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Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
Terrorism is a real and urgent threat to nations and their interests a threat that could become perilous if terrorists
acquire nuclear or biological weapons. The policies pursued by the bush administration have too often been
counterproductive and self-defeating. In the name of an ‘offensive’ strategy, they have undermined the values and
principles that made the United States a model for the world, dismayed cooperative nations around the world and
jeopardize their cooperation with us, and provided ammunition for terrorist recruitment in the Middle East and
beyond. To achieve our long-term objective we must go beyond narrow counterterrorism policies to embed
counterterrorism in an overarching national security strategy designed to restore American leadership and respect
in the world. This leadership must be based on a strong commitment to our values and to building the structures of
international cooperation that are needed to only fight terrorists, but also to meet key challenges of our time:
proliferation; climate change and energy security; the danger of pandemic disease; and the need to sustain a
vibrant global economy that lifts the lives of people everywhere.
We have to demonstrate that the model of liberty and tolerance embodied by the United States, are the enemy of
these universal ambitions. We must pursue an integrated set of policies- on non-proliferation, energy and climate,
global public health and economic development- which reflect recognition that in an independent world, the
American people can be safe and prosperous only if others too share in these blessings. Our policies must
demonstrate a respect for differences of history, culture and tradition, while remaining true to the principles of
liberty embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This kind of enlightened self interest led others to
rally to American leadership in the Cold War and offers the best hope for sustaining our leadership in the future.
The world is filled with terrorist organizations. While the State Departments list of designated groups includes
almost four dozen, numerous well known ones are still omitted because of issues related to designation process.
Yet to many organizations, only one subset currently poses a serious and sustained threat to the United States and
its allies: the Sunni jihadist organization known by the shorthand ‘al Qaeda’
The group merits this special status because it is the only terrorist organization with the ambition and the
capability to inflict genuinely catastrophic damage, which can provisionally be defined as attacks that claim
causalities in the four digits or higher. The group is also unique in that it may eventually be able to carry out a
campaign of repeated attacks that would have a paralyzing effect on American life and its institutions. Its ability to
foil fundamental U.S. strategic goals-as it did in Iraq and as it threatens to do together with the Taliban in
Afghanistan-has been amply demonstrated. As the turmoil in Pakistan has demonstrated, its capacity for upsetting
the geopolitics of major regions of the world today is also unrivalled among non-state actors. The evidence
provided by September 11, 2001 is sufficient to demonstrate the groups’ capability and its determination. Unlike
most terrorist, it eschews incremental gains and seeks no part of a negotiation process; it seeks to achieve its
primary ends, including mobilization of a large number of Muslims, through violence
The Bush administration has fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the jihadist movement and its actions
have made the threat considerably worse. The administration has hyped the threat and subordinated foreign
security policy into the ‘Global War on Terror.’ It has relied on the wrong tools –principally the military- and
vastly overemphasized tactics at the expense of strategy. To the extent that it has a strategy for reducing the appeal
of jihad, it is the ‘freedom agenda’ which has backfired. Counter terrorism requires a shift away from a foreign
and security policy that makes counterterrorism the prism through which everything is evaluated and decided. It
requires a policy that must go beyond uncompromising efforts to do away with those who seek to harm us today.
International engagement is essential in meeting this threat since it will ensure that new terrorist recruits do not
come to take the place of those that have been defeated.
(Adapted from ‘strategic Counterterrorism’ by Daniel Benjamin, Policy Paper Number 7, 2008)
Questions
1. In what ways were the policies pursued by the Bush administration counterproductive and self-defeating?
2. What according to the author is the essence of American counterterrorism leadership?
3. Make notes on what ought to be done to uphold American leadership?
4. In the following sentence, replace the underlined expression with one word
It requires a policy that must go beyond uncompromising efforts to do away with those who seek to harm us
today.
5. Why is Al-Qaida a unique group?
6. What is needed in the fight against terrorism?
7. In your opinion, what is the most dangerous aspect of terror a threat?
8. Explain the meaning of each of the following words as used in the passage
a) Embed
b) Designated
c) Foil
d) Prism
Date posted:
May 24, 2019
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Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.
The Bride.
Why do you wear that dress so white?
Why do you wear that veil so light?
Why do your young eyes shine so bright?
Is it your wedding?
I wear dress and veil to show
That gladly to my love I go
My young eyes shine because I know
It is my wedding.
(i) Identify the rhyme scheme of this poem?
(ii) Using illustrations show how rhythm has been achieved in the poem.
(iii) Would you use the rising or the falling intonation in reading line 3 in stanza one in this poem? Give reason.
(iv) How would you say the last line of the second stanza?
Date posted:
May 24, 2019
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The diagram below represents the internal structure of a bean seed.
a) Name the parts the seed embryo represented by letter X and Y.
b) What type of germination would result if the hypocotyl elongates faster.
c) What is the significance of the part labelled Y emerging first during germination.
Date posted:
May 24, 2019
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Fill in the following cloze test.
CLOZE TEST 10 MARKS
There is this bizarre preoccupation with 1………………………… class among us such
2…………………………. what happened at Langa’ta was bound to happen. Our greed 3………………………
wealth and standing considers nothing sacred, nothing immoral, nothing offensive to everyone, which is why
some people were wondering why the children were protesting 4……………………… they were supposed to be
in class! Our preoccupation with private academies for our children is partly what made the “private developer”
target public school 5…………………….., only that for the “developer’”, the police who came to secure the
interests of one against many used tear gas on children.
If most of us decided to 6………………………. our children to public schools and worked collectively to make
them better, chances are this particular “private developer” and many 7……………………….. would avoid
school land for fear of reaction. But many of us have 8………………………. to this mess by avoiding public
facilities— schools, hospitals 9………………………. even parks — because using them does not speak
10……………………..of our social standing.
Date posted:
May 24, 2019
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You are the secretary of Debating Club in your school, recently the club held a meeting and the following issues
were discussed;
- Election of officials
- Income generating activities in the club
- Preparation for the great debate.
In the meeting, 8 members were present, 3 including the vice chairperson sent apologies and the whereabouts of 2
members were unknown. The club patron also attended the meeting. Apart from the main issues, members raised
some issues from the previous meeting. Write down the minutes of the meeting
Date posted:
May 24, 2019
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An investigation was carried to show the effect of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) on urine production in a mammal. The rate of urine production was measured over a period of 30 minutes. Five minutes after measurements began; ADH was injected into a vein of the mammal. The results are shown in table below.
a) Plot a graph of rate of urine production against time.
b) Name the gland that releases ADH.
c) Describe the effect of injection of ADH on the rate of urine production in the mammal in this investigation.
d) Describe the mechanism by which ADH produces the effect seen in this investigation.
e) In a similar investigation, an injection of sodium chloride (salt) solution was given after five minutes instead of ADH. This injection was observed to affect urine production in a similar way to ADH. Suggest how the sodium chloride brought about this effect.
Date posted:
May 24, 2019
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State any two differences between an ovum and a sperm.
Date posted:
May 24, 2019
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The diagram below represents the nitrogen cycle.
a) State the process labelled.
A
D
b) Name the compound represented by B.
c) Name the group of organisms labelled C.
d) i) Name the group of plants which promote process A.
ii) State the part of the plant where process A takes place.
e) How would excess pesticides in the soil interfere with process A.
Date posted:
May 24, 2019
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Give a reason why lack of roughage in the diet often leads to constipation.
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Explain how the process of evolution may result to the formation of a new species.
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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When sulphur is heated in a boiling tube in the absence of air, the yellow crystals melts into a golden yellow mobile liquid at
113°C. The liquid changes at 180°C into a dark brown liquid that is very viscous. More heating at 400°C produces a brown
less viscous liquid.
a) Draw the molecular structure of sulphur in the yellow liquid.
b) Explain why the molten liquid becomes viscous.
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Use dots (•) and cross (×) diagrams to draw bond in:
a) Al2Cl6 (Al = 13, Cl=17)
b) Al2O3 (Al = 13, O = 8)
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Calculate the number of molecules of water of crystallization in oxalic acid crystals, H2C2O4.nH2O given that 5g of the
crystals were made upto 250cm³ of this solution. 25.0cm³ of this solution required 15.9cm³ of 0.5M sodium hydroxide to
neutralise it (H=1, C=12, O=16).
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Nylon 6, 6 is a condensation polymer whose structure is as follows.
Draw the structures of the monomers in nylon 6, 6
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Magnesium reacts as shown below.
a) Identify gas X.
b) Between wet sand and magnesium ribbon, which one should be heated first? Explain.
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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In an experiment to investigate an aspect of digestion, two test tubes A and B were set up as shown in the diagram below.
The test tubes were left in the bath for 30 minutes. The contents of each test tube was then tested for starch using iodine solution.
a) What was the aim of the experiment?
b) What results were expected in test tube A and B.
c) Account for the results you have given in (b) above in test tube A and B.
d) Why was the set up left at 37°C?
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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The diagram below represents a mammalian embryo and associated maternal structures.
a) Name the parts labelled R and S.
b) State THREE adaptation of part Q to its functions.
c) i) Name the part labelled T.
ii) What is the function of part T?
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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The diagram below shows how blood glucose in mammalian body is regulated.
a) Explain what happens during corrective mechanism P.
b) Name two organs involved in corrective mechanisms P and Q.
c) State two reasons why glucose level should be maintained constant.
d) What is osmoregulation?
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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A woman with normal skin pigmentation was married to a man with normal skin pigmentation. They had two children, one
with normal skin colour, genotype AA, while the other one was an albino.
a) State the couple's genotypes.
b) Using a genetic cross, show how they were able to produce an albino and a normal skinned child.
c) What is the percentage of their third child being an albino?.
d) State one way one could easily identify an albino.
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Give two reasons why potato tubers become sweeter after boiling.
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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The diagram below was used to electrolyse magnesium sulphate solution
a) Write half equation at electrode. P,Q
b) State what happens to the concentration of the electrolyte after electrolysis process.
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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The Short Story: Longhorn (E.D) 'When the Sun Goes Down and other stories from Africa and Beyond.
With illustrations from Sandisile Ishuma’s story 'Arrested Development' show how appropriate the title
'Arrested Development' is to the story.
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Imaginative composition
EITHER
a) Write a story starting with:
It all started as a rumour but no one in the family took it seriously until…
OR
b) Write a story to illustrate the saying: “The shortest way home is not always the quickest”
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Read the following narrative and then answer the questions that follow.
Once upon a time there lived a man who was very old and as poor as a church mouse. The old man his living by
cutting trees and burning charcoal. He would then sell to the villagers for small amount of money. Business was
very low because they were very few, poor and as a result he could go home hungry. Despite this, the old man
never despaired but worked even One day the old man woke up very early in the morning and headed to the forest where he worked. Suddenly he
heard a voice, “who is that who wants to destroy our house?” The old man was so scared that the axe fell down
from his hand. He answered with a shaky voice. “It’s me a poor old man and I have not eaten since yesterday. I
have come to look for trees, burn them into charcoal and sell.” The voice said sympathetically, “Go to that cave
inside you will find a pot. Take it home and instruct it to cook food. He rushed to the cave and found the post as
he had been told. He hurriedly took it home. On reaching home he repeated what he had been told. “Pot cook
food” and Alas! There was plenty of food. He ate and ate until he could eat no more.
The man was very happy and forgot his old business. This continued for months. Then one day the pot did not
cook the food. He carefully checked the pot for cracks but he found none. After a thorough check he saw a tiny
hole at the bottom of the pot. He
“Oh dear vulture,” said the hen with confusion and great regret, “forgive me; I am so sorry for this my negligence.
I really intended to return you razor very soon, but I put it in my leather bag, and forgot it completely. Let me go
and take it; you will have it in half a minute.”
“Yes, I know you are forgetful creature, but look at the damage you have caused me. You have deprived me of
my sustenance for many days. Mind you, if you have lost it, you will pay for it very dearly,” said the vulture. The
hen rushed into the hut to fetch the razor. She plunged her hand into the leather bag, alas! It was empty; there was
no razor in it. She was very shocked at the unpleasant discovery. She started searching on the floor to see if by
chance it had dropped from the bag but there was not finding it. She looked under the children’s bed, near the
firestones, in the store; but there was no sign of it. Tired and defeated, she came out and imploring, said, “O dear
friend and master, I can’t find it. Have mercy on me! I will search better. I am ready to demolish my hut
altogether, and search diligently until I find and return it to you.”
“I told you to be very careful, and I repeat again, I want my razor back! But mind, I want the very one I gave, and
no substitute!”
The poor hen spent all the day searching, but nothing came to light. She demolished her hut, and started searching
in the roof grass among the rubble of the walls, between the poles, in the ashes and even in the rubbish pit, but
nothing was found.
The following day the vulture came to see the results of the searching. He found the hen still scratching the ground
among a heap of dry grass and ox dung; but no razor was yet discovered.
“I am very sorry, dear hen,” said the vulture, “but I can’t wait any longer without compensation for my razor. For
today you must give me a chicken. Tomorrow I will return and see what has happened in the mean time.
So the vulture flew away with a chicken gripped within its talons under its breast. The following day he returned
to the hen. She was still scratching the ground; but she could not see any razor. Another chicken went with the
vulture. And the same happened in the following days until today. That is the reason why the hen is always
scratching the ground, and the vulture snooping on chickens even in our days. The hen is still searching for the
razor, and the vulture compensating himself for its loss.
(i) With reasons for your answer, categorize the above narrative
(ii) Give and illustrate any character trait of ‘the hen’
(iii)Identify and illustrate two features of style characteristic or oral narratives present in this narrative
(iv) What preparations would you put in place if you intend to carry out a field study in this genre?
(v) Highlight the problems you are likely to encounter during the field study and propose suitable solutions to
them
(vi) What moral lesson do you learn from this oral narrative? Give a reason for your answer
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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The Caucasian Chalk Circle: Literary Appreciation
Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow
GRUSHA : Simon!
SIMON : Is that Grusha Vasnadze?
GRUSHA : Simon!
SIMON (formally): A good morning to the young lady. I hope she is well.
GRUSHA (getting up and bowing low): A good morning to the soldier. God be thanked he has returned in good
health.
SIMON : They found better fish, so they didn’t eat me said the haddock
GRUSHA : Courage, said the kitchen boy. Good luck, said the hero
SIMON : How are things here? Was the winter bearable? The neighbor considerate?
GRUSHA : The winter was a trifle rough, the neighbor as usual Simon.
SIMON : May one ask if a certain person still dips her toes in the water when rinsing the linen?
GRUSHA : The answer is no. Because of the eyes in the bushes.
SIMON : The young lady is speaking of soldiers. Here stands the paymaster
GRUSHA : A job worth twenty piasters?
SIMON : And lodgings?
GRUSHA (with tears in her eyes) : Behind the barracks under the date trees
SIMON : Yes there. A certain person has kept her eyes open
GRUSHA : She has, Simon.
SIMON : And has not forgotten? (GRUSHA shakes her head) So the door is still on its hinges as they
say? (GRUSHA looks at him in silence and shakes her head again) What’s this? Is anything
not as it should be?
GRUSHA : Simon Shashava, I can never return to Nuka. Something has happened.
SIMON : What can have happened?
GRUSHA : For one thing, I knocked an Ironshirt down
GRUSHA : Simon Shashava, I am no longer called what I used to be called
SIMON (after a pause):I do not understand
GRUSHA : When do women change their names, Simon? Let me explain.
Nothing stands between us. Everything is just as it was. You must believe that.
SIMON : Nothing stands between us and yet there is something?
GRUSHA : How can I explain it so fast and with the stream between us?
Couldn’t you cross the bridge there?
SIMON : Maybe it’s no longer necessary
GRUSHA : It is very necessary. Come over on this side, Simon. Quick!
SIMON : Does the young lady wish to say someone has come too late?
a) Place this excerpt in its immediate context
b) Where is this scene taking place .
c) Discuss the relationship between Grusha and Simon in this excerpt.
d) 'May one ask if a certain person still dips her toes in the water when rinsing the linen?' In which other scene does
Simon use the very words to Grusha? Explain what was happening in that scene .
e) Grusha says she cannot go to Nuka because something has happened. Explain. .
f) Describe the character trait of Simon as brought out in this excerpt .
g) Explain the meaning of the following saying and word as used in the excerpt
i) They found better fish, so they didn’t eat me, said the haddock.
ii) Gaily
h) Identity and illustrate the major theme present in this excerpt
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Read the passage below then answer the questions that follow.
Problem drinkers and alcoholics pay severe penalties for their drinking. It has been estimated that alcoholics are
likely to die ten to twelve years sooner than non-alcoholics half die before the age of fifty, which is one reason
there are so few elderly alcoholics. The mortality rate (that is, the number of persons per 100,000 who die each
year) among alcoholics is more than two and a half times higher than that of the general population.
Alcoholics often die violent circumstances; serious accidents, homicide, and suicide are not uncommon. This,
together with the physical deterioration accompanying alcoholism, helps explain the limits on life expectancy. No
one really knows how many deaths are directly attributed to drinking, and all such statistics are estimates. One
reason for our limited knowledge is that many physicians do not report alcoholism as the main cause of death out
of concern for the feelings of the family of the deceased.
Research on the physiological effects of alcoholism has increased in the last few years. Heavy drinking is known
to be associated with various types of cancer, particularly among persons who also use tobacco. Alcohol abuse
also increases the probability of hypertension, stroke and coronary heart disease. Alcoholics frequently suffer
illness and death from cirrhosis of the liver, a disease in which the liver becomes fatty, scarred, and incapable of
functioning normally. In large urban areas, cirrhosis is the fourth most common cause of death among men aged
twenty-five to forty-five.
Alcohol affects the brain, often permanently damaging the mental functioning of alcoholics. Drinking may reduce
the number of living cells in the brain. Since brain cells do not grow back, alcoholics may suffer from organic
psychosis (a mental illness traceable to brain damages), loss of memory, and poor physical and mental coordination. One out of four persons who are admitted to mental hospitals are diagnosed as alcoholics and 40
percent of all admissions are alcohol related. Many of the alcoholic inmates are unlikely to recover.
The unborn children of female alcoholics are subject to harm from drinking in what is called foetal alcohol
syndrome.
Because alcohol tends to be a substitute for a balanced diet, alcoholics are often malnourished. Consequently, the
infants of alcoholic women are likely to be less healthy and less well developed than other babies. Moreover,
when a pregnant woman drinks, so, in effect, does her foetus. The new born children of alcoholic women may die
shortly after birth unless they are medically treated from the shock to their systems for suddenly being cut off
from alcohol. Furthermore, the impact of alcohol on the woman and her foetus is a major cause of birth defects
and originally based mental deficiency among the newborn. The effects of foetal alcohol syndrome on the
children of female alcoholics are usually chronic and may be permanently disabling.
Clearly, it is not too much of an exaggeration to say that alcohol kills and mains people. When abused, alcohol is
a highly dangerous drug.
Questions
(i) What are the major causes of death among alcoholics?
(ii) Which reason does the writer give as to why physicians do not report alcoholic related deaths?
(iii) One out of four persons who are admitted to mental hospitals are diagnosed as alcoholics. (Rewrite using a
few………………)
(iv) Alcoholics often die under violent circumstances…. (add a question tag)
(v) What is the attitude of the writer towards people who abuse alcohol
(vi) Explain what the following sentence means. Alcohol tends to be a substrate for a balanced diet
(vii) Make notes on the effects of alcohol to expectant mothers and their children
(viii) Supply a suitable title for the passage
(ix) Explain the meanings of the following words and phrases as used in the passage
a) Attributable
b) Scarred
c) Statistics
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Read the poem and answer the questions that follow.
I SEE HIS BLOOD UPON THE ROSE by Joseph Plunkett
I see his blood upon the rose,
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.
I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice - and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words
All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever beating sea
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.
i) Describe the rhyme scheme of the poem
ii) Which words would you stress in the last two lines of the last stanza and why?
iii) Apart from rhyme, identify and illustrate one sound device in this poem
iv) Give two effects of the above sound pattern
v) How would you say the last line of the poem
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Read the passage below and fill in each blank space with an appropriate word
Alcohol impacts people and societies in different (1)__________________ and is determined by the (2)
_________________ of alcohol consumed, the pattern of drinking, and, on rare occasions, the quality of alcohol
(3)_________________. Alcohol is a psychoactive substance and its harmful use is known (4)
_________________________ have dependence - producing properties and cause (5) ____________________
than 200 diseases among drinkers as well as devastating effects to innocent victims such as unborn children.
Drinking alcohol (6)_______________________ pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, preterm birth, still birth,
spontaneous abortion, and contribute to a range of disabilities known (7) ____________________ foetal alcohol
spectrum disorders (FASD). FASD is an umbrella term (8) _______________________ to an array of conditions
involving impairments of the growth and development of the central (9)______________________ system
caused by (10) ________________ intake during pregnancy.
(Adapted from DN2 - The Daily Nation 19th May 2015)
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Imagine that you are the Organizing Secretary of Virginia Mwende’s Graduation Party. Mwende has graduated
with a First Class Honours Degree from the University of Nairobi.
a) Design an invitation card to be sent to the guests
b) Write a congratulatory note to Mwende to be presented on that day
Date posted:
May 23, 2019
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Imaginative composition
Either
a) Write a composition beginning with the following:
It all started as a rumour but no one in the family took it seriously until……..
Or
b) Write a composition on the following topic:
Ways of eliminating drug abuse among the youth.
Date posted:
May 23, 2019