ENGLISH LANGUAGE

SECTION A
JSS 1

SECTION A

Underline all the adjectives in the sentence below. The number in front of the sentence indicates the number of
adjectives in the sentence.

1. The most intelligent student in the class received an honorary award from the school principal. (2)

2. We saw a beautiful, bright light. (2)

3. The tall, beautiful girl brought an empty basket. (3)

4. The spotted dog ran to greet the little boy. (2)

5. The black cat has white whiskers. (2)

Write a composition on any of the following topics

(a) An Interesting trip

(b) An accident I witnessed

(c) My new school

SECTION B

Give 5 examples each of a transitive and Intransitive verb

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

SECTION A JSS 2
Give 5 examples of a past perfect tense
Example: They had finished the work before he came (Past perfect)

SECTION C

Write a paragraph on any of three topics

(a) My last birthday celebration

(b) An accident that I witnessed

(c) My last trip to an International airport

What is a transitive verb?

Give 5 examples of a transitive verb

J SS 3 ENGLISH LANGUAGE
From my experience, I have come to believe that there is nothing one cannot achieve if there is the will to do
it. I had thought I would never go to college in my life. For one thing my parents were poor; for another I
didn't seem to be getting on very well with my lessons. Our teachers were neither regular nor punctual, and
when they came to classes, they preferred to call us names, me in particular. I became indifferent or rather
hostile. Consequently, I absented myself from school at will; and when I reported, it was only to cause
trouble. My parents, though poor were eager that I should be well educated. They became unhappy at what I
was becoming: a candidate for a remand home.

The third term of the school year started with a new set of teachers. Having observed me for some
weeks, the new head teacher called me. He said I was underrating my ability that I could do better if
only I made up my mind to do it. That was the turning point. Fortunately, the new teachers became
regular in their lessons and taught them very well. At the end of the year, I was among the ten pupils in
our year who gained admission to various colleges.

1. Why did he think he wouldn't go to college?

A. He had not sat for any entrance examinations.
B. His parents said he shouldn't' go.
C. He didn't want to go.
D. His parents were poor and he didn't learn his lessons.
E. His teachers did not like his name.

2. The writer said he became indifferent. How did he show this? A. He did not attend his classes
regularly.
B. He beat up his teachers.
C. He became disobedient at home.
D. He was not happy.
E. He quarreled with his parents.

3. A remand home is
A. an institution for young offenders.
B. the college the writer wanted to go to.
C. a home for the deaf and dumb.
D. a police station.
E. where the new set of teachers came from.

4. Having observed me...' Who observed the writer? A. The writer himself.
B. The writer's parents.
C. His fellow pupils in the school.
D. The new head teacher.
E. All the new teachers.

5. Why do you think the writer gained admission to a college? A. He took his head teacher's advice and
worked hard.
 B. The head teacher recommended him to a college.
C. The college wanted him at all costs.
D. His parents wanted him to go.
E. The college was very near the remand home.

6. One may say that the first set of teachers were bad because they A. flogged the pupils anyhow.
B. always asked the pupils to work in their farms
C. Were neither regular nor punctual.
D. often quarreled with the head teacher.
E. often abused parents.

7. Why were the writer's parents unhappy?

A. Their son refused to learn and was always making trouble.
B. The head teacher wanted to expel the boy from the school.
C. Their son was an enemy to all the pupils.
D. They had no other children to send to school.
E. None of the above.

8. The lessons we can learn from the above passage is that parents always ask too much of their
children.
A. one can learn without good teachers.
B. it’s good to make trouble at school.
C. there is nothing one cannot achieve if there is the will to do it.
D. a remand home is good for all children.

9. Which of the following best describes the new set of teachers? A. Dull in appearance.
B. Regular and punctual.
C. Always talking too much.
D. Always absent from school.
E. Always calling the pupils names.

10. Which of the following is correct?

A.The writer was in a remand home for one year. B. The
new head teacher was very unkind
C. The writer's parents were poor.
D. At the end of the year, five pupils gained admission to colleges.
E. The writer knew he would go to college during his first month at school.

SECTION B
1. Give three examples each of an adverb (of manner, frequency, time, and place)
2. Give 5 examples of an adjective and use them to form five complete sentences
3. Write a letter to the principal of your school, seeking permission to be absent from school, and give
three reasons why?
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
SS1 TEST QUESTION
Give the grammatical names and function in the following expression
1. The formal president of the United States, Barrack Obama writes one of the best speech ever
2. He was asked to submit his assignment to the class captain
3. She shouted loudly when the armed robbers barge into his house through the window
4. She was given a brand new blue car
5. She was told not to speak until the arrival of her lawyer

SECTION B
Write a paragraph that illustrates the saying(Not more than 150 words) on the topic “All that glitters are not
gold”
 ENGLISH LANGUAGE
SS2
SECTION B: COMPREHENSION
1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.

When Eze was invited to spend his Easter holidays with Uncle Chike in Lagos, he jumped for joy! He had
always pictured Lagos as a wonder land of bright lights, paved roads, elegant people riding by in their
expensive cars and beautiful residential quarters. This invitation was the wonderful opportunity for him to
leave his small village for the first time and experience first-hand the good life of the city that he had
imagined so much about!

The fateful day came and Eze, happy as a lark, bid an excited good-bye to his family. The first leg of his
trip started modestly in the back of the rickety lorry that plied the dirt road linking to his village to the rest
of the world, but Eze was sure that he would later ride triumphantly into Lagos on one of those legendary
luxury buses that he admired so much. This was also an experience to look forward to!

When he arrived in Lagos, it was almost dark, the first things that struck him as he alighted from the bus
were the teeming crowd with their desperate unsmiling faces, the deafening noise of the ceaseless traffic,
the polluted air with its acid smell of exhaust fumes and decay, the endless rows of dirty and crumbling
concrete buildings, and the filth everywhere. What a sharp contrast with the city he had built up in his
imagination! But surely there must still be much to look forward to. Back in the village, Uncle Chike was
regarded as a well-to-do trader. So Eze was further surprised and disappointed to find that he lived in a
single room in a sleezy part of the city. At night, it got hot and stuffy, but they dared not open the windows
as this would bring an invasion of mosquitoes.

Eze woke up the next morning feeling clammy, but he could still not have a bath. As his uncle took him to
a shack across the street for a hurried breakfast of thin tea and mouldy bread, explained that they usually
bought water from a mobile tanker that had not come around for some time. Eze was still recovering from
his surprise at this information when they rushed off for his uncle’s market stall, and he had his first
unpleasant ride in one of the notorious molue buses of the city.

As they struggled down from the bus, shoving against the solid mass of desperate, bad-tempered
commuters, Eze thought of his village, and the city suddenly lost whatever was left of its attraction for
him. Ture, the village was small, life there was monotonous, and it lacked some essential amenities. But it
was peaceful; you drank clean water and ate what you wanted fresh; you moved about freely and breathed
clean air; and everyone was friendly and helpful. Greatly disillusioned with the city, Eze longed to return
to his beloved village.
(a) State two experiences that Eze looked forward to
(b) Mention any two features of the city that Eze noticed at once
(c) What two discoveries surprised and disappointed Eze when he arrived in the city?
(d) Mention any two experiences in the city that Eze found unpleasant
(e) What conclusion did Eze draw from his experiences in the city?
(f) “…happy as a lark…” what figure of speck is contained in this expression?
(g) When he arrived in Lagos,… (i) what grammatical name is given to this expression as it is used in the
passage? (ii) what is its function?
(h) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase which means the same and which can replace it
as it is used in the passage (i) pictured (ii) stuffy (iii) invasion (iv) hurried (v) attraction (vi) monotonous.
 SECTION C: SUMMARY
2. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
People are usually unwilling to make changes in their lives after being accustomed to a certain style of
life. However, this can cause a lot of problems, as changing circumstances often make a change in
lifestyle inevitable. Take for example, people who leave their country and go abroad for various
reasons. Such people will inevitably face many challenges. First, they have to adapt to a new culture and
habits thar are completely different from what they were used to in their own country. They will also
have to adapt to the weather and may need to learn a new language, or now, communicate regularly in a
language other than their mother tongue, which they used more frequently before their relocation.

Again, at some point in their lives, some people may have cause to change their career. The reasons for
this may be varied and need not concern us here. But career changes inevitable necessitate the
acquisition of a different set of skills and experience in the new job, a new routine and adaptation to
new friends and colleagues at work. In the face of economic recession and related circumstances, people
may lose their jobs as the organisations they work for try to adjust to the adverse situation by
retrenching many of their workers. (Terms such as “down-sizing” and “restructuring” are the modern-
day euphemisms for this phenomenon!) A worker who suddenly loses his or her job obviously has to
adjust to a new lifestyle-at least until a new job comes along.

Closely related to job loss is retirement. Many people carry on at their jobs as if they will remain at such
jobs forever. But retirement is inevitable not only for the paid worker but also the self-employed.
Retirement in most cases means a change from one active working life to more sedentary lifestyle. It
often requires giving up official property such as accommodation and vehicles and the replacement of a
regular salary with a modest pension, which may not be regular. Because of these, the prospect of
retirement is often viewed with apprehension by many, as they are not prepared for it.

Outside the work domain, other changes inevitably continue to take place. For example, at some point
in their lives, young men and women come together and get married and start their own families. The
transition from bachelorhood or spinsterhood of course means adaptation to a spouse, raising children,
and discarding many of the habits, often reckless and impulsive of unmarried life.

Finally, as painful and undesirable as it is, death is inevitable. The untimely loss of a loved one-a wife, a
husband, a parent-often turns people’s lives upside down, and necessitates a drastic change in lifestyle.
Many people never anticipate such a loss, as if unfortunately it does occur, it can be quite devastating.
In conclusion, people have to be ready for any changes that may occur in their lives, as change is
inevitable and there is not guarantee for anyone that life will be stable forever.

(a) In six sentences, one for each, summarize the six factors that can cause a change in lifestyle as discussed
in the passage.
 ENGLISH LANGUAGE
SS3

1. COMPREHENSION
Read the passage below carefully and answer the questions on it.
“Water Meandering”! The mention of this topic usually takes me retrospectively to my secondary
school days. It also reminds me of our geography class. We were a set of three streams: A, B and C,
and I see myself in our class with my classmates well seated. The subject we never liked was
geography. This was quite surprising to our Guidance Counsellor who worked hard to ensure that
most of us offered geography up to the School Certificate Level. Not only our Guidance Counsellor,
our school Principal was also surprised at our attitude towards geography. He had always
encouraged us to choose geography as one of our subjects for the Senior School Certificate
Examination (SSCE). He once boasted: “In the near future, I shall travel by air with one of you
seated as my pilot”. We had received this encouragement with thunderous ovation, but our old
geography teacher became the spoiler.
Our old geography teacher killed in us the zeal of becoming future pilots, or, would I say, he
destroyed our urge of becoming useful citizens of our fatherland.
When this teacher left and Mr. Udenkwo was posted to our school to handle geography, we realized
that “Water Meandering” was not the topic in geography. In fact. We discovered that “Water
Meandering” was not even a topic on its own. But before this time, the only topic we knew in
geography but which we could not really explain, was “Water Meandering”.
Also, with the coming of Mr. Udenkwo, as young boys and girls, we began to ask questions about
the competence of our old geography teacher. From these questions, we realized that our old
geography teacher was not a subject specialist after all. We realized too that this teacher only had
the Teacher’s Grade II Certificate. Whether he studied geography at the Teacher’s Training College
(TTC) or not, was another thing we could not uncover. On the other hand, we discovered that Mr.
Udenkwo had a bachelor’s degree in geography.
But before Mr. Udenkwo was posted to our school, much harm had already been done. So, all his
efforts to bring us back to the subject proved abortive. Only one of us heeded his entreaties. To
demonstrate his ingenuity in the subject, Mr. Udenkwo took his only ‘apostle’ from the scratch.
When we finally took the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), surprisingly, this student
made a distinction in geography. Today, this same student is a professor of geography.
Our story is typical of what obtains in most secondary schools in Nigeria; many teachers are made
to handle subjects they do not major in, thereby “killing” the morale of their students. This practice
should be discouraged by school administrators. Therefore, subject specialists should be made to
handle their areas of specialty, especially at the School Certificate Level.
(a) According to the passage, why did the students hate geography?
(b) Why was the school Guidance Counsellor astonished at the behavior of the students?
(c) What did the students receive with thunderous ovation?
(d) What is ironic about the principal’s statement?
(e) “…who had worked hard…” (i) What grammatical name is given to this expression? (ii) What
is its function in the sentence?
(f) Why were the students compelled to investigate the old geography teacher?
(g) How, according to the writing, could students’ performance be enhanced in subject areas?
(h) Find one word or phrase which is nearest in meaning to and can at the same time replace each
of the following words as used in the passage.
(i) retrospectively
(ii) thunderous
(iii)zeal
(iv) specialist
 (v) entreaties
(vi) scratch

SECTION C
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
When fire is under control, it is a useful servant. But when it rages uncontrolled, it can be a
destructive giant that consumes everything in its path. Man, beast and vegetation.
In 1983, a bush fire in Australia devastated the states of South Australia and Victoria. Over 70
persons were killed along with destruction of 36,000 cattle, 320,000 sheep, and over 2,000
homes.
In the same year, bush fires in Ghana resulted in the devastation of 72 percent of the country’s
92,100 square miles. At least 29 persons died and 34 others were injured. Similar bush fires were
reported in other parts of the world.
A small proportion of bush fires is the result of natural processes, such as lightning. Most are
man-made. In Ghana, the number one cause of bush fires is palm-wine tapping. Tappers light
bundles of sticks to heat up palm trees, allowing the palm sap to flow. Often though, the fire
accidentally spreads and a bush fire results
In some African lands, it is common for a group of hunters to surround a thicket and set it on
fire to flush out game that may be in it. Those hunting for wild bee honey use fire to drive bees
away from their hives. At times they make no effort to put out the fires they started. In tropical
Africa many farmers use the slash and burn method of farming. They cut down the bush in an
area they intend to farm and burn the debris. If not controlled, the fire can spread quickly. In
some areas, herdsmen burn the dry grass in the belief that with the coming of the rains, the land
will be rejuvenated, and there will be better pasture for their animals. When those fires are left to
burn themselves out as is often the case, they can easily spread. Campers are likewise guilty at
times of starting conflagrations by falling to put out campfires. Clearly, then, negligence is the
cause of most bush fires.
Some believe that the government, in its part, should impose tough penalties on perpetrators to
deter carelessness. Others argue that the best way to prevent bush fires is for the government to
educate the people on the dangers of fire. We should treat fire with respect. By exercising
reasonable care, we can avoid provoking this useful servant into becoming a destructive giant.
QUESTIONS
(a) In four sentences, one for each, summarize any four ways in which man is responsible for fire
outbreaks
(b) In two sentences, one for each, summarize what (i) the individual and (ii) the government should do
to prevent the spread of fires