BECE 2014 English Past Questions – Essay (Paper 2)

JUNE 2014
ENGLISH LANGUAGE 2
1 hour

Answer two questions in all; one question from Part A and all the questions in Part B.
Your composition should be about 250 words long.

PART A
ESSAY WRITING
[30 MARKS]

Answer one question only from this part

1. You have been offered admission to a Senior High School to pursue a programme which you do not like. Write to the headmaster of the school stating at least two reasons why you want the programme changed.

2. Write an article to be published in a national newspaper on why every school should have a library

3. Write the speech you would give at your school’s graduation day on The school’s achievements and failures in the academic year.

PART B
COMPREHENSION
[30 marks]

4. Read the following passage carefully and answer all the questions which follow

Fatimeh was always silent. She learnt a lot within a short time. In one month, she could milk cows, separate butter and cheese from the milk, ferment the milk and cook nearly as well as Rikku’s mother. At first, she went with Rikku’s mother to hawk the sour milk; she was beginning to find her way to and from town.
Fatimeh was always chewing tobacco flower and so her lips, teeth and gums became red. Hodio noticed that her looks had improved since she came to live with the family. Her skin was smooth and shiny; she had also put on more flesh.
Towards nightfall, when Fatimeh came home, she would take a pot and go down to the stream where she bathed and drew water. Sometimes, she went with Leibe or Shaitu; she was never alone.
One evening, Hodio followed Fatimeh quietly to the stream when the place was quiet and he could hear the sound of his own footsteps on the dusty road. When he caught up with Fatimeh, he suggested to her to run away with him because he loved her dearly and wanted her to be his wife. Fatimeh refused. She knew very well that, as a slave, she could never hope to marry a freeborn and proud Fulani like Hodio Sunsaye.
Hodio did not give up. He spoke to her again. He tried to persuade her to run away with him and live in a town where no one cared about tradition and custom. Eventually, Fatimeh agreed to consider his proposal.
Hodio’s father, old Sunsaye, was the first person who missed Fatimeh. He called his wife, Shaitu, and asked her if she had seen Fatimeh. She replied in the negative. He asked Rikku and Leibe. No one could tell him where Hodio and Fatimeh were. They then looked behind the hut; the horse was not there.

(a) What two things did the girl learn to do in one month?

(b) Give two adjectives that describe Fatimeh as presented in the first paragraph.

(c) What was Hodio’s main reason for following Fatimeh to the stream?

(d) Fatimeh refused.
(i) What did Fatimeh refuse to do at first?
(ii) Why did she refuse Hodio’s proposal?

(e) Why did Hodio want to live in a town?

(f) For each of the following words, give another word or phrase that means the same and can fit into the passage:
(i) silent
(ii) sour,
(iii) improved
(iv) drew
(v) proposal

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