Expositive Comprehension passage - Jamb English Language Past Questions and Answers

Question 151:

• JAMB 2001

  By 1910, the motor car was plainly conquering the highway. The private car was now part of every rich man’s establishment, although its price made it as yet an impossible luxury for most of the middle class. But for the adventuresome youth, there was the motor cycle, a fearsome invention producing accidents and ear-splitting noises. Already the dignified carriages and smart pony-traps were beginning to disappear from the roads and coachmen and grooms unless mechanically minded, were finding it more difficult to make a living.
  The roads which had gone to sleep since the coming of the railway now awoke to feverish activity. Cars and motor cycles dashed along them at speeds which rivalled those of the express trains and the lorry began to appear. Therefore, the road system was compelled to adapt itself to a volume and speed of traffic for which it had never intended. Its complete adaptation was impossible, but the road surface was easily transformed and during the early years of the century, the dustiness and greasiness of the highways were lessened by tar-spraying. To widen and straighten the roads and get rid of blind corners and every steep gradient were tasks which had scarcely been tackled before 1914. the Situation was worst of all in towns where not only was any large scheme of road widening usually out of the question, but also where crowding and danger were all too frequently increased by the short-sighted eagerness of town authorities in laying down tramlines.
  Yet, it was not only the road system that was in need of readjustment; the nervous system who used and dwelt by the road suffered. The noises caused by the conversion of the roads into speedways called for a corresponding lightening up of the nerves and especially I the towns, the pedestrian who wished to preserve life and limb was compelled to keep his attention continually on the stretch to practise himself in estimates of the speed of approaching vehicles and to run or jump for his life if he ventured off the pavement.


The writer seems to suggest that

A. The roads that existed were dormant
B. Coachmen and grooms were not mechanically minded
C. There were no roads before the advent of cars and motor cycles and so people had to be mechanically minded
D. The volume and speed of traffic on the roads increased with the advent of cars, motorcycles and lorries

Question 152:

• JAMB 2001

  By 1910, the motor car was plainly conquering the highway. The private car was now part of every rich man’s establishment, although its price made it as yet an impossible luxury for most of the middle class. But for the adventuresome youth, there was the motor cycle, a fearsome invention producing accidents and ear-splitting noises. Already the dignified carriages and smart pony-traps were beginning to disappear from the roads and coachmen and grooms unless mechanically minded, were finding it more difficult to make a living.
  The roads which had gone to sleep since the coming of the railway now awoke to feverish activity. Cars and motor cycles dashed along them at speeds which rivalled those of the express trains and the lorry began to appear. Therefore, the road system was compelled to adapt itself to a volume and speed of traffic for which it had never intended. Its complete adaptation was impossible, but the road surface was easily transformed and during the early years of the century, the dustiness and greasiness of the highways were lessened by tar-spraying. To widen and straighten the roads and get rid of blind corners and every steep gradient were tasks which had scarcely been tackled before 1914. the Situation was worst of all in towns where not only was any large scheme of road widening usually out of the question, but also where crowding and danger were all too frequently increased by the short-sighted eagerness of town authorities in laying down tramlines.
  Yet, it was not only the road system that was in need of readjustment; the nervous system who used and dwelt by the road suffered. The noises caused by the conversion of the roads into speedways called for a corresponding lightening up of the nerves and especially I the towns, the pedestrian who wished to preserve life and limb was compelled to keep his attention continually on the stretch to practise himself in estimates of the speed of approaching vehicles and to run or jump for his life if he ventured off the pavement.


The writer uses the expression unless mechanically minded to refers to

A. Coachman and grooms adaptable to the new technology
B. Coachmen and grooms who chose to become mechanics
C. Town authorities laying down tramlines
D. Those amenable to change and development

Question 153:

• JAMB 2001

  By 1910, the motor car was plainly conquering the highway. The private car was now part of every rich man’s establishment, although its price made it as yet an impossible luxury for most of the middle class. But for the adventuresome youth, there was the motor cycle, a fearsome invention producing accidents and ear-splitting noises. Already the dignified carriages and smart pony-traps were beginning to disappear from the roads and coachmen and grooms unless mechanically minded, were finding it more difficult to make a living.
  The roads which had gone to sleep since the coming of the railway now awoke to feverish activity. Cars and motor cycles dashed along them at speeds which rivalled those of the express trains and the lorry began to appear. Therefore, the road system was compelled to adapt itself to a volume and speed of traffic for which it had never intended. Its complete adaptation was impossible, but the road surface was easily transformed and during the early years of the century, the dustiness and greasiness of the highways were lessened by tar-spraying. To widen and straighten the roads and get rid of blind corners and every steep gradient were tasks which had scarcely been tackled before 1914. the Situation was worst of all in towns where not only was any large scheme of road widening usually out of the question, but also where crowding and danger were all too frequently increased by the short-sighted eagerness of town authorities in laying down tramlines.
  Yet, it was not only the road system that was in need of readjustment; the nervous system who used and dwelt by the road suffered. The noises caused by the conversion of the roads into speedways called for a corresponding lightening up of the nerves and especially I the towns, the pedestrian who wished to preserve life and limb was compelled to keep his attention continually on the stretch to practise himself in estimates of the speed of approaching vehicles and to run or jump for his life if he ventured off the pavement.


The statement 'By 1910, the motor car was plainly conquering the highway' means that

A. By 1910many people knew how to drive motor cars
B. The motor car was invented in 1910
C. Highway codes for motor cars came into effect by 1910
D. By 1910 motor cars became common sight on the highways

Question 154:

• JAMB 2001

The passage below has gaps numbered 6 to 15. Immediately following each gap are provided. Choose the most appropriate option for each gap.  Before any detailed analysis begins, the first thing to do with the data is to check through the field record book and questionnaires for any........6......[A. records B. events C. odds D. mistakes], inconsistencies and incompleteness. In some cases, it may be possible to correct any discovered shortcomings. When it is possible to carry out these........7......[A. plans B. possibilities C. corrections D. expectations].
  In most scientific......8.....[A. experiment B. data C. conclusion D. questionnaires] such revisits are clearly impossible. This is true of many surveys too. A road traffic survey.......9......[A. conducted B. experimented C. classified D. precoded] to find out the amount and frequency of daily traffic between two towns cannot be expected to be........10.....[A. reproducible B. undertaken C. observed D. produced]. There is no way of going back to check whether the number of vehicles reported for any particular hour is correct or not. With open-ended questions the......11.....[A. methods B. responses C. errors D. conclusion] have to be classified into relatively small number of groups. The process of classifying answers and of sometimes identifying them by number and letter is called.......12.......[A. recording B. recoding C. encoding D. coding]. When closed-ended questions are used, it is possible to code all the possible answers before they are actually received. This is called........13.....[A. precoding B. coding C. encoding D. recoding]. What is done, a check through the answers for proper classification, numbering and lettering is still called for at this stage. This whole process of checking through questionnaires and notebooks is called......14.....[A. editing B. posting C. listing D. auditing]. Collected data will eventually have to be used in drawing......15.....[A. references B. examples C. conclusions D. analogies] and writing a report about the population from which it came.


In question number 6 above, choose the best option from the letters A-D that best completes the gab.

A. Records
B. Events
C. Odds
D. Mistakes

Question 155:

• JAMB 2001

The passage below has gaps numbered 6 to 15. Immediately following each gap are provided. Choose the most appropriate option for each gap.  Before any detailed analysis begins, the first thing to do with the data is to check through the field record book and questionnaires for any........6......[A. records B. events C. odds D. mistakes], inconsistencies and incompleteness. In some cases, it may be possible to correct any discovered shortcomings. When it is possible to carry out these........7......[A. plans B. possibilities C. corrections D. expectations].
  In most scientific......8.....[A. experiment B. data C. conclusion D. questionnaires] such revisits are clearly impossible. This is true of many surveys too. A road traffic survey.......9......[A. conducted B. experimented C. classified D. precoded] to find out the amount and frequency of daily traffic between two towns cannot be expected to be........10.....[A. reproducible B. undertaken C. observed D. produced]. There is no way of going back to check whether the number of vehicles reported for any particular hour is correct or not. With open-ended questions the......11.....[A. methods B. responses C. errors D. conclusion] have to be classified into relatively small number of groups. The process of classifying answers and of sometimes identifying them by number and letter is called.......12.......[A. recording B. recoding C. encoding D. coding]. When closed-ended questions are used, it is possible to code all the possible answers before they are actually received. This is called........13.....[A. precoding B. coding C. encoding D. recoding]. What is done, a check through the answers for proper classification, numbering and lettering is still called for at this stage. This whole process of checking through questionnaires and notebooks is called......14.....[A. editing B. posting C. listing D. auditing]. Collected data will eventually have to be used in drawing......15.....[A. references B. examples C. conclusions D. analogies] and writing a report about the population from which it came.


In question number 7 above, choose the best option from the letters A-D that best completes the gab.

A. Plans
B. Possibilities
C. Corrections
D. Expectations