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English Paper 2 (Comprehension, Literary Appreciation And Grammar) Form 4 Term 2 Question Paper
English Paper 2 (Comprehension, Literary Appreciation And Grammar) Form 4 Term 2
Course:English
Institution: Form 4 question papers
Exam Year:2016
ENGLISH
PAPER 2
(Comprehension, Literary Appreciation and Grammar)
21/2 Hours
INSTRUCTIONS
Each question will be collected separately at the end of the exam.
1. Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow.
Johannesburg or Jozi as the locals call, everything it is hyped up to be. It is modern cosmopolitan, rich, and well spread out, stretching for more than 50 Kilometres from Krugersdorp in the north to Hartbeesport Dam in the south. Jozi, is one of Africa’s most vibrant and exciting cities. However, for what is portrayed in wealth and status, someone once told me it has the energy but lacks the soul. He insisted JOzi was like James Brown the panache.
Shaila and I noticed how segregated the neighbourhoods were. Despite majority rule, the economy was still in the hands of the minority whites and they could afford to live in the pristine, heavily fortified suburbs. The few Blacks who did venture into the traditionally ‘white’ neighborhoods did not last long and invariably found their way back in their ‘comfort’ zones.
Like many expatriates looking for house to either rent or buy, we soon find out that the country was not as friendly as we had been led to believe. Shaila I would show up at a house that had been advertised for rent or for sale but as soon as the white occupants saw the two of us walk up their driveway, their tone, body language and demeanour changed immediately. On numerous occasions were told that the house had been rented or sold that morning or just hours before.
We finally found a place in the little village of Lone Hill, about twenty minutes outside Sandton. It was thatch – roofed storey old English villa on a road that swung around the neigbourhood to form a crescent. Lone Hill is named after a ‘kope’ or a small hill made of natural rocks and boulders, which stood out, as a landmark. The house we settled for was apparently the first one built in the neighbourhood. The owners were a lovely young white couple moving to Cape Town who did not seem to have any post apartheid hangovers. The house had three bedrooms on the ground floor, a living – cum dining area, an open – plan kitchen, a two – car garage, a double servants quarters and large patio , stretching out into a small but wonderful swimming pool with a thatched – roof gazebo beyond. It was the perfect house in the perfect neighbourhood, two – minute drive to the Lone Hill Shopping Centre and twenty minutes to my office.
A month into my new posting, we had our first big story, south Africa’s second presidential elections. It was a smooth and uneventful election won by Thabo Mbeki.
Thabo Mbeki was the son of Govan Mbeki, one of the founders of African National Congress (ANC). The older Mbeki was one of the most outspoken voices against apartheid and had been jailed alongside Nelson Mandela on Robben Island. Young Thabo Mbeki was forced to spend most of his life in exile, moving from country to country while spearheading the struggle. From Lusaka, Zambia where the ANC had its headquarters, Mbeki would frequently be moved around due to threats on his life by agents of the apartheid government. He spent years in Tanzania before crossing over to Liberia and Nigeria, countries considered friendly to the ANC. His life was the ANC and the ANC was his life. A typical technocrat and no – nonsense administrator, Mbeki, was all business from the start and the ANC trusted him with leading its struggle in exile, from London to Lisbon to Lusaka.
Mbeki, like many black South Africans suffered great personal loss for taking a stand against apartheid. Buchi, my Reuters’ friend and colleague, once told me a sad story about Mbeki. During the Apartheid era, Mbeki, who had been on the move, in one of the Southern Africa cities, was scheduled to meet with his teenage son after spending many months away from his family. The meeting between the two was arranged and older Mbeki arrived at the designated location at the appointed time. He waited and waited unit several hours turned into days but his son never turned up. Fearing ambush or possible detection, Mbeki decided it was best to leave. Later when the ANC sent its intelligence to find out what had happened, they discovered there had been an ambush and Mbeki’s son had been abducted and possibly killed. To this day, his body has never been found. Years later during the country’s much – publicized Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, who was the Deputy president, tried to get more information about what happened to his son. Some former Apartheid agents finally admitted being part of the abduction but even they did not know what had eventually happened to admitted being part of the abduction but even they did not know what had eventually happened to Mbeki’s son or if he had been killed, where the remains were buried. It was the ultimate sacrifice for a movement known as ‘The struggle’ but it was the price anyone in the struggle had to be prepared to pay.
The one trait I noticed about Mbeki when I first spent time with him was that he was as intense and determined as he was ‘ married’ to the struggle. Not just for the ANC, but also the struggle to come to terms with the ultimate sacrifice he had to endure for his people’s liberation. To me, nothing defines person more than the pain and suffering they go through for the greater good. Mbeki and his wife, Zanele, never had any other children after that and I am sure his son’s disappearance will haunt this couple for the rest of their days.
Adapted from: ’Through my African Eyes’ by Jeff
Questions
a) What is the narrators profession?
(1 mark)
b) Describe three unique features of the house that the couple finally rented in Johannesburg.
(3 marks)
C) In not more than 60 words, explain the sacrifices that freedom fighters had to make.
(5 marks)
d) Identify an instance or irony in the passage.
(3 marks)
e) Did the freedom fighters totally achieve their goals? Explain.
(3 marks)
f) What is the narrators attitude towards the freedom fighters.
(2 marks)
g) Rewrite the sentence below into direct speech. (1 mark)
We were told that the house had been rented that morning.
h) Explain the meaning of the words as used in the passage. (2 marks)
i) Panache
ii) Comfort zone
2. Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow
(25 m arks)
“My child, I am terribly ashamed of you. You are no longer young yet you have never been anything but selfish with the selfishness of a child. You feel that other people may suffer, but as for you, it is your right to be happy. You shake like a reed in the wind because you have never forgiven God for not giving you as many children as other women whom you consider less worthy. And you feel that God owes it to you to make sure that your only child lives and prospers. Learn my child that God owes no body anything. He gives to all men both wicked and good from his great bounty according to his wisdom and mercy. You are no longer a child yet you understand nothing. Don’t you know that from the height of heaven and the vastness of his eternity he sees you as you shall be a hundred seasons hence when no one on earth will have any memory of you and blooding will have mingled and petered out like a well in the dry season?
You are not wise, my child, learn wisdom. Put your child in his hands who can both plant and bring fruition. Try to be happy for Awiti when she tells us the news whatever it is. Don’t you see the world is changing and acquiring what will make the difference as to whether she survives or perishes?” Maria eventually calmed down and her racing heart stilled within her but when she heard her daughter’s footsteps on the threshold the band tightened around her again and she started breathing fast – like a woman in labour. She struggled to control herself.
Questions
a) What had Nyabera done to deserve this reprimand from Akoko?
(3 marks)
b) What is that Awiti is acquiring in this passage that will make her survive or perish? Explain
(2 marks)
c) Contrast the character of Akoko and Nyabera in this excerpt
(2 marks)
d) Akoko points out ‘the world is changing’
give four examples of changes that take place in the community.
(4 marks)
e) What attitude does Akoko have towards life?
(2 marks)
f) Identify two figures of speech used in the passage and comment on its effectiveness.
(4 marks)
g) What are the contents of the letter that Awiti reads to her mother and grandmother immediately after this excerpt?
(4 marks)
h) Rewrite the following sentence in reported speech.
‘My child, I am terribly ashamed of you.’’
(1 mark)
i) Explain the meaning of the following words as they are used in the passage. (3 mark)
i) Bounty
ii) A hundred seasons
iii) petered
3. Read the poem and answer the questions that follow.
I know a world,
A wondrous word,
Sweet home of haunting songs
And rolling drums,
‘Tis Africa.
I know a world,
A trampled word,
Partitioned and pawned
In centuries of greed
And still undone
‘Tis Africa.
I know a world,
A whisp’ ring world,
Crammed with the dying lore
Of ancient days,
‘Tis Africa.
A waking world,
Arising now, and fresh
From age – long slumber,
Strong after rest,
‘Tis Africa.
Questions
a) Who is the persona in the poem?
(2 marks)
b) What is subject of the poem?
(3 marks)
c) how has the persona described the world talked about in the poem?
(4 marks)
d) What is the attitude of the persona towards this ‘world’? illustrate your answer. (2 marks)
e) How does the last stanza contrast with the other stanzas?
(2 marks)
f) Identify and illustrate any two features of the style used in the poem. (4 marks)
g) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in t he poem. (3 marks)
i) Lore
ii) Pawned
iii) Haunting songs
4 a) Rewrite each sentence, using gender – neutral language (3 marks)
i) An editor is good for his good command of language.
ii) A sales woman selling underwear to men must have a difficult time.
Iii) That computer technician never once consulted his user’s manual.
b) Rewrite each sentence, correcting any unclear or indefinite pronoun references.(3 mark)
i) In Kenya, they often dine about seven to eight o’ clock in the evening.
ii) In some places, they blench as a sign of appreciation for a delicious meal.
iii) How do you show appreciation for a delicious meal in Ugenya?
c) Rewrite each item, correcting errors in each of numbers, numerals and punctuation.
(3 marks)
i) In twenty ten, Mathira, Nyeri county, had a voters population of about one hundred eighty one thousand people.
ii) What is 5% of sixty?
iii) The international Monetary Fund loaned $ 16, 000, 000, 000 dollars to the new government
d) Use context clues to figure out the meaning of the italicized word. Write the meaning.
(3 marks)
i) Our father has a volatile temper; consequently, we never know what his mood will be.
ii) Do you believe that everyone has a doppelganger, in other words, a double or look – alike?
iii) Her somnambulance worries us; we are afraid she might come to harm while walking in her sleep
e) Combine the following sentences using participial phrases. (3 marks)
i) Margaret rushed to help the victims. She had witnessed the motor accident only moments before.
ii) The teacher glared at Mwaura. He was tapping his foot.
iii) Natasha wandered along the seashore. She found a cowrie shell that had washed up on the sand.
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