- Replace the underlined words with one word that means the same
i) She was sitting on a bench in church next to the preacher.
ii) Her...(Solved)
Replace the underlined words with one word that means the same
i) She was sitting on a bench in church next to the preacher.
ii) Her father sells exercise books, pens, pencils, papers and ruler.
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Fill the blanks with the correct form of the word in brackets (3marks) i) Ochieng’s
………………………………………………(pronounce) is very good.
ii) What is your………………………………………(prefer)
iii) We were advised to...(Solved)
Fill the blanks with the correct form of the word in brackets (3marks) i) Ochieng’s
………………………………………………(pronounce) is very good.
ii) What is your………………………………………(prefer)
iii) We were advised to settle our conflict with…………………….(sober)
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Punctuate the following sentences correctly
i) The fisherman a very hardworking man made a large profit from the salesii) Most students have one aim in...(Solved)
Punctuate the following sentences correctly
i) The fisherman a very hardworking man made a large profit from the sales
ii) Most students have one aim in their studies to pass their examinations.
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Do not change the meaning (3marks)
i) He worked so well that everyone was...(Solved)
Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Do not change the meaning (3marks)
i) He worked so well that everyone was impressed (begin so well..)
ii) The head of the family provides for her family. He also settles quarrels (begin Besides
iii) Mr. Matano was not surprised that Ndolo wrote the winning essay (begin That..)
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- NJABALA
Once upon a time, a man and his wife had a daughter. The girl’s name was Njabala and she was stunningly beautiful. But she was...(Solved)
NJABALA
Once upon a time, a man and his wife had a daughter. The girl’s name was Njabala and she was stunningly beautiful. But she was badly brought up, that girl. She was spoilt. She did not want to do any work in the shamba or around the house. All through her childhood, it
was her mother who cooked for her, washed and ironed her clothes for her, did everything for her. But Njabala’s beauty was beyond words.
Anyway, Njabala grew up and was soon ready for marriage. She married a young man who took her to his home. But of course she couldn't do any work. When the time came for her to go and work in shamba, she didn't know what to do. She put both her hands on her head and cried out:.
Mamma, mother-of-twins!
It's you who used to spoil me
Come and dig.
Whereupon the skeleton of her mother, who had died, suddenly appeared. It took the hoe and started clearing the shamba as it sang:
Njabala. this is the way women dig,
Njabala! Njabala. this is the way women dig,
Njabala! ;
Don't let me be caught by my in-laws. And it cleared a large patch of the shamba, from here to way. way out there. Then it disappeared back to the grave. This went on for quite some time. Every time Njabala went to the shamba. She would call our.
Mamma, Mother-of-twins!
It's you who used to spoil me
Come and dig,
Then the mother's little skeleton would come and clear the shamba, singing;
Njabala, this is the way women dig,
Njabala! Njabala, this is the way women dig,
Njabiala!
Don't let me be caught by my in-laws.
One day, however, a relative of Njabala's husband saw what was happening. She went and said to the husband. "You know what? The food we eat in this house is grown by skeletons”.
The husband said, “Oh dear, Oh dear!" The next day, he went and hid in the shamba. When Njabala arrived, she called out as usual.
Mamma, Mother-of-twins!
It's you who used to spoil me Come and dig.
The skeleton came and began to dig as it sang:
Njabala. this is the way women dig,
Njabala! .
But suddenly, the man leapt out of his hiding and dealt his mother-in-law's Skeleton a big blow with his stick. The skeleton disappeared immediately. Njabala was almost fainting with shame and shock. Her husband said to her angrily, "So this is what's been happening? You've been feeding us on food grown by skeletons?"
From that day on, Njabala learned to work saying, “What else can I do now that my mother has been beaten and driven away?” And so she became a hard-working woman.
I left her happy with her husband and the rich crop she was harvesting from her shamba, and I came back here. That is what I saw.
QUESTIONS
i) Which audience would this narrative be most appropriate for? Justify your answer. (2mks)
ii) State and explain two functions of song as an aspect of style in this narrative. (4marks)
iii) Apart from the song, identify three typical features of oral narratives evident in this narrative. (4marks)
iv) Using at least two expressions from the narrative, show evidence that the recorder remained true to live performance of the narrative. (4marks)
v) Identify any two behaviours that this narrative condemn. (4marks)
vi) Cite and explain a proverb from any community you are familiar with that comments on beauty. (2marks)
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Read the extract below then answer all the questions that follow.
2.
(The procession turns into the gateway. Again the ADJUTANT lingers behind. He waits. Enter the...(Solved)
Read the extract below then answer all the questions that follow.
2.
(The procession turns into the gateway. Again the ADJUTANT lingers behind. He waits. Enter the wounded RIDER from the doorway. Two IRONSHIRTS of the Palace Guard have taken up positions by the gateway).
ADJUTANT (to RIDER): The Governor does not wish to receive military news before dinner-especially if it's depressing, as I assume. In the afternoon, His Excellency will confer with prominent architects They're coming to dinner too. And here they are! (Enter three gentlemen through the doorway). Go to the kitchen and eat, my friend. (As the RIDER
goes, the ADJUTANT greets the ARCHITECTS)4. Gentlemen, His Excellency expects you at dinner. He will devote all his time to you and your great new plans. Come! ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS: We marvel that His Excellency intends to build. There are disquieting rumours that the war in Persia has taken a turn for the worse.
ADJUTANT: All the more reason to build! There’s nothing to those rumours anyway. Persia is a long way off, and the garrison here would let itself be hacked to bits for its Governor. (Noise from the palace. The shrill scream of a woman. Someone is shouting orders, Dumbfounded, the ADJUTANT moves toward the gateway. An IRONSHIRT steps out, points his lance at him) What’s this? Put down that lance you dog.
ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS: It’s the prince! Don’t you know the princes met lasts night in the capital? And they’re against the Grand Duke and his Governors? Gentlemen, we’d better make ourselves scarce. (They rush off. The ADJUTANT remains helplessly behind). ADJUTANT (furiously to the palace Guard): Down with those lances! Don’t you see the Governors life is threatened? (The IRONSHIRTS of the palace guard refuse to obey. They stare coldly and indifferently at the ADJUTANT and follow the next events without interest.)
SINGER:
O blindness of the great!
They go their way like gods.
Great over bent backs,
Sure of hired fists.
Trusting the power
Which has lasted so long.
But long is not forever.
O change form age to age!
Thou hope of the people!
Enter the GOVERNOR through the gateway, between two SOLDIERS armed to the teeth.
He is in chains. His face is gray.
Up, great sir, deign to walk upright!
From your palace the eyes of many foes follow you!
And now you don't need an architect, a carpenter will do.
You won’t be moving to a new palace
But into a little hole in the ground.
Look about you once more, blind man!
The arrested man looks around.
Does all you had please you?
Between the Easter Mass and Easter meal
You are walking to a place whence no one returns.
The GOVERNOR is led off. A horn sounds an alarm, noise behind the gateway
When the house of the great one collapses
Many little ones are slain.
Those who had no share in the good fortunes of the mighty
Often have a share in their misfortunes
The plunging wagon
Drags the sweating oxen down with it I
nto the abyss.
The SERVANTS come rushing through the gateway in panic
a) Identify the setting of this extract? (2marks)
b) What has Natella blamed the governor for just before this extract? (2marks)
c) For what reason did the princes holds a meeting in the capital and how will this
affect the governor later in the play? (3marks)
d) Identify a dominant theme that has been highlighted in this extract. (2marks)
e) Explain any two instances of irony in this extract. (4marks)
f) Pick any four phrases from this extract that the singer uses to foreshadow the tragic end of the governor.
Write your answer in note form. (4marks)
g) Basing your answer on what happens in this extract and elsewhere in the play, justify why it is right for the singer to refer to the governor as a blind man. (4marks)
h) He will devote all his time to you and your great new plans. (Begin: All his time ) (1mark)
i) Explain the meaning of the following as used in the extract (3marks)
i. Confer…………………………………………………………….
ii. Disquieting ………………………………………………………
iii. Make ourselves scarce…………………………………………..
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow;
1.
Two weeks before the fateful examination began; I was indiscreet enough to fight the principal’ s...(Solved)
Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow;
1.
Two weeks before the fateful examination began; I was indiscreet enough to fight the principal’ s son. He was a fellow fifth former with whom, up till then , I had no quarrel at all. He was inclined to be a little overbearing at times ;but then a flint needs contact with another flint in order to spark, and I had been forced to develop from the start an easy-going and tolerant disposition . I suppose as the examination drew nearer, our nerves became tauter and our tempers shorter .When, during a discussion in our classroom about careers Samuel declared unnecessarily loudly that he believed all persons who came from North should return to it to find employment , I suddenly felt my anger rising like a column of mercury. I asked him why, in as calm a voice as I could assume. He replied with a sneer by quoting a Sagroson proverb whose meaning was roughly that even a man who does not know where he is going to ought, at least, to know where he has come from: and the gentle laughter, which greeted it brought my temper to boiling point. I was tall and well built, but so was he. Three strides took me beside him and by the time the class prefect succeeded in separating us, Sagrosan blood and Lokko blood had mingled on the floor. Moreover, as is the custom with us, the fight was as much verbal as physical and a torrent of abuse directed mainly against the other's antecedents was flowing out of each battered mouth.
We were bloody, sweaty, and dusty when it was over but still only partly through our respective stocks of abuse. Nothing more than a heighted respect each for the other might have come out of the fight, had Samuel been a boarder. Unfortunately for both of us, however, he lived very much under his august father's eye and the marks I had succeeded in leaving on his face were too distinctive to be hidden by any sort of artifice. I prepared for the worst (prepared in spirit that is, for physical preparations were known to be unavailing at such times). The summons to the principal's office duly came after lunch the same day. He was quite impartial, I'll say that for him. We were both arched over his desk and inscribed across our rumps with two dozen strokes of a bamboo four-footer. Then we were made to shake hands with each other and sent off for walk together along the beach and back (this was the principal's usual way of dealing with a pair of fighters, and one which usually made bosom friends of them).That thrashing and the walk which followed, gave me the moments of deepest mortification I have experienced, and drove home to me the utter futility and wastefulness of making issue of tribal divisions, in a land where much else required our attentions and our energies. Having heard from us how the fight started, the principal might so early have wasted our time and his reading us along patriotic sermon on the essential brotherhood of all the people of Songhai. Such a theme would have made him appear to me hypocrite and to Samuel a traitor -for we both knew only too well that the difference between us were real, if not deep. Instead, we were made to share a fellowship of misery and humiliation which linked us together more effectively than any half – believed fiction about cultural or ethnic affinities could have succeeded in doing.
QUESTIONS:
a) What was the cause of the fight? (2marks)
b) Show how the statement “A flint needs contact with another flint in order to spark”
is applicable to this story? (2marks)
c) With illustrations, show the difference in character between the narrator and his classmate? (4marks)
d) What is the narrator’s attitude towards the head teacher? (3marks)
e) Identify three phrases in the passage to describe the fierce nature of the fight? (3marks)
f) Identify two images that are used to show the extent of the narrator’s anger? (2marks)
g) Explain the punishment that was meted to the by their principal. (2marks)
h) Explain the meaning of the following phrases as used in passage: (2marks)
i) Bosom friends
ii) Patriotic sermon
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- The River and The Source – Margaret Ogola
“The African – pre-colonial past was unfair to women.” Basing on the novel “The River and the Source.”...(Solved)
The River and The Source – Margaret Ogola
“The African – pre-colonial past was unfair to women.” Basing on the novel “The River and the Source.” Write a composition in support of this statement.
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Explain the meaning of each of the underlined idioms in the sentences below i) Maranda School’s commitment and prayers paid off in last year’s...(Solved)
) Explain the meaning of each of the underlined idioms in the sentences below
i) Maranda School’s commitment and prayers paid off in last year’s KCSE exams.
ii) She spilled the beans when she was promised an irresistible present.
iii) The members of the Fourth Estate must uphold high level of integrity as they execute their duties.
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Fill in the blank spaces with the correct form of the verb in the brackets.
i) …………………….(Be) it not for the help he received...(Solved)
) Fill in the blank spaces with the correct form of the verb in the brackets. (3mks)
i) ………………………….(Be) it not for the help he received from his uncle, he would be unable to continue with his studies. ……………………
ii) If only we (listen)………………………..to such bad advice everything would have been alright. …………………………………………………
iii) No sooner……………….(finish) his speech than the audience broke into enthusiastic applause. ……………………………………………………
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Fill in the blank spaces with the most appropriate form of the word in brackets (3mks)
i) The head teacher was surprised at the ………………..from the...(Solved)
Fill in the blank spaces with the most appropriate form of the word in brackets (3mks)
i) The head teacher was surprised at the ………………..from the boys. (reveal) ii) It was the most ……………………….journey as we suffered many accidents on the way. (event) iii) Messis’ five goals against a helpless Chelsea goalkeeper were…………..spectacle)
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Rewrite the following sentences by replacing the underlined words with the correct phrasal verb formed from the words in brackets. (3mks)i) The teacher scolded us...(Solved)
Rewrite the following sentences by replacing the underlined words with the correct phrasal verb formed from the words in brackets. (3mks)
i) The teacher scolded us for being late (tell)
ii) I liked our new neighbours from the start. (take)
iii) He tend to be scornful of people who are poor. (look)
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Rewrite the following sentences as instructed. (3mks)
i) Mary says she has two brothers and sisters. (Rewrite in direct speech).
ii) The girl lost her father....(Solved)
Rewrite the following sentences as instructed. (3mks)
i) Mary says she has two brothers and sisters. (Rewrite in direct speech).
ii) The girl lost her father. She was involved in a road accident. (Rewrite as one sentence beginning; Not only…………….)
iii) People in our village still have to carry water up from the river.
(Rewrite in the passive voice)
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow
3.
FOOT PATH
Path –let……..leaving home. Leading out.
Return my mother to me.
The sun is sinking and darkness...(Solved)
Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow
3.
FOOT PATH
Path –let……..leaving home. Leading out.
Return my mother to me.
The sun is sinking and darkness coming Hens and cocks are already inside and babies drowsing,
Return my mother to me. We do not have firewood and I have not seen the lantern,
There is no more food and the water has run out, Path-let I pray you, return my mother to me,
Path of the hillocks, path of the small stones, Path of slipperiness, path of the mud,
Return my mother to me, Path of pypyrus, path of the rivers,
Path of the small forests, path of the reeds, Over – trodden path, newly made path,
Return my mother to me,
Path, I implore you, return my mother to me
Path of the crossways, path that branches off,
Path of the stinging shrubs, path of the bridge,
Return my mother to me,
Path of the open, path of the valley,
Path of the steep climb, path of the downward slope,
Return my mother to me, Children are drowsing, about to sleep,
Darkness is coming and there is no firewood, And I have not found the lantern:
Return my mother to me.
Stella Ngatho
a) Who is the persona in this poem? (2mks)
b) What does the persona want the path to do, and why? (4mks)
c) The persona addresses the path as if it could hear and respond. What is given to
such feature and what is its effect in this poem? (4mks)
d) Where do you think is the mother? (2mks)
e) Identify and explain any three feelings experienced by the persona in this poem. (6mks)
f) What is the tone of the poem? (2mks)
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Read the extract below and then answer the questions that follow.
Old Man: Milk? We have no milk. The soldiers from the city have our goats....(Solved)
Read the extract below and then answer the questions that follow.
Old Man: Milk? We have no milk. The soldiers from the city have our goats. Go to the soldiers if you want milk.
Grusha: But grandfather, you must have a little pitcher of milk for a baby?
Old Man: And for a God- bless – you, eh?
Grusha: Who said anything about a God – bless – you? (She shows her pursue.) We’ll pay like princes. “Head in the clouds, backside in the water.” (The peasant goes off, grumbling for milk.) how much for the milk?
Old Man: Three piasters. Milk has gone up.
Grusha: Three piasters for the little drop? (Without a word the OLD MAN shuts the door in her face.) Michael, did you hear that? Three piasters! We can’t afford it! (She goes back sits down again, and gives the CHILD her breast), Suck. Think of the three piasters. There’s nothing there, but you think you’re drinking, and that’s something. (Shaking her head, she sees that the CHILD isn’t sucking any more. She gets up, walks back to the door, knocks again.) Open, grandfather, we’ll pay. (softly.) May lightning strike you! (when the OLD MAN appears) I thought it would be half a piaster. But the baby
must be fed. How about one piaster for that little drop?
Old Man: Two.
Grusha : Don’t shut the door again.(She fishes a long time in her bag.) Here are two piasters. The milk better be good. I still have two day’s journey ahead of me. It’s murderous business you have here – and sinful, too!
Old Man : Kill the soldiers if you want milk.
Grusha : (giving the CHILD some milk): This is an expensive joke. Take a sip, Michael, it’s a week’s pay. Around here they think we earned our money just sitting on our behinds. Oh, Michael, you’re a nice little load for a girl to take on! (uneasy, she gets up, puts the CHILD on her back, and walks on. The OLD MAN, grumbling, picks up the pitcher and looks after her unmoved.)
Singer : As Grusha Vashnadze went northward The Princes’ Iron shirts went after her.
CHORUS: How will the barefoot girl escape the iron shirts, The bloodhounds, the trap – setters? They hunt even by night. Pursuers never tire. Butchers sleep little. Two IRONSHIRTS are trudging along the highway.
Corporal: You’ll never amount to anything blockhead, your heart’s not in it. Your senior officer sees this in little things. Yesterday, when I met the fat girl, yes, you grabbed her husband as I commanded, and you did kick him in the belly, at my request, but did you enjoy it, like a loyal Private, or were you just doing your duty? I’ve kept an eye on you blockhead, you’re a hollow reed and a tinkling cymbal, you won’t get promoted.(they walk a while in silence.) Don’t think I’ve forgotten how insubordinate you are, either. Stop limping! I forbid you to limp! You limp because I sold the horses, and I sold the horses because I’d never have got that price again. You limp to show me you don’t like marching. I know you. It won’t help. You wait. Sing!
a) Explain what happens just before this extract. (3mks)
b) “Michael, you’re a nice little load for a girl to take on!” Give a brief explanation of an
earlier incident in the play when Grusha took on Michael. (4mks)
c) “and for a God-bless-you, eh?”What does the old man mean by this? (2mks)
d) What signs exist in this extract that show that times are hard as a result of the revolt? (3mks)
e) i) “….(softly) may lightning strike you!”
Identify the feature of style employed in this statement. (1mk)
ii) What one theme is depicted in this extract? (2mks)
f) Identify and illustrate two character traits of Grusha brought out in this extract. (4mks)
g) Identify and explain any two figures of speech used in this extract. (4mks)
h) i) The Princes’ Ironshirts went after her. (Change into an interrogative statement). (1mk)
ii) They even hunt by night. ( Add a question tag) (1mk)
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
-
Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow
The galloping increase in rural poverty is hitting women hardest. Sixty per cent of poor...(Solved)
Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow
The galloping increase in rural poverty is hitting women hardest. Sixty per cent of poor are women, and their numbers have jumped by 50 per cent from the 1965 -70 level, as opposed to a 30 per cent increase for men during the same period. Of the 550 million women in the world, 76 million households.
The largest portion by far of female – headed households -31 per cent is in sub- Saharan Africa, ranging from 5 per cent in Burkina Faso to 60 per cent in Mozambique. In Asia, by contrast women are principal source of support for 9 per cent of rural families; in Latin American and Caribbean the figure is 17 per cent.
Although women produce half the developing world’s food supply – as much as 80 per cent in Africa- they have far less access and other vital resources. Although prime producers, women have difficulties obtaining plots even in land reform programmes where their share is, mandated by the law. In Gambia, where a rural distribution programme was closely monitored to ensure women’s rights, they still came way empty – handed, or with 13 per cent worldwide.
IFAD stress that the remedy to reducing rural poverty is enabling small farmers to dramatically increase the production of staple crops, arguing that growth based on the production of goods for export is unattainable for most of the developing world. The agency notes that economic and political conditions that sparked rapid expansion in some newly industrialized Asian countries during the 1960s and 1970s were unique and do not apply in Africa today.
IFAD also questions adjustment as a path to reduced poverty, saying that such programmes “focus on the non-poor and merely provide welfare support “to those mostly affected by the inflation, devaluation and loss of subsidies that generally accompany adjustment. “Safety nets” to lessen the hardship are “less relevant in most rural areas, where the long – term economic future of the poor is linked to the development of their own productive resources”
a) Who is most affected by the increase in poverty. (2mks)
b) By what percentage do women exceed men in terms of jumping from the 1967 -70 level? (1mk)
c) Explain the irony presented in paragraph 3 of the passage. (3mks)
d) What according to the author, is the key to reducing rural poverty. (2mks)
e) Why shouldn’t Africa be compared to some newly industrialized Asian countries. (2mks)
f) What reason is given by the author for rejecting structural adjustment programmes (2mks)
g) In not more than 50 words summarize the author’s argument on how to reduce poverty in Africa. (4mks)
h) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage
i. Galloping
ii. Barren
iii. Sparked
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Explain the different meanings expressed in the sentence below. (2mks)
Flying planes can be dangerous.(Solved)
Explain the different meanings expressed in the sentence below. (2mks)
Flying planes can be dangerous.
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- In the sentences below complete, the idioms already started for you. (2mks)i. He can write me letters till he’s blue………………………., I’m not going to reply.ii....(Solved)
In the sentences below complete, the idioms already started for you. (2mks)
i. He can write me letters till he’s blue………………………., I’m not going to reply.
ii. She is as blind………………………………….without her glasses.
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Fill in the blank spaces with the correct forms of the words given in brackets. (2mks)
i. The……………………………………(broad) of the material could not easily be established.
ii....(Solved)
Fill in the blank spaces with the correct forms of the words given in brackets. (2mks)
i. The……………………………………(broad) of the material could not easily be established.
ii. The ……………………………………of the matter brought the District Commissioner to their village. (grave)
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)
- Insert the most appropriate prepositions in the blank spaces.
i. Her performance was amazing any standards.
ii. Since he no longer runs the business, he has been(Solved)
Insert the most appropriate prepositions in the blank spaces. (3mks)
i. Her performance was amazing…....any standards.
ii. Since he no longer runs the business, he has been reduced…begging.
iii. Traffic was moving……a snail’s pace.
Date posted: January 23, 2018. Answers (1)