyme
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is C .
• Question 39:

  This question is based on Literary Principles

  ''She wanted to spit herself. But she checked herself. 'Get dressed,' she said earnestly. 'Get dressed and let's go You known I have a lot of things to do. And if we are going to meet again like this, ...'she slapped the Samson and Deliah.'''

  Festus lyayi: Violence

  In the passage above, the speaker can described as

  Options:
  A) domineering
  B) tyreacherous
  C) friendly
  D) hungry
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is A .
• Question 40: These question is based on General Literary Principles.The figure of speech in which the writer means the exact opposite of what he intends to say is Options:
  A) paradox
  B) metaphor
  C) satire
  D) irony
  Show Answer
  The correct answer is D .