- Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow. (Solved)
Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
Nora: It’s a shame to say that. I do really save all I can.
Helmer:(laughing)That’s very true, - all you can. But you can’t save anything!
Nora: (smiling quietly and happily)You haven’t any idea how many expenses we skylarks and squirrels have, Torvald.
Helmer: You are an odd little soul. Very like your father. You always find some new way of wheedling money out of me, and as soon as you have got it, it seems to melt in your hands. You never know where it has gone. Still, one must take you as you are. It is in the blood: for indeed it is true that you can inherit these things, Nora.
Nora: Ah, I wish I had inherited many of papa’s qualities.
Helmer:And I would not wish you to be anything but just what you are, my little skylark. But do you know, it strikes me that you are looking-rather—what shall I say- rather uneasy today?
Nora: Do I?
Helmer: You do, really. Look straight at me.
Nora : ( looks at him) well?
Helmer: (wagging his finger at her) Hasn’t Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today?
Nora: No; what makes you think that?
Helmer: Hasn’t she paid a visit to the confectioner’s?
Nora: No, I assure you, Torvald-
Helmer: Not been nibbling sweets?
Nora: No, certainly not.
Helmer: Not even take a bite at a macaroon or two?
Nora: (going to the table on the right) I shouldn’t think of going against your wishes.
Helmer: No, I am sure of that: besides, you gave me your word- (Going up to her) Keep your little Christmas secrets to yourself, my darling. They will be revealed tonight when the Christmas tree is lit, no doubt.
Nora: Did you remember to invite Doctor Rank?
Helmer: No. But there is no need; as a matter of course, he will come to dinner with us. However, I will ask him when he comes this morning. I have ordered some good wine. Nora, you can’t think how I am looking forward to this evening.
Nora: So am I! And how the children will enjoy themselves, Torvald!
Helmer: It is splendid to feel that one has a perfectly safe appointment, and a big enough income. It is delightful to think of, isn’t it?
Nora: It’s wonderful!
a) Place this extract in its immediate context.
b) Explain the dramatic irony in this extract.
c) Helmer says here, “it is splendid to feel that one has a perfectly safe appointment”. What is he referring to?
d) What issues on money and gender emerge in this extract?
e) Identify and illustrate any two ways the playwright has used language to achieve foregrounding in this extract.
f) What do we learn about the character of Nora in this extract?
g) Imagine you are directing this play. Which quality would you look for in an actor to play the role of Torvald?
Date posted: August 14, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow. (Solved)
Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow.
The question is at least as old as Socrates: If we know what the right thing to do is, why do we not do it? It is an especially acute question when applied to global warming. The science showing that carbon dioxide emissions are already changing the planet’s climate, and are likely to have severe effects (melting ice caps, sea-level rise, and species extinction), is compelling and now barely disputed. Almost 90% of Europeans say they recognize climate change as a major issue, and 75% identify fossil fuel emissions as a major cause.
And yet, as was widely discussed at a conference of environmentalists, geologists and writers in May 2006 in Ankelohe, Germany, public understanding has not translated into even the simplest of public actions. Less than 1% of Britons, for example, have switched their home electricity to renewable sources, even though it requires little more than a phone call to one’s existing provider. Proportions on the continent are slightly higher, but there is clearly no rush to go green or — shudder — stop driving cars.
Why such a disconnect between information and action? Part of the problem is that environmental advocates emit mixed messages. In mid-May 2006, Britain’s Guardian published a front-page story showing that five companies in Britain produce more CO2 pollution in a year than all the country’s motorists combined. That is a strong argument for targeting industries, but the average reader could hardly be blamed for thinking, “Why should I bother to cut down my driving?”
Similarly, not enough thought has been devoted to the best role for government. Climate change is too vast a problem for individuals to solve alone, and some big businesses have an incentive not to solve it. That leaves government to take the lead, which is tricky, because over-reliance on government can allow individuals to fob off their own responsibilities. What is worse, government power seems to tickle autocratic fantasies. In my experience, environmentalists spend far too much energy advocating hard-line government ‘solutions’ that do not stand a chance of being enacted. Sure, it might be good for the planet if governments banned the use of sports-utility vehicles or, for that matter, of all fossil fuels. Yet not only is it hard to sell outright prohibitions to voters, but the sad truth is that governments have a woeful record in even the mildest interventions. One of the most significant innovations in the last decade has been Europe’s carbon-emission trading scheme: some 12 000 companies, responsible for more than half of the EU’s emissions, have been assigned quotas. Companies with unused allowances can sell them; the higher the price, the greater the incentive for firms to cut their use of fossil fuels. The system seemed to work for about a year — but now it turns out that Europe’s governments allocated far too many credits, which will likely hinder the program’s effectiveness for years.
Perhaps the real reason that well-intentioned consumers do not change is that they do not see any benefit. Climate change may be a frightening, irreversible calamity, but its worst effects will not be felt next week or next year. The planet looks the same regardless of whether we use environmentally friendly technology or we do not care how much CO2 we emit. But sure as the sun rises and sets every day, if we do not cut down on carbon emissions, then we may not have a planet to hand over to the next generation.
(Adapted from Times, June 5, 2006)
a) According to the passage, what are the effects of global warming?
b) What, according to the passage, is the main cause of global warming?
c) How does Britain encourage people to use renewable electricity?
d) Paraphrase the following sentence: That is a strong argument for targeting industries, but the average reader could hardly be blamed for thinking, ‘Why should I bother to cut down my driving?’
e) What message does the writer communicate in this passage?
f) Explain the meaning of the following words and expression as used in the passage.
i) fob off
ii) incentive
iii) calamity
iv) vast
Date posted: August 14, 2019. Answers (1)
- Fill the blank spaces with the correct article
(Solved)
Fill the blank spaces with the correct article
i) The students said they wanted…………union.
ii) What is ……. Ewe?
Date posted: August 14, 2019. Answers (1)
- Fill in the blanks with the appropriate prepositions.(Solved)
Fill in the blanks with the appropriate prepositions.
(i) He was charged ……………….forging property inheritance document.
(ii) Kamau deals…………….groceries
Date posted: August 14, 2019. Answers (1)
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Complete the following passage with the most appropriate forms of the words in brackets.(Solved)
Complete the following passage with the most appropriate forms of the words in brackets.
The Tsunami …………………………(cruel) destroyed lots of lives and property. For days, the survivors …………………….. (agony) searched for their missing relatives. The whole experience was …………………………….(horrible) traumatizing.
Date posted: August 14, 2019. Answers (1)
- Replace the phrasal verbs in the sentences below with one word that means the same. (Solved)
Replace the phrasal verbs in the sentences below with one word that means the same.
)It is wrong to look down on students from other schools.
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(ii)Teachers should not give into their students’ unreasonable demands.
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(iii)The delegates came up with ten rules to guide our response to globalization.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Date posted: August 14, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.
When in early 1970s ultrasound confronted me with the sight of the embryo in a womb, I simply lost my faith in abortion on demand. I did not hold onto my old convictions. The change was in its way a clean and surgical conversion. I am by nature one that works out the conflicting data, weighs the opposing argument with great care, decides and then acts upon it with no lingering backward glances.
By 1984 however, I had begun to ask myself more questions about abortion: What actually goes on in an abortion? I had done many but abortion is a blind procedure. The doctor does not see what he is doing. He puts an instrument into a uterus and he turns on a mortar and a suction machine goes on and something is vacuumed out; it ends up as little pile of meat in a gauze bag. I wanted to know what happened, so in 1984 I said to a friend of mine who was doing fifteen or maybe twenty abortions a day:‘ Look ,do me a favour,Jay .Next Saturday when you are doing all these abortions put an ultra sound on the mother and tape it on me.”
He did, and when he looked at the tapes with me in the editing studio, he was so affected that he never did another abortion. Although I had not performed an abortion in five years, I was shaken to the very roots of my soul by what I saw. The tapes were shockingly amazing. Some of the tapes weren’t of very good quality but I selected one that was of better quality than the others and began to show it at pro- life gatherings around the country.(I had my first contact with pro-life movement in 1981 when the then president of the National Right to Life Committee, Carolyn Gerster, had gotten in touch with me).
At the time, I was speaking at a pro-life meetings around the country in weekends, and the response to the tape was so intense and dramatic that finally I was approached by a man named Don Smith, who wanted to make my tape into a film. I agreed that it would be good idea. That is how The Silent Scream, which was to generate so many furore, came to be made. We showed it for the first time in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on January3, 1985. The reaction was instantaneous. Everybody was up in arms because The Silent Scream represented an enormous threat to the abortion forces, and because it escalated the war (it is not really a debate- we don’t debate with each, we scream at one another). For the first time, we had the technology, and they had nothing.
The Silent Scream depicted a twelve- week- foetus being torn to pieces in the uterus by the combination of suction and crushing instrumentation by the abortionist. It was so powerful that pro choicers trotted out their heaviest hitters to denounce the tape. They very cleverly deflected the impact of the film into an academic cul- de- suc: a dispute regarding whether the foetus feels pain during an abortion. The impetus for the debate came from an on – the- record musing by the then President, Ronald Reagan, as to how much pain the foetus feels during an abortion.
( Source: The hand of God: A journey from death to life by the Abortion doctor who changed his mind- Bernard N. Nathanson, MD)
a) Based on your understanding of the entire passage, comment on the nature of the writer’s ‘old convictions’.
b) Explain why it was easy for doctors such as the writer to carry out abortions prior to introduction of ultrasound technology?
c) What are the names that are commonly used to refer to the two opposing groups mentioned in the passage
d) Briefly describe, in your own words, how those who supported abortion tried to undermine the impact of ‘ The Silent Scream’.
e) “ I was shaken to the very roots of my soul by what I saw’’. Rewrite this sentence beginning: (What…)
f) Make notes on the way abortion is carried out according to this passage
g) Identify and illustrate the use of parenthesis in the passage, give two examples.
h) Provide one example from the passage to illustrate the need for leaders to weigh their words carefully.
i) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage.
i)convictions
ii)escalate
iii)impetus
Date posted: August 14, 2019. Answers (1)
- Rewrite the following sentence to remove gender bias.
The steward is in the restaurant
(Solved)
Rewrite the following sentence to remove gender bias.
The steward is in the restaurant
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Rewrite the underlined phrasal verbs with appropriate verbs in each sentence.(Solved)
Rewrite the underlined phrasal verbs with appropriate verbs in each sentence.
i) Juma’s performance did not measure upto the expected standards.
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ii) Mary walked out on her family
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Choose the correct alternative from the words given in brackets after each sentence.(Solved)
Choose the correct alternative from the words given in brackets after each sentence.
i) The boys left ........................................................ (their, there) books in the field.
ii) All matatus have hiked the ............................................... (fair, fare)
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Use the correct form of the word in brackets to fill in the blank space in each of the sentences below.(Solved)
Use the correct form of the word in brackets to fill in the blank space in each of the sentences below.
i)Peter sang yesterday ...........................................................................(melody)
ii) The state will undertake the ................................................ (maintain) of the road.
iii) Her argument was obviously …………………………………………. (error)
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Complete each of the sentences with an appropriate question tag.(Solved)
Complete each of the sentences with an appropriate question tag.
i) It’s very cold, ………………………………………………………………………
ii) You are free, ……………………………………………………………………………
iii) They haven’t come yet, ………………………………………………………………..
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Do not change the meaning .(Solved)
Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Do not change the meaning.
i)“I get up at six o’clock every morning.” Said my friend (Rewrite in indirect)
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ii) It is possible to buy bread here. (Rewrite beginning: There is …………)
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iii) My sister is older than me. (Rewrite using ‘I’)
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iv) The guard refused a student admittance. (Rewrite the sentence in the passive form)
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Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the excerpt below and then answer the questions that follow. (Solved)
Read the excerpt below and then answer the questions that follow.
Krogstad: Are you aware that is a dangerous confession?
Nora: In what way? You shall have your money soon.
Krogstad: Let me ask you a question: Why did you not send the paper to your father?
Nora: It was impossible: papa was so ill. If I had asked him for his signature, I should have had to tell him what the money was to be used for: and when he was so ill himself, I couldn’t tell him that my husband’s life was in danger – it was impossible.
Krogstad: It would have been better for you if you had given up your trip abroad.
Nora: No, that was impossible. That trip was to save my husband’s life. I couldn’t give that up.
Krogstad: But did it never occur to you that you were committing a fraud on me?
Nora: I couldn’t take that into account: I didn’t trouble myself about you at all. I couldn’t bear you, because you put so many heartless difficulties in my way, although you knew what a dangerous condition my husband was in.
Krogstad : Mrs. Helmer, you evidently do not realise clearly what it is that you have been guilty of. But I can assure you that my one false step, which lost me all my reputation, was nothing more or nothing worse than what you have done.
Nora: You? Do you ask me to believe that you were brace enough to run a risk to save your wife’s life?
Krogstad: Foolish or not, it is the law by which you will be judged, if I produce this paper in court.
Nora: I don’t believe it. Is a daughter not to be allowed to spare her dying father anxiety and care? Is a wife not to be allowed to save her husband’s life? I dont know much about law: but I am certain that there must be laws permitting such things as that. Have you no knowledge of such laws – you who are a lawyer? You must be very poor Mr Krogstad.
Krogstad: Maybe. But matters of business – such business as you and I have had together – do you think I don’t understand that? Very well. Do as you please. But let me tell you this – if I lose my position a second time, you shall lose yours with me. (He bows and goes out through the hall) Nora (appears buried in thought for a short time, then tosses her head) Nonsense! Trying to frighten me like that! – I am not so silly as he thinks. (begins to busy herself putting the children’s things in order) And yet-? No it’s impossible! I did it for love’s sake.
Questions:
a) Briefly describe the dangerous confession Nora admits to in the onset of the excerpt.
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b) Explain why Nora did not send the paper to her father for signing.
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c) Explain two themes evident in the excerpt above.
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d) Contrast Krogstad’s and Nora’s views on the law
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e) How is Krogstad portrayed in the excerpt
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f) The law cares nothing about motives. (Add a question tag)
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g) Krogstad informs Nora that “one false step, lost him all reputation.” Briefly explain how.
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h) “……….If I lose my position a second time, you shall lose yours with me.” From elsewhere in the play, show the truth of this statement
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i) What is the general tone in this excerpt? Explain your answer.
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j) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the excerpt.
(i) defiantly
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(ii) false step
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Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.
In the end I was duly discharged (from hospital) and sent back relieved but not cured. A very elaborate belt kept death at arm’s length. My congregation was deeply sympathetic, but started making representations for my transfer. Shortly afterwards the final blow was delivered. The circumstances in which I was forced to retire from the work for which I had sacrificed my youth and strength and hope were so confused and sad that a bitter taste will forever remain. I had toiled for over half a century only to end like this. Somehow I feel my third courtship had something to do with it, for I drew bitter opposition from some new relations of the lady. The campaign of mudslinging grew to ugly proportions and became an organized campaign to throw me out. Charges were tramped up. I was declared feeble, aged and unable to visit outstations, and probably I was secretly called immoral. These charges were duly handed to the superintendent minister.
Meanwhile at Mankessim angry mobs made the place untenable. I was in the end transferred – nowhere. That was the end. My retirement was skillfully managed by the chairman and superintendent minister, and I went quietly into obscurity with no lauvels and no respect, no last-minute farewell or godspeeds; no visible means of support save that which my own sons were hopefully expected to give. For catechists are the scum of the earth and command no respect and expect none. They are entitled to no gratuities or pension and when they are strong enough to outlive their usefulness….. “God will provide” I had worked half a century to bring salvation to other people. It would probably be appropriate to say, “Physician heal theyself.” Sometimes I think we, the workers in the Lord’s vineyard, have the greatest need of salvation ‘in the obscurity of retirement I can now have time to look back on my life and into my soul and try to assess where I failed and try to effect my own salvation.’ God indeed never leaves those who believe in Him really desolate. I have my wife with me now. My sons are all securely settled in life and work to support my old age. At the throne of God, I hope the Almighty will not deal too harshly with his servant, but in His infinite mercy will forgive my sins and accept even me.
(From: Joseph W. Abruquah, The Catechist, London – 1965)
Questions
a) What was the narrator’s occupation before he was taken ill?
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b) Mention four factors responsible for the narrator’s dismissal from his duty.
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c) Justify the narrator’s bitter attitude in the third paragraph.
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d) Identify and explain the feature of style in the sentence below: They are entitled to no gratuities or pension and why they are strong enough to outlive their usefulness….. “God will provide.”
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e) Basing your argument on one major failing of the narrator, why should you not be sympathetic with is situation
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f) On the whole, what feelings towards the narrator does this passage arouse? Explain your answer.
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g) The narrator uses the word ‘salvation’ to elicit two implications. Explain these two implications.
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h) Quote a statement in the last paragraph that hints at the narrator’s sense of remorse.
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i) My congregation was deeply sympathetic but started making representations for my transfer. (Rewrite this sentence beginning: Much as …………………
j) Explain the meaning of the following words and clause in the passage (3 marks)
(i) Mudslinging
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(ii) Obscurity
iii) Physician heal theyself
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Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- You do not require to cheat to pass
(Supply a suitable question tag).
(Solved)
You do not require to cheat to pass
(Supply a suitable question tag).
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Write the following sentences in indirect speech
“These are juicy mangoes,” Ken said.
(Solved)
Write the following sentences in indirect speech
“These are juicy mangoes,” Ken said.
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Use the correct alternative to complete the sentences below. (Solved)
Use the correct alternative to complete the sentences below.
i. Teaching ……………………………………(practice/practice) is not an easy job for teacher-trainees.
ii. The prophet’s ……………………………….(prophesy/prophecy) was misleading to his audience.
iii. He …………………………………….((insured/ensured) his car with Madison.
iv. Mwita ………………………………..(hanged/hung) the chart on the wall.
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Use the correct form of the word in brackets to fill in the blank spaces in the sentences below.(Solved)
Use the correct form of the word in brackets to fill in the blank spaces in the sentences below.
i. The audience was offended by the ……………………….………..(sense) of the speaker.
ii. The ………………………………………..(acquire) of a university degree is a great milestone to a student.
iii. Everyone should obey the law ………………………………of their position in the society.
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Supply the correct preposition to complete the sentences given. (Solved)
Supply the correct preposition to complete the sentences given.
i. Property worth millions of shillings went up …………………….flames.
ii. The three boys shared the bread ……………………………..themselves.
iii. We should strive to live …………………………………our means.
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)