Literature-in-English past questions: WAEC SSCE 2023

46 objective questions, with answers. Free to read and practise.

Sit this paper

46 questions, one at a time, marked as you go or at the end. No account needed.

1.
A character that is built around a single idea or quality is a _______ character.
1. A.heroic
2. B.flat
3. C.choral
4. D.sound
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B flat
2.
A dead metaphor is
1. A.overused and ineffective
2. B.implied and not funny
3. C.implied and underused
4. D.overused and funny
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A overused and ineffective
3.
A dramatic performance with scenes played by body movements or gestures without words known as
1. A.comedy
2. B.pantomime
3. C.panegyric
4. D.melodrama
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B pantomime
4.
A fable is also known as
1. A.an apologue
2. B.an epigram
3. C.a farce
4. D.a parody
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A an apologue
5.
A short poem lamenting the death of someone is
1. A.an ode
2. B.a threnody
3. C.a sonnet
4. D.an epic
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B a threnody
6.
At the last head count, the population of the school was three thousand is an example of
1. A.synechdoche
2. B.hyperbole
3. C.metonymy
4. D.pun
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A synechdoche
7.
child of scorn illustrates
1. A.euphemism
2. B.contrast
3. C.metaphor
4. D.metonymy
Show answerHide answer
Answer: C metaphor
8.
Come, thou gentle day illustrates
1. A.apostrophe
2. B.irony
3. C.paradox
4. D.euphemism
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A apostrophe
9.
Exaggerating one's personal features for comic effect is
1. A.caricature
2. B.lampoon
3. C.contrast
4. D.satire
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A caricature
10.
In the last stanza, the persona is
1. A.fantasizing
2. B.angry
3. C.malnourished
4. D.pretending
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A fantasizing
11.
In the Town hall is the
1. A.setting
2. B.location
3. C.atmosphere
4. D.stage
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A setting
12.
join in with it, lead it on, but, finally,veer it from illustrates
1. A.allusion
2. B.simile
3. C.parallelism
4. D.personification
Show answerHide answer
Answer: C parallelism
13.
Jonsey's opening speech illustrates
1. A.epilogue
2. B.soliloquy
3. C.mime
4. D.aside
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B soliloquy
14.
Jonsey's speech Your mayoral hopeful is addressed to
1. A.the audience
2. B.Bassey
3. C.no one
4. D.himself
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B Bassey
15.
Letters, journals and diaries are examples of
1. A.faction
2. B.meta-fiction
3. C.fiction
4. D.non-fiction
Show answerHide answer
Answer: D non-fiction
16.
Now much beshrew my manners and my pride, illustrates the use of
1. A.alliteration
2. B.onomatopoeia
3. C.assonance
4. D.personification
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A alliteration
17.
rattling like leaves in a storm, fear branded on their faces illustrates
1. A.personification and simile
2. B.personification and metaphor
3. C.simile and metaphor
4. D.assonance and simile
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A personification and simile
18.
Read the extract below and answer the following question: (In the Town Hall) Jonsey: (By himself, centre right, looking sulky) How does anyone keep faith with himself In such an ill-made place? Bassy, Ba-a-ssy! Bassy: Here. Anything the matter? Jonsey: (Moves front stage centre right) Your mayoral hopeful. Bassy is a ____ in the play.
1. A.narrator
2. B.director
3. C.producer
4. D.character
Show answerHide answer
Answer: D character
19.
Read the poem below and answer the question below: Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn, Grew lean while he assailed the seasons He wept that he was ever born, And he had reasons. Miniver loved the days of old When swords were bright and steeds prancing The vision of a warrior bold Would set him dancing. The two stanzas are built on
1. A.alternate rhyme
2. B.identical rhymes
3. C.couplets
4. D.run-on lines
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A alternate rhyme
20.
Reading the poem, one notices that the poet is being
1. A.hyperbolic
2. B.euphemistic
3. C.ironic
4. D.sarcastic
Show answerHide answer
Answer: C ironic
21.
Resolution in a literary work is also referred to as
1. A.events that increase action
2. B.final outcome
3. C.the complication
4. D.event that increases tension
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B final outcome
22.
Seven metrical feet in a line of a stanza is
1. A.hexametre
2. B.heptametre
3. C.septet
4. D.triolet
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B heptametre
23.
That girl is too young to be put in the family way illustrates
1. A.euphemism
2. B.hyperbole
3. C.oxymoron
4. D.paradox
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A euphemism
24.
The attitude of the writer towards Sasu is one of
1. A.surprise
2. B.anger
3. C.approval
4. D.disdain
Show answerHide answer
Answer: C approval
25.
The character that delivers the prologue is
1. A.Snug
2. B.Starveling
3. C.Snout
4. D.Quince
Show answerHide answer
Answer: D Quince
26.
The character that speaks after the speaker is
1. A.Lysander
2. B.Demetrius
3. C.Titania
4. D.Hippolyta
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A Lysander
27.
The character that speaks before the speaker
1. A.Demetrius
2. B.Theseus
3. C.Pyramus
4. D.Hippolyta
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B Theseus
28.
The dominant literary device used in the extract is
1. A.parallelism
2. B.apostrophe
3. C.personification
4. D.antithesis
Show answerHide answer
Answer: C personification
29.
The extract presents the image of a
1. A.enough time
2. B.bright day
3. C.dark night
4. D.calm weather
Show answerHide answer
Answer: D calm weather
30.
The metrical structure is predominantly
1. A.trochaic
2. B.dactyllic
3. C.iambic
4. D.spondaic
Show answerHide answer
Answer: C iambic
31.
The moon looked on the massacre in horror ! illustrates
1. A.pathetic fallacy
2. B.prologue
3. C.epilogue
4. D.transferred epithet
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A pathetic fallacy
32.
The prevailing atmosphere is
1. A.pleasant
2. B.drab
3. C.tense
4. D.serene
Show answerHide answer
Answer: C tense
33.
The speaker has just said farewell to
1. A.Helena
2. B.Demetrius
3. C.Hermia
4. D.Lysander
Show answerHide answer
Answer: C Hermia
34.
The speaker is
1. A.Hippolyta
2. B.Lysander
3. C.Pyramus
4. D.Bottom
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B Lysander
35.
The speaker is addressing
1. A.Helena
2. B.Hermia
3. C.Demetrius
4. D.himself
Show answerHide answer
Answer: D himself
36.
The speaker is in
1. A.the woods
2. B.his apartment
3. C.a street
4. D.the palace
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A the woods
37.
The speaker resolves to tell
1. A.Lysander of Hermia's infidelity
2. B.Demetrius of Hermia's flight
3. C.Egeus of Hermia's flight
4. D.Theseus of Hermia's infidelity
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B Demetrius of Hermia's flight
38.
The speech is made in
1. A.Oberon's place
2. B.the woods
3. C.the Queen's palace
4. D.Theseus' palace
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B the woods
39.
The speech shows that the speaker is
1. A.high spirits
2. B.dissappointed
3. C.excited
4. D.in a bad mood
Show answerHide answer
Answer: B dissappointed
40.
The third stanza of the Shakespearean sonnet is
1. A.couplet
2. B.sextet
3. C.octave
4. D.quatrain
Show answerHide answer
Answer: D quatrain
41.
Thy love ne'er alter, till thy sweet life end.' implies
1. A.an enduring love
2. B.a family love
3. C.an undying love
4. D.a fickle love
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A an enduring love
42.
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY Read the passage below and answer the following questions: Along marched the crowd, determined not to be distracted from its cause and the course it had charted. If anyone could intimidate the chief, it was Sasu, who led the crowd. The chief nurtured unruffled restraint. He knew Sasu, knew that Sasu would not waste the trust between them on renegades. One way to divert a mob from its goal is to join in with it, lead it on, but, finally, veer it from the course of its cause. Onward, towards the chief's palace marched the crowd, singing war songs. The sun frowned as the palace guards, rattling like leaves in a storm - fear branded on their faces, came out to survey the threatening crowd and prepare for a siege. Just then, Sasu turned about, heading away from the palace - with the crowd, and the war songs. The last paragraph illustrates
1. A.anti-climax
2. B.rising action
3. C.suspense
4. D.foreshadow
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A anti-climax
43.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: A Midsummer Night's Dream Read the extract and answer the following question. As wagish boys in a game themselves forswear; So the boy Love is perjured everywhere; For ere Demetrius looked on Hermia's eyne, He hailed down oaths that he was only mine; And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, So he dissolved and showers of oaths did melt The speaker's mood stems from
1. A.being rejected by the lover
2. B.having to go into the forest
3. C.wanting to punish Hermia
4. D.meeting with Hermia
Show answerHide answer
Answer: A being rejected by the lover
44.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: A Midsummer Night's Dream Read the extract below and answer the following question: That fallen am I in dark uneven way, Come, thou gentle day; For if but once thou show me thy grey light, I'll find , and revenge this spite. After the speech, the speaker
1. A.begins to dance
2. B.laughs uncontrollably
3. C.falls asleep
4. D.starts crying
Show answerHide answer
Answer: C falls asleep
45.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: A Midsummer Night's Dream Read the extract below and answer the question: Lysander riddles very prettily; Now much beshrew my manners and my pride, If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied. But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy Lie further off, in human modesty; Such separation as may well be said Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid; So far be distant, and good night, sweet friend: Thy love ne'er alter, till thy sweet life end! The speaker and the addressee are
1. A.father and daughter
2. B.master and servant
3. C.lovers
4. D.friends
Show answerHide answer
Answer: C lovers
46.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: A Midsummer Night's Dream Use the following extract to answer the question that follows: Lie bath rid his prologue like a rough colt: he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not enough to speak, but to speak true. it is not enough to speak, but to speak true illustrates
1. A.parable
2. B.epitaph
3. C.wisecrack
4. D.epigram
Show answerHide answer
Answer: D epigram

Printing is turned off here to protect the question bank. Get the SmarTest app to study offline.

More free Literature-in-English papers

WAEC Literature-in-English 1998–2020 is in the app

The latest five years of each paper are free here. The SmarTest app has every year we hold, a worked explanation for each answer, and timed mock exams. It works offline.

Get the app

Android, Windows, Mac and Linux