PRE-MOCK EXAMINATION 2023 O/L

RESH
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
PAPER 1
PART I MULTIPLE CHOICE
INSTRUCTIONS Read carefully the instructions of react question before answering.
(Tick the correct answer)
A. READING COMPREHENSION (10Marks)
Read the passages below and answer the questions that follow
There are things we trust our child will grow up receiving, like a love for words, and others we try hard to
give him, perhaps as bulwarks of sanity and purpose in a crazy time and society. We never have led Lorea
learn about toilet training. He began his move at the pot at nineteen months under the urge of emulation
and took ten more to complete it with his peers in the play group. But we have worked hard to teach him to
care for living things, as naturally as we can.
For the bias of our culture, is against life and needs purposeful opposing. Kids began early to be
indoctrinated in the anti-life mythology – the jingle that most offends me, even more than ‘’ snips and snails
and puppy – dogs’ tails’’ is the one about little miss Mullet and her fear of the spider, symbol of all the evilly
animate, crawly, creepy things. It’s hard now to know what to take seriously and make politics of. But being
for life has no arbitrary limit, and our needs to learn humility as a species in the cosmos may be directly
connected with the atrocities we struggle against daily.
In any case, Karen and I have learned to love spiders and have grown to cherish their cohabitation of our
cottage and its delicate ecology. We know the ones we spin in the light and those who like dark and migrate
at night when their webs grow too dusty; we cleared them from favoured places to be built anew. Washing
windows, we watch out for the tiny ones. They give us more service in pleasure than as fly catches foe they
can’t keep up in summer. And so our home is a school in this ecology, as Lorea grows, a set of relationships
already begun as a condition of our own growth and not assumed » for his benefit » much of our « trying
hard » consist only in our self-consciousness of how delighted we are to turn him on to what we love. For
each relation with the spiders and other life is revealed anew as a ritual of being, as we involve him in its
performance.
The environment is his teacher; we are its aids. As soon as its eyes could focus on pattern, he lost himself
for hours in the hanging arabesques of the ferns. We took care often to hold him up so he could stroke them
when he began crawling around and grabbing things, he ripped off enough leaves to make us squirm in
poises indignation each time he approached a plant, Unable to go with the natural flower we blow it, his
tugging got into the slapping thing before we realized what we were doing. We got out by letting off our
over-reaction to his sacrilege and by accepting him for a while as a natural predator.

QUESTIONS:

1. How long did Lorea take to acquaint himself with his toilet training?
A. 19 months B. 10 months C. 29 months D. 39 months A, B, C, D
2. The word ‘’living’’ (line 4) is a present participle modifying:
A. A singular noun B. A plural noun C. An adjective D. An article A, B, C, D
3. The word ‘’opposing’’ (line 6) is:
A. Gerund B. Past participle C. Verb D. Conjunction A, B, C, D
4. The following piled expression; evilly animate crawly, creepy things (line 8) gives precise information
about:
A. Miss Muffet B. Dog’s tails C. Snails D. Spider A, B, C, D
 5. Much of our « trying hard » consists only in our… what we love (lines 19,20-21), the expression in
quotes shows:
A. Some hidden meaning conceived by the writer. B. A clear meaning to his readers.
C. Good style in writing. D. Good use of expression in writing. A, B, C, D
6. I have read this new book before; I wish to re-read it anew. What are the grammatical functions of new
and anew?
A. Adjective and Noun C. Verb and adjective.
B. Adjective and adverbs. D. Verb and verb. A, B, C, D
7. Which word from the list below corresponds with the word « crazy » (line 2).
A. Normal B. Foolish C. Fine D. Resting. A, B, C, D
8. What is the writer’s purpose in writing this text?
A. To provoke B. To request
C. To express feelings. D. To summaries. A, B, C, D
9. But we have worked hard… as naturally as we can (line 5) what grammatical function is in the tense
« have worked »?
A. Past tense B. Present tense C. Past perfect D. Present participle. A, B, C, D
10. What makes them hate their culture?
A. Culture is against life B. Kids are drilled in early indoctrination
C. Kids are opposed D. Jingling is most offensive A, B, C, D

B. GRAMMAR

1. The winner of the race was_________

A. him B. he C. her D. them A, B, C, D
2. He gave the money to Jane and _________
A. I B. he C. she D. me A, B, C, D
3. War play football every Saturday, ________?
A. do we B. don’t we C. didn’t we D. doesn’t we A, B, C, D
4. She left a note, _____________?
A. didn’t she B. did she C. wasn’t she D. isn’t it A, B, C, D
5. Students shouldn’t work while schooling, ______________?
A. aren’t they B. isn’t it C. should they D. not so A, B, C, D
6. We saw her, ______________?
A. did we B. aren’t we C. didn’t we D. do we A, B, C, D
7. ‘’ Bigger than ‘’ is
A. an adjective B. a comparative adjective C. a superlative adjective D. a noun A, B, C, D
8. The rice I prepare today tested ________ than the one I prepared last Tuesday.
A. good B. more better C. best D. better A, B, C, D
9. Linda is _________beautiful
A. no answer B. most C. more D. beautiful A, B, C, D
10. ‘’ My father’s car’’ The apostrophe in the phrase is:
A. A place of omission B. The plural form C. Possession D. an indication A, B, C, D
 C. VOCABULARY
11. There is cholera ____________ throughout the county.
A. epidemic B. pandemic C. outbreak D. attack A, B, C, D

 Pick out the synonym of the underlined word

12. The match began at 2:30 pm
A. Ended B. commenced C. took place D. stop A, B, C, D
13. Students in form five may elect to stand 1s perfect.
A. vote for B. choose C. chose D. discriminate A, B, C, D

 Pick out the antonym of the underlined word

14. He was so kind to the visitors.
A. gentle B. strict C. hostile D. kindness A, B, C, D
15. Yaoundé 1 University has a large intake of students each year.
A. rejection B. product C. output D. turnout A, B, C, D
16. Students are sometimes timid.
A. Friendly B. bold C. destroy D. naïve A, B, C, D
17. He suffered __________for three days.
A. diarhea B. diarrhoea C. diarrhea D. dariyer A, B, C, D
18. I enjoyed the ________ my mother cooked last Sunday.
A. Porridge B. poridge C. porrige D. porrigge A, B, C, D
19. Pick one word that has the same syllables as in the word colonisation
A. disqualification B. explanation C. investigation D. nourishment A, B, C, D
20. Cameroon is a bilingual country. Since it has _______ official languages.
A. two B. many C. three D. four A, B, C, D
Paper II
SECTION A : DIRECTED WRITING (30 MARKS)
MARK DISTRIBUTION: Content (14 marks)
Expression and accuracy (10 marks)
Slanting (6 marks)
At the last general meeting of the parents’/teachers’ Association (P.T.A) of your school, an official from the
Ministry of Social Welfare gave this talk to the parents, teachers and students on the Acquired Immuno
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Your friend who missed the talk would like to benefit from it. Selecting relevant information from the talk
write a letter to him/her pointing out the difficulties that people suffering from AIDS and their famili.es
encounter in their communities. Your letter should be written in such a way as to arouse sympathy for AIDS
persons and their families it should be written not more than two paragraphs of 150 words. Your name is
Tikidanki and your address is Roadlake College, P.O. BOX 0200, Osobo
My dear friends,
I have been working among people with AIDS-related illnesses for five years, and I think that there are
several problems which they and their families face. AIDS causes an enormous amount of anxiety within
the family because it may not be possible to tell every member that a relative has AIDS. For instance, the
grandmother may have a weak heart and it would be risky to tell her. Thus one of the difficulties
encountered once a person's diagnosis is confirmed is how the family will be informed. Also AIDS can
sometimes cause the disintegration of the family unit. I know one family which managed to stay together
until their child died, but have since split up. The parents have separated, the brothers and sisters are in
different camps. Part of the problem is that there were many accusations made when the young person was
ill. The dead reactivated all kinds of unsolved ill feelings within the family. Then, sometimes, there is a
hostile reaction towards the AIDS person: "Well, he's brought it on himself and he'd better get on with it."
"He would never listen to me, so it's his own fault" On the other hand, the AIDS person may feel rebellious
and reject the overwhelming care and attention from his family.
The family of an AIDS person can feel very frightened of becoming an outcast in the community. That
feeling is often, sadly, justified. Some time ago I asked a priest, I met what he was doing among people with
HIV/AIDS. He said. « I bury them when nobody else will, you see some corpses are abandoned. » Sometimes
people are even afraid that their jobs will be affected. In one family I know, a lady was terrified that the
knowledge that the brother had AIDS might mean she would lose her job. Living with the secret is another
big problem. I can think of a family where the mother decided that no one outside the family cycle should
know about the illness. She even stopped going to the market in case someone asked her questions for
which she had no rehearsed answers. I have also known family members who felt they could not go out to
meetings or other social places for the same reason. So they remain absolutely in the home and dare not
face anyone else. They become very isolated, and isolation can lead to stress, even to breaking point.
Families who have high religious codes could feel that their AIDs relative has brought a particular stigma or
disgrace on them. Moreover, for older parents, what is hardest to bear is the knowledge that a son or
daughter will not be able to give them grandchildren, they will also not be able to rejoice in or benefit from
his or her career.
The longer I work in this field the more I feel we need to avoid being judgmental. I learnt a real lesson
myself once. I was told that one gentleman was HIV positive and I assumed that he had picked up the virus
either through promiscuity or through drugs. The story is quite different. He told me later he became
infected when he had a blood transfusion following a car accident. It is also very sad that there are still
people who will not go near persons with AIDS and will see them as the scum of the earth and their illness
as the wrath of God. But I have come to recognize the God of the compassion who gives his love to those
ostracised by the society. We must recognise that AIDS persons are human beings who have the same
sentiments as everybody else the same fear, the same sense of guilt, and the same need for solidarity, love
and acceptance by the family, friends and the society at large Both the person with AIDS and the family of
that person need emotional and financial support Above all, the society needs to give such a person hope,
and help him to live a useful and normal life to the end
Thank you for listening to me
SECTION B: COMPOSITION (40marks)
In about 450-500 words, write on any of the topic
1. “An accident I witnessed”
2. How to prepare and serve your favourite dish
3. Poverty