BECE 2010 English Language Essay - Paper 2

BECE 2010 - APRIL

ENGLISH LANGUAGE – ESSAY (Paper 2)

1 hour

Answer two questions in all: one question from each part. Your composition should be about 250 words long

Credit will be given for clarity of expression and orderly presentation of material

PART A ESSAY WRITING

Answer one question only from this part.

1. Write a letter to your father asking permission to join your schoolmates who are going on an excursion.

2. Write an article for publication in a local newspaper on the topic: Every school should have a library.

3. Write a short story illustrating the saying:

All that glitters is not gold.

PART B COMPREHENSION

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

When I was about eleven years old, I was unable to stay at one place for long; I was always on the move. Many people thought and said I was troublesome. Prominent among those who described me as such was my aunt, Araba Oboshea.

Aunt Araba was particularly mean. She would sit on her stool under the gum tree in front of the house and wait for me to return from wherever I had gone. As soon as I arrived she would call me and, without asking me any question or telling me anything, take my left ear between the forefinger and the thumb of her right hand and give my ear a silent, violent and painful twist. I cannot describe the pain I endured. She would so the same to my right ear. She explained that she was paying for my absence that I had sold to her! Aunt Araba would continue to twist both ears of mine simultaneously with her forefingers and thumbs.

I would scream silently, gritting my teeth so that I could not utter any sound because of pain. That way I was spared the next stage of being given countless strokes of any stick she could lay hands on. One strange thing about Aunt Araba was that she would never hit me with her hands.

Aunt Araba went on treating me this way because she could hardly understand why I was always on the move. I could also not have the courage to explain why it was so because I was afraid of her and began to hate her.

One Thursday evening when I was going through my usual ordeal, an elderly man, Agya Manu who usually visited her appeared on the scene. He pleaded with her to leave me, and asked for the reason for such punishment. After he had been told of my "sin", Agya Manu, who knew me very well, explained to my auntie that I was always on the move not because I was in any bad company, but because I was favourite for any errand. I had been running several errands for him and many other people. Agya Manu then advised me not to spend all my time running errands for others but rather, do all my duties at home.

a) What was the writer's behaviour when he was about eleven years old?

b) … I was always on the move.

What is the meaning of this expression?

c) From the passage, what is the character of Aunt Araba?

d) Why did Aunt Araba keep punishing the writer

e) How did Agya Manu rescue the writer

f) For each of the following words, give one word or phrase which means the same:

(i) endured

(ii) countless