WAEC English Language 2017 Theory Past Questions

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5, Brown Street, Leki, Lagos. 16th July, 2017. Dear Uncle Tojo, It's exactly eleven months we've heard from you. How's everything sir? I hope it isn't Donald Trump that has prevented you from reaching us? Uncle Tojo we really miss you. Uncle, can you guess what I intend telling you via this letter? One! Two!!Three!!! I know you won't guess right! Ok, let me let the cat out of the bag. Father has just completed his house at Ogba! I can hear that scream. Seriously, the house is a beauty to behold; small but exquisite, fairly expensive but palatial. The house is a two-storey building. It has sixteen rooms which are spacious and ventilated. The house is painted in green and white which reflects the beauty and excellence of Nigeria. At the entrance of the gate are all the flags of every country in the world whose beauty is further enhanced by the well-trimmed flowers of different colours. Boldly written for all to see is the inscription 'I LOVE NIGERIA'. Every room has the picture of eminent Nigerians hung on the wall. In the sitting room is the picture of the five consecutive past presidents of Nigeria. The house has a big swimming pool and a seven garden with big trees. The house has accorded us great prestige for various reasons. Prior to the erection of this exquisite building, the site used to be a place where wastes were dumped. It is an ugly site which is the citadel of diseases and infections. Erecting a building there, means sanitising the community of illness and the entire community really applaud our father for taking such a bold, giant step in eradicating the source of disease in the community. Also, the house has been a center of attraction because it celebrates Nigeria and its values. Press officials have been paying us visit and our father's name has been on every newspaper as a man that extol Nigerian culture and system. Tourists and film-makers have also been contacting Dad to come to our house for tour and to shoot some of their films. To cap it all, Dad has decided to make the first storey building an art gallery celebrating only African works and antiquities. This has consulted artists, researchers, etc. to make our home a point of call. Uncle Tojo, you really need to come home and see for yourself as Dad has really made impact. Next week, he'd be given an award by the community as a man that encourages the revival of Nigerian legacies. Father is indeed proud of the forthcoming award and mother is busy putting finishing touches to the reception of the guests for the upcoming event. Ensure you bring something nice for me. Till when next we see, remain blessed. Yours sincerely, Kunle

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THE CHALLENGES FACING NIGERIA Nigeria is a great nation blessed with human and material resources but still mutilated by various problems. The problem of unemployment and poor education system are still regarded as Nigeria's major areas of deficits or shortcomings. Every year the higher education system of Nigeria keeps turning out graduates who continue to add to the growing population of the unemployed. Most youths are frustrated, pressed and desperate as they have devised various means to survive in the gloom of unemployment. The rise in cybercrimes, armed robbery, impersonations in examinations are potent indicators that youths are devising means to survive. Immorality has become the order of the day as graduates are desperate to meet their demand and the pressing needs of their immediate family who mounts pressure on them because they believe now is the time to give back after the expensive trainings they have received. A lot of youths have decided to call Nigeria a quit and fend greener pasture elsewhere, but does that curtail the bane of unemployment? Our university system needs to train over graduates to be job-creators and not job-seekers. Various entrepreneurial skills should be made available to graduates who will not only be informed 'book-wise' but have embraced micro, small or medium based enterprising skills on how to start up their own businesses. Also, they need to be taught how to write business plans/proposals and always to generate funds for their business start-ups. Our education system needs to be practical and less theoretical. The Nigeria education system is also a source of concern as stakeholders have bitterly complained that Nigerian graduates are half-baked. Why won't they be when we lack competent hands? When Nigeria currently experience brain drains, when 60% of those in lecture halls cannot even hear a thing that the lecturer says because there is no public address system, when our library has old books and students have no direct access to them, when there is no internet facilities and the environment is not academic friendly nor have the expected ambience for serious academic activities. To come out of this challenge, Nigerian higher institution must cut their coats according to their cloth. This means only admitting students based on available resources and manpower. With this, students will be holistically competent. Also, best graduating students need to be retained and encouraged to give back to their schools. They must not be left alone but systems must be put in place to absorb them immediately after their National Youth Service. The problems of unemployment and education are twin challenges as each affects the other. To end unemployment our education system must be holistic and practical. Kemi Adeditan, SS3J, International School, Lagos

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Islamic Memorial School, Egbeda, Lagos. 17th September, 2017. The Chair, Parent-Teacher Association, Islamic Memorial School, Egbeda, Lagos. Dear Sir, REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE I write on behalf of the entire students of Islamic Memorial School to first show our heart-felt gratitude for the block of classrooms you built for us. We pray that Allah bless you all. Sir, we humbly request your assistance once more regarding the provision for a stand-by generator which is a dire need to achieve academic excellence in the school. Our power supply has been erratic and frustrating. We are now used to total blackout for weeks which has reduced our efficiency and productivity in terms of our reading capacities. Sir, electricity is an important resource in every academic environment because it would motivate students, teachers, researchers etc. to hard work. The lack of such facility will encourage laziness and nonchalance. Sir, as a result of our erratic power supply, students have resorted to the use of candles which, though a brilliant initiative, has its own negative consequences. Students sometimes sleep off when reading while the candle light is still on. This results in serious damage to properties and also endangers the lives of such students. Last week, a room in the female hostel caught fire as a result of the usage of candles that were not put off. As a result, all the furniture, fittings, and fixtures in that room got burnt. I believe their respective parents will not be happy with this ugly incident. Furthermore, because of the usual black-out, culprits have decided to leverage on this to perpetrate their evil acts of stealing. There have been reported cases of stolen items which is mostly done in the cover of the night. I am of the view that this would reduce if we have electricity as everyone would be vigilant. Also, students are reluctant using the school computers because power could be taken at any time. Since we do not have U.P.S. and most of our works are not saved on the desktops. These computers are currently useless as no one is using them. As a result of the above, we humbly request that you come to our aid by providing us with a stand-by generator which would not only spur academic excellence and diligence but would reduce accident, theft and enhance productivity. We anticipate a positive response. Thank you, Sir. Mukaila Rasheed, Senior Prefect

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SPEECH IN HONOUR OF RETIRING PRINCIPAL: MR. OLAWALE GBENGA The Chairman of this occasion, Mr. Olawale Gbenga, the Head of Civil Service Corporation, Principals from various schools, Vice-Principals, Teachers present, the School Counselor, Prefects, Ladies and Gentlemen. For some, it is the earnest plea and prayer of every student that they retire in time but for some we can only wish that they reduce their age so that the fleeting season of age will not overtake them. Principal sir, your shoe is too big for anyone to fill as you have not only excelled as an astute and competent administrator, you are a teacher, a mentor, a role-model, a rare jewel of inestimable worth. Your life is a visible testament of what you preach. You epitomize transparency, honesty, trustworthiness, humility and rare simplicity. Sir, you have been a principal for just six years and it is as if you have stayed for sixty years as the legacies you have brought is matchless and unparalleled. It is during your tenure that we have been experiencing at least 80% success in WASSCE and NECO. Prior to this timing everyone believes our school is cursed as we are renowned for flunking every examination. Sir, you motivated all our teachers you ensured they have the needed resources to impart knowledge into us. You single-handedly organised various trainings for them so that they can impart excellence in us. Sir, you volunteer on countless times to give us extra coaching. You spur us to success and the dividend is excellence in our results. Just last year, the candidate with the national best WASSCE result came from our school. Our school is dreaded by all schools in inter-school competitions, debates, essay writing, quiz because of the legacies and systems you have put in place. No student that has graduated from this school does not proceed for higher studies as you take it as a personal responsibility to see the success of all your students. Should we talk about our enviable library or state-of-art laboratories? You wrote to the State Commissioner for Education and you see to it that your proposals were implemented. Sir, your greatness cannot be quantified. You are a man of legendary successes, an icon of inestimable value, a father and a priceless educationist. Words cannot express your worth, no poem can state your powers. You are indispensable. As you retire, we pray that the almighty God bless you and make all your children find favour near and far and we enjoin the next principal to learn from your ways. We wish you all the very best and we would not want you to forget us. We love you sir. On behalf of all the students of Greater Glory, we celebrate and adore you. Onyewuka Chioma, Head Girl.

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AT LAST, WE ARRIVED SAFELY Myself and my little brother, Ope, were full of adventure. When Aunty Tosin came visiting, rather than burying ourselves with our respective house chores we were busy eaves-dropping. We heard Aunty Tosin describing her house to Mummy and we decided to pay her a visit unannounced. After Mummy left for her shop by 9:30am on this fateful Saturday morning, myself and Ade set out for the day event. No money, no phone, no description. All we knew was Clinton Street, a yellow bungalow at the extreme left. We trekked miles away from home, we kept asking for Clinton Street, no one seemed to know where it was. Until a young boy decided to play trick on us and pointed a huge house to us as the house we were looking for. Happily, we went straight to the gate and knocked and the gateman opened. We introduced ourselves and without thinking twice, he opened the gate and ushered us in. We said we were Aunty's big sister children. The house helps treated us to a warm reception of fried chicken and jollof rice which we consumed hurriedly. We felt at home and was seeing the television when the owner of the house entered. 'Who are you? You this young rascals' she asked terrifyingly. We were too shock to respond. 'You have been trying this your luck on people, today you will learn your lessons.' She called the gateman who beat us mercilessly. We were restored to the kitchen where she brought out empty dishes for us to wash. As we were washing, she continues to shower courses at us. After the washing of the dishes, we swept the whole compound and fetch water into all the big containers inside the house. She shoved us out of her gate. We could not cry but walk tiredly and aimlessly. We were completely exhausted and we regretted our decision of going on a journey without adequate preparation. My little brother was already endearing and I was stranded as we could not afford to trek back home. I encouraged him and we continued trekking. I summoned courage to beg people for transport fare back home but received cold attitude. We resigned to fate and we sluggishly walked our way home. A car parked right before us, lo and behold it was Daddy Pelumi, Aunty Tosin's husband. He asked us where we were going, decided not to wait for our response, told us to enter the car and took us straight to his house. We later saw the big sign post of Clinton Street and the yellow bungalow which was their home. At last, we arrived safely.

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(a) The writer and his friends always came home late so as to: (i) to either play football or swim. (ii) to avoid house chores. (b) They got home late that fateful day because they went fishing and hunting crabs having played football for a long time. (c) They were engrossed in their fishing and crab adventure. (d) i. The writer lost the fish and the crabs they had caught ii. The writer received the beating of his life from his parent for coming home late. (e) The mother always reprimands and spank the writer for late coming. (f) i. It is metaphor. ii. It means the writer should be ready to face the consequences for his actions. (g) i. It is an adverbial phrase of time. ii. It modifies the verb 'screamed' (h) i. deter: discourage, hinder, stop, restrain, dissuade ii. preserve: duty, responsibility, function. iii. augment: Increase, add to, boost, buildup, raise, supplement iv. ventured: had the courage to go, attempted, turned, dared going, went v. concerned: Worried, anxious, troubled, disturbed

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(a) i. Social media encourages youth to waste their precious time. ii. Social media make youth have easy access to pornography. iii. Social media encourages youth to indulge in cybercrime. (b) i. Parents should bring up their children properly. ii. Teachers should inculcate the right skills and attitudes in the youths. iii. The society should instill in youths its norms, customs and values.