JAMB Use of English 2016

21 reviewed questions with answers and explanations.

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Question 1

It is not difficult to make a film, but it is very difficult to make a good film: technically polished, suited to its audience, and telling its story clearly through the precise balance of visual and audio. Film-making is a job for professionals; the amateur is always a disaster. The only reasonable exception is the local newsreel made on a shoestring and intended to serve the same purpose as a parish magazine or works news-sheet. Here the content can overcome the limitations of the maker, and his temptation to try to use such a production more widely and for a different audience should be firmly resisted. Many people have a wrong approach to film-making. Too often a film begins because someone suggests brightly, “Why don’t we make a film about this?” The idea of film is generally attractive, provided that not too much money is required. A film is then made, frequently without adequate planning or with only the sketchiest concept of how it might be used. It is right that film should be considered as a possible way of putting a story over, but the objective must be clear and the nature of the audience understood first. Then the suitability of film must be assessed and the means of reaching the audience by film ensured. Only then is it advisable to go ahead and find the money before embarking on the complex process of getting the film made. Adapted from Baman P. and Ellis N. (1977), Manual of Public Relations.

The expression, visual and audio, as used in the passage, refers to

  1. vision and auras
  2. sight and colour
  3. picture and sound
  4. color and props
Answer and explanation

C: picture and sound

Visual concerns what is seen and audio concerns what is heard. In a film, that is the combination of picture and sound. The other pairs omit sound or introduce unrelated elements such as auras or props.

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Question 2

It is not difficult to make a film, but it is very difficult to make a good film: technically polished, suited to its audience, and telling its story clearly through the precise balance of visual and audio. Film-making is a job for professionals; the amateur is always a disaster. The only reasonable exception is the local newsreel made on a shoestring and intended to serve the same purpose as a parish magazine or works news-sheet. Here the content can overcome the limitations of the maker, and his temptation to try to use such a production more widely and for a different audience should be firmly resisted. Many people have a wrong approach to film-making. Too often a film begins because someone suggests brightly, “Why don’t we make a film about this?” The idea of film is generally attractive, provided that not too much money is required. A film is then made, frequently without adequate planning or with only the sketchiest concept of how it might be used. It is right that film should be considered as a possible way of putting a story over, but the objective must be clear and the nature of the audience understood first. Then the suitability of film must be assessed and the means of reaching the audience by film ensured. Only then is it advisable to go ahead and find the money before embarking on the complex process of getting the film made. Adapted from Baman P. and Ellis N. (1977), Manual of Public Relations.

The word professionals, as used in the passage suggests

  1. specialists
  2. entrepreneurs
  3. detractors
  4. commentators
Answer and explanation

A: specialists

The writer contrasts professionals with amateurs, emphasising the expertise needed to make a good film. Specialists is therefore the closest meaning. Entrepreneurs run businesses, detractors criticise and commentators give opinions; those roles do not necessarily imply film-making expertise.

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Question 21

In A. H. Mohammed’s The Last Days at Forcados High School, which statement captures Ansa’s thought about Jimi?

  1. He thought Jimi cut corners to succeed
  2. He was going to break his friendship with Jimi
  3. He was envious of Jimi's achievement
  4. He thought Jimi was a lucky boy
Answer and explanation

D: He thought Jimi was a lucky boy

Ansa regards Jimi as fortunate because he succeeds in many areas. The narration also distinguishes this admiration from envy, supporting D rather than C.

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Question 22

In A. H. Mohammed’s The Last Days at Forcados High School, what does Jimi hear when he pauses outside the gate?

  1. He listened to the distant sound of the buses
  2. He listened to the way his father was beating his mother
  3. He listened to the way Wole was abusing his father
  4. He listened to the way a dog was barking at a neighbour
Answer and explanation

A: He listened to the distant sound of the buses

After pausing outside, Jimi hears buses and conductors along the main road. A matches those sounds; the other events are not what he hears there.

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Question 36

Choose the option that best explains the sentence: His property went down the drain

  1. He completely lost his property
  2. He kept his property down in the rain
  3. His property was completely drained
  4. He drained his property by the canal
Answer and explanation

A: He completely lost his property

To go down the drain means to be lost or wasted. Applied to his property, it means he lost it. The sentence is figurative and does not describe rain, a canal or liquid being drained from the property.

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Question 38

Choose the option that best explains the sentence: At the end of the competition, the team brought up the rear

  1. The team was booed
  2. The team competed strongly
  3. The team came last
  4. The team was suspended indefinitely
Answer and explanation

C: The team came last

To bring up the rear is to be at the back or last. In a competition, this means the team finished last. The expression does not say that the team was booed, performed strongly or was suspended.

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Question 39

Choose the option that best explains the sentence: Shola is the mouthpiece of the association

  1. He plays the musical instrument of the association
  2. He learns the truth about the association
  3. He expresses the opinions of the association
  4. He blames the association for talking too much.
Answer and explanation

C: He expresses the opinions of the association

A person described as an association’s mouthpiece speaks on its behalf and expresses its views. C gives that meaning. The sentence does not identify an instrumentalist, a truth-seeker or someone blaming the association.

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Question 42

Choose the option that best explains the sentence: Our teacher just shut his eyes to something strange

  1. He took no notice of what was happening
  2. He opened his eye when he saw something strange
  3. His eyes blinked when he saw the creature
  4. He complained of something strange
Answer and explanation

A: He took no notice of what was happening

To shut one’s eyes to something means deliberately to ignore it. A captures the teacher’s failure to take notice. The other options describe literal eye movement or a complaint, which the expression does not mean.

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Question 66

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: _____, you should put in some effort.

  1. However tired you are
  2. However tired are you
  3. However you are tired
  4. However are you tired
Answer and explanation

A: However tired you are

However followed by an adjective means no matter how much that quality applies. The clause uses statement order: however tired you are. The other alternatives put the words in question order or separate however from tired.

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Question 69

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: It is generally_____ that we should eat less fat and more vegetables.

  1. agreeing
  2. to agreed
  3. to agree
  4. agreed
Answer and explanation

D: agreed

The expression “It is generally agreed that” uses the passive form is plus the past participle agreed. Agreeing, to agreed and to agree do not complete this passive reporting construction.

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Question 70

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: Laraba couldn't do it as expected,_____?

  1. wasn't she
  2. could she
  3. didn't she
  4. was she
Answer and explanation

B: could she

Couldn’t is negative, so its tag is positive: could she? The tag retains the same modal and uses she for Laraba.

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Question 72

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: Ado struck Isa with_____blow across his shoulder.

  1. mightily
  2. a mighty
  3. mightiest
  4. the mightier
Answer and explanation

B: a mighty

Blow is a singular countable noun here, requiring a determiner and an adjective. A mighty blow is a complete phrase. Mightily is an adverb; the comparative and superlative alternatives lack the comparison or form needed here.

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Question 73

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: Tunde and Kola were not supposed to attend the party_____?

  1. were they
  2. wasn't they
  3. weren't they
  4. isn't they
Answer and explanation

A: were they

Were not is negative, so the tag becomes positive: were they? They refers to both Tunde and Kola; was does not agree.

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Question 75

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: Abiola is_____

  1. uses to wake up early
  2. used to waking up early
  3. use to wake up early
  4. using to wake up early
Answer and explanation

B: used to waking up early

Be used to means be accustomed to. Here to is a preposition, so it is followed by waking rather than wake. Used to waking up early is the only option that fits after Abiola is.

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Question 76

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: _____you do, slow down and take your time

  1. Whatever
  2. However
  3. Wherever
  4. Whenever
Answer and explanation

A: Whatever

Whatever you do means no matter what activity you undertake. Whatever supplies the object of do. However, wherever and whenever concern manner, place or time and do not supply that missing object.

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Question 79

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: The new manager has_____ to his staff

  1. a disposition pleasant friendly
  2. a pleasant friendly disposition
  3. a disposition friendly pleasant
  4. a friendly disposition pleasant
Answer and explanation

B: a pleasant friendly disposition

The adjectives pleasant and friendly belong before the noun disposition. A pleasant friendly disposition is the correctly ordered noun phrase. The other choices place one or both adjectives after the noun without a suitable construction.

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Question 81

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: Amina blushed and accepted_____good grace

  1. the compliment from
  2. a compliment on
  3. a compliment for
  4. the compliment with
Answer and explanation

D: the compliment with

With good grace means pleasantly or willingly. D completes both the object, the compliment, and that expression. From, on and for do not form the idiom needed after accepted.

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Question 84

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: Ali looked to the left and then_____the right before crossing the road.

  1. to
  2. in
  3. for
  4. with
Answer and explanation

A: to

The sentence uses parallel directions: to the left and to the right. Repeating to preserves the construction. In, for and with do not complete this directional phrase.

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Question 85

Choose the option that best completes the sentence: Isa wants you to come, and _____who is free

  1. anyone elses'
  2. anyone else's
  3. anyone else
  4. anyone's else
Answer and explanation

C: anyone else

Anyone else means any other person. No possession is expressed, so no apostrophe is needed. The other forms incorrectly introduce possessive endings instead of the required pronoun phrase.

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Question 98

Choose the question to which the sentence with the capitalised emphasis relates: Kunle saw the snake on THE TREE.

  1. Did kunle pick the snake on the tree?
  2. What did Kunle see on the tree?
  3. Who saw the snake on the tree?
  4. Where did Kunle see the snake?
Answer and explanation

D: Where did Kunle see the snake?

THE TREE identifies the location. D asks where Kunle saw the snake; the other options ask about an action, an object or a person.

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Question 99

Choose the question to which the sentence with the capitalised emphasis relates: Laraba ran sluggishly to the CAR.

  1. How did Laraba run to the car?
  2. Who ran sluggishly to the car?
  3. Where did Laraba run to?
  4. What did Laraba do?
Answer and explanation

C: Where did Laraba run to?

CAR identifies the destination, answering where Laraba ran. C asks for that destination. The other options ask about manner, person or action.

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