Waec English language Past Questions and Answers

Question 846:

• WAEC 1995

Tell a story which ends with the words: .....and I have had to live with this stigma for the rest of my life.

Question 847:

• WAEC 1995

Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions on it.
The death last month of Chief Dende has opened my eyes. Throughout his life, we were very close friends. We grew up together, attended the same primary and secondary schools, and joined the civil service the same day. Although we benefited from different in-service training programmes and at different times during our respective careers, we were never too distant from each other And we were installed chiefs the same day. Above all, his wife, Adanma, and minehave been good friends over the years.
All these years, I believed that my friend kept no secret from me. I could, and did occasionally, defend his integrity. Anywhere people discussed him in my hearing, I was ready to take up his case vehemently. Predictably, people stopped discussing him any time I was around. I had assumed, erroneously as it turned out, that people had stopped discussing him because they were sufficiently educated and sincerely convinced about his integrity. Happenings . have since shattered that assumption:
The first shock came the day after his death. The major national newspapers carried his obituary, as advertised by 'his wife Ngozi Dende, and her three children.' If the timing of the advertisement, a day after the event was strange, particularly more puzzling was the advertiser. All my life, I had known only Adanma as his wife and her five children. Besides, the names of 'his' three children in the advertisement were entirely different from those of his five children by Adanma.
Before I recovered from the first shock, the next bombshell fell. Members of the Apata Fraternity, a most dreaded secret cult, which Dende and I had despised while he lived, announced in the dailies that they had the exclusive right to bury their 'departed colleague'. The announcement warned all uninitiated persons to keep off In their own interest'. And so it was that members of the fraternity, supporting their claim with a hand-written will by Dende, collected his body from the hospital, performed the last rites on him and buried him in their sacred grove.
I have learnt, and I am still learning. I have reached the unpleasant conclusion that his critics were most probably right after all.
(a) Why was the writer always defending Chief Dende?
(b) Why was the writer puzzled about the advertisement by Ngozi Dende?
(c) Why was he also surprised about the advertisement by the Apata Fratenity?
(d) What lesson can we learn from this passage?
(e) the next bombshell fell. (i) What figure of speech is the above expression? (ii) What is its meaning?
(f) ......that his critics were most probably right after all (i) What grammatical name is given to the above expression?
(ii) What is its function in the sentence?
(g) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as used in the passage.
(i) careers; (ii) integrity; (iii) vehemently, (iv) erroneously; (v) shattered; (vi) exclusive.

Question 848:

• WAEC 1995

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

Years after he had left home for the capital, first as a student and later as a struggling businessman, Oliha returned to his village, having been informed of his father's failing health. He was amazed that not much had changed since he left as a youth. Every experience shocked him: the coloured water with a strong taste: the eye-sore of a dung-hill on which everyone excreted; the absence of electricity and so on. As he went to bed late in the evening, after a meeting with his younger brothers,on how he would pay his own share of their father's medical expenses, he prayed for the early arrival of the morning. He decided to leave early and put the trying experience behind him.
But morning brought him the greatest shock of his life. Informed by his niece that there was a bucket of water for him in the bath, he hurried down there, half-dressed, holding a towel. The bathroom. located by the side of the building, was an improvised rectangular enclosure made of palm fronds. Hissing to himself. he went in and used his clothes and large towel to cover some openings in the enclosure. He started bathing. Then it happened. With every inch of his body thoroughly covered with soap lather, hardly able to open his eyes, he heard someone removing his clothes and towel. With the corner of his half-opened eyes, he saw a man making away with the clothes and towel. Hardly giving the matter thought, naked except for the covering of soap lather. he ran out and gave the thief a hot chase.
As he ran after the thief. he heard everyone shouting. The lunatic has broken loose again! But as soon as the people saw him,, everyone shouted. 'Ah. another mad man has broken loose!' Men. women children all ran away, seeking refuge in their homes. slamming their doors. By the time he realized what was happening daring men were after him. Just as Oliha was about to beat a retreat, he was held by strong muscular men who overpowered him and carried him to the quarters of the village's foremost occult healer who alone knew how to cure lunatics.
(a) Why did Oliha return to the village?
(b) Mention two basic facilities lacking in the village.
(c) What was the subject of the meeting which Oliha held with his younger brothers?
(d) Why was it possible for the thief to remove the clothes without Oliha stopping him?
(e)(i) Why was Oliha taken to the occult healer rather than to his father's home?
(ii) What is the irony of the entire event in the passage?
(f) ... who alone knew how to cure lunatics. (i) What is the grammatical name given to the above expression?
(ii) What is its function in the sentence?
(g) the early arrival of morning. (i) What figure of speech is the above expression? (ii) Why do you consider it so?
(h) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as used in the passage.
(i) shocked: (ii) trying; (iii) thoroughly; (iv) refuge; (v) foremost.

Question 849:

• WAEC 1997

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.
The minister was accused of making utterances that could increase rather than...........anxiety among the citizen

A. Modify
B. Diminish
C. Intensify
D. Remove
E. Inculcate

Question 850:

• WAEC 1997

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.
The minister was accused of making utterances that could increase rather than...........anxiety among the citizen

A. Modify
B. Diminish
C. Intensify
D. Remove
E. Inculcate