English Paper 2 Questions and Answers - Cekenas Mock Exams 2022

QUESTIONS

1. Comprehension
   Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
   With every passing day, technology is overtaking our daily lives. Regardless of age, gender, career or economic status, smartphones are fast becoming ubiquitous.
   More than two million Kenyans now own smartphones. Add the computer, tablet and other high- tech devices and your life is surrounded by a myriad gadgets which, to some, have become best friends.
   Many of us rely on the phone to do everything, from saying” I love you” to “I’m quitting”, from checking bank balances to selling stuff on OLX, from sharing photos and videos to streaming content on the web. We can carry out a plethora of daily tasks, right from the palms of our hands.
   At the dinner table, it’s the norm to constantly check for texts, e-mails, tweets, WhatsApp and Facebook updates. In a darkened movie hall, people are always multitasking on their phones while watching a movie. Some people even walk with the phone to the toilet and text and take calls from there.
   Over dinner, in church, at a funeral service and even when carrying on face-to-face conversation, the smartphone is guaranteed to keep you in tune and in touch. It is common to see careless people texting while driving despite the fact that it is six times more dangerous to text and drive than to drink and drive.
   Because of this over-dependence on the smartphone, many people suffer from the fear of losing it, even if only for a few minutes.
   The “I must- have-my-phone-with-me-at-all-times” mindset has become such a real problem. There’s now a name coined for the fear of being without phone: nomophobia -no-mo (bile) phone-phobia. Nomophobia is the fear of not being able to connect to the digital world by the means of mobile phone.
   Although there is no ICD- 10 code (the required classification for any medical condition) yet for this specific affliction, researchers into the phenomenon describe nomophobic people as individuals who suffer from the anxiety of not having their mobile phone.
   The anxiety commonly manifests itself when the person notices their smartphones has a low battery, no internet connection or if it is missing and one is therefore out of the loop with friends, family, work and the world. We are ever so busy with gadgets that we intrude into other people’s space.
   As our culture becomes ever more tech savvy and tech hungry, phone-free zones will become more and more common. Just like we have smoke-free zones in public places, we are starting to see quiet corners, where phone calls are restricted. It’s because common courtesy is often thrown out the window when we’re on the phone.
   Some airports are now offering lounges that are cellphone free. Just like cigarettes, the mobile phone pendulum is beginning to swing as more and more people acquire nomophobic tendencies.
   Considering the Smartphone’ new abilities and capabilities they are now being used like digital ‘Swiss Army Knives’, replacing possessions like watches, cameras, books and oven laptops. Today the smartphone is capable of being an alarm clock, digital camera, and even television, which causes users to become heavily dependent on it.
   Psychologists advise that, while nomophobia could possibly never receive a diagnosis, it is certainly a rising trend. If you constantly find yourself using your smartphone at odd times, such as dinner table, while diving, or even in washroom, try your best to refrain from it and use it only when it is safe and not considered rude.
   Setting limits for yourself and engaging with family and friends face-to-face can help calm the anxiety of continuously checking your phone.
   
   1. Why is technology said to be overtaking our daily lives? (2mks)
   2. In point form, state the uses of a phone. (4mks)
   3. What are the bad habits that result from over-dependency on the phone as seen in the passage and how can they be managed? (4mks)
   4. When does anxiety manifest itself more with the use of a phone? (3mks)
   5. According to the passage, why is there need for cellphone free zones in public places? (1mk)
   6. Some airports are now offering lounges that are cellphone free. Rewrite using a question tag. (1mk)
   7. What is the author’s attitude towards smartphones? (2mks)
   8. Give the meaning of the following words as used in the passage. (3mks)
      
      1. Myriad
      2. Ubiquitous
      3. Plethora
2. The excerpt
   Read the following excerpt and answer the questions that follow.
   Later in the evening after Taiyo and Resian had cleared the table, washed all utensils and cleaned the kitchen, Taiyo came back to the living room. She found her father sitting alone enjoying a last glass of the hot drink the visitors had been drinking. He was reading a newspaper, his reading glasses perched upon the tip of his nose. On hearing his daughter enter, he looked up, pushed back the reading glasses and briefly stared at her. Taiyo was careful in the way she approached her father for she knew he was edgy and sensitive. She, however, wanted to find out from him what he thought of the luncheon and in the process see whether she would get a hint on what it was all about. The body language of the four men and the lavish gifts they gave had disturbed her and got her suspicious. She had a lot of trust and confidence in her father, but she feared unscrupulous people like Oloisudori could, like Joseph Parmuat had told them, lead him into a murky alley and then turn round to extort the impossible from him.
   “I came to see whether you are comfortable, Papaai,” Taiyo said pleasantly.
   “Yes, indeed, I am,” he answered and nodded a little absently. “I am comfortable, my dear child.”
   “It was a lovely day, wasn’t it, Papaai?” she asked as she plumped up a cushion on a sofa. “And I hope Resian and I did everything you expected us to do to make the visitors comfortable and happy.”
   “Indeed you did everything,” he said curtly. “Yes, I must say the visitors were happy.”
   “And Mr. Oloisudori is becoming a very close business associate of yours, isn’t he Papaai?” she asked eyeing him slyly as she moved a chair back to its accustomed place. “He can really be generous, eh?”
   “Most certainly he is.”
   “Did he take part in funding our shop?” she continued and rued it immediately for she noticed he was getting irritated.
   “Yes, but why do you ask?” he snapped showing signs of a rising temper.
   “Nothing, Papaai,” Taiyo answered quickly trying to avert an oncoming clash. “I just thought we should know so that we can in future treat him with the respect he deserves.”
   “Good!” he said with finality and picked up his glass, tipped and drained off its content in one quick gulp.
   Taiyo hesitated. Now that she had failed to get any information from her father, she thought she could try another line. From the day they came back from their uncle’s home, she and Resian had been waiting for their mother to tell them what their father’s response had been regarding their request to be allowed to go back to Nakuru to enroll as students at the Egerton University. Over the past few weeks, Resian irritating sulks notwithstanding, Taiyo knew her conscience had not been entirely clear. She had on several occasions promised her sister that she would speak to their father, but she had never come round to doing so
   
   1. What happens before this extract? (4mks)
   2. Comment on any two stylistic devices used in the extract. (4mks)
   3. “… she had a lot of trust and confidence in her father…” From elsewhere in the novel, explain how Taiyo’s trust towards her father was nearly ruined in her early days. (3mks)
   4. Explain any issue brought about in this extract. (2mks)
   5. Describe the mood prevalent in the extract. (2mks)
   6. “The body language of the four men and the lavish gifts they gave had disturbed her and got her suspicious.”
      
      1. Which gifts are referred to? (1mk)
      2. Mention the gifts that were given to Resian that are referred to in this excerpt. (2mks)
   7. What is Ole Kaelo’s character trait as seen in the extract? (2mks)
   8. Give the meaning of the following words as used in the extract. (2mks)
      
      1. Luncheon
      2. Lavish
   9. What happens immediately after this extract? (3mks)
3. Poetry
   Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
   My parents
   My parents kept me from children who were rough.
   Who threw words like stones and who wore torn clothes
   Their thighs showed through rags. They ran in the streets –
   And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams
   I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron
   Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms.
   I feared the salt Coarse pointing of those boys
   Who copied my lisp behind me on the road.
   They were lithe, the sprang out behind hedges
   Like dogs to bark at my world. They threw mud
   While I looked the other way, pretending to smile
   I longed to forgive them, but they never smiled.
   1. Whom did the speaker’s parents try to protect him from and why? (3mks)
   2. What happens in stanza two? (2mks)
   3. How did the rough children treat the speaker? (2mks)
   4. Describe the attitude of the speaker towards the rough children. (3mks)
   5. Describe the character of the speaker as depicted in the poem. (2mks)
   6. Identify a figure of speech used in the poem. (2mks)
   7. Highlight the irony in the last stanza of the poem. (2mks)
   8. What is the theme of the poem? (2mks)
   9. Give the meaning of the following words as used in the poem. (2mks)
      
      1. Jerking
      2. Lithe
4. Grammar
   
   1. Rewrite the following sentences as instructed. (3mks)
      
      1. I have some duties. I must perform them. (Combine into one sentence using an infinitive)
      2. He was tired of play. He sat down to rest. (Combine into one simple sentence using a participle).
      3. Do not be a borrower. Do not be a lender. (Combine into one sentence using a suitable conjunction)
   2. Fill in the following blanks with the correct form of the words in brackets. (3mks)
      
      1. Their bodies had suffered ……………………………….as a result of malnutrition. (Contort)
      2. The manager made several……………………………… on the original invoice. (Delete)
      3. …………………………………..beliefs are discouraged in urban areas. (Sect)
   3. Supply the statements below with appropriate question tags. (2mks)
      
      1. Nobody came-
      2. You’d rather play than work-
   4. Correct the error in the following sentences. (2mks)
      
      1. I am not understanding what you are talking about.
      2. Please don’t dirtify the class.
   5. Complete the following sentences with a phrasal verb starting with the word in brackets. (3mks)
      
      1. She looked carefully at the document but could not………………………….. what it meant. (make)
      2. The teacher couldn’t………………………………. the students bad behavior. (put)
      3. Please ………………………………that all the chairs are in good condition. (see)
   6. Explain the meaning of the following sentences . (2mks)
      
      1. Peter was executed like a murderer
      2. Peter was executed as a murderer.

MARKING SCHEME

1.      
   1. This is so because regardless of age, gender, career or economic status smartphones are fast becoming ubiquitous. 2mks
   2. Texting/ mailing
      Checking bank balances
      Selling stuff on OLX
      Photo/ video sharing
      Surfing the net
      Making calls
      (Any 4x1=4mks)
   3. Bad habits
      
      • Texting and taking calls from the toilet.
      • Using the phone at dinner table church and funeral services
      • Texting while driving
        (Any 2x1=2mks)
        Management
      • Refraining
      • Setting limits
      • Engaging with family and friends
   4. When one’s phone lacks internet connection
      When the phone is low on battery
      If it’s missing 
   5. This is because common courtesy is often thrown out through the window when we are not on the phone.
   6. Some airports are now offering lounges that are cellphones free, aren’t they?
   7. Apprehension/ cautionary/cautions on the use of phone.
      He is not overly happy or sad with the invention.
   8.      
      1. A large number of
      2. very common
      3. A great amount of
2.    
   1.  In the afternoon, the party breaks up amidst warm appreciation from the friends of Oloisudori, Ole Kaelo is all smiles. He thinks he had been rated a worthy companion of the likes of Oloisudori. Oloisudori asks  his friends what they thought of the girl and it is thumbs up by all the three declearing that she is the catch of the year.
   2. Dialogue between Taiyo and her father
      Local dialect – Papai
      Flashback – “Like Joseph Parmuat had told them lead him into a murky alley and then turn round to extort the impossible from him.
      (Identification 1mk explanation 1mk)
   3. Taiyo had high hopes that her father would grant her permission to attend a music extravaganza in Mombasa. Her father stubbornly declined claiming that none of his family members would demean him/herself to such an extent. (3mks)
   4.      
      1. Love – love between Resian and her sister Taiyo
         - Taiyo feels indebted to Resian forhaving never been able to come round and present her case. (Joining Egerton University)
      2. Education – she and Resian had been waiting for their mother to tell them what their father’s response had been regarding their request to go back to Nakuru to enroll as students at Egerton University.
         (Identification 1mk explanation 1mk)
   5. Mood of tense – I’m tensed mood- Taiyo tries to dig and get more information from the the father concerning Oloisudori’s visit but the father becomes irritated. … she continued and rued it immediately for she noticed he was getting irritated.
      (Identification 1mk explanation 1mk)
   6.      
      1. The gifts that Oloisudori and his friends had brought to the Kaelos. (for each member of the family)
      2. Pretty golden brooch and twelve lengths of different kinds of material, golden pendant, a golden bracelet and a cutely designed golden ring.
         (2 identification = 2 marks)
   7. Short tempered- he snapped showing signs of a rising temper.
      (Identification 1mk explanation 1mk)
   8.    
      1. Lunch – 1mk
      2. Extravagant – 1mk
   9. Taiyo calls her father pleasantly and her father responds pleasantly too.
      From the kitchen comes loud voices of Resian and their mother arguing about something
      Taiyo loses her father’s attention and gives up the idea of speaking to him that night about the university. She hopes there would be another chance soon. her father tells her to call Resian for him
3.      
   1. Other children, probably in the neighbourhood,  who were poor and rather ill-mannered.
   2. They forcefully hold down the persona and frighten him.… their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms.
   3. They ridicule the speaker, make fun of his lisp. They frighten him by shouting at him and throwing mud at him.
   4. Fearful – he feared the rough children
      Jerking hands
      Salt coarse pointing
   5. Fearful – of the children who ridicule him, make fun of his lisp, frighten him with their jerking hands,…
   6. Similes - Threw words like stones
      Their muscles like iron
   7. Ironical that the persona is trying to smile even after the ‘naughty’ children have wronged him (they threw mud at him, smiles at them) yet they never smiled back.
   8. Social segregation/ social classes/ discrimination.
      The personas parents kept him/ her from children who were rough and poor- they wore torn clothes, their thighs showed through rags.
   9. Jerking – uncontrolled movements
      Lithe – easily flexible
4.        
   1.          
      1. I have some duties to perform.
      2. Tired of play, he sat down to rest.
      3. Do not be a borrower or a lender
         or
         Be neither a borrower nor a lender.
   2.      
      1. contortion
      2. deletions
      3. Sectarian
   3.      
      1. did they?
      2. wouldn’t you?
   4.      
      1. I do not understand what you are talking about.
      2. Please don’t dirty the class.
         Please don’t make the class dirty.
   5.      
      1. make out
      2. put up with
      3. see to it.
   6.      
      1. like one who had murdered.
      2. Just like the murdered that he was.