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.
Choose the best option that best completes the gap(s):
Snakes and ladders always _____ me happy these days.
Options:To listen properly is hard job and probably one of the toughest skills in the art of communication. Good listening has nothing to do with proper functioning of one’s auditory organs, which is assumed to be inevitable. Good listening in the sense we are interested in is not a biological factor, but a psychological one. Your auditory orangs may be in perfect order, when actually you cannot use them creatively. Creative listening implies your being efficient in the art of concentration; in other words, you concentrate on what one is saying so as to make sure that you hear all that is said. At the same time you are concentrating to hear all that is being said, you are also thinking fast, digesting what is being said, allowing your mental faculties and your memory to accept that which you understand and to reject that which you do not understand, sorting out what you do not understand and storing them somewhere in your brain for future discussion and all at the same time rationalizing what you hear, accepting that which you find rational and rejecting that which you do not find rational.
After you must have listened creatively to what you have been told, then you can respond if the need arises. It is quite proper that you respond because the process of response enhances the art of communication. But your response ought to be only a necessary response; a response that will improve your understanding. This response should involve your mentioning some things you have been told but which do not understand, or politely questioning the rationality of some of the speaker’s argument. But your response must be constructive; must enhance the communicative worth. It should not be an unnecessary argument, or an opportunity for you to express dissatisfaction. The ability properly aids communication and understanding
The passage says that Options:In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:
After a long talk with the police, Baba confessed his guilt and so the other boys with whom he was accused were _____
Options:Every artist’s work, unless he be a hermit, creating solely for his own satisfaction and with no need of sales, is to some extent “socially conditioned” he depends upon the approval of his patrons. Social conditioning is of course part of the field of study of the social anthropologist, yet I am not aware that the social conditioning of artists has ever been seriously studied. That such study is needed for the proper appraisal of traditional African art is evident enough when we note the igneous assumption, current in many writings on the subject, that the curve’s hand is so closely controlled by the custom of centuries that the credits for any creative imagination which is apparent in his work is due not to him but to the long succession of his predecessors.
Of course, there is an element of must in this view of the tribal artist as copyist, but it is hardly more valid for the Africa than for the European artist. In both cases the work of art is the outcome of dialectic between the informing tradition and the individual genius of the artist and in both the relative strength of these two forces may vary almost infinitely. To assess the personal ingredient in an African carving is no easy matter, especially if one is confronted with a rare or unique piece in an unfamiliar style; but the considerations involved are much the same as those employed in European art criticism.
Which of the following represents the writer’s view about African art in relation to European Art?
Options:After many weary weeks of matching . Nzinga and her attendants arrived at the white wall of Luanda. The guards at the city gates led them through the winding streets and up to the governor’s palace. A pompous courtier, sweating and dirty in his thick clothes ordered them to wait amongst a crowd of people who had come to beg favours of the governor.
Nzinga waited patiently, ignoring this insult to her royal dignity. She knew that her chance would come. The hot sun beat down on the white walls of the palace, yet Nzinga stood straight and proud as the crowd of Portuguese merchants mopped their sweating faces with damp lace handkerchiefs.
Much later the courtier came back. He knocked on the floor with his staff, and then announced in a loud voice, ‘His Excellency Joao Correia de Souza, the Governor in Angola of His Most Royal and Catholic Majesty, the king of Portugal’. The tired soldiers stood to attention and the courtiers and merchants bowed.
Nzinga became very impatient. Was she to stand here like a servant all day, waiting for this man to make up his mind to hear her? She stepped forward, walked into the middle of the room and faced the governor. The guards and the courtiers were so amazed that they could o nothing but gasp in amazement at this boldness. ‘Well, ‘murmured one of the merchants to his neighbor. ‘Now she will learn what trouble is! Don Joao will be very angry. It is an insult to his dignity’. ‘What do you mean by this, asked the governor when he had recovered from his surprise. ‘Who are you? Come, woman, state your business!’
But Nzinga was not afraid. In a clear, calm voice she answered him. ‘My first business is a chair,’ she said. The governor laughed. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked. ‘You are seated, ‘she replied, ‘And you are only a governor, a slave of your king. I am a princess and men do not sit where I stand. I will state my business seated!’
But Nzinga had learnt the strength of her enemy. She knew that she was already winning this contest of wills. E
Whatever happens now, this man would not think that she has been sent by a beaten people to beg favours. Without another word, she turned and made a sign to her maid. When the girl came to her, Nzinga ordered her to kneel down. Then, with a flash or triumph in her eyes, Nzinga sat down on the girl’s back, Nzinga got her treaty. Pride in herself and in her people had saved the day for the Mbundu.
What was the first insult to the princess' dignity? Options:Choose the option that best completes the gap(s).
He brought a _____ against his neighbour?
Options:In the question below choose the option opposite in meaning to the word Underlined:
Binta sobbed by the door because she had lost her mother's precious necklace
Options:Answer the question below and choose the option nearest in meaning to the word or phrase underlined.
I am tired of your eternal argument.
Options:Choose the one opposite in meaning to the word(s) in underlined.
Chief Money-Miss-Road is a sitting duck
Options: