English is the study of the English language. The goal is to improve communication skills by practicing listening, speaking, reading, writing, and understanding language rules like pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
There are one or two things this country can teach others, one of them is the art of writing obituaries. One suspects that the reason why some of our newspapers still manage to break even is because of the great amount of revenue they derive from obituaries. It is not unusual for about one quarter of the volume of an average daily to be constituted of obituaries and in in memorial alone. One possible explanation for this, it has been argued, is that Nigerians value their dead greatly. And there is a saying amongst us that you do not say evil things against the dead. This is obviously the philosophy behind the large dose of encomiums with which our dead are bestowed. From evidences of these obituaries and in memorial, every dead Nigerian must have been something of a saint while alive. This would explain why the death of most Nigerians is attributed to the evil Machinations of the wicked. Only very few people in our country die natural death, and even when they do, the obituaries, etc always give the impression that such deaths constitute the saddest loss to befall the deceased family. And that is why writers of these obituaries and their allied advertisements are experts on ‘mortuary stylistics’. This ‘mortuary stylistics’ the study in the art of eulogizing the dead and making their loss sound so heart breaking, is one of the commodities we can export to other countries.
'Mortuary stylistics' as used in the passage refers to the Options:fill in the blank spaces in the following sentences making use of the best of the five options :
It was a blind alley. I could not walk any _____
Options:Choose the word(s) or phrase(s) which best fill(s) the gap.
The sea waves continue to ____________ the cliff on the west coast constantly.
Options:In 1951, the Government decided to start a Pottery Training Centre where new and more advantaged technical methods, especially glazing, could be taught. The centre was intended to serve the whole of the defunct Northern Region, and there were several reasons for choosing Abuja . The first was the excellence of the traditional pottery made in the Emirate. Secondly, firewood is plentiful; this is a most important consideration, because in the making of glazed pottery, more firewood than clay is required. Thirdly, there are good clays, and good local sources for the raw materials needed for the glazes. Fourthly, water, which is another important raw material, is plentiful. Finally, Abuja is in a central position for the whole region and is a town where learners from many different parts can find a congenial temporary home, and where the Emir and his Council are actively interested in the project.
Nearly all the making is done by a process called throwing;, so called because the lumps of clay are thrown the potter onto a wheel-head. They are weigh out so that each pot will be roughly the same size; for example, for making pint-sized jugs, the lumps of clay will be one and a half kilogrammes. The potter sits on the saddle of the wheel and spins it by pushing a pedal with his left foot. He has a bowl of water, a loofah, a bamboo knife, a pointed stick or porcupine quill, a wooden-smoothing tool which potters call a rib, and a piece of wire-like object that is used for wedging. He makes the wheel-heal slightly damp, and throws the lumps into the middle. The first work is to force the lump to the centre, then he presses his thumb into the middle of the lump, using water to keep it slippery. When the bottom is of the right thickness, he begins to draw up the walls until they are of the right height. Then he shapes the belly and shoulder of the pot. He trims off any waste clay. In this way, a small and medium-sized pot can be made quickly and accurately.
Adapted from Robert, J.M.E and Smith, L.E.M (1978) Testing English language, AUP
The words congenial, as used in the passage, means Options:In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:
The trader complained that he _____ robbed
Options:Answer the following question below and choose the option that best completes the gap(s):
He started his career as an _______teacher.
Options:In 1962, a team of scientists produced a special radio station that had a range of fifteen moles. Even though communication was being accomplished in space at a range of more than a million times this distance, the new radio station caused must excitement among scientists. The reason: its power supply was ‘battery ‘made of bacteria. For the first time, practical amounts of electricity were being produced by a form of life and put to use.
‘biocell’, the new power supply had a liquid fuel containing tiny forms of life that changed the fuel directly into electric energy. This was far more than an interesting experiment. The biocell is being developed as producer of electricity for radios, for signals to guide ships, for lighting and for other uses. Thought the working biocell is only a few years old, some scientists feel that it will one day produce power cheaply as is now being done by other methods, and that the biocell will use materials that would otherwise be considered a waste. Early biocells were powered with sugar, but a wide range of fuels can be used. Work is being done using sea water to feed the bacteria.
Electricity from living cells is no new idea. Man experienced the strange ‘shock ‘produced by some fish even before electricity was really discovered. Then in time, there were other discoveries. Benjamin Franklin found that lightning in the sky was electricity. Lulgi Galvani found some electricity in the muscles and nerves of animals. Bust the African catfish produces far more electricity than most other living creatures. And another fish, the electric eel, well named, for it has an even greater electric charge. Research works also discovered that even humns produce small amounts of electricity in their bodies. Our hearts produce a very small amount that can be measured, so do our brains. The biocell is completely new in the field of power production and, as yet, no mass-produced models have begun to replace the older types of batteries. It might be wondered, and then what the excitement is all about.
The writer's posture, as conveyed in the statement Electricity from living cells is no new idea, can be described as Options:choose the option with the correct emphatic stress indicated in capital letters from the options lettered A-D
Successful
Options: