ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE

GRADE 8

TERM 4

OCT/NOV 2021 TIME: 2 HOURS

EXAMINER: F O ODAME MODERATOR: E THLOLOE

TOTAL: 60 MARKS

Instructions

Answer ALL questions.

 Start each section on a new page.
 Leave a line between each answer.
 Write clearly and neatly.
 Ensure that your name and your teacher’s are at the top of every page.
 All answers must be in full sentences, and must be in your own words as
far as possible.
 Number your answers correctly according to the numbering of the
questions.

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Question One: Comprehension (20 marks)

IT’S MUM AND DAD WHO DESERVE THE PRIZE

1. One of the more fiendish tortures to which parents are annually obliged 1
to subject themselves is the school Speech Day. We received our invitation
the other afternoon. ‘It’s Speech Day next week Thursday’ one of our daughters
said, ‘and you’d better come because I think I’m going to get a prize.’

2. My wife watched as I flinched. My eyes rolled back in my head. I quietly started 5

gibbering in the corner. ‘Take no notice of your father,’ she said, ‘he’d love
to go. As a matter of fact, all the years since you children started going to school,
the one function he looks forward to more than anything else is Speech Day.’

3. The thing that depresses me most about Speech Day is the way nothing
ever changes. It’s still the same wretched ordeal it was 30 years ago, when I 10
was a kid. Regular readers will know that I am a man of reasonable enthusiasm,
ready to respond to most of life’s calls. But during a generation in which we’ve
seen the advent of colour television, the landing on the moon, the invention
of the Glad Bag and Bert Newton’s blossoming from a sallow youth to a
middle-aged bloke with a hair transplant, nothing about school Speech Day 15
has ever progressed.

4. The headmaster will come out, welcome all the dreary guests, parents
and children, then proceed to deliver the annual report, followed by a lecture on
what he believes is some vital social issue. When I say headmaster,
by and large the same applies to headmistresses too. Typical subjects include, 20
the need for greater discipline in today’s changing society, education as it
has evolved over the last 20 years, whatever happened to the family unit,
the need to pull together 20 as a team, you only get back from life what you
put into in, and ‘ Television- Friend or Foe.’ Realising that this is the one day
of the year on which he has a captive audience over the age of 12, the 25
headmaster seizes upon the opportunity to hammer you with his personal
philosophy on life for at least a mind-bending 20 minutes.

2
5. It’s always stifling in the auditorium. On the evening before school Speech Day,
the cleaner is instructed to securely bar all the windows so that we can
suffocate in the early December heat…. 30

6. Honoured guest for the show is usually the local MP, who takes the
opportunity to blow his bags about what his government is doing for education.
There is then a musical interlude in which the choir sings a composition
from medieval times about milkmaids frolicking in the fields on a warm
summer’s day. Only once in my life can I recall ever going to a 35
Speech Day where a contemporary piece of music was performed.
children sang a Bob Dylan song. They did it superbly. I’m sure the teacher
was sacked. Whatever happened, I haven’t heard anything fresher
than nineteenth century since.

7. With guests fanning themselves with their programmes and gasping for breath, 40
one by one, year by year, the various prize-winners are called up to receive
their awards. These are usually book tokens which can only be used to buy
books from a warehouse that’s closing down on the other side of town.

8. The sportsmaster, Jim Jockstrap, delivers his report and declares that despite
the fact that the school got rolled again in the annual athletic championship and 45
that two runners in the mile still haven’t finished, everyone tried hard and we
should do better next year. The head of the Parents and Citizens Association
delivers her report and publicly castigates the parents who mistakenly
believed that by sending their children to a public school, the government
was going to look after them. Parents who don’t attend P and C meetings are 50
painted as little better than child bashers whose children would be better
off living on a diet of gruel in the workhouse.

9. The school captain, Tess Trueheart, thanks everyone for coming and hands
over to next year’s School Captain, who promises to do her best to uphold
the example Tess has set her. By this time, women in the audience are on 55
the brink of passing out, and the little boy in front of you is demonstrating
that he clearly suffers from some form of severe intestinal disorder.

3
 10. The choir bursts into a madrigal about a young man who once went
a-wooing, before closing with the school song and national anthem.
No-one joins in because no-one knows the words. The doors are thrown 60
open, and as the crowd spills-and-staggers out into the fresh air, gushing
mums whose Sarahs, Dorothys, and Waynes won prizes declare it was
the best Speech Day the school ever had.
From The Best of Mike Gibson by MIKE GIBSON.

1.1 “fiendish” in line 1 means : (1)

A: Brutal
B: Unkind
C: Devilish
D: Severe
1.2 What behaviour on the part of the writer indicates that he is not looking forward to another
Speech Day? Mention two things. (1)
1.3 What, according to the text, happens on Speech Day? Mention two things. (2)
1.4 What single aspect of Speech Day depresses the writer most? (1)
1.5 What does the speaker mean when he says he is a man of reasonable enthusiasm (line
11)? (1)
1.6 What point is the speaker making in paragraph 4? (2)
1.7 What does “dreary guests” (line 17) suggest about the way the audience is feeling? (1)
1.8 The writer mentions a number of social issues facing the people at the time. Provide an
example of a current social issue facing South Africans. (1)
1.9 What does “stifling” (line 28) tell us about the weather on Speech Day? (1)
“….. the local MP, who takes the opportunity to blow his bags about what his government is
doing for education.”
1.10 What does the writer mean by the underlined expression above? (1)
1.11 What does the name “Jim Jockstrap” imply about sportsmasters in general? (2)
1.12 What is the name “Tess Trueheart” intended to convey about school captains? (2)
1.13 Identify the part of speech in”spills-and-staggers “(line 61). (1)
1.14 How do we know that this article was written a long time ago? Quote to support your
answer. (2)
[20]

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Question Two: Visual Literacy (10 Marks)
TEXT A

2.1 What message is Ray-Ban trying to communicate in this advert? (1)

2.2 What have they done so that the reader’s attention is drawn to the slogan
“NEVER HIDE”? Mention three things. (3)
2.3 How is the man in the white frame different from the man on the right? (2)

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TEXT B

2.4 Who is the man who opening the door labelled 1990 in cartoon B? (1)
2.5 What point is the cartoonist making about the ‘New South Africa’? Explain in detail.
(2)
2.6 The type of humour in cartoon B is?
A: Tongue in check
B: Irony
C: Satire
D: Pun (1)
[10]

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Question Three: Summary (10 Marks)

Read the article below and answer the question that follows.

Training

A youngster wishing to become a jockey must apply to the Jockey Club of South Africa.
Applicants are examined and if successful at the final interview, they are sent to the Jockey
Academy at Shongweni.

All apprentice jockeys sign training contracts, binding them for five years. For that period they
are away from home and usually spend the first two years at the Academy and the following
three years at Apprentice hostels in Johannesburg or Cape Town.

The Academy caters for up to 40 apprentice jockeys at a time. Whilst these boys are being
taught this profession, they receive compulsory academic education up to Grade 10, and in the
case of those capable, up to matriculation standard.

Because riding racehorses is one of the most demanding sports in the world and requires
courage and intelligence, the training at the Academy is designed to produce these qualities in
jockeys of the future. On the other hand, it is one of the few educational institutions where
students can earn while they learn, and when they complete their training, they often graduate

7
with considerable savings. They generally qualify at the age of 20. The boys now embark on a
career through which they can earn a very substantial income.

The Academy is run on the lines of a private boarding school. Apart from the comprehensive
education given, the strictest attention is paid to instilling good manners, good speech, tasteful
dressing and a rigid sense of honesty and loyalty. The aim is not only to turn out good jockeys,
but gentlemen as well.

3.1 List 7 advantages available to young men attending the Jockey Academy.

Instructions
 Your summary must be in numbered sentences one below the other.
 Provide a title for your summary.
 Write a maximum of 50 words.
 Write only one fact per sentence.
 Use full sentences.
 Use your own words as far as possible.
 Do not use abbreviations.
 Write the total number of words used at the end of the summary
[10]

Question Four: Language Structure - Editing

Read the following paragraph and answer the questions that follow.

Were not clowning around. The circus is 1

Coming to town. Ring-A-Ding Brothers 2
Circus will be in San Diego on October 15. 3
Exiting acts include Lion tamers trapeze artists 4
Clowns and fire breathers. Tickets cost R30… 5
Don’t miss out on the fun. Buy your tickets today. 6

4.1 Correct the mistake in line 1. (1)

4.2 What part of speech is “clowning” in line 1. (1)
4.3 What punctuation error has been made in line 4? (1)
4.4 Correct the spelling mistake in Line 4. (1)
4.5 Why has ellipsis been used in line 5? (1)
4.6 Why has the apostrophe in line 6 been used? (1)
[6]
5. 1 Active and passive voice
Rewrite the following in active or passive voice

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5.1.1 Many people like penguins. (1)
5.1.2 By whom was the cupboard opened? (1)
[2]
5.2 Tautology and Redundancy
Rewrite the following sentences so that they are no longer repetitive.
5.2.1 I personally think that blue is a better colour. (1)
5.2.2 The offender escaped on foot by running away from the police officer. (1)
5.2.3 She was tired and exhausted after teaching Grade One’s all day. (1)
5.2.4 Mr Richardson left the country briefly for a short time. (1)
[4]
5.3 Adverbs
Identify the types of adverbs underlined below. Simply write the word and the type of adverb
next to it. (1x5)(5)
Cate’s Café or Cate’s Cabaret –You decide. Cate’s café might seem a simple place to most but it
is forming quite a reputation for itself amongst Cape Town’s growing urban trendsetters. People
often come here to get the best coffee in town. The latte’s are very well known, but more so is the
owner Cate. A fiery red-head, she often sings loudly for her customers. Tomorrow it is rumoured
that she will be singing a number from “Chicago”, a rather sobering yet well-loved musical.

[5]

5.4 Complete the table

Noun Adjective Verb Adverb

5.4.1 Mechanical 5.4.2 Mechanically

Freedom Free Free 5.4.3

(1x3)
[3]
(20)
TOTAL MARK: 60