10 questions from the JAMB 2010 Literature paper, with answers and explanations. Tap "Show answer" under each one when you are ready.
JAMB 2010Question 1 · Drama Set Texts
Use the quotation below to answer this question. Bash: You dumb skull of a bone head... you will face court martial for this. You look everywhere? You search inside toilet bowl? Wole Soyinka: King Baabu From the tone of the speech above the speaker is obviously
A.lackadaisical
B.elated
C.happy
D.enraged
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Answer: D. enraged
Bash's aggressive, threatening tone ('you will face court martial') conveys that he is enraged.
JAMB 2010Question 2 · Drama Set Texts
This question is based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Romeo is banished from Mantua because he
A.kills Tybalt in a street's duel
B.marries Juliet without parental consent
C.attends Capulet's party uninvited
D.attempts to kill Paris, his rival
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Answer: A. kills Tybalt in a street's duel
Romeo is banished for killing Tybalt in a street duel avenging Mercutio's death.
JAMB 2010Question 3 · General Literary Principles
These questions are based on General Literary Principles. A formal dignified speech or writing praising a person or a thing for past or present deeds is
A.eulogy
B.anthology
C.lampoon
D.premiere
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Answer: A. eulogy
A eulogy is a formal, dignified speech or writing praising a person or thing.
JAMB 2010Question 4 · General Literary Principles
These questions are based on General Literary Principles. The account of an experience of an individual during the course of a journey is known as
A.an autobiography
B.a catalogue
C.a memoir
D.a travelogue
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Answer: D. a travelogue
A travelogue is an account of an individual's experiences during a journey.
JAMB 2010Question 5 · General Literary Principles
Monometer is a
A.Line of verse consisting of a metrical foot
B.Single foot used in John Milton's sonnets
C.line repeated in first syllable of a word
D.Single meter of Coleridge's poem, 'Christabel.'
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Answer: A. Line of verse consisting of a metrical foot
A monometer is a line of verse consisting of a single metrical foot.
JAMB 2010Question 6 · General Literary Principles
The term for the moral flaw or weakness that leads to downfall of a major character in drama is
A.denouement
B.hamartia
C.chaos
D.reversal
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Answer: B. hamartia
Hamartia is the tragic hero's moral flaw or error in judgment that leads to their downfall.
JAMB 2010Question 7 · Literary Appreciation
What figure of speech is conveyed in the sentence below? The booming of the gun.
A.onomatopoeia
B.synedoche
C.metaphor
D.irony
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Answer: A. onomatopoeia
'The booming of the gun' is onomatopoeia, as 'booming' imitates the sound it describes.
JAMB 2010Question 8 · Poetry Set Texts
'To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour' - William Blake To see a World In a Grain of Sand. The predominant figure of speech used in the lines above is
A.metaphor
B.paradox
C.hyperbole
D.simile
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Answer: B. paradox
Blake's lines express a paradox -- seeing the infinite and eternal within something as small as a grain of sand.
JAMB 2010Question 9 · Poetry Set Texts
This question is based on selected poems from Ker, D. et al (eds.): New Poetry from Africa; Soyinka, W. (ed.): Poems of Black African; Senanu, K.E. and Vincent, T.(ds.): A Selection of African Poetry; Umukoro, M. et al (eds.); Exam Focus: Literature-in-English; Eruvbetine, A.E. et al (eds.) Longman Examination Guides and Nwoga, D.I. (ed.):West African Verse Rubadiri's An African Thunderstorm , says that during thunderstorm in the village
A.children are delighted while women move in and out
B.children play in the rain
C.both women and children are delighted
D.women cook their food.
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Answer: A. children are delighted while women move in and out
In Rubadiri's 'An African Thunderstorm', the children are delighted while the women bustle in and out preparing for the storm.
JAMB 2010Question 10 · Prose Set Texts
This question is based on Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood . In the novel, the society puts high value on
A.egalitarianism
B.male ascendency
C.gender equity
D.procreation
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Answer: B. male ascendency
The society in the novel places a high value on male ascendancy, prizing sons over daughters.
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