Comprehension/Summary - Jamb English Language Past Questions and Answers

Question 256:

• JAMB 1986

  It may be argued that museums as an institution and an agency for transmitting cultural heritage are an artificial creature, so far as objects are removed from their natural or proper environments and put into museums which are a different environment altogether. However, it seems that museums themselves have come to be accepted and recognized as the best equipped institutions devised by man for the assemblage of cultural objects and their presentation and preservation for the present and future generations.
  The artificial character of museums is however being gradually transformed into a cultural reality. Thus, just as one goes to the theatre for plays and other performing arts; the mosque, the church or the shrine for worship; the library for the printed word; today, it is to the museums one goes to see evidence of man’s material outfit. For, no other institution or place so readily comes to mind as museums do when evidence of material culture is sought. Herein lies the importance of museums as cultural institutions and an agency for transmitting culture.


Museums are an artificial creation because

A. They are an agency for transmitting cultural heritage
B. Natural or proper environments are removed and put into museums
C. Objects are removed from museums to natural or proper environments
D. Objects are removed from their natural or proper environments and put into museums

Question 257:

• JAMB 1986

  It may be argued that museums as an institution and an agency for transmitting cultural heritage are an artificial creature, so far as objects are removed from their natural or proper environments and put into museums which are a different environment altogether. However, it seems that museums themselves have come to be accepted and recognized as the best equipped institutions devised by man for the assemblage of cultural objects and their presentation and preservation for the present and future generations.
  The artificial character of museums is however being gradually transformed into a cultural reality. Thus, just as one goes to the theatre for plays and other performing arts; the mosque, the church or the shrine for worship; the library for the printed word; today, it is to the museums one goes to see evidence of man’s material outfit. For, no other institution or place so readily comes to mind as museums do when evidence of material culture is sought. Herein lies the importance of museums as cultural institutions and an agency for transmitting culture.


According to the passage which of the following is NOT part of the main functions of museums?

A. Presevatic
B. Generation
C. Presentation
D. Assemblage

Question 258:

• JAMB 1986

  It may be argued that museums as an institution and an agency for transmitting cultural heritage are an artificial creature, so far as objects are removed from their natural or proper environments and put into museums which are a different environment altogether. However, it seems that museums themselves have come to be accepted and recognized as the best equipped institutions devised by man for the assemblage of cultural objects and their presentation and preservation for the present and future generations.
  The artificial character of museums is however being gradually transformed into a cultural reality. Thus, just as one goes to the theatre for plays and other performing arts; the mosque, the church or the shrine for worship; the library for the printed word; today, it is to the museums one goes to see evidence of man’s material outfit. For, no other institution or place so readily comes to mind as museums do when evidence of material culture is sought. Herein lies the importance of museums as cultural institutions and an agency for transmitting culture.


The evidence of material culture can best be sought in the

A. Theatre and other performing arts
B. Library and the museum
C. Museum only
D. Museum more than any other institution

Question 259:

• JAMB 1986

  It may be argued that museums as an institution and an agency for transmitting cultural heritage are an artificial creature, so far as objects are removed from their natural or proper environments and put into museums which are a different environment altogether. However, it seems that museums themselves have come to be accepted and recognized as the best equipped institutions devised by man for the assemblage of cultural objects and their presentation and preservation for the present and future generations.
  The artificial character of museums is however being gradually transformed into a cultural reality. Thus, just as one goes to the theatre for plays and other performing arts; the mosque, the church or the shrine for worship; the library for the printed word; today, it is to the museums one goes to see evidence of man’s material outfit. For, no other institution or place so readily comes to mind as museums do when evidence of material culture is sought. Herein lies the importance of museums as cultural institutions and an agency for transmitting culture.


Which of the following phrases in the passage does NOT express the artificial character of museums?

A. Removed from
B. For transmitting
C. Put into
D. Devised by

Question 260:

• JAMB 1987

There are one or two things this country can teach others, one of them is the art of writing obituaries. One suspects that the reason why some of our newspapers still manage to break even is because of the great amount of revenue they derive from obituaries. It is not unusual for about one quarter of the volume of an average daily to be constituted of obituaries and in in memorial alone. One possible explanation for this, it has been argued, is that Nigerians value their dead greatly. And there is a saying amongst us that you do not say evil things against the dead. This is obviously the philosophy behind the large dose of encomiums with which our dead are bestowed. From evidences of these obituaries and in memorial, every dead Nigerian must have been something of a saint while alive. This would explain why the death of most Nigerians is attributed to the evil Machinations of the wicked. Only very few people in our country die natural death, and even when they do, the obituaries, etc always give the impression that such deaths constitute the saddest loss to befall the deceased family. And that is why writers of these obituaries and their allied advertisements are experts on ‘mortuary stylistics’. This ‘mortuary stylistics’ the study in the art of eulogizing the dead and making their loss sound so heart breaking, is one of the commodities we can export to other countries.


The tone of this passage is

A. Angry
B. Satirical
C. Non-commital
D. Pleasant