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English Form 1 Question Paper
English Form 1
Course:Secondary Level
Institution: Kcse question papers
Exam Year:2006
IGUNGA GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL
TERM II CAT II
ENGLISH FORM 1
COMPREHENSION (20MKS)
Meleager and the Burning wood.
When Meleager was seven days old, his mother, Althea, was lying alone in her room, half-asleep. Suddenly she saw three strange women in the room; they were tall and thin, with long dark hair and dull grey dresses. There were the Fates, the three Sisters who held in their hands the power of life and death, and decided everything that happened to a man during his lifetime.
One of the Sisters spoke to Althea: ''You are happy to have a son, Althea,'' she said, ''but remember that he will live no longer than that piece of wood now burning in the fire.'' And with that, the Sisters vanished.
Althea was shocked to hear that her little son''s life would end so soon, and started to weep. Then she suddenly realised that there was one thing that she could do, not only to save her baby then, but to keep him alive for ever. She jumped from her bed and snatched the wood from the fire. She put the burning end into a pot of water, and then hid the wood carefully in a box in her room.
Then Meleager grew up, he loved Atalanta, daughter of King Schoneous. This princess had grown among hunters and became a better hunter than most men. Many men disliked her for this, for they thought women should not try to do same things as men. One day, on a boar-hunt, she shot the first arrow which hit the boar and wounded it, so that the other hunters were son able to kill it. In those days the person who first wounded the animal was given the skin of the boar as her prize. Two uncles of Meleager were among the hunters and they were very angry because a woman had won the prize. They lay hiding for her and when she was going good they attacked her and tried to take the skin from her. She cried for help, and Meleager, who came to help her, was so angry that he killed both his uncles.
When Althea heard of this unnatural deed, she decided to avenge her brother''s death. She took out the half burnt piece of wood which she had hidden many years before, and put it into the fire, watching until it was all burnt. At the very moment the last bit of wood became ashes, Meleager fell on the battle-field, and died.
QUESTIONS
1. Did Althea see the Fates in a dream, or did they appear in actual fact? How do you know? (2mks)
2. How was the Fate who spoke to Althea able to tell her about Meleager''s life? (1mk)
3. Did Althea at first think that what she heard was good news? (1mk)
4. Why did she change her opinion about this later? (2mks)
5. Why did she put the wood into the pot? (1mk)
6. What great skill did Atalanta possess? (1mk)
7. What did some men think of her because of this? (1mk)
8. Why was Atalanta given the boar skin as a prize? (2mks)
9. Why was the killing of the two men called ''an unnatural deed'' (2mks)
10. How did Althea cause her son''s death? Why did she do this? (2mks)
11. Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage (5mks)
a. Hold in their hands
b. Vanished
c. Deed
d. Avenge
e. Snatched
GRAMMAR
Instructions
Adhere to all rules of grammar i.e punctuation and spelling mistakes will be penalized.
1. He is a Kenyan man.
(Rewrite this sentence changing the word Kenyan into a proper noun)
b. Do you love for me?
(Use love as a noun in the same question)
c. You seem to know Hekima academy
( Underline a proper noun in this sentence)
d. The boys really criticised Jaried for indecision.
(Pick out an abstract noun)
2. Correct the errors in the following sentences.
a. He does not have any furnitures in his house.
b. The government has promised the primary schools some equipments.
c. I have brought you a little potatoes and some pawpaws.
d. I am sorry I don''t have any cotton left.
e. We don''t need to carry much coins.
3. For each of the following words, give a noun that can be formed.
i. Sit
ii. Wed
iii. Conquer
iv. Slow
v. Injure
ORAL LITERATURE
Answer the following questions in the spaces provided (10mks)
i. What do you understand by the term oral literature (3mks)
ii. Give five reasons why it is important to study oral literature (5mks)
iii. Discuss any two features of oral literature (2mks)
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