English Paper 2 Questions and Answers - Mwakican Joint Pre Mock Examination 2021

QUESTION 1: COMPREHENSION. (20MKS)
Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow.

The question is at least as old as Socrates: If we know what the right thing to do is, why do we not do it? It is an especially acute question when applied to global warming. The science showing that carbon dioxide emissions are already changing the planet’s climate, and are likely to have severe effects (melting ice caps, sea-level rise, and species extinction), is compelling and now barely disputed. Almost 90% of Europeans say they recognize climate change as a major issue, and 75% identify fossil fuel emissions as a major cause.

And yet, as was widely discussed at a conference of environmentalists, geologists and writers in May 2006 in Ankelohe, Germany, public understanding has not translated into even the simplest of public actions. Less than 1% of Britons, for example, have switched their home electricity to renewable sources, even though it requires little more than a phone call to one’s existing provider. Proportions on the continent are slightly higher, but there is clearly no rush to go green or — shudder — stop driving cars.

Why such a disconnect between information and action? Part of the problem is that environmental advocates emit mixed messages. In mid-May 2006, Britain’s Guardian published a front-page story showing that five companies in Britain produce more CO2 pollution in a year than all the country’s motorists combined. That is a strong argument for targeting industries, but the average reader could hardly be blamed for thinking, “Why should I bother to cut down my driving?”

Similarly, not enough thought has been devoted to the best role for government. Climate change is too vast a problem for individuals to solve alone, and some big businesses have an incentive not to solve it. That leaves government to take the lead, which is tricky, because over-reliance on government can allow individuals to fob off their own responsibilities. What is worse, government power seems to tickle autocratic fantasies. In my experience, environmentalists spend far too much energy advocating hard-line government ‘solutions’ that do not stand a chance of being enacted. Sure, it might be good for the planet if governments banned the use of sports-utility vehicles or, for that matter, of all fossil fuels. Yet not only is it hard to sell outright prohibitions to voters, but the sad truth is that governments have a woeful record in even the mildest interventions. One of the most significant innovations in the last decade has been Europe’s carbon-emission trading scheme: some 12 000 companies, responsible for more than half of the EU’s emissions, have been assigned quotas. Companies with unused allowances can sell them; the higher the price, the greater the incentive for firms to cut their use of fossil fuels. The system seemed to work for about a year — but now it turns out that Europe’s governments allocated far too many credits, which will likely hinder the program’s effectiveness for years.

Perhaps the real reason that well-intentioned consumers do not change is that they do not see any benefit. Climate change may be a frightening, irreversible calamity, but its worst effects will not be felt next week or next year. The planet looks the same regardless of whether we use environmentally friendly technology or we do not care how much CO2 we emit. But sure as the sun rises and sets every day, if we do not cut down on carbon emissions, then we may not have a planet to hand over to the next generation.
(Adapted from Times, June 5, 2006)

1. According to the passage, what are the effects of global warming? (4 marks)
2. What, according to the passage, is the main cause of global warming? (3 marks)
3. How does Britain encourage people to use renewable electricity? (3 marks)
4. Paraphrase the following sentence: That is a strong argument for targeting industries, but the average reader could hardly be blamed for thinking, ‘Why should I bother to cut down my driving?’ (4 marks)
5. What message does the writer communicate in this passage? (2 marks)
6. Explain the meaning of the following words and expression as used in the passage. (4 marks)
   1. fob off
   2. incentive
   3. calamity

QUESTION 2: COMPREHENSION (25 MARKS)
FAT PRINCE steps forward and greets the FAMILY.
FAT PRINCE: Happy Easter, Natella Abashwili! What a day! When it was raining last night, I thought to myself, gloomy holidays! But this morning the sky was gay. I love a gay sky; a simple heart, Natella Abashwili. And little Michael is a governor from head to foot! Tititi! (He tickles the CHILD.)
GOVERNOR’S WIFE: What do you think, Arsen, at last Georgi has decided to start building the east wing. All those wretched slums are to be torn down to make room for the garden.
FAT PRINCE: Good news after so much bad! ‘What’s the latest on the war, Brother Georgi? (The GOVERNOR indicates a lack of interest.) Strategical retreat, I hear. Well, minor reverses are to be expected. Sometimes things go well, sometimes not. Such is war. Doesn’t mean a thing, does it?
GOVERNOR’S WIFE: He’s coughing. Georgi, did you hear? (She speaks sharply to the DOCTORS, two dignified men standing close to the little carriage.) He’s coughing!
FIRST DOCTOR (to the SECOND): May I remind you, Niko Mikadze, that I was against the lukewarm bath? (To the GOVERNOR’S WIFE :) There’s been a little error over warming the bath water, Your Grace.
SECOND DOCTOR (equally polite): Mika Loladze, I’m afraid I can’t agree with you. The temperature of the bath water was exactly what our great, beloved Mishiko Oboladze prescribed. More likely a slight draft during the night, Your Grace.
GOVERNOR’S WIFE: But do pay more attention to him. He looks feverish, Georgi.
FIRST DOCTOR (bending over the CHILD): No cause for alarm, Your Grace. The bath water will be warmer. It won’t occur again.
SECOND DOCTOR (with a venomous glance at the FIRST): I won’t forget that, my dear Mika Loladze. No cause for concern, Your Grace.
FAT PRINCE: Well, well, well! I always say: “A pain in my liver? Then the doctor gets fifty strokes on the soles of his feet.” We live in a decadent age. In the old days one said: “Off with his head!” -
GOVERNOR’S WIFE: Let’s go into church. Very likely it’s the draft here.
The procession Of FAMILY and SERVANTS turns into the doorway. The FAT PRINCE follows, but the GOVERNOR is kept back by the ADJUTANT, a handsome young man. When the crowd of PETITIONERS has been driven off a young dust- stained RIDER, his arm in a sling, remains behind.
ADJUTANT (pointing at the RIDER, who steps forward,): Won’t you hear the messenger from the capital, Your Excellency? He arrived this morning. With confidential papers.
GOVERNOR: Not before Service, Shalva. But did you hear Brother Kazbeki wish me a happy Easter? Which is all very well, but I don’t believe it did rain last night.
ADJUTANT (nodding): We must investigate.
GOVERNOR: Yes, at once. Tomorrow.
They pass through the doorway. The RIDER, who has waited in vain for an audience, turns sharply round and, muttering a curse, goes off Only one of the palace guards_SIMON SHASHAVA— remains at the door.
SINGER: The city is still.
Pigeons strut in the church square.
A soldier of the Palace Guard
Is joking with a kitchen maid
As she comes up from the river with a bundle.

QUESTIONS

1. What happens just before this excerpt? (3mks)
2. Identify and illustrate the character traits of the following as brought out in this excerpt.
   
   1. Governor’s wife (2mks)
   2. Fat Prince (2mks)
   3. Governor (2mks)
3. Identify and explain two major themes evident in this excerpt. (6mks)
4. Identify one instance of irony in this excerpt and explain its effect. (3mks)
5. Apart from irony. Identify and explain one other device in the excerpt. (3mks)
6. “It won’t occur again.” (add a question tag). (1mk)
7. What happens immediately after this excerpt? (3mks)

QUESTION 3: LITERARY APPRECIATED. (20MKS)
03. Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.
No coffin, no grave by fared Angira
He was buried without a coffin
without a grave
the scavengers performed the post-mortem
in the open mortuary
without sterilized knives
in front of the night club

stuttering rifles put up
the gun salute of the day
that was a state burial anyway
the car knelt
the red plate wept, wrapped itself in blood its
master’s

the diary revealed to the sea
the rain anchored there at last
isn’t our flag red, black and white?
so he wrapped himself well

who could signal yellow
when we had to leave politics to the experts
and brood on books
brood on hunger
and schoolgirls
grumble under the black pot
sleep under torn mosquito net
and let lice lick our intestines
the lord of the bar, money speaks madam
woman magnet, money speaks madam
we only cover the stinking darkness of the cave of our mouths
and ask our father who is in hell to judge him
the quick and the good.

well, his diary, submarine of the Third World
War
showed he wished
to be buried in a gold-laden coffin
like a VIP
under the jacaranda tree beside his palace
a shelter for his grave
and much beer for the funeral party

anyway one noisy pupil suggested we bring
tractors and plough the land.
(From Poems from East Africa, D. Cook andD. Rubadiri (Eds,): East African EducationalPublishers)

1. Briefly explain what this poem is about.(3 marks)
2. Explain the use of onomatopoeia in the poem.(2 marks)
3. Identify and explain the tone of the poem.(4 marks)
4. Comment on the central theme of the poem.(3 marks)
5. Explain the meaning of the following lines:
   
   1. who could signal yellow(2 marks)
   2. submarine of the Third World War
6. How else can people bring change in society without assassinating politicians? (2mks)
7. Explain the meaning of the following word as used in the poem
   
   1. Anchored (1mk)
   2. Brood (1mk)

QUESTION 4: GRAMMAR (15 MARKS)

1. Complete the following sentences by choosing the appropriate expressions to fill the gaps. (3mks)
   1. Although Nduati is a great friend of mine. I __________________________ him on a few important issues. (differ to, differ with)
   2. As good citizens, we must all pay our taxes ___________________ the policy. (in accordance to, in accordance with)
   3. She chose her career ______________________ (independent of, independent to )
2. Rewrite the sentences below according to the instructions given after each. (3mks)
   
   1. My father would not allow us to attend night parties under any circumstances.
      (Begin: Under no circumstances ……………………………….)
   2. Strangers should not be allowed into the compound without the security officer’s permission. (Begin: On no account…………..)
   3. The plane had just taken off when one of the passengers began to scream.
      (Begin: Scarcely ………….)
3. Rewrite the following sentences avoiding repetition. (3mks)
   
   1. Always be frank and open with your friends. When you are frank and open to your friends, you will win your friends trust and confidence.
   2. Some of the questions are difficult, so find the easier questions and do the easier questions first.
   3. Help yourself to some oranges. These oranges are sweet but those oranges are sweeter.
4. Combine each of the following pairs of sentences into one sentence by making one of them a relative clause.
   
   1. Naliaka joined our school this term. She is very good at grammar.
   2. The elephant is a very big animal. It is also very strong.
   3. The generator had been on the whole night. It broke down in the morning.
5. Add an appropriate question tag to each of the following statements. (3mks)
   
   1. They aren’t serious.
   2. He bought a new house last month.
   3. They won’t shut up.
   4. Let us go.
   5. He hasn’t been here before.
   6. You live in an apartment.

MARKING SCHEME

QUESTION 1: COMPREHENSION. (20MKS)

1. The effects of global warming are melting ice caps, rising sea levels, species extinction and climatic change. (4 marks)
2. The main cause of global warming, according to the passage, is fossil fuel emissions. (2 marks)
3. Britain encourages people to use renewable electricity by making it very easy for people to switch to renewable sources. (3 marks)
4. An ordinary reader would not be blamed for wondering why he or she has to reduce on driving while industries continue to emit a lot of CO₂. (4 marks)
5. The writer communicates the message that, while pollution is a life-threatening issue, the approaches to resolving it are ineffective. (4 marks)
6.    
   1. fob off — to avoid/make excuses
   2. Incentive — a thing that motivates or encourages someone to do something
   3. Calamity — an event that causes great damage (3 marks)

QUESTION 2 COMPREHENSION (25 MARKS)

1. The governor and his family have gone to church for the Easter Sunday Service. There are beggars and petitions waiting for him but the soldiers push them back, after servants have collected the petitions and distributed coins.
2.    
   1. She is contemphious she refers to the slums as “all those wretched slums”.
   2. Callous: He thinks that news about slums being destroyed is good.
      Sadistic: seems to enjoy the fact that doctors are punished for the patients’ illness.
   3. Unfriendly/Unwelcoming/A shrub.
      He ignores the Fat Prince when he asks him about the war
3. The theme of War and Violence is evident. The Fat Prince asks the Governor, “What’s the latest on the war, brother George?,………strategic retreat…….such as war,” this indicates there’s a war going on.
   The Fat Prince also says that if one fell sick, the doctor would get fifty strokes on the soles of his feet, indicating violence.
   The theme of religion, Christianity to be precise, is also evident. The Governor’s wife say, “Let’s go into messanger after service.
4. With a war on, it is ironical that the governor simply dismisses the messanger instead of treating this matter with the urgency one would expect. This has the effect of depicting the governor as an ignorant, careless leader with no tact and who does not take political matters that should be a major priority to him, with the seriousness they deserve.
5. Song. “The city is still …………
   As she comes up from the river with a bundle.”
   This song serves to introduce the next scene which will apparently involve a soldier (Simon Shashara) and a young maid.
6. It won’t occur again, will it?
7. Simon Shashara and Grusha Vashuadze meet. Simon teases Grusha about her activities at the river while washing linen. Grusha explains that the bundle she is carrying is a goose and shows it to Simon.

QUESTION 3: LITERARY APPRECIATION (20 marks)

1. The poem is about the death of a ruler, who is a traitor. The ruler who is assassinated outside a night club, and his body is left to be devoured by vultures. His diary is washed into the sea by rain. and when it is found it reveals who the ruler was and his desire to be buried in a dignified, grand funeral. (3 marks)
2. The words stuttering rifles are onomatopoeic. They describe the sound of bullets flying from the rifles of the assassins. (2 marks)
3. The tone of the poem is satirical/sarcastic. The poem is satirical about the arrogance of the politician who is very selfish and has no regard for other people. The poem satirizes the politicians desire for a lavish funeral but dies in very humiliating conditions.(4 marks)
4. The central theme of the poem is betrayal and change. The politician has no regard for the downtrodden and poor people in the country, whose interests he should be serving. He uses his money to buy cheap pleasure instead of engaging in constructive activities. Change is represented by the assassination and at the end of the poem a pupil suggests that they bring tractors to plough the land; which represents a major change. (3 marks)
5.       
   1. Yellow is not a colour of the national flag of Kenya. The poet is asking who could contradict the politician who claimed to be the expert while the common citizens are cursed to brood on books, think about schoolgirls and hunger, and sleep hungry under torn mosquito nets. (2 marks)
   2. The possible meanings of this line are:
      first, it could literally mean that his diary was a submarine because it was found in the sea; secondly, it could mean that the ideas he had written in the diary were highly destructive and irresponsible, to the extent that they could lead to the Third World War. (2 marks)
6. This is an open question. Award marks for well thought out alternatives, for example civic education and electing responsible leaders who have integrity. (2marks)
7.      
   1. anchored — secured or held firmly (1mark)
   2. brood — think or worry about (1mark)

QUESTION 4 GRAMMAR

1.    
   1. differ with
   2. in accordance with
   3. independent of
2.    
   1. Under no circumstance would my father allow us to attend night parties.
   2. On no account should strangers be allowed into the compound without the security officer’s permission.
   3. Scarcely had the plane taken off when one of the passengers began to scream
3.    
   1. Always be frank and open with your friends.
   2. When you are, you will win their trust and confidence.
   3. Help yourself to some oranges. These ones are sweet but those are sweeter
4.    
   1. Naliaka,, who is very good at grammar, joined our school this term
   2. The elephant, which is a very big animal, is also very strong.
   3. The generator, which had been on the whole night, broke down in the morning
5.    
   1. They aren’t serious, are they?
   2. He bought a new house last month, didn’t he?
   3. They won’t shut up, will they?
   4. Let us go, shall we?
   5. He hasn’t been here before, has he?
   6. You live in an apartment, don’t you?