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JAMB Literature in English 2023 past questions and answers

15 questions. Try each one, then open the answer to check yourself and read the explanation.

Question 19

Literary Appreciation: Prose and Drama
William Shakespeare: Twelfth Night (extract)
The passage, as printed

Twelfth Night by W. Shakespeare. The above lamentation is an example of a

  1. A.simile
  2. B.metaphor
  3. C.personification
  4. D.zeugma
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (metaphor)

Explanation

Calling the other person's heart 'a heart of stone' compares it directly to stone without 'like' or 'as': a metaphor.

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Question 20

Literary Appreciation: Poetry

The literary device used in this passage is

  1. A.antithesis
  2. B.climax
  3. C.epigram
  4. D.anticlimax
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D (anticlimax)

Explanation

The line builds up the queen's grandeur and then drops to the trivial 'and sometimes tea': a comic anticlimax.

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Question 21

Drama: General

In which of the following genres is the term 'soliloquy' generally used?

  1. A.Novel
  2. B.Drama
  3. C.Epic
  4. D.Poetry
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (Drama)

Explanation

A soliloquy is a speech made by a character alone on stage, so it belongs to drama.

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Question 22

Drama: General

A burlesque is

  1. A.an exaggerated mockery of a literary work
  2. B.a sentimental comedy
  3. C.an account of a famous person's life
  4. D.a rhetorical device used for effect in poetry.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (an exaggerated mockery of a literary work)

Explanation

A burlesque makes fun of a serious work by imitating it in a ridiculous, exaggerated way.

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Question 23

Drama: General

In what type of play would the playwright introduce a comic to relieve tension already built up?

  1. A.Farce
  2. B.Comedy
  3. C.Opera
  4. D.Tragedy.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D (Tragedy.)

Explanation

Comic relief is used in tragedies, where tension builds up and the audience needs a moment of release.

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Question 24

Poetry: General

When a story is told in a song and passed down by word of mouth, it is called

  1. A.a sonnet
  2. B.an epic
  3. C.a ballad
  4. D.a singer's story.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (a ballad)

Explanation

A folk ballad is a story told in song and handed down orally.

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Question 25

Drama: General

Comic relief is

  1. A.the use of humorous characters, speeches or scenes in a tragic work
  2. B.a figure of speech used in comic theatre
  3. C.the use of hearty and wholesome laughter in plays
  4. D.a device used in the theatre where a play ends in marriage.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (the use of humorous characters, speeches or scenes in a tragic work)

Explanation

Comic relief is a funny character, speech or scene placed in a tragedy to ease tension.

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Question 26

Literary Terms and Devices

The word 'image' is associated with

  1. A.attitude
  2. B.mood
  3. C.tone
  4. D.abstraction.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (mood)

Explanation

Images are concrete word-pictures, and a writer uses them to create the mood of a passage; they are the opposite of abstraction.

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Question 27

Poetry: General

A quatrain is

  1. A.the last line of a poem
  2. B.the fourth line of a sonnet
  3. C.a poem which ends with a question
  4. D.a stanza consisting of four lines.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D (a stanza consisting of four lines.)

Explanation

A quatrain is a stanza or poem of four lines.

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Question 29

Literary Appreciation: Prose and Drama
Extract for question 29
The passage, as printed

The dramatic technique employed in this passage is

  1. A.anticlimax
  2. B.foreshadowing
  3. C.flashback
  4. D.irony.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (foreshadowing)

Explanation

The speaker fears coming disaster ('Winter shall come bringing death'), hinting at the tragedy to come: foreshadowing.

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Question 30

Poetry: General

When words or phrases in either poetry or prose rise and fall measuredly, it is said that they

  1. A.have a regular rhythm
  2. B.rhyme
  3. C.are accented and unaccented
  4. D.are well structured.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (have a regular rhythm)

Explanation

A measured rise and fall of stressed and unstressed sounds is regular rhythm.

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Question 31

Figures of Speech

The expression 'The sun kisses the earth' is a

  1. A.simile
  2. B.metaphor
  3. C.personification
  4. D.paradox.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (personification)

Explanation

Kissing is a human action given to the sun, so it is personification.

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Question 32

Literary Terms and Devices

An over-used expression is

  1. A.a cliche
  2. B.a cacophony
  3. C.an epigram
  4. D.an archetype.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (a cliche)

Explanation

A cliche is a phrase used so often that it has lost its freshness.

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Question 33

Literary Terms and Devices

A sub-plot is

  1. A.a major turn or complication in the main story
  2. B.the second part of the main plot
  3. C.a secondary plot dealing with a different theme
  4. D.an aspect of the main plot recited by a different narrator.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (a secondary plot dealing with a different theme)

Explanation

A sub-plot is a smaller, secondary story running alongside the main plot.

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Question 35

Prose: General

The narrator that tells his story as if all actions in the story revolve around him is

  1. A.an omniscient narrator
  2. B.a first person narrator
  3. C.a second person narrator
  4. D.a third person narrator.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (a first person narrator)

Explanation

A first-person narrator tells the story as 'I', from his own position at the centre of events.

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