JAMB English 1990 Past Questions & Explanations

The subject 'Knowledge of figures of speech as well as idioms and lexical items' is compound and plural in meaning. When subjects are joined by 'as well as', the verb agrees with the first subject and takes the plural form. 'Are tested' is correct because 'items' (plural) is the controlling element. 'Is tested' (A) treats the subject as singular, which is incorrect. 'Have been tested' (B) uses present perfect, which doesn't fit the timeless context. 'Were tested' (D) uses past tense, inappropriate for a general statement.

The sentence requires the past tense because 'damaged by the rainstorm' establishes a past event. The subject 'buildings' is plural, requiring a plural verb form. 'Included' (A) is the simple past, which correctly matches both the past tense requirement and plural subject. 'Include' (B) is present tense, incorrect for past context. 'Were included' (C) is passive voice, which awkwardly reverses the meaning. 'Was including' (D) is singular and incorrect.

This sentence uses the future perfect 'by the time' construction, which requires the simple present in the subordinate clause despite the future meaning. 'Return' (B) is correct because the future tense is expressed through the main clause 'would have been.' 'Returned' (A) is past tense, inappropriate. 'Are returning' (C) is present continuous. 'Would return' (D) is conditional, which creates a double conditional structure that is ungrammatical.

'Should' (D) is correct in reported speech. When the original direct speech is 'we shall', it is reported as 'we should' (shall → should in reported speech). This is a standard rule of tense and mood shift in indirect discourse. 'Must' (A) implies obligation incorrectly. 'Can' (B) implies ability rather than future intention. 'Shall' (C) is incorrect in reported speech without the shift.

'Had better' (C) is an idiomatic expression meaning 'should' or 'ought to', used to give strong advice. The phrase is fixed and always uses 'had', regardless of tense. 'Have better' (A) is incorrect form. 'Better' (B) is incomplete and ungrammatical. 'Would better' (D) is not a recognized English construction.

'Had / heard' (B) is correct. This is a mixed conditional structure combining past hypothetical (could have agreed) with a past condition (had not heard). The correct form requires the past perfect 'had not heard' to align with the counterfactual condition. 'Have / heard' (A) uses present perfect, incorrect for past condition. 'Were / hearing' (C) and 'was / hearing' (D) use continuous forms, which don't fit the completed action.

'Which she had been reading' (A) is correct because 'seized during the laboratory work' indicates a past moment, and the reading was ongoing before that moment. The past perfect continuous 'had been reading' accurately shows the action was in progress when interrupted. 'Has been reading' (B) uses present perfect, inappropriate for a past narrative. 'Had read' (C) suggests completion rather than ongoing action. 'Is reading' (D) uses present tense, inconsistent with the past narrative.

'Was sick' (A) is correct. The phrase 'during the whole of last month' is a completed past period, requiring simple past tense. 'Has been sick' (B) uses present perfect, which connects to the present—inappropriate when a specific past period is stated. 'Had been sick' (C) is past perfect, used for events before other past events, not needed here. 'Had sicken' (D) is grammatically incorrect.

'Is' (D) is correct. The introductory phrase 'Ladies and gentlemen, our guest speaker, Dr. Oni' is complete, and the sentence needs a main verb. Adding a relative clause ('who is') would create redundancy. The simple present 'is' directly states the fact without a relative clause. 'Who is' (A) and 'who was' (C) introduce unnecessary relative clauses. 'Which is' (B) is incorrect because 'which' refers to things, and though Dr. Oni is a person, this construction is unidiomatic here.

'Knows' (B) is correct. The subject 'every one of his constituents' is grammatically singular (every one = each individual), requiring the singular verb form. Despite 'constituents' being plural, the distributive 'every one' makes the verb singular. 'Know' (A) is plural, incorrect. 'Will know' (C) is future tense, inappropriate for a general fact. 'Do know' (D) uses do-emphasis, which is grammatically possible but 'knows' is the standard form.

'Privilege' (B) is the correct spelling. The word is spelled p-r-i-v-i-l-e-g-e. 'Previlege' (A) has 'e' instead of 'i' in the first syllable. 'Previledge' (C) inserts an extra 'e' and misspells the first syllable. 'Priviledge' (D) replaces 'g' with 'd', which is incorrect. This is a straightforward spelling question testing the correct orthography of this commonly misspelled English word.

'Bare' (C) is correct. The phrase 'lay bare your hearts' means to expose or reveal your hearts. 'Bare' (adjective/verb) means naked or exposed. 'Bier' (A) is a stand for a coffin, irrelevant. 'Bear' (B) means to carry or endure, incorrect in this context. 'Bar' (D) means to obstruct or a rod/counter, unsuitable. The homophone distinction here requires choosing the word that means 'expose' or 'uncover'.

'To eating' (D) is correct. The phrase 'be used to' means to be accustomed to, and it is always followed by a gerund (verb+ing), not an infinitive. 'To eat' (A) is an infinitive, incorrect with 'used to' (which should not be confused with the modal 'used to' in past habit). 'In eating' (B) is incorrect preposition. 'Of eating' (C) is incorrect preposition. The pattern 'be used to + gerund' is fixed.

'One another' (A) is the most formal and appropriate choice. When two people greet each other, 'one another' is the conventional reciprocal pronoun in formal English. 'Themselves' (B) is a reflexive pronoun, incorrect for mutual action. 'Each other' (C) is also acceptable and means the same as 'one another', but in formal JAMB context, 'one another' is preferred for emphasis on formality. 'Theirselves' (D) is not a standard English word.

'One / you' (D) is correct. The first blank uses 'one' as the relative pronoun antecedent: 'what one enjoyed'. The second blank in the tag question uses 'you' because in modern English, tag questions shift from the formal 'one' to the conversational 'you'. This is the standard rule for tag questions with 'one'. 'One / one' (B) maintains 'one' throughout, which is overly formal. 'You / you' (A) uses 'you' in both blanks, which loses the distinction. 'He / he' (C) shifts the perspective inconsistently.

'In spite of' (A) is correct. The sentence suggests that despite the usefulness of the Arts, attention has shifted to science. 'In spite of' correctly introduces a concessive phrase showing contrast. 'Not minding' (B) is colloquial and awkward. 'Oblivious to' (C) means unaware, which doesn't capture the sense of acknowledged but disregarded usefulness. 'Forgetting' (D) is a gerund that doesn't fit grammatically as a preposition. The sentence requires a formal connector showing acknowledged contrast.

'It was not possible' (A) is correct. The sentence needs a main clause that logically relates to 'being the only person in the vicinity'. 'It was not possible' (meaning for others to help him) makes sense. 'There was no one' (B) is redundant with 'being the only person'. 'He had no nobody' (C) contains a double negative and is grammatically incorrect. 'No person was around' (D) merely repeats what 'being the only person' already states. Only (A) provides a meaningful clause.

'Cannot / driving' (D) is correct. The logic is: if the car was stolen, it cannot be true that he was driving it this morning. 'Cannot' expresses logical impossibility. The gerund 'driving' is used after the verb 'saw' (saw him driving). 'Should not' (A, B) expresses obligation or expectation, not logical impossibility. 'Drive' (B, C) without -ing is incorrect after 'saw'; the pattern is 'see + object + -ing'. 'Driving' (A, D) is required after 'saw him'.

'Had fainted / to run' (B) is correct. The sentence has 'has started', a present perfect in the main clause. The earlier action (fainting) must use past perfect 'had fainted' to show it occurred before the main action. The phrase 'has started to run' uses the infinitive 'to run', which is the correct pattern after 'start'. 'Fainted' (A, C, D) uses simple past, which doesn't show the temporal priority. 'Running' (C) uses a gerund after 'started', which is less idiomatic than 'to run'. 'On running' (D) is incorrect.

'Teaching / are' (B) is correct. The phrase 'disposed to' requires a gerund (teaching), not the infinitive (teach). The tag question must match the main verb 'are' (are not... are they?), making 'are' the correct tag ending. Although the subject is 'number', it is treated as plural ('a number of' = many), so 'are' is appropriate. 'Teach' (A, C, D) is an infinitive, incorrect after 'disposed to'. 'Aren't' (A) creates a double negative. 'Do' (C) doesn't match the 'are' auxiliary.