Literature in English JAMB CBT Practice Questions & Answers 2021 SET 1

  

Literature in English JAMB CBT Practice Questions & Answers 2021 SET 1

1. A literary work in which the characters and events are used as symbols is known as _________?

• A. characteristics
• B. allegory
• C. metaphor
• D. parallelism 

Correct Answer: Option B

Explanation

As a literary device, an allegory is a metaphor in which a character, place or event is used to deliver a broader message about real world issues and occurrences.

  Note: Allegory has occurred widely throughout history in all forms of art, largely because it can illustrate complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its listeners, readers or viewers.

  Writers or speakers typically use allegories as literary devices or rhetorical devices.

  A good example of an allegory is “The lion, The witch and The wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis

2. Characterisation in a novel refers to the _____?

• A. writer's opinion of the characters
• B. way the characters are revealed to the reader
• C. characters and the way they behave
• D. reader's opinion of the character

Correct Answer: Option C

Explanation

characters and the way they behave

3.In literacy work, verbal irony refers to a _________?

• A. device in which the speaker means the opposite of what he says
• B. situation in which a character speaks or acts against the tread of events
• C. difficult situation which defies a local or rational resolution
• D. device in which the actor on stage 

Correct Answer: Option A

Explanation

Device in which the speaker means the opposite of what he says

4.In the theatre, words spoken by a character that are meant to be heard by the audience but not by the other characters on stage is called_________?

• A. aside
• B. soliloquy
• C. acoustic
• D. tone

Correct Answer: Option A

Explanation

The term “Aside” is used in drama and theater, and it happens when a character’s dialogue is spoken but not heard by other actors on the stage.

  Asides are useful for giving information about the other characters onstage or the action of the plot.

  The movie titled “Deadpool” is a perfect example of a movie full of ‘asides’

5.Drama is the representation of a complete series of actions by means of _________

• A. movement and gesture for the screen and audience
• B. speech, movement and gesture for the stage only
• C. speech, movement and gesture for the stage, screen and radio
• D. speech, gesture and movement for the screen and radio

 Correct Answer: Option C

Explanation

A drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. A play, opera, mime, ballet etc. performed in a theater(stage), radio or television (screen) considered as a genre of poetry in general.

6.A poet‘s use of regular rhythm is known as _______?

• A. allegory
• B. assonance
• C. metre
• D. onomatopoeia 

Correct Answer: Option C

Explanation

In poetry, metre (Commonwealth English) or meter (American English) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study and the actual use of metres and forms of versification are both known as prosody. (Within linguistics, "prosody" is used in a more general sense that includes not only poetic metre but also the rhythmic aspects of prose, whether formal or informal, that vary from language to language, and sometimes between poetic traditions. Meter is a stressed and unstressed syllabic pattern in a verse, or within the lines of a poem. Stressed syllables tend to be longer, and unstressed shorter. In simple language, meter is a poetic device that serves as a linguistic sound pattern for the verses, as it gives poetry a rhythmical and melodious sound. For instance, if you read a poem aloud, and it produces regular sound patterns, then this poem would be a metered or measured poem. English poetry employs five basic meters, including:

  • Iambic meter (unstressed/stressed)

  • Trochaic meter (stressed/unstressed)

  • Spondaic meter, (stressed/stressed)

  • Anapestic meter (unstressed/unstressed/ stressed)

  • Dactylic meter (stressed/unstressed/unstressed)

  Meter has two subdivisions: qualitative meter, and quantitative meter.

  Qualitative Meter

  Qualitative meter contains stressed syllables with regular intervals, such as iambic pentameter containing even numbered syllables. Quantitative Meter Quantitative meter, however, is based on syllabic weight, and not stressed pattern,s such as dactylic hexameters of classical Greek and classical Latin. However, classical Arabic and Sanskrit also have used this meter. Poets like Virgil used quantitative meter in Aeneid, and Homer used it in Iliad.

  Short Examples of Meter; People become what they believe.

  (Trochaic meter)-Those who can dream it, they really can achieve it.

  (Dactylic/Spondaic)-Don’t search faults. Find remedies.

  (Iambic meter)-When you give and accept gratefully, you feel blessed.

 (Anapestic meter)-The safest place on planet earth.

7.A literacy genre which directly imitates human actions is______?

• A. Drama
• B. comedy
• C. Prose
• D. Poetry

8.A fable is a story in which________?

• A. allegations are made about characters
• B. animal is or things are used as characters
• C. there is an important setting
• D. the story is told in poetic form 

Correct Answer: Option B

Explanation

Fable is a literary device that can be defined as a concise and brief story intended to provide a moral lesson at the end. In literature, it is described as a didactic lesson given through some sort of animal story. In prose and verse, a fable is described through plants, animals, forces, of nature, and inanimate objects by giving them human attributes wherein they demonstrate a moral lesson at the end.

  Features of a Fable: fable is intended to provide a moral story. Fables often use animals as the main characters. They are presented with anthropomorphic characteristics, such as the ability to speak and to reason. Fables personify the animal characters.

9.The juxtaposition of two contrasting ideas in a line of poetry is_________?

• A. euphemism
• B. synecdoche
• C. catharsis
• D. oxymoron 

  Correct Answer: Option D

10.The main aim of caricature is to_______?

• A. describe
• B. expose
• C. emphasise
• D. ridicule 

 Correct Answer: Option D

11. The question is based on Richard Writer’s Native Son

Bigger kills Mary due to______?

• A. Fear
• B. Hatred
• C. Envy
• D. Distrust 

Correct Answer: Option A

Explanation

The protagonist and main character of Native Son, Bigger is the focus of the novel and the embodiment of its main theme—the effect of racism on the psychological state of its black victims. As a twenty-year-old black man cramped in a South Side apartment with his family, Bigger has lived a life defined by the fear and anger he feels toward whites for as long as he can remember. Bigger is limited by the fact that he has only completed the eighth grade, and by the racist real estate practices that force him to live in poverty. Furthermore, he is subjected to endless bombardment from a popular culture that portrays whites as sophisticated and blacks as either subservient or savage. Indeed, racism has severely curtailed Bigger’s prospects in life and even his very conception of himself. He is ashamed of his family’s poverty and afraid of the whites who control his life—feelings he works hard to keep hidden, even from himself. When these feelings overwhelm him, he reacts with violence. Bigger commits crimes with his friends—though only against other blacks, as the group is too frightened to rob a white man—but his own violence is often directed at these friends as well. Bigger feels little guilt after he accidentally kills Mary due to fear. But later on, he feels for the first time as though his life actually has meaning. Mary’s murder makes him believe that he has the power to assert himself against whites. Wright goes out of his way to emphasize that Bigger is not a conventional hero, as his brutality and capacity for violence are extremely disturbing, especially in graphic scenes such as the one in which he decapitates Mary’s corpse in order to stuff it into the furnace. Wright does not present Bigger as a hero to admire, but as a frightening and upsetting figure created by racism. Indeed, Wright’s point is that Bigger becomes a brutal killer precisely because the dominant white culture fears that he will become a brutal killer. By confirming whites’ fears, Bigger contributes to the cycle of racism in America. Only after he meets Max and learns to talk through his problems does Bigger begin to redeem himself, recognizing whites as individuals for the first time and realizing the extent to which he has been stunted by racism. Bigger’s progress is cut short, however, by his execution

12. The question is based on Richard Writer’s Native Son

Weekly, Bigger is to be paid_________?

• A. Twenty Dollars
• B. Twenty Five Dollars
• C. Thirty Dollars
• D. Thirty Five Dollars 

Correct Answer: Option B

13. The question is based on Richard Writer’s NATIVE SON

Mr Datton is of the opinion that Negroes are happier when they are

• A. together
• B. servant in the white family
• C. educated
• D. given some respect 

Correct Answer: Option B

Explanation

Mr. Dalton has earned a fortune in real estate. Although he profits from charging high rents to poor black tenants—including Bigger’s family—on Chicago’s South Side, he nonetheless claims to be a generous philanthropist and supporter of black Americans. Mr. Dalton is a major player in the production of the “whiteness” that terrifies, oppresses, and enrages Bigger. Despite Bigger’s criminal record, Mr. Dalton gives him a job because he thinks that blacks deserve a chance. Nonetheless, there is condescension in Mr. Dalton’s manner and charity. He simultaneously profits from keeping blacks like Bigger’s family in terrible housing, and expresses alleged benevolence by giving Bigger a menial job.

14. The question is based on Bayo Adebowale's LONELY DAYS

Widows mourning in Kofi wear garments that are________???

• A. White
• B. Red
• C. Black
• D. Green

Correct Answer: Option C

Explanation

This is experienced by the widows; Radeke, Fayoyin, Dedewee and Yaremi after the death of their husbands. They are expected to stay indoor for some months and should not put on flamboyant dresses during these periods, they should only be in black garments. The tradition demands that they live lonely lives during the period.

15. The question is based on Bayo Adebowale's LONELY DAYS

In the novel, bage cape signifies everlasting ________?

• A. happiness
• B. sorrow
• C. freedom
• D. despair

Correct Answer: Option C

16. The question is based on George Orwell's NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR

The novels draws a picture of______?

• A. useless past
• B. a totalitarian future
• C. an unstable moment
• D. a peaceful atmosphere

Correct Answer: Option A

17. The question is based on Bayo Adebowale's LONELY DAYS

Yaremi's only son is______?

• A. Alani
• B. Wande
• C. Olode
• D. Deyo

Correct Answer: Option A

Explanation

According the the novel “lonely days” yeremi’s only son is Alani who lived in the city. He hardly goes to the village having been exposed to the city life, he is a carpenter by profession. He is a contrast between the village and the modern world.

18. The question is based on George Orwell's NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR.

The power and oppression of an irresistible evil debased Winston’s dreams of________?

• A. internal security
• B. wealth and capitalism
• C. freedom and democracy
• D. sovereignty forestall reconciliation

Correct Answer: Option C

19. The question is based on George Orwell's NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR.

The novel can be described as__________?

• A. optimistic
• B. antagonistic
• C. persuasive
• D. pessimistic 

Correct Answer: Option A

20.The question is based on George Orwell's NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR.

Room 101 symbolises a place of________???

• A. rest
• B. fun
• C. humiliation
• D. torture

Correct Answer: Option D

Explanation

Interestingly, the torture room is called "Room 101"; 101 is always the basic course in which the fundamentals of a course are taught, so the essential fears are learned and then the prisoner is subjected to them. By subjecting a person to his or her greatest and most essential fears, the torturer can tap into the terror of that person's soul, and, thus, break that person psychologically more easily.

21. The question is based on J.P Clark's WIVES REVOLT.

In the play. the central idea is that gender equity_______?

• A. both undesirable and unattainable
• B. desirable and unattainable
• C. attainable and desirable
• D. obnoxious and desirable 

Correct Answer: Option C

22. The question is based on J.P Clark's WIVES REVOLT.

In their fight, the women settle at Iyara in order to_______?

• A. Cure cross-piece
• B. Hurt their husbands
• C. Forestall reconciliation
• D. Seeks peace

Corr ect Answer: Option B

Explanation

There are only three characters in this drama, making the story easy to follow from the outset. It clearly dramatises the injustice the women suffer at the hands of their men. Unlike in traditional times, when the fairer sex had to swallow whatever males gave them, the wives (and even the mothers of the men) of the Erhuwaren don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. They know how to fight for their rights. Okoro represents the deepest kinds of misogyny: when men don’t help their women to do the chores, don’t give their wives enough money for food and yet complain the soup isn’t tasty. Or those who beat up their partners in a drunken state and cap it all by accusing them of crimes they haven’t committed (Chinelo Oputa). In their flight the women settle at iyara in order hurt their husbands

23. The question is based on J.P Clark's WIVES REVOLT.

"Great Orators in the assembly, and poor nannies at home." Those being ridiculed here are the_________?

• A. Husbands
• B. Old Women
• C. Wives
• D. Spinsters

Correct Answer: Option A

24. The question is based on J.P Clark's WIVES REVOLT.

"Those who have full breasts have walked out, and that leaves you, me, and the old girls returned_______

• A. front of the veranda of Okoro's house
• B. the-kitchen, upstairs
• C. Okoro’s front yard, down stage
• D. the direction of the kitchen, off stage

Correct Answer: Option A

25. The question is based on J.P Clark's WIVES REVOLT.

The mutual exchange of abuse in the play is reminiscent of_________

• A. Ikaki
• B. Udje
• C. Etiyeri
• D. Ekpe

Correct Answer: Option B

26. The question is based on William’s Shakespeare’s OTHELLO

ill-starred wench: Pale as thy smoke; When we shall meet at compt"

The device used in the line above is__________

• A. Simile
• B. Pun
• C. Metaphor
• D. Paradox 

Correct Answer: Option A

Explanation

A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as.” Therefore, it is a direct comparison.

27. The question is based on William’s Shakespeare’s OTHELLO

Othello kills Desdemona because the_______

• A. former is jealous
• B. former's race is insulted
• C. latter is a witch
• D. latter is an idol

Correct Answer: Option A

28. The question is based on William’s Shakespeare’s OTHELLO

Brabantio is opposed to the relationship between Othello and Desdemona because_________

• A. he prefers lago
• B. Othello is a moor
• C. Rodgerigo woos her first
• D. Desdemona is too young 

Correct Answer: Option B

29. The question is based on William’s Shakespeare’s OTHELLO

"Soft you; a word or two before you go. I have done the state some service and they knew’ No more of

• A. Travelling
• B. Sick
• C. Dying
• D. Eloping

Correct Answer: Option C

30. The question is based on William’s Shakespeare's OTHELLO

"O heaven; How got she out?

O treason of the blood!

Father; from hence trust not your daughters' minds

By what you see them act. Is there not charms

By which the property of youth and maid-hood

May be abused?

The speaker of the excerpt above is________

• A. Brabantio
• B. Othello
• C. Gratiano
• D. Roderigo 

 1

Use the following excerpt to answer the question.

And awake me. from my sweet dreams be lost,

Sucking blood from my poor head...

Mbure: "To Bed-Bug"

The lines are an example of a________?

• A. limerick
• B. lampoon
• C. light verse
• D. light opera

Correct Answer: Option A

32. Use the following excerpt to answer the question.

"I wonder how long, you awful parasites,

Shall share with me this little bed.

And awake me. from my sweet dreams be lost,

Sucking blood from my poor head...

Mbure: "To Bed-Bug"

The poet persona expresses dismay about________

• A. bet
• B. cockroaches
• C. grasshoppers
• D. light opera

Correct Answer: Option B

33.Use the following excerpt to answer the question.

"I wonder how long, you awful parasites,

Shall share with me this little bed.

And awake me. from my sweet dreams be lost,

Sucking blood from my poor head...

Mbure: "To Bed-Bug"

The most dominant figure of speech in the excerpt is________

• A. metaphor
• B. simile
• C. personification
• D. hyperbole

Correct Answer: Option C

34. Your head is like a drum that is beaten for spirits

Yours ears are like the fans used for blowing fire.

The lines above are a good example of_________

• A. caricature
• B. ridicule
• C. satire
• D. lampoon

Correct Answer: Option D

35. How can I look at Oyo and say I hate long shiny cars? How can I come to the children and despise international schools? And Koomson comes; and the family sees Jesus Christ in him...

The feeling conveyed by the speaker above is one of_________

• A. anger
• B. alienation
• C. hope
• D. despair

Correct Answer: Option D

36. "Hide me now, when night children haunt the earth" Wole Soyinka: "Night". 

Night children in the stanza above reacts the consciousness of__________

• A. birds
• B. armed robbers
• C. animals
• D. spirit beings

Correct Answer: Option B

37. Serrated Shadows, through dark leaves,

Till, bathed in warm suffusion of your dapped cells
sensation pained me, faceless, silent as night thieves
Wole Soyinka: "Night" 

The dominant mood in the lines above is one at____________

• A. apprehension
• B. defiance
• C. joy
• D. indifference 

Correct Answer: Option A

Explanation

Apprehension is the suspicion or fear especially of future evil, this is evident in the piece as the writer is suspicious of the “ night children “.

38."The drum overwhelmed the guns..." J.P Stark: "Casualties"

The poet in the excerpt above uses

• A. litotes
• B. symbolism
• C. onomatopoeia
• D. aliteration

Correct Answer: Option C

Explanation

Onomatopoeia, pronounced on-uh-mat-uh–pee–uh, is defined as a word which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting .For instance, saying, “The gushing stream flows in the forest” is a more meaningful description than just saying, “The stream flows in the forest.” The reader is drawn to hear the sound of a “gushing stream,” which makes the expression more effective. In addition to the sounds they represent, many onomatopoeic words have developed meanings of their own. For example, the word “whisper” not only represents the wispy or breathy sound of people talking quietly, but also describes the action of people talking quietly. than just saying, “The stream flows in the forest.” The reader is drawn to hear the sound of a “gushing stream,” which makes the expression more effective

39. "... They do not see the funeral plies, At home eating up the forests..." J.P Clark: “Casualties"

The imagery created in the above excerpt is achieved through______

• A. Metaphor
• B. Personification
• C. Synecdoche
• D. Metonymy 

 Correct Answer: Option A

40. “I cannot rest from travel: I will drink, life to the lees, all times I have enjoyed greatly, have suffered greatly”. A.L. Tennyson: “Ulysses”

  The lines above inform the reader that the poet

• A. Is determined to suffer
• B. Has his poetic imagination kindled
• C. Will cure his sour mood
• D. Will not drink much 

Correct Answer: Option B

Explanation

Tennyson's "Ulysses" is a poem about the heroic spirit .the poet expresses his luxuriance of imagination, and at the same time, his control over it.

41. He who writes a prose is a__________?

• A. Poet
• B. Writer
• C. Author
• D. Actor

Correct Answer: Option C

Explanation

One who writes a prose is generally known as the author

42. In drama, the protagonist is ________

• A. the writer of the drama
• B. the leading character
• C. the “nice guy”
• D. the actor

Correct Answer: Option B

Explanation

The protagonist is the leading character or the major characters in a play film or novel, the protagonist is the advocate or champion of a particular cause or idea.

43. Tension between the protagonist and the antagonist is called______

• A. Climax
• B. Concrete
• C. Conflict
• D. Confident

Correct Answer: Option A

Explanation

The climax or turning point of a narrative work is its point of highest tension between the protagonist and the antagonist in a drama

44. The phrase “living death” in a literary work is an example_____________

• A. Synecdoche
• B. Prose
• C. Oxymoron
• D. Aside

Correct Answer: Option C

Explanation

Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect. The common oxymoron phrase is a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings, such as “cruel kindness,” or “living death”. However, the contrasting words/phrases are not always glued together. The contrasting ideas may be spaced out in a sentence, such as, “In order to lead, you must walk behind.”

45. Group of lines are called _____

• A. Sentences
• B. Stanzas
• C. Danzas
• D. Line Grouping

Correct Answer: Option B

Explanation

A group of lines in a poem is known as a stanza

46. A literary device in which parts of a sentence are grammatically the same, or are similar in construction Is known as__________

• A. Simile
• B. Aside
• C. Parallelism
• D. Irony

Correct Answer: Option C

Explanation

Parallelism is a literary device in which parts of the sentence are grammatically the same or similar in construction, it could be a word, phrase an entire sentence repeated. A perfect example is the Martin Luther king Jr’s famous “I have a dream” repetition makes the speech compelling and rhythmic as well as memorable.

47. How can I look at Oyo and say I hate long shiny cars? How can I come to the children and despise international schools? And Koomson comes; and the family sees Jesus Christ in him…

  The feeling conveyed by the speaker above is one of_____________

• A. Anger
• B. Alienation
• C. Hope
• D. Despair

Correct Answer: Option D

Explanation

This means to lose hope concerning someone or something, now according to piece of writing the poet says “how can I look at Oyo and say I hate long shiny cars”, this means the poet feels lost and would hope for a chance but it seems there is none

48. "Peter's pretty partner paid the bills" is an example of___________?

• A. Alliteration
• B. Rhyme
• C. Satire
• D. Digression

Correct Answer: Option A

Explanation

Alliteration definition, the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration), as in from stem to stern, or with a vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration), as in each to all.

49. What does the playwright do?

• A. Writes a poem
• B. Writes a book
• C. Writes a play
• D. Directs a drama

Correct Answer: Option C

Explanation

A playwright is someone who writes plays for the stage.

50.   Which of these is the meaning of “CAST”?

• A. a list of all characters in a drama
• B. what the character is saying
• C. the person who writes the drama
• D. a list of protagonists in a drama 

Correct Answer: Option A

Explanation

Cast is the list of all characters in a drama.

Correct Answer: Option A

Explanation

Cast is the list of all characters in a drama.