Literature in English Past Questions

Study and practice Literature in English past questions with answers and detailed explanations. Then test your knowledge using our interactive CBT practice platform and prepare confidently for your upcoming examinations.

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Past Questions

3,839 questions
Question 1 of 20 3,839 total questions
Question 1601
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation
'She certainly doesn't want to play
Other Woman in some conventional, boring triangle. She doesn't feel like an other Woman; she isn't weedling or devious, she doesn't wear negligees or paint her toe nails. William may think she's exotic but she isn't really; she's straightforward, narrow and unadomed, a scientist; not of web-spinner, expert at the entrapment of husbands.
Life before Man by Margaret Atwood
According to the passage, the 'Other Woman' by definition is
Abeautiful and vivacious
Bdishonest and deceitful and
Ccareless and dowdy
Dmanipulative and predatory
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Question 1602
jamb 1990

This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
'I die, yet depart not,
I am bound, yet soar free;
Thou art and thou art not,
And ever shall be!'
'The City of Dreams' by Robert Buchanan. The literary device consciously used in the above extract is

Ametaphysical conceit
Bparadox
Coxymoron
Dmeiosis
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Question 1603
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
'His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink,'
Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
The dominant device in this extract is
Aprogressive repetition
Bprogressive amplification
Cbold contrast
Drhyetorical emphasis
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Question 1604
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
'Beautiful Kareendi, flower of my heart. No one but you can type them. For I want to send them care of the address of your heart, by the post of your heart, to be read by the eye of your heart, thereafter to be kept within your heart, sealed there forever and ever'.
Devil on the Cross by Ngugi wa Thiong'o.
The aesthetic appeal of this seduction emanates from the predominant use of
Asimile
Bmetaphor
Cmetonymy
Dsynecdoche
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Question 1605
jamb 1990

This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
A necessary quality of every work of literature is that it

Ashows a creative use of language
Bhas to be publishable in order to gain wide acceptance
Cteaches a moral lesson
Dcharacters or actors
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Question 1606
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
In literary criticism, a casual reference to a figure or an event is regarded as an
Aalliteration
Ballegory
Callusion
Dambiguity
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Question 1607
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
A paradox is
Aapplied to a word or combination of words whose sound resembles the sense
Ba statement which seems self-contraditory or absurd, yet turns out to have a valid meaning
Can episode of pantomime introduced through gesture and bodily movement in a play
Dan elaborately conceived poem expressing an urban poet's nostalgia for life in the country
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Question 1608
jamb 1990

This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
Which of the following could be applicable to all genres?

ASymbolism
BRhythm
CAction
DNarration
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Question 1609
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
Which of the following is central to narrative fiction?
ASequence of events
BDialogue
CObjectivity
DSubjectivity
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Question 1610
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
A statement whose meaning is contrary to that openly expressed is an example of
Ametaphor
Boxymoron
Cirony
Dpersonification
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Question 1611
jamb 1990

This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
When a character in a literary work exists primarily to enhance, through contrast, the portrayal of the personal traits of another character is a

Aprotagonist
Bantagonist
Cmirror character
Dfoil
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Question 1612
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
The epilogue in a literary composition is
Aat the beginning
Bin the middle
Cat the end
Djust before the end
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Question 1613
jamb 1990
This question is based on General Literature Principles and Literary Appreciation.
The basic idea of any given work of art is its
Aimagery
Bstyle
Ctheme
Dtone
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Question 1614
jamb 1990

This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter
The letter from used in the novel is particularly effective because it

Ais dramatic in impact
Bdispenses with dialogue
Cis an intimate form of expression
Dis tragic in content
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Question 1615
jamb 1990

This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter
'... In spite of your voice and your gift of oratory, you preferred obscure work, less well paid but constructive for your country,...
This description refers to

AModou Fall
BMawdo Ba
CDaouda Dieng
DAissatou
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Question 1616
jamb 1990

This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter
'Friendship has splendours that love knows not.
It grows stronger when crossed, whereas obstacles kill love. Friendship resists time, which wearies and severs couples. It has heights unknown to love'.
The friendship referred to in these lines is that between

ABinetou and Modou Fall
BRamatoulaye and Daouda Dieng
CModou Faill and Mawdo Ba
DAissatou and Ramatoulaye
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Question 1617
jamb 1990

This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter
Aunty Nabou's subtle influence over young Nabou was developed and effected through

Aformal education
Bfamily ties
Coral education
Dmaternal authority
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Question 1618
jamb 1990

This question is based on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter
What is the source of Aissatou's success in life?

AVengeance
BFeminine courage
CSocial connections
DLuck
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Question 1619
jamb 1990

This question is based on Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God
''...It is praiseworthy to be brave and fearless, my son, but sometimes it is better to be a coward.
We often stand in the compound of a coward to point at the ruins where a brave man used to live. soon submit to the burial mat.''
In this passage, Ezeulu is pointing out to his son the wisdom in

Amoderation
Bbravery
Ccowardice
Dsitting on the fence
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Question 1620
jamb 1990

This question is based on Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God
The immediate cause of the war between Umuaro and Okperi was the

Aland dispute
Bmurder of Akukalia
Cintervention of Captain Winterbottom
Dsiting of the colonial adminstrative headquarters at Okperi
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