Expositive Comprehension passage - Jamb English Language Past Questions and Answers

Question 221:

• JAMB 2011

Though assumption is the lowest level of knowledge; It is still a form of knowledge, and knowledge is key. Assumptions are the foundation upon which interpretations and conclusion are built. Everything in life operates under certain assumptions.
We make management decisions based on the assumptions we hold about how management ought to function and how people ought to be governed. For others, it is unconsciously but potent all the same. Our assumptions will either drown us or help us soar through life.
We have always seen life as an immense mansion with many rooms. Some roots lead to wealth others to the opposite. Ultimately, we decide where we end up; and life, thus far, has proved that every one of us decides well. We all behave differently where we have different levels of understanding, and behave the same way where our understanding is the same. We eat because we all understand the consequences of not eating. We all wear clothes because each of us comprehends lunacy. The list goes on and on. It is inevitable that some of us will make choices that get and keep us on the lover rung of the ladder by reason of exposure, training or some other variables. Life is about roleplaying. We choose our roles wisely or foolishly, consciously or unconsciously. Some of us get wiser to new levels of self-awareness enough to redefine our roles. Others make no effort to build further capacity and therefore remain where they are.
It is based on these realities that we draw the conclusion that not everyone will be wealthy in life. We lead, inspire and motivate people to strive and succeed. It is also important that we paint the full and true picture of life so that we an discourage vain pursuits. Balance must be enthroned as a critical component of truth, and people know, for instance that ‘top ‘is not a place that all must ascent.
Our greatest consolation lies in our deep conviction that true prosperity is in fulfilment through hard work that in intangible acquisitions. There are set roles that some of us have been wired up to paying life but which we are not content enough to pay because society esteems such roles to be inferior. Take the almost sacred office of a teacher for instance, there are people who have the natural gifts and inclinations to be school teachers. But the teaching profession, as it is, does not appear to be lucrative. So we have people who would have been fulfilled and effective working as school teachers serving in banks.


From the passage, it can be inferred that

A. People insincerely discuss facts that govern their behaviour
B. All managerial decisions are based on assumptions
C. People make conscious efforts to acquire hidden knowledge
D. All things in life exist on some beliefs

Question 222:

• JAMB 2012

Recent literary researches reveal that Nigerians hardly have time to read . In essence, the reading culture in Nigeria is now at a low ebb. It is disturbing, however, that few Nigerians that read concentrate more on foreign books than indigenous productions. Most Nigerian authors of novels,storybooks, fictions and non-fiction series have decried, on different, occasions, their woes. The were bitter at the way most owners of bookshops and publishers treat them. It was gathered to stock foreign books. when contacted by DAILY INDEPENDENT, the general manager of a popular bookstore on Lagos lsland declared that most of the bookshops preferred to stock foreign books because of higher demands for them. The question that bothers most Nigerian authors is , while their overseas counterparts are being rewarded with great international honours, why are Nigerians not according them such recognition in their own country?
Recently, "Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, won the 2007 Orange Prize Award, the literary world's top award for fiction in English written by women. The award carries a prize tag of $30,000 it was reported in Publishers Weekly, Half of a Yellow Sun, the book that earned her the award, was profoundly gripping. According to the reviewer, the book is a transcendent novel of many descriptive triumphs, most notably its diction of the impact of war brutalities on peasants and intellectuals alike. It is searing history in fictional form, intensely evocative and immensely absorbing. Chinua Achebe, 'Father of Modern African Literature, also won the second ever Man Booker International Prize of £60,000 with his first novel Things Fall Apart, published in 1958. When Professor Wole Syinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the fame confirmed the relevance of Nigerians in the world of classical excellence. Ben Okri won the 1991 Booker Prize with his work, The Famished Road, and the world celebrated Nigeria as the giant of Africa.
It was also , gathered that most of the publishers hurriedly produce books and in the process marred their good contents. Most of the books are not properly edited and eventually become substandard when compared with foreign products. The extent to which book publishing standard has fallen in Nigeria alarming. Often Nigerian publishers have been blamed for this. It is instructive that none of the books mentioned had been published in Nigeria. It was discovered that most students in tertiary institution depend on dictations from their lectures and /or handouts. A science lecturer in one of the Nigeria universities, who had been a victim of handout sales scandal, told DAILY INDEPENDENT the reality of campus challenges in relation to books; I was forced to dictate notes slowly to students who hung on my every word in the absence of textbooks in a library that had, to all intent and purpose, stopped buying new books when the local currency was devalued. But what other alternative does one have?
Adapted from DAILY INDEPENDENT, Monday, 20 August, 2007


It can be inferred from the passage that

A. Nigerians have access to foreign books only
B. Nigerian undergraduates do not read text books
C. Nigerians read foreign and indigenous books alike
D. Nigerians read mostly foreign books

Question 223:

• JAMB 2012

It is said that experience is the best teacher, but to learn consciously through wisdom may even be a better and more convenient way. T learn by experience is to learn from mistakes. It means you have burnt our fingers and now your eyes are open'. This is a tough, costly and inconvenient way to learn. Rather than leaving our learning to experience, why do we not learn consciously going out way to acquire knowledge and wisdom rather than leave our learning to chance.
Surely, we can learn from mistakes but why wait till when we make mistakes before we lean? We should give more premium to learning by wisdom than by experience.
This will involve one making up ones mind to be decisive in learning. We must decide to learn consciously and not necessarily from negative experiences. The first step is to realize that life is simply the outcome and outplay of decisions. Our life now is the sum total of our decisions and our future will be determined by our decisions. Our life now is the sum total of our decisions and our future will be determined by our decisions of today. If we decide to learn today we are not likely to make mistakes and when we do not make mistakes, experience need not be our best teacher.
To avoid making experience our best teacher will take more than a decision. We must couple our decision with a complete and -wholehearted devotion. We must be resolved, resolute and resilient in our bid to learn by wisdom and not necessarily by experience. This is crucial because situations and circumstances will want us to make a detour and leave our learning and life to chance. We must therefore be disciplined to remain with our resolve to make a clean break with experience as our best teacher. Disciplined in this regard means learning something new everyday by wisdom rather than rather than experience. It
means consciously getting better by the day in your chosen field. Discipline will demand taking advantage of every learning opportunity that comes our way. It will mean we must pay the price for learning by wisdom -invest in books, magazines, seminars and other means by which we may become wiser.
It is much easier and cheaper to learn consciously by wisdom than to learn by experience. When we learn by experience , the deed is done and we are just picking up the pieces-learning in regret how to avoid such predicament next time. Consider the child who grapes a burning coal, he has learned the hard way through the painful experience, but his fingers will remain burnt. Thus the saying, that experience is the best teacher, may not be justifiable after all.
Adapted from Sunday Tribune , July 2007


It can be deduced from the passage that

A. All experiences are best teachers
B. Learning through pains is better
C. Experience is superior to wisdom
D. Wise thoughts are more desirable than experience

Question 224:

• JAMB 2012

It is said that experience is the best teacher, but to learn consciously through wisdom may even be a better and more convenient way. T learn by experience is to learn from mistakes. It means you have burnt our fingers and now your eyes are open'. This is a tough, costly and inconvenient way to learn. Rather than leaving our learning to experience, why do we not learn consciously going out way to acquire knowledge and wisdom rather than leave our learning to chance.
Surely, we can learn from mistakes but why wait till when we make mistakes before we lean? We should give more premium to learning by wisdom than by experience.
This will involve one making up ones mind to be decisive in learning. We must decide to learn consciously and not necessarily from negative experiences. The first step is to realize that life is simply the outcome and outplay of decisions. Our life now is the sum total of our decisions and our future will be determined by our decisions. Our life now is the sum total of our decisions and our future will be determined by our decisions of today. If we decide to learn today we are not likely to make mistakes and when we do not make mistakes, experience need not be our best teacher.
To avoid making experience our best teacher will take more than a decision. We must couple our decision with a complete and -wholehearted devotion. We must be resolved, resolute and resilient in our bid to learn by wisdom and not necessarily by experience. This is crucial because situations and circumstances will want us to make a detour and leave our learning and life to chance. We must therefore be disciplined to remain with our resolve to make a clean break with experience as our best teacher. Disciplined in this regard means learning something new everyday by wisdom rather than rather than experience. It
means consciously getting better by the day in your chosen field. Discipline will demand taking advantage of every learning opportunity that comes our way. It will mean we must pay the price for learning by wisdom -invest in books, magazines, seminars and other means by which we may become wiser.
It is much easier and cheaper to learn consciously by wisdom than to learn by experience. When we learn by experience , the deed is done and we are just picking up the pieces-learning in regret how to avoid such predicament next time. Consider the child who grapes a burning coal, he has learned the hard way through the painful experience, but his fingers will remain burnt. Thus the saying, that experience is the best teacher, may not be justifiable after all.
Adapted from Sunday Tribune , July 2007


It can be deduced from the passage that

A. All experiences are best teachers
B. Learning through pains is better
C. Experience is superior to wisdom
D. Wise thoughts are more desirable than experience

Question 225:

• JAMB 2012

It is said that experience is the best teacher, but to learn consciously through wisdom may even be a better and more convenient way. T learn by experience is to learn from mistakes. It means you have burnt our fingers and now your eyes are open'. This is a tough, costly and inconvenient way to learn. Rather than leaving our learning to experience, why do we not learn consciously going out way to acquire knowledge and wisdom rather than leave our learning to chance.
Surely, we can learn from mistakes but why wait till when we make mistakes before we lean? We should give more premium to learning by wisdom than by experience.
This will involve one making up ones mind to be decisive in learning. We must decide to learn consciously and not necessarily from negative experiences. The first step is to realize that life is simply the outcome and outplay of decisions. Our life now is the sum total of our decisions and our future will be determined by our decisions. Our life now is the sum total of our decisions and our future will be determined by our decisions of today. If we decide to learn today we are not likely to make mistakes and when we do not make mistakes, experience need not be our best teacher.
To avoid making experience our best teacher will take more than a decision. We must couple our decision with a complete and -wholehearted devotion. We must be resolved, resolute and resilient in our bid to learn by wisdom and not necessarily by experience. This is crucial because situations and circumstances will want us to make a detour and leave our learning and life to chance. We must therefore be disciplined to remain with our resolve to make a clean break with experience as our best teacher. Disciplined in this regard means learning something new everyday by wisdom rather than rather than experience. It
means consciously getting better by the day in your chosen field. Discipline will demand taking advantage of every learning opportunity that comes our way. It will mean we must pay the price for learning by wisdom -invest in books, magazines, seminars and other means by which we may become wiser.
It is much easier and cheaper to learn consciously by wisdom than to learn by experience. When we learn by experience , the deed is done and we are just picking up the pieces-learning in regret how to avoid such predicament next time. Consider the child who grapes a burning coal, he has learned the hard way through the painful experience, but his fingers will remain burnt. Thus the saying, that experience is the best teacher, may not be justifiable after all.
Adapted from Sunday Tribune , July 2007


Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A. Man must make mistakes in order to survive.
B. The totality of our actions should be decided by our judgement.
C. If we do not make mistakes, experience must be our teacher
D. Our future would be judged by our past mistakes