Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education
2018 English Paper 2
1. Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow.
In life, we meet and learn from three different kinds of disciplines.
The first and probably the most important is that which we might call the Discipline of Nature or of Reality.
This type of discipline requires that when people choose to do the wrong things, they will get the wrong results.
If, for instance, a musician hits the wrong key, he or she hears the wrong note.
If the nail is not squarely hit on the head, it bends and it therefore has to be pulled out.
People meet the Discipline of Nature every time they try to do something.
This is why it is so important in school to give students more chances to do things, instead of just reading or listening to someone talk.
This discipline is a good teacher.
The learner never has to wait long for the answer, it usually comes quickly, often instantly.
The answer is often clear, and it points towards the needed correction.
This way, the learner does not only see that what was done is wrong, but also why, and what they need to do instead.
Finally, and most importantly, the giver of the answer, call her ‘Nature’ is impersonal, impartial and indifferent. She does not give opinions or make judgement. With Nature, one always gets an opportunity to start afresh, this time with the intention of doing things right.
The next type of discipline is the Discipline of Culture.
Man is a social and cultural animal.
Everyone, thus, senses around them this discipline, this network of agreements, customs, habits and rules binding the society together.
People always seek to understand the society and be part of it.
They watch very carefully what other people around them are doing and wish to do the same.
These unwritten rules regarding how to act in specific situations are called social norms.
Social norms help delineate what is acceptable behaviour.
For example, it is not acceptable to be loud and boisterous in a place of worship.
The third discipline is the one most people refer to when they speak of discipline — the Discipline of Superior Force. It is the discipline of“YOU do what I tell you or I’ll make you wish you had.” There is bound to be some of this in a person’s life.
Living as we do surrounded by things that can hurt us and our friends, we cannot avoid the Discipline of Superior Force.
For example, no one can let a child find out from experience the dan8er of playing with fire. So along with other precautions, the child is told not to play with fire or they will be punished.
There are situations where all the three disciplines overlap. We often Year people say that students will never do anything unless they are compelled to. But in their private lives, or in co-curricular activities in school, they often submit themselves, willingly and wholeheartedly to very intense disciplines simply because they want to learn to do a given thing well. So, discipline, does not only stem from authority figures such as parents and teachers but it also comes from a person’s willingness to do right.
Adapted from Connelly Mark’s The Brief Sundance Reader. Tbox Son Heinle, 2003
(a) What are we told about the Discipline of Nature in the first paragraph?
(b) Identify and explain the use of personification in paragraph two. (2 marks)
(c) Why do you think the Discipline of Nature is said to be a good teacher? (4 marks)
(d) “You do what I tell you or I’ll make you wish you had.” What does this statement imply?(2 marks)
(e) “So, discipline does not only stem from authority figures such as parents and teachers but it also comes from a person’s willingness to do right”.
(Rewrite beginning: Not only…) (1 mark)
(f) In about 60 words, summarise what we are told about the Discipline of Culture. (6 marks) Rough copy
(g) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage. (3 marks)
(i) Boisterous
(ii) Precautions …………. .
2. Margaret Ogola, The River and the Source
Read the excerpt below and then answer the questions that follows
“Now Nyabera, I don’t believe a daughter of mine could sound so foolish. Of course they are human, that is why they are called white people, not white animals. And trust is something to give to people who have earned it and therefore you have to give them a chance to do so.
I would not trust your uncle Otieno although he is as black as the bottom of the pot I boil maize and beans in. Finally, you’d better know that 1 aim to get some help from them against Otieno. The future of your nephew Owuor is in their hands so start praying.”
“Oh, mother! Please don’t go! What if something happened to you?
I am afraid, mother, I am so afraid! And how can you leave Odor alone considering the kind of irresponsible mother he has? Oh, mother, I feel like this family is cursed.
What if something happened to him, to you?
Nyabera waited, her tears running in full force.
Akoko stood up to her full height which barely reached her daughter’s shoulders. Her eyes were blazing fit to send sparks to set the thatched roof ablaze.
“Nyabera, you are not the woman 1 brought you up to be. I know you have suffered, but suffering is the lot of many.
To suffer is not a curse unless you have earned it and I have never done anything to earn a curse.
Both the evil and the good suffer.
How you come through suffering is what will make or break you.
Please think, my daughter.
At least you can have children and you have a good husband. One day Were will give you a child that lives;
I am sure of it after what you have just told me.
But to have a child is one thing, to bring it up to be a human fit to live with others is something else altogether — and the way you are going I doubt if you will be fit to be a mother when the baby comes. You may be just like Alando your sister-in-law.
You have known me all your life.
How could you ever imagine that I could leave my grandson at the Mercy of your uncle? I’ve taken him to Yimbo to live in the house of Oloo, my brother.
Are you happy now?” “Oh mother! Why didn’t you bring him here to stay with me? Don’t you trust me? “Of course I trust you.
l thought of bringing him here, but I decided it was too near the nest of vipers who now occupy the stool of Maroko, the first chief.
Please can you show me a place to rest?
I will be staying with you for a few days before I leave for Kisumu.
That way no one will know or suspect my motives.” Nyabera conducted her mother to her mother-in-law’s house as Chik did not allow her to spend the night in a married daughter’s house.
The next few days passed pleasantly enough, with mother and daughter chatting or hours about their lives, their people, their past, their future, their hopes and all manner of things.
Or the fifth day she embarked on a journey which would bring her and her scant offspring to a new era: for the great river starts its journey as a little stream which al useful meanders around with any apparent direction, sometimes disappearing underground all together, but always there, a1ways moving towards the sea.
(a) Briefly describe what happens before the events in this excerpt.
(b) From the excerpt, what do we team about Akoko’s character? (2 marks)
(c) Who are being referred to as a ‘nest of vipers’ and why?
(d) What main theme emerges from this excerpt? illustrate your answer. (3 marks)
(e) What is the tone of the excerpt? Explain your answer. (3 marks)
(f) With reference to the novel, briefly explain the symbollsm in the last paragraph of the excerpt. (4 marks)
(g) How was Akoko’s case handled by the white man? (4 marks) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ….
3. Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.
The Man He Killed
“Had he and I but met, By some old ancient inn, We should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipper kin!
But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place.
l shot him dead because — Because he was my foe, Just so, my foe of course he was; That’s clear enough; although.
He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps off-hand like —just like I — Was out of work — had sold his traps — No other reason why.
Yes; quaint and curious war is! You shoot a fellow down You’d treat if met where any bar is, or help to half-a-crown.”
Thomas Hardy (1840-1923)
(a) Briefly explain what the poem is about.(3 marks)
(b) Identify and explain any two stylistic devices used in this poem. (c) What do we learn about the persona from this poem? (d) Describe the tone of this poem.
(e) What is the message of this poem?
(f) Explain the meaning of the word ‘quaint’ as used in the poem. (6 marks)
4. (a) Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Do not change the meaning.(5 marks)
(i) They will look after Bakari.
(Begin: Bakari…)
(ii) The textbooks said the teacher are not adequate. (Punctuate correctly)
(iii) I know that one of your books has been published.
(Begin: I know that a…)
(iv) I will help him only if he asks me to.
(Rewrite using the word “unless”) (v) All of us want to pass our exams.
(Begin: None. )
@) Fill in each blank space with the correct alternative from the given choices. (3 marks)
(i) The bank, in conjunction with the clubs, ….
(has, have)
(ii) Neither Karimi nor her friend ………….
(iii) Kawira is one of those people who…… …..
sponsored the event.
. there. (was, were)
. always in a hurry. (p , ;s)
( o ) Fill in each blank space in the following sentences with a correct preposition.
(i) We know how proficient Jane is ……… her work.
(ii) Many people are not accustomed ……………………….. such treatment. (3 marks)
(iii) The accident victim writhed …………….. . pain as we rushed him to hospital.
(d) Explain the meaning of the underlined expression in each of the sentences below. (2 marks)
(i) Nyabera really is a top notch administrator
(ii) He has a heart of gold.
(e) Complete the following sentences using an appropriate expression from those given in brackets. (2 marks)
(i) At my sister’s graduation party, there were (a great deal of, plenty of) people.
(ii) You only require (a little, little) salt in your diet.
