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JAMB Use of English 2023 past questions and answers

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

Question 11

Cloze Passage
JAMB 2023 Passage III: Life at home (cloze, gaps 11–20)
In today's society, few people at home need feel ________ (11) from other people and ________ (12) from the world about them. Telephone, television, car, common social and educational ________ (13) with other parents, all keep married couples in living ________ (14) with the rest of the community. If a person feels ________ (15), it may be that he or she has allowed himself or herself to become so. The person who ________ (16) the home is the master of the immediate environment, and is free to plan the daily ________ (17) to allow for time off, or for reading, or cultural or social activities, much more so than the worker in a factory or office. In fact, in the case of a full-time housewife and mother, if she uses her time to good effect, she could develop ________ (18) by reading or home study as well as enrich herself with the ameliorating experience denied to a working woman, loving daily contact with her children. ________ (19) children is regarded by many people as a rewarding ________ (20) and a labour of love.

Passage III, gap 11: In today's society, few people at home need feel ________ (11) from other people and cut off from the world about them.

  1. A.discouraged
  2. B.bad
  3. C.estranged
  4. D.intrigued
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (estranged)

Explanation

'Estranged from' means separated or cut off emotionally from others, which matches the idea of being cut off from the world.

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Question 12

Cloze Passage

Passage III, gap 12: In today's society, few people at home need feel estranged from other people and ________ (12) from the world about them.

  1. A.cut out
  2. B.cut away
  3. C.cut down
  4. D.cut off
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Answer: D (cut off)

Explanation

To be 'cut off from' people or the world means to be isolated from them.

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Question 13

Cloze Passage

Passage III, gap 13: Telephone, television, car, common social and educational ________ (13) with other parents, all keep married couples in living contact with the rest of the community.

  1. A.interest
  2. B.interests
  3. C.associations
  4. D.escapades
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (interests)

Explanation

Parents share common social and educational interests; the plural 'interests' is needed because several are meant.

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Question 14

Cloze Passage

Passage III, gap 14: Telephone, television, car, common social and educational interests with other parents, all keep married couples in living ________ (14) with the rest of the community.

  1. A.contract
  2. B.activity
  3. C.contact
  4. D.together
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Answer: C (contact)

Explanation

'In contact with' means in touch with; these things keep couples in touch with the community.

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Question 15

Cloze Passage

Passage III, gap 15: If a person feels ________ (15), it may be that he or she has allowed himself or herself to become so.

  1. A.isolated
  2. B.deprived
  3. C.neglected
  4. D.cheated
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (isolated)

Explanation

The paragraph is about not being cut off from others, so the feeling meant is being isolated.

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Question 16

Cloze Passage

Passage III, gap 16: The person who ________ (16) the home is the master of the immediate environment.

  1. A.administers
  2. B.orders
  3. C.arranges
  4. D.runs
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: D (runs)

Explanation

We say a person 'runs' a home, meaning manages it day to day.

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Question 17

Cloze Passage

Passage III, gap 17: ...and is free to plan the daily ________ (17) to allow for time off, or for reading, or cultural or social activities.

  1. A.chores
  2. B.routine
  3. C.timetable
  4. D.organization
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (routine)

Explanation

'Daily routine' is the usual pattern of a day's activities, which a person plans to leave time off.

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Question 18

Cloze Passage

Passage III, gap 18: In fact, in the case of a full-time housewife and mother, if she uses her time to good effect, she could develop ________ (18) by reading or home study.

  1. A.physically
  2. B.economically
  3. C.mentally
  4. D.intelligently
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Answer: C (mentally)

Explanation

Reading and home study develop the mind, so she develops mentally.

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Question 19

Cloze Passage

Passage III, gap 19: ________ (19) children is regarded by many people as a rewarding activity and a labour of love.

  1. A.bringing up
  2. B.washing up
  3. C.dressing up
  4. D.bearing
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (bringing up)

Explanation

'Bringing up' children means raising them, which people call a labour of love.

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Question 20

Cloze Passage

Passage III, gap 20: Bringing up children is regarded by many people as a rewarding ________ (20) and a labour of love.

  1. A.activity
  2. B.promotion
  3. C.experience
  4. D.engagement
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (experience)

Explanation

Raising children is something lived through over years, so it is described as a rewarding experience.

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Question 25

Antonyms

Choose the option opposite in meaning to the word(s) or phrase in italics: The long straight trunk of the tree is ideal for round wood used like railway sleepers, rafters and fence post.

  1. A.best
  2. B.perfect
  3. C.most unsuitable
  4. D.satisfactory
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (most unsuitable)

Explanation

Ideal means perfectly suitable, so its opposite is most unsuitable.

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Question 27

Antonyms

Choose the option opposite in meaning to the word(s) or phrase in italics: The doctor was very gentle with his patients in the examining room.

  1. A.harsh
  2. B.rude
  3. C.tough
  4. D.unkind
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (harsh)

Explanation

Gentle means mild and soft in manner; its direct opposite is harsh.

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Question 34

Idioms and Phrasal Verbs

Choose the option nearest in meaning to the word(s) or phrase in italics: His wife of ten years refused point blank to leave the matrimonial house even when he brought another woman to the home.

  1. A.directly
  2. B.boldly
  3. C.bluntly
  4. D.pointedly
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (bluntly)

Explanation

To refuse point blank is to refuse bluntly and flatly, without softening it.

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Question 46

Tenses

Choose the option that best completes the gap: Could I ring him up? I'd rather you ________

  1. A.visit him
  2. B.would visit him
  3. C.visiting him
  4. D.visited him
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Answer: D (visited him)

Explanation

After 'I'd rather you', English uses the past tense to talk about the present or future: 'I'd rather you visited him'.

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Question 47

Tenses

Choose the option that best completes the gap: ________ him in the crowd I would have told you at once.

  1. A.If I will see
  2. B.If I saw
  3. C.Had I seen
  4. D.Should I see
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (Had I seen)

Explanation

With 'would have told' (past unreal condition), the if-clause needs the past perfect; 'Had I seen' is its inverted form.

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Question 48

Tenses

Choose the option that best completes the gap: How I wish I ________ My mother's advice.

  1. A.had heeded
  2. B.have heeded
  3. C.heed
  4. D.will heed
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Answer: A (had heeded)

Explanation

A wish about the past takes the past perfect: 'I wish I had heeded'.

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Question 49

Tenses

Choose the option that best completes the gap: He ________ by now, I can hear all the people shouting.

  1. A.would have arrived
  2. B.must have arrived
  3. C.has arrived
  4. D.should have arrived
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (must have arrived)

Explanation

The shouting is evidence, so the speaker makes a confident deduction: 'He must have arrived'.

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Question 51

Sentence Interpretation

Choose the most appropriate option that best explains the information in the sentence: My son who is in the USA, is studying Engineering

  1. A.my only son is in U.S.A. studying Engineering
  2. B.one of my sons in U.S.A. is studying Engineering
  3. C.my sons are in USA but only one is studying Engineering
  4. D.only my son in USA studying Engineering
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: B (one of my sons in U.S.A. is studying Engineering)

Explanation

Without a comma before 'who', the clause picks out which son, which implies the speaker has more than one son.

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Question 52

Sentence Interpretation

Choose the most appropriate option that best explains the information in the sentence: People are not interested in who rules

  1. A.people who rule are not interested in the ruled
  2. B.the rulers are no indifferent about the people
  3. C.people are indifferent about the rulers
  4. D.people are not ruled by the people they are interested in
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Answer: C (people are indifferent about the rulers)

Explanation

Not being interested in who rules means people do not care about the rulers, i.e. they are indifferent.

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Question 53

Sentence Interpretation

Choose the most appropriate option that best explains the information in the sentence: He is a clinging child.

  1. A.He is possessive
  2. B.He likes to cling with his sister
  3. C.He is a bully
  4. D.He is a handsome young man
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (He is possessive)

Explanation

A clinging child holds on to people and wants them close all the time, which is possessive behaviour.

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Question 57

Word Stress

Choose the word that has the stress on the first syllable.

  1. A.competent
  2. B.misred
  3. C.resign
  4. D.compel
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A (competent)

Explanation

COM-pe-tent is stressed on the first syllable; the others are stressed on the second.

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