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Form 4 English Term 2 Exam Question Paper

Form 4 English Term 2 Exam

Course:English

Exam Year:2016

101/2
ENGLISH (comprehension, Literary
Appreciation and Grammar)
FORM FOUR 2016
2ND TERM
21/2 HOURS

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education
ENGLISH (Comprehension, Literary Appreciation and Grammar)
FORM FOUR 2ND TERM EXAMINATION 2016

1. Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow:
Today there is increasing use of electronic media in teaching. This is occurring in response to several trends, one of which is the fact that society is attaching greater value to mastering bodies of information and new skills. School children must learn not only the skills of reading and writing but also algebra, chemistry and computer programming. High school graduation requirements are increasing in number although the teacher not always trained to adequately equip their students. Adults who have left the traditional school setting are faced with the need to master bodies of information, or to acquire new skills, in order to acquire or maintain employment in a rapidly changing economy.

A second trend relates to the urgency of meeting these educational needs by non – traditional means. The economic woes of the United State in the early 1980s have been laid partly at the feet of poorly trained students and workers. Reports at the time called for better educational opportunities than the public schools were providing in order to meet the global challenge of a qualified work force for the 1990s. it is business and industry that feel the pinch more immediately as new procedures and processes are necessary to retraining workers efficiently. To do this, industry has faced with the overwhelming task of establishing an educational infrastructure because the processes used in business and manufacturing hardly skip a beat.

A third trend is the evolution of information technologies. In a short period, we have witnessed the development of highly sophisticated devices of information exchange and retrieval. Some are capable of responding to the needs of the learners as defined by either the student or the instructor.

Even in the face of these developments, an old age question persist: Can the media teach? During the last few decades, we have frittered away an enormous amount of research time asking relatively useless questions about media of instruction. Can the media teach? Has been asked over and over again, and the answer has come back: of course, students can learn effectively from any media. Can they teach as effectively as the teacher can? The answer: what they can do, they can do as well as a classroom teacher, sometimes better. It depends on performance of the teacher, the content of the media, what is being taught and to whom. Is one medium, say the radio or the television, any more effective than others? For some purposes, probably yes, but overall, there is no superlative medium of instruction. But to answer these question these question more precisely, certain terms need to be defined. First, the term “effective” implies making a judgement relative to a standard. For example, is the electronic media of instruction effective relative to face –instruction without electronic media – the traditional mode of instruction? Second, although it is desirable to frame the question in terms of media, it must be noted that the term “medium” mean an agency such as a person, an object or quality, by means of which something is accomplished, conveyed or transferred. The electronic media are vehicles through which programming is passed to a learner. We cannot explore the potential of medium independent of programming being carried in it. Again, it must be kept in mind that a medium has a potential that may or may not be exploited.

{Adapted from Electronic learning: From Audiotape to Videodisc by Jerome Johnstone}

Questions

a) According to the passage, which are the two most important subjects? (1 mark)

b) Explain what a traditional school setting entails.
(2 marks)
C) How can we tell that most people used to go to public schools in America at the time of the report?
(2 marks)
d) Why does the author think that the task of training workers is overwhelming?
(2 marks)
e) Rewrite the following sentence starting: “The pinch…..”
it is business and industry that feel the pinch more immediately as new procedures and processes are necessary to remain on the cutting edge in the world market. (1 mark)

f) What distinct advantage do information exchange and retrieval devices give the learner?
(2 marks)
g) Exemplify how the author shows his impatience with questions being asked about the media of instruction.
(3 marks)
h) What are the three possible means of instruction that can be inferred from the last paragraph?
(3 marks)
i) Explain the meaning of the following expressions as used in the passage. (4 mark)

(i) laid partly at the feet of
(ii) Remain on the cutting edge
(iii) Hardly skip a beat
(iv) Frittered away

2. Read the following exerpt from The River and the Source carefully and answer the questions that follow:

The day came, dragged slowly by, and eventually went away as days are wont to do when misery and apprehension hang low and oppressive in the very air. The children crept by, hardly daring to make noise, sensing without being told that what had happened was too terrible to be talked about. The mother hardly said a word and the chief at the best times a man of few words was no better.

The relationship between the chief and his people was usually not authoritarian. His main job was to lead the council of Jadongo in their arbitration and their final word was law.
He was also a sort of priest, for on public worshipping days he led the whole community in sacrifice and libation. The people held a good chief in high esteem and usually sent a son to help in the chief’s household especially in herding cattle, but this was voluntary. The women once in a while gathered together to help the chief’s wives till the land. This was also voluntary, but the people did it gladly. In turn their chief was ready to listen to their problems at any time of the day or night. He also led them (not sent them) to battle, or if he was too old, his eldest son.

Apart from the people’s sheer incomprehension at their chief’s stubborn monogamy, Owuor and his wife were held in very high esteem and were much loved by their people. Everybody shared in the chief’s grief and fear for his son. Besides they loved Obura in his own right. He was open, bright, cheerful and was never known to take advantage of his position to lord it over others. He did not shum work, he was also very brave and on the whole everybody had been secure in the knowledge that the next chief would be a good man. To get rid of a bad hereditary chief was possible but not easy and might involve actual bloodshed. For the people of Ramogi, bloodshed even in battle, was a great taboo and required much cleansing, for the angry dead know no barriers, and they might come to confound you long after you forgotten them. So it was good to know that the future would be in the hands of a good man. His disappearance was a cause of concern for all.

A whole season passed. Another one also marched inexorably and was almost drawing to a close. In the world outside, which Obura had wanted so much to see, the white man whose avidity led him to even count seasons and what’s more to remember them, said that this was the one thousandth, nine hundred and eighteen season.
“since what?” someone asked.
“Since their god had a son,” replied one in the know.
“Their god had a son!” exclaimed the ignoramus. “What sort of madness is that?”

Questions:

a) What had happened that made everybody so gloomy? (2 marks)

b) Identify the “mother and the chief” mentioned in this excerpt.
(2 marks)
c) Explain how the people demonstrated their love for the chief.
(3 marks)
d) In about 60 words, summarize what we learn about the community from this exerpt.
(5 marks)

Rough copy

Fair copy

e) Why was Obura’s disappearance such a big loss for both his parents and the community?
(4 marks)
f) Identify and explain the figure of speech in the fourth last paragraph. (3 marks)

h) “His disappearance was a cause of concern for all”
Rewrite the sentence beginning: Everybody…………………………………………………. (1 mark)

i) Explain the meaning of the following expressions as used in the excerpt. (2 marks)

Their final word was law

Confound

3. Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow:

Come close and Sleep now
It is afterwards
and you walk on tiptoe
happy to be part
of the darkness
lips becoming limp
a prelude to tiredness
come close and sleep now
for in the morning
when a policeman
disguised as the sun
creeps into the room
and your mother disguised as birds
calls from the trees
you will put on a dress of guilt
and shoes with broken high ideals
and refusing coffee
run
all the way
home.

Questions:
a) Explain what the poem is about
(4 marks)
b) Identify and explain any two stylistic devices used in this poem.
(4 marks)
c) Why does the addressee imagine the singing of the birds to be her mother’s voice?

(2 marks)
d) Identify and illustrate one character trait of the girl in this poem.
(2 marks)
e) Suggest a reason for the use of hardly any punctuation mark and typing together the word ‘Comeclose,’ Sleepnow and ‘alltheway’
(2 marks)
f) Why do you think the girl runs all the way home at the end of the poem?
(2 marks)
g) Describe the mood of this poem.
(2 marks)
h) Explain the meaning of the following line: ‘lips becoming limp.’
(2 marks)

4. a) Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each
(6 marks)
(i) The president did not make such a statement at any point in his speech.
{Begin: At no…………….}

(ii) “The only reason that I am selling my house in Karen is that I am being transferred to Nakuru, he said. “Let me know as quickly as possible if you decide to buy it.”
{Rewrite in reported speech}

(iii) I am sure it was an exciting experience for her.
{Rewrite the sentence using must}

(iv) What was stolen? {Change into active voice}

(v) It rarely rains in Sudan. {Begin: Rarely……………………….}

(vi) Shut the door. {Add a question tag}

b) Rewrite the following sentences, inserting all punctuation marks in the correct place.

(i) the river between the teacher said was ngugiwathiong’os first novel

(ii) tom had one great desire to become a doctor

(iii) it’s a pity we have to live on charity he lamented

(iv) mother I said am listening she replied

c) Explain the difference in meaning between the following sentences. (2 marks)
(i) When they got out of the car they stopped to talk

(ii) When they got out of the car they stopped talking

d) Give the meaning of the underlined idiomatic expressions in the sentence.
(3 marks)
(i) There was no love lost between the two friends.
(ii) The president and The Prime Minster resolved to bury the hatchet.
(iii) Just state your point; I am all ears.

Form 4 English Term 2 Exam Question Paper

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