JAMB 2020 English Language Past Questions and Answers Online Practice Quiz

Theatre in the recent past used to be a very popular art in traditional African society. It used to be a point of intersection where members of the community not only come to entertain themselves, 'but join heads together'. In the traditional context of African drama, therefore, theatre was popular and respectable institution which preserved the people's culture and tradition. Theatre was popular with the people because it emphasized community participation, peace and progress. The presentations focused on the people's lives, their aspirations, fears, and hopes. But today, the situation is different. Theatre is becoming very unpopular.

 Africa of the present age is pre-occupied with many problems yearning for immediate solutions. The continent is facing hydra-head challenges - challenges on the political, social, and economic scenes. In a world where Science and Technology are seen as the solutions to these problems, little attention is paid to the arts. Literature generally, and drama in particular is often rated very low on the utility-scale. Many Africa today look at drama and theatre as a mere thing of fun, a joke so to say.

Elitism is another barrier that militates against the appreciation of theatre as a communal art. Folk theatre is appreciated by a negligible number of people, contemporary focus is on literary theatre. Unfortunately, literary theatre only pretends to serve the interest of its society while in reality, it has a foreign audience in mind. The use of European and American theatrical conventions by our academic playwrights can bear witness to this anomaly.

 The popularity of the literary African theatre is further marred by the medium of communication as most literary dramas in Africa are written in foreign languages which are not understood by many Africans. The question often asked is whether the artist should climb down to the level of his community of stay at his exalted height and wait for the community to gradually move up to him.

Theatre was popular in Africa because__________

The financing of the university will always be a vexatious problem not only because of the need for it to maintain a level of independence that allows for the thriving of intellectual pursuit but also for the size of the funding that is required to maintain an acceptable level of infrastructure in a modern university. The experience of the Nigerian university in recent years has, in this regard, been almost alarming. The funding levels requited constitute sufficient reasons for diversifying the sources. Even if the government was in a position on its own to meet all of the university's financial requirements, I consider it desirable that every effort be made to reduce such contribution in the interest of university autonomy. I also hold the view that the university should seek to become dependent, in a substantial way, on funds generated from within. In other words, the sources of funding the university should be diversified as much as possible. Based on this principle, ·we can identify four sources - government, industry, students, and individual philanthropists. I must add quickly that each source has its own set of problems in its continuous interaction with the university, which ought to be addressed here.

 Of all the four major sources of financing university education mentioned above, contribution through fees from the students involves intricate issues of special concern If government gives as an expression of its obligation to promote the general welfare of society if industry gives in order to enhance its chances of procurement of needed human information and material resources, as well as enhance its social responsibility if the general public gives as an indication of voluntary support for a worthy social cause, students (and by inference, their parents) should give in order to purchase an economic good for meeting their own felt need in the expectation that they will be satisfied with the product purchased.

[Adapted from Onosode, GO: 'The politics of Managing People, Prospects and Poverty: The Role of the University, 1990 OAU Convocation}

It is important for university to be independent so that they can________

_________almost fainted when he heard that some students were caught on the school's basketball court at night having sex.

Calculator

Criticism

Expenditure

The man, as well as the woman ________, arrested

Many a ____________ to understand me

It is you that __________ to write the letter

My father _______ on the floor

This class __________students and teachers

Before I arrived, the choir _______ the hymn

The soldier _________ his gun on the wall after the armed robber______

Thank you for the __________ of presenting my paper.

My brother graduated from university last year; he will soon_________

You need to _______ your points

All the people in the bus died in that _________  accident

All the ________ were stolen by the thieves

What a ______! the more you look, the less you see

The soldiers pledge their ________ loyalty to the new government

After interrogation, the police ______ the information from the suspect.

Mr Cham will never tell you everything, he is very ________

Many countries no longer have _______ punishment as the penalty for murder

__________ packages should always be handled with care

Because of the hard times, workers live in ___________ poverty

Our chief is very intelligent but he could be parochial in his judgements

Coming late to work, according to Leonard, is inimical to the progress of the company

If he declines the offer, it will be better for him.

The appearance which the famous actor made last month was his swan song. This meant that_________

Muiz does not let the grass grow under his feet. This means that Muiz _________

The Major demanded an unalloyed and not a __________ loyalty from his soldiers

The economist argued that the apparently inconsequential rise in the price of petrol had a _________ effect on the cost of living

The exotic bird looked resplendent; its bright plumage contrasted with the rather _________ undergrowth

I thought that the comments made by the Manager were quite innocuous but the chairman considered them __________