Welcome to our WAEC past question and answer series. In this post, we will be sharing Literature in English 2020 past questions and their answers for various subjects. Stay tuned enjoy while learning.
1. A situation where an audience is aware of an action a character is ignorant of is ________
A. dramatic irony
B. comic relief
C. aside
D. satire
2. A fictional prose which is neither a novel nor a short story is a/an __________
A. allegory
B. fable
C. novella
D. novelette
3. Condensed use of language is a dominant feature of ___________
A. comedy
B. poetry
C. prose
D. tragedy
4. The sudden reversal of a character’s fortune in a literary work is _________
A. denouement
B. hamartia
C. hubris
D. peripeteia
5. Read the extract below and answer Questions 5 to 7.
With the pen, he wrote kings into reality
With his words, kingdoms arose,
Those same words, slaves inhaled
Their hands building walls, their feet tromping territories
His pen was like the breath of life.
The underlined words illustrate ________
A. hyperbole
B. irony
C. metonymy
D. paradox
6. Hands and feet in line 4 illustrate _________
A. contrast
B. litotes
C. personification
D. synecdoche
7. His pen was like the breath of life exemplifies ________
A. bathos
B. pathos
C. satire
D. simile
8. Comic relief occurs in ________
A. comedies
B. pastorals
C. romance
D. tragedies
9. Students rarely read Julius Caesar these days illustrates ________
A. caesura
B. eponym
C. oxymoron
D. zeugma
10. In Literature, the term poetic justice applies to __________
A. a story that ends well
B. characters that are spared death
C. the development of a good plot
D. the rewarding of good characters and the punishing of bad ones.
11. Ascribing human moods to nature, as in a playful-breeze illustrates _________
A. humour
B. pathetic fallacy
C. symbolism
D. zeugma
12. The end of a performance is followed by ________
A. a curtain call
B. a curtain raiser
C. epilogue
D. interlude
13. Read the lines and answer Question 14.
Marching along fifty score strong
Great hearted gentlemen singing this song
A. assonance
B. consonance
C. onomatopoeia
D. repetition
14. A short poem with a witty or sarcastic ending is a/an __________
A. ballad
B. allegory
C. epigram
D. panegyric
15. The big boulder blasted the house illustrates _________
A. alliteration
B. contrast
C. irony
D. paradox
16. Read the extract and answer Questions 17 and 18.
I find no peace and all my war is done
I fear and hope. I bum and freeze like ice.
The dominant literary device used in the lines is ________
A. euphemism
B. hyperbole
C. paradox
D. understatement
17. The feeling of the narrator in the extract is to one of ________
A. Confusion
B. fatigue
C. love
D. joy
18. Which of the following is written by an African playwright?
A. She Stoops to Conquer
B. A Raisin in the Sun
C. Lonely Days
D. The Blood of a stranger
19. Which of the following is written by a Non-African poet?
A. Piano and Drums
B. The Dining Table
C. The Schoolboy
D. The Panic of Growing Older
20. Read the passage and answer Questions 2 1 to 25.
On, on, on, over the countless miles of angry space roll the long heaving OT angry space roll the long heaving billows. Mountains and caves are here; for what is now the other; then all is but a boiling heap of rushing water. Pursuit, and flight and mad return of and savage struggle, ending up in a spouting up of foam that whitens the black night; incessant change of place and form and hue; constancy in nothing but eternal strife.
On, on, on, they roll and darker grows the night: and louder howls the wind and more clamorous and fierce become the million voices in the sea, when the wild cry goes forth upon the storm, “A ship!”
The most suitable title for the passage is ________
A. A Savage Struggle at Night
B. At Sea on a Stormy Night.
C. The Long Heaving Waves
D. The Million Voices in the Sea
21. The predominant use of long vowels in the first sentence heightens the ______ of the waves
A. anger
B. expanse
C. great noise
D. endless movement
22. The writer’s attitude to the scene is one of _________
A. anxiety
B. awe
C. contempt
D. indifference
23. The expression million voices is used as _________
A. conceit
B. euphemism
C. hyperbole
D. metonymy
24. A ship in the last line symbolises _________
A. despair.
B. hope
C. pirates
D. sailors
25. Read the poem and answer Questions 26 to 30.
Oft in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me
Fond memory brings the light
of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears
of boyhood years.
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone
How dimm’d and.gone
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me.
The theme is about the poet’s _________
A. broken love affairs.
B. fee the stilly night.
C. sleepless night.
D. yearning for happier times gone
26. Read the poem and answer Questions 26 to 30.
Oft in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me
Fond memory brings the light
of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears
of boyhood years.
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone
How dimm’d and.gone
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me.
The theme of the poem is presented essentially through ________
A. assonance
B. contrast.
C. paradox
D. repetition
27. Read the poem and answer Questions 26 to 30.
Oft in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me
Fond memory brings the light
of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears
of boyhood years.
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone
How dimm’d and.gone
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me.
The two words that give hint of the poet’s unhappiness are?
A. light and night
B. light and shone
C. night and dimm’d
D. Shone and dimm’d
28. Read the poem and answer Questions 26 to 30.
Oft in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me
Fond memory brings the light
of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears
of boyhood years.
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone
How dimm’d and.gone
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me.
The poet refers to memory as being ‘fond’ and ‘sad’ because it brings?
A. cheers and smiles
B. love and joy
C. sorrow and pity
D. smiles and tears
29. Read the poem and answer Questions 26 to 30.
Oft in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me
Fond memory brings the light
of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears
of boyhood years.
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone
How dimm’d and.gone
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus in the stilly night
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me.
The meaning of the expression, Ere slumber’s chain has bound me is
A. after i wake up
B. before i sleep
C. before i dream
D. since i cannot sleep
30. Read the extract and answer Questions 31 to 35.
Zounds, sir, y’ are robbed! For shame, put on your gown!
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul.
Even now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white eww. Arise. arise!
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you
Arise i say!
(Act 1, scene one, lines 83 – 89)
The speaker is _________
A. Cassio
B. Iago
C. Lodovico
D. Roderigo
31. Read the extract and answer Questions 31 to 35.
Zounds, sir, y’ are robbed! For shame, put on your gown!
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul.
Even now, very now, an old black ram
is tupping your white eww. Arise. arise!
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you
Arise i say!
(Act 1, scene one, lines 83 – 89)
The listener’s initial reaction to the speech is one of _________
A. anger
B. defiance
C. disbelief
D. regret
32. Read the extract and answer Questions 31 to 35.
Zounds, sir, y’ are robbed! For shame, put on your gown!
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul.
Even now, very now, an old black ram
is tupping your white eww. Arise. arise!
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you
Arise i say!
(Act 1, scene one, lines 83 – 89)
The underlined expression implies an attitude of __________
A. callousness
B. hypocrisy
C. racism
D. tribalism
33. Read the extract and answer Questions 31 to 35.
Zounds, sir, y’ are robbed! For shame, put on your gown!
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul.
Even now, very now, an old black ram
is tupping your white eww. Arise. arise!
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you
Arise i say!
(Act 1, scene one, lines 83 – 89)
… y’ are robbed! refers to
A. Brabantio’s r-ejection of Othello
B. Desdemona’s stout defense of Othello
C. Iago’s stealing of Rodrigo’s purse
D. Othello’s elopement with Desdemona
34. Read the extract and answer Questions 31 to 35.
Zounds, sir, y’ are robbed! For shame, put on your gown!
Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul.
Even now, very now, an old black ram
is tupping your white eww. Arise. arise!
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you
Arise i say!
(Act 1, scene one,lines 83 – 89)
The speaker is ________
A. at the citadel of Cyprus
B. In front of Brabantio’s house
C. In the council chamber
D. outside the sagittary
35. Read the extract and answer Questions 36 to 40.
I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a
commander with so slight, so drunken, and so indiscreet
an officer. Drunk! And speak parrot! And squabble!
swagger! Swear! And discourse fustian with one’s own
shadow! a thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no
name to be known by, let us call thee devil!
(Act II, Scene Three, lines 262-267)
The speaker is
A. cassio
B. Iago
C. Duke
D. Roderigo
36. Read the extract and answer Questions 36 to 40.
I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a
commander with so slight, so drunken, and so indiscreet
an officer. Drunk! And speak parrot! And squabble!
swagger! Swear! And discourse fustian with one’s own
shadow! a thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no
name to be known by, let us call thee devil!
(Act II, Scene Three, lines 262-267)
The speaker is addressing
A. Cassio
B. Iago
C. Othelo
D. Roderigo
37. Read the extract and answer Questions 36 to 40.
I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a
commander with so slight, so drunken, and so indiscreet
an officer. Drunk! And speak parrot! And squabble!
swagger! Swear! And discourse fustian with one’s own
shadow! a thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no
name to be known by, let us call thee devil!
(Act II, Scene Three, lines 262-267)
The mood is that of
A. deceit
B. envy
C. hatred
D. regret
38. Read the extract and answer Questions 36 to 40.
I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a
commander with so slight, so drunken, and so indiscreet
an officer. Drunk! And speak parrot! And squabble!
swagger! Swear! And discourse fustian with one’s own
shadow! a thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no
name to be known by, let us call thee devil!
(Act II, Scene Three, lines 262-267)
…. so good a commander refers to
A. Brabantio
B. Duke
C. Othelo
D. Roderigo
39. Read the extract and answer Questions 36 to 40.
I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a
commander with so slight, so drunken, and so indiscreet
an officer. Drunk! And speak parrot! And squabble!
swagger! Swear! And discourse fustian with one’s own
shadow! a thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no
name to be known by, let us call thee devil!
(Act II, Scene Three, lines 262-267)
The underlined expression exemplifies __________
A. antithesis
B. apostrophe
C. chiasmus
D. euphemism
40. Read the extract and answer Questions 41 to 45. 41.
This sight would make him do a desperate turn:
Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
Speaker Y: T is pitiful, but yet lago knows
A thousand times committed.
Cassio confessed it;
.. he …, referred to by Speaker X, is __________
A. Brabantio
B. Gratiano
C. Montano
D. Lodovico
41. ..do a desperate turn means _______
A. commit suicide
B. confront Duke
C. disown Desdemona
D. kill Othello
42. Speaker Y’s speech shows that _________
A. Cassio is to blame
B. Emilia is to blame
C. he is unrepentant
D. she is regretful
43. Speaker Y has just ______
A. discovered lago’s plan
B. killed, Desdemona
C. ordered the arrest of lago
D. promoted Cassio
44. Just after this dialogue __________
A. Cassia is killed
B. Emilia realises her culpability
C. lago gloats over his success
D. Roderigo fights Cassio
45. Read the extract and answer Questions 46 to 50.
O thou dull Moor, that handkerchief thou speak’st of
I found by fortune, and did give my husband;
For often with a solemn earnestness-
More than indeed belonged to such a trifie-
He begged of me to steal’t. (Act V, Scene Two, lines 223 – 227)
The speaker is _________
A. Bianca
B. Cassio
C. Desdemona
D. Emilia
46. The speaker has just been threatened by ________
A. Cassio
B. lago
C. Lodovico
D. Othello
47. What has just happened is that _______
A. Emilia has confirmed her mistress’s guilt
B. lago has openly confessed his crime
C. Othello has murdered his wife
D. Roderigo has realised lago is a fraud
48. Soon after this, the Speaker ________
A. attempts to run away
B. is arrested by Lodovico
C. is killed by lago
D. shows remorse
49. This stage of the play is known as the _________
A. climax
B. conflict
C. dennouement
D. exposition
50. This stage of the play is known as the _________
A. climax
B. conflict
C. dennouement
D. exposition
Answers To Questions
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