Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education
2017 English Paper 1
1 Read the advertisement below and then answer the questions that follow.
The Ministry of Health is seeking to recruit Form Four graduates to serve in a campaign aimed at creating awareness among young people on the importance of healthy eating.
Applicants must be: citizens of Kenya – 16 years and above – in possession of a national identification card – fluent in English and Kiswahili – able to demonstrate knowledge and experience on issues of healthy eating – creative and innovative.
Interested persons are required to send their application to the following by 30th November, 2016.
The Principal Secretary Ministry of Health P.O. Box 6789 — 001000 NAIROBI
(a) Write a letter of application in response to the advertisement. (12 marks)
(b) Write a Curriculum Vitae to accompany your application letter. (8 marks)
2 Read the passage below and fill in each blank space with the most appropriate word.
(10 marks) Neither time nor affluence removes memories (1) childhood poverty. Experiences of poor children illustrate how significant (2) and status are in our society. Some adults think their (3) or father was responsible (4) their attitudes about money. Their current understanding of (5) parents‘ past problems with money often provide little solace. A (6) of adults overcome the stigma of having been (7) as children. There are (8) children who also develop unhealthy attitudes about money. Such (9) imagine that money is all they need to (10) it in life. There is, however, more to life than money. (Adapted from: Harbrace
Handbook, by Cheryl Glenn, et al. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2004)
3 (a) Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow:
Giraffes
Beyond the brassy sun-stare where each shade
Crouches beneath its substance at mid-noon, The tall giraffes are gathered in a glade
Grazing the green fruit of the midday moon.
Patched with sienna shadows of the jungle,
In pencil-slender attitudes they stand;
Grotesque in camouflage, each curve and angle
Is merged into the backcloth of the land.
These circus creatures of a poet’s dreaming
Whose destiny on silent strings is spun,
Are patterned in designs of nature’s scheming
To move through dappled woods and dun.
Strange genesis in which the substance seeming
The shadow, is the street of the sun!
By Phoebe Hesketh (Adapted from: Modern Poems for Common-wealth, by Maurice Wollman & John Spencer. London: George G. Harrap, 1966)
(i) Describe the rhyme scheme of this poem and explain its function. (3 marks)
(ii) Identify two instances of alliteration in this poem. (2 marks)
(iii) How would you say the last line of the poem? (3 marks)
(b) You accidentally broke the windscreen of a stranger’s car at the market near your home.
Complete the following conversation between you and the stranger. Use courteous language.
You: (2 marks)
Stranger: I can’t believe it. This is a brand new car. You: (2 marks)
Stranger: Your parents will have to meet the cost of replacing the windscreen. You: (2 marks)
Stranger: I hope you will learn the lesson to be more careful in future. You: (2 marks)
(c) Write down another word with a similar pronunciation for each of the ones given below. (5 marks)
(i) blew
(ii) serial
(iii) cite
(iv) nun
(v) some
(d) You are listening to a speech about careers by a visitor to your school.
A few minutes into the speech, you look around and notice that some of your fellow students are yawning, while others are showing signs of definite restlessness.
(i) What would be the likely cause of the students’ behaviour? (3 marks)
(ii) What would you do to ensure you continue listening effectively? (3 marks)
(e) In each group of the words below underline the word that is pronounced differently from the others. (3 marks)
(i) bread bleed bred
(ii) arch arc ark
(iii) hair heir air
