WAEC English Language 1997 Past Questions

Narrate to your classmates an experience you have had or heard about which illustrates the saying: "You reap what you sow"

Write a letter to the Commissioner for Agriculture in your state deploring the low level of food production in the state and suggesting measures which the government should take to ensure that there is sufficient food for all.

During the last holidays, you had the opportunity to travel to another state and to witness some of the traditional festivals in the area. In an article suitable for publication in your school magazine, describe one of these festivals.

You have noticed a general decline in the level of discipline and morality in your society. In an article suitable for publication in a national newspaper, discuss some instances of this decline and its probable causes; and suggest ways in which the trend can be reversed.

You have received information that your brother, who is schooling in another part of the country, is playing truant and keeping bad company. Write a letter warning him of the consequences of such behaviour and urging him to turn over a new leaf.

A vehicle in which you were travelling was involved in an accident and several passengers including yourself were injured. Describe to sympathizers. who have come to visit you in hospital how the accident happened and what followed.

 Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions on it.  

      Returning home after a decade-and-half abroad, our geography master remained incurably addicted to foreign ways and ideas for years after landing here. He would for ever stick to his theory of Africans suffering ring from a curse inflicted on them by the Almighty God for some heinous sins committed centuries ago. He would in support of this theory ask listeners: Why would our mosquito inflict deadly malaria on us whereas the British mosquito does not bite? Why aren't there poisonous snakes in Britain whereas here most snakes are deadly? Why should the deadly sickle cell disease be peculiar to the black race?

      Of course. he hardly waits for answers to these and similar questions before jumping to the same inevitable conclusion. However, he met his match one day when a new student joined the class and heard the litany we were used to. The new boy calmly said. "Sir, I happen to know a few white men who suffer from the sickle cell disease: some are Italians and some are Spanish. The mosquito is equally deadly in India, South-east Asian countries and South America. The United States and some other South American countries have their deadly snakes. And. Sir. I know many white men: some of them British, who would prefer our brilliant sunshine to their horribly cold winter". And he sat down.

      I had never before that day. seen our master so consumed with anger. He directed a burning look at the poor boy, who had no answer to this new battle. Without as much as saying a single word. the master stalked out of the classroom. Needless to say, our anger was turned on the new boy who had decided to rock the boat without taking the time to sound the water. A delegation was sent to the master to apologize to him. He was appeased. But we all noticed something rather unusual thereafter. Never again did he dwell on the issue of Africans being the accursed people.

(a) What point of view is the Geography master fond of advancing?

(b) Mention the three arguments he used to support view.

(c) What extra argument did the new boy offer countering each of the master's points?

(d) Why do you think the master fought back with his look rather than with further argument?

(e) ". . rock the boat" (i) What figure of speech is this expression?

(f) "who had no answer to this new battle, " (i) What is the grammatical name given to the above expression? (ii) What is its function in the passage?

(g) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as it is used in the passage: (i) addicted to: (ii) heinous: (iii) inevitable: (iv)brilliant: (v)stalked:

In each of the following sentences, there is one word underlined and one gap. From the list of words lettered A - E, choose the word that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the underlined word and that will, at the same time, correctly fill the gap in the sentences.

To ascend this steep hill is the problem, to.....is quite easy

Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions on it.

      We are interested in the various kinds of injury that can occur in road traffic accidents, how to prevent them and their first aid management. Most of us have probably witnessed one form of road traffic accident or another. The universal reaction of eye-witnesses is panic as they rush to the scene and stand there looking in dismay. Road traffic accidents are great crowd-pullers as everyone wants to stop and have a look. However, the three most useful things you can do if you are at the scene of a road traffic accident are to assist in the rescue of the trapped victims; to render first aid treatment to victims; and to help in conveying injured people to the nearest hospital.

      Road traffic accidents have a great potential for causing injury to the human body. The high velocity at which the motor vehicle is travelling the sudden deceleration on impact and the hard rigid nature of the motor-car body, all contribute to increase the potentials of injury Probably. the most risk-laden road traffic accidents are those which involve motor-cyclists as they d. o not have a solid motor-car body to protect them from the direct impact of an oncoming vehicle on the road.

      Road traffic accidents involving motor-cyclists are the cause of high mortality as the human skull is often fractured on impact with the hard surface of the road. Road traffic accidents involving cars and their passengers can cause some serious problems as the wreckage of the i car may trap some people inside. This may mean that the crumpled car body needs-to be cut away before the victims can be saved. If the road accident results in a fire, then this can be disastrous as the fire will prevent rescuers from i coming near, thus resulting in the quick demise of the victims from burns. This is why every car-driver must possess a fire extinguisher in his vehicle. This little device may save lives in some situations.

(a) What, according to the writer, do eye-witnesses usually do as soon as an accident occurs?

(b) What three things does he suggest that eye-witness. es should do. ?

(c) Mention two of the factors that can increase injuries during accidents.

(d) Why are motor-cyclists risk when accidents occur?

(e) Why does the writer suggest that every car-driver should have a fire extinguisher in his vehicle?

(f) "If the road accident results in a fire..." (i) What is the grammatical name given to the above expression?

(ii) What is its function in the passage?

(g) For each of the following Words, find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as it is used in the passage: (i) universal: (ii) conveying: (iii) velocity: (iv) potentials: (v) disastrous:

 Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.

      Every child, whether he comes to his family by birth or adoption, discovers what a family is through the experiences family life. The new-born infant has no way of knowing which of the many faces that hover above him belongs to a parent. He has no way of knowing what a parent is. He only knows that he is comfortable or uncomfortable, hungry or satisfied Gradually, as the months-go by, he begins to know who brings comfort when he is uncomfortable and food when he is hungry. He comes to know the feel of the arm that holds him close when he eats and holds him safe in his bath. He knows the voice that soothes him and sings to him. He grows to know who responds to his needs when he cries out. This is the special person in the whole strange new world who belongs specially to him This is his first recognition of a parent.

      The mother and father who care for a child, who listen for his voice and try to interpret what he means, who comfort him, feed him and play with him discover for the first time what it is to be parents. They do not become parents by virtue of conception and birth alone. They grow to be parents just as the infant grows to recognize them as such. They corn' to know the developing personality of their child in a way that no other person really can. They recognize whether he is i a lusty eater or a nibbler: vivacious or reserved: adventurous or cautious. By observing his intellectual and physical abilities, they also get to know what he may become in future. They are concerned with meeting his needs and wants: and fostering his growth to maturity.

      Sometimes because of their responsibility to their child, parents have to do unpleasant things. They have for instance, to take him for injections. He can have no choice about taking medicine when he is ill. He must learn quickly and not necessarily at his own pace, that fire is not a play-thing. In the intimacies of daily living, the child and the parents learn the bitter and the sweet of family relations. It is through the experiences of family life that a child and his parents grow to be a family. For every parent, biological or adoptive, it is the daily loving care of the child and his responsiveness that build up the parents' feelings. For every child, it is being loved and being cared for that produce family closeness.

(a) In two sentences, state how the new-born infant perceives his environment.

(b) In one sentence, say what an infant first learns about its parents.

(c) In two sentences, say what parents learn about their child as he grows up.

(d) In one sentence, summarize what a responsible parent often has to do in the interest of the child.