Waec Literature in English Past Questions and Answers

Question 836:

• WAEC 2011

UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY
Read the passage and answer the question
Each profession, intellectual or manual, deserves consideration, whether it requires painful physical effort or manual dexterity, wide knowledge or the patience of an ant. Ours, like that of the doctor, does not allow for any mistake. You don't joke with life, and life is both body and mind. To warp a soul is as much a sacrilege as murder. Teachers _ at kindergarten level, as at university level _ form a noble army accomplishing daily feats, never praised, never decorated. An army forever on the move, forever vigilant: an army without drums, without gleaming uniforms. This army, thwarting traps and snares, everywhere plants the flag of knowledge and morality.
The dominant image in the passage is that of

A. Soldiery
B. Medicine
C. Religion
D. Education

Question 837:

• WAEC 2011

UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY
Read the passage and answer the question
Each profession, intellectual or manual, deserves consideration, whether it requires painful physical effort or manual dexterity, wide knowledge or the patience of an ant. Ours, like that of the doctor, does not allow for any mistake. You don't joke with life, and life is both body and mind. To warp a soul is as much a sacrilege as murder. Teachers _ at kindergarten level, as at university level _ form a noble army accomplishing daily feats, never praised, never decorated. An army forever on the move, forever vigilant: an army without drums, without gleaming uniforms. This army, thwarting traps and snares, everywhere plants the flag of knowledge and morality.
The underlined illustrates

A. Antithesis
B. Allusion
C. Parallelism
D. Parody

Question 838:

• WAEC 2011

UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY
Read the passage and answer the question
Each profession, intellectual or manual, deserves consideration, whether it requires painful physical effort or manual dexterity, wide knowledge or the patience of an ant. Ours, like that of the doctor, does not allow for any mistake. You don't joke with life, and life is both body and mind. To warp a soul is as much a sacrilege as murder. Teachers _ at kindergarten level, as at university level _ form a noble army accomplishing daily feats, never praised, never decorated. An army forever on the move, forever vigilant: an army without drums, without gleaming uniforms. This army, thwarting traps and snares, everywhere plants the flag of knowledge and morality.
''The flag of knowledge and morality'' illustrates

A. Euphemism
B. Litotes
C. Metaphor
D. Metonymy

Question 839:

• WAEC 2011

Read the poem and answer the question
Here stood our ancestral homeThe crumbling wall marks the spot
Here a sheep was led to the slaughter
To appease the goods and atone
For fauilts which our destiny
Has blossomed into crimes
There my cursed father once stood
And shouted to us, his children
To come back from our play
To our evening meal and sleep.
The mood of the poem is

A. Hopeful
B. Joyful
C. Nostalgic
D. Exciting

Question 840:

• WAEC 2011

Read the poem and answer the question
Here stood our ancestral homeThe crumbling wall marks the spot
Here a sheep was led to the slaughter
To appease the goods and atone
For fauilts which our destiny
Has blossomed into crimes
There my cursed father once stood
And shouted to us, his children
To come back from our play
To our evening meal and sleep.
The sheep was led to the slaughter

A. To prepare their evening meal
B. Because it was a troublesome sheep
C. Because their father was a butcher
D. As a sacrifice to their gods