2024 BECE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ESSAY

PART A – WRITING

(30 marks)
Answer one question only from this part. Your answer should not be less than 250 words.

1. Your friend who lives in another town thinks that school life is boring and wants to leave school to start petty trading. Write a letter to encourage him/her to remain in school. In the letter, discuss two aspects of school life that are interesting.

2. A teacher from your school has won the first prize as the National Best Teacher. You were selected to represent your school at the ceremony. Write a report on what you saw and discuss two lessons you learned as you observed the event.

3. It is an election year and the major political parties have started campaigning. As a peace-loving member of your community, write an article for publication in a local newspaper of the community, discussing two ways of maintaining peace during the period.

PART B – READING

(20 marks)
Read the following passage carefully and answer all the questions which follow:

Passage:
Migration is a common practice among animals: birds, fish and human beings. Migration of human beings has both positive and negative effects on individuals in the society.

When Bello migrated to the city, left his wife, Aisha, an enterprising traditional caterer, to fend for herself and their two children. During one of his occasional visits home, his father asked him to take his wife and children to live with him in the city. Reluctantly, Bello gave in.

Aisha had imagined that she would be living in a neat, beautiful and comfortable house in the city. Instead, she, her husband and their children were accommodated in a single room. Wash room facilities were shared with other families. to worsen her plight, her housekeeping allowance was so meagre that she could hardly feed her family properly. she wanted to work, but like the other female migrants, she could not find any job. she wondered how they would survive, be able to send money to their parents and save for a rainy day.

One day, she decided to give her husband a treat and also socialise with their friends. She prepared one of the most inexpensive but tasty delicacies of her people and shared it with her neighbours.

Even passers-by popped in for a bite. it was a very successful get together. Her labour was not in vain.

Soon, other women asked her to teach them how to cook some local dishes. She also provided catering services at many events. she was handsomely rewarded. Gradually, Aisha Catering Services became household name and there was remarkable improvement in their lives.

Questions:
(a) What was Aisha’s occupation before she went to the city?
(b) In which two ways did migrant workers spend their money?
(c) In one adjective, describe how Aisha felt when she arrived in the city.
(d) “Reluctantly, Bello gave in”. why was Bello reluctant?

(e) Explain in your own words the following expressions as usedin the passage:

(i) … to fend for

(ii) save for a rainy day

(iii) as not in vain.

(f) For each of the following words, give another word or phrase that means the same and can fit into the passage:
(i) occasional;
(ii) prepared
(iii) handsomely

(iv) improvement

(f) In two sentences of not more than ten words each, summarise two problems that migrants face as expressed in the third paragraph.

PART C – LITERATURE

(10 marks)
Answer all the questions in this part.

SACKEY J.A and DARMANI L. (COMP): The Cockcrow

5. Read the following extract carefully and answer Questions 5(a) and 5(b):

CHARLES DICKENS: Oliver Twist
“Boy what’s your name?” snarled the chairman.
“Oliver Twist sir.”
“You know that you are an orphan, is that right?”
“What is an orphan sir?”

(a) The chairman’s tone tells us that he is ___.
(b) From Oliver’s question we can tell that he is ___.

Read the following extract carefully and answer Questions 5(c) and 5(d):

KAAKYIRE AKOSOMO NYANTAKYI: The Generous Hunter
Calm down, Mr. Hunter, I come in peace. Your ability to distinguish me from my younger brother has surprised me. Many people think we are identical twins.

(c) Why did the speaker go to see the hunter?
(d) What lesson can we learn from the speaker’s action?

Read the following extract carefully and answer Questions 5(e) and 5(f):

ROBERT FROST: A Minor Bird
The fault must partly have been in me
The bird was not to blame for his key
And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song

(e) Give the rhyming scheme for the extract above.
(f) From the poem, what lesson do you learn about fault finding?

Read the following excerpt carefully and answer Questions 5(g) and 5(h):

LAWRENCE DARAMANI: Scribbler’s Dream
Tell you the truth:
the goal adorning the neck
once we lost its rocky soils
They dig deep who dig for it

(g) The dominant literary device in the 2nd and 3rd lines is ___.
(h) What does the writer mean by “They dig deep who dig for it”?

Read the following extract carefully and answer Questions 5(i) and 5(j):

AMA ATA AIDOO: The Dilemma of a Ghost
Yes, my young woman, I shall remember you.
I shall remember you in the hours of the night
In my sleep,
In my sleepless sleep.

(i) Who does “my young woman” refer to?
(j) What is the figure of speech in the expression, “In my sleepless sleep”?