Search
Free School Management System
Free School Management System for Kenya

Free School Management System

Learn More

KCSE CLUSTER TESTS 27

English Paper 2

1. PASSAGE (20 Marks)

Read the passage below and answer the question s that follows
1.

As he grew up at Sironga village in the current Nyamira district, Daniel Abuga Nyatigo admired soldiers in uniform as they drove by in Land-Rovers. Yet, when he came of age and made an attempt to join the Kenya Army, the recruiting officers rejected him five times
"1 had lost hope until a friend advised me to join the National Youth Service, learn a trade and join the Army as a specialist," he says He joined the army after training as a plant operator at the NYS.
Today, 32 years after he joined the army, the man affectionately referred to by his younger colleagues as "Babu" and "Sokoro" (Kisii for elder), is among the Kenya Defence Forces in Somalia.
His dream has, in a sense, been accomplished. He is a Senior Sergeant, but fate has also conspired to have his son, Senior Private Wycliffe Abuga, 30, also deployed to the front line in the war against Al-Shabaab
Snr Sgt Abuga is based at the KF patrol base at Tabda, about 70 kilometres in Somalia, while his son is at Belesc Qoogani, 35 kilometres further
Some describe the military as a national insurance scheme in which the annual budgetary allocations are the equivalent of premiums, and the eventualities for which they are deployed the accidents insurers compensate .for If that be the case, it is time for the soldiers in Operation Linda Nchi to pay back for the years of training and pay that led to the derisive description of the Kenyan Defence Forces as a career army.
Lieutenant-Colonel Jeff Nyagah, the commander of the KDF troops in the Central Sector, estimates that 70 per cent of the soldiers currently in Somalia have been involved in combat.
Snr Sgt Abuga, who supervises the drivers on the Armoured Personnel Carriers at Tabda, has had his fair share of fighting since Operation Linda Nchi began in mid-October 2011.
The asymmetrical nature of the operation means there are no frontages and, with Al-Shabaab using guerrilla tactics, there have been no shortage of encounters and opportunities for KDF to test their weaponry and skills
Snr Sgt Abuga says he has been involved in 11 attacks since the operation started, the bulk of them ambushes on the Puma APCs that are arguably the safest vehicles in the fleet.
Al-Shabaab are said to refer to the sturdy armour-clad machines as "the graves from which people rise" and Snr Sgt Abuga was in one when they rained rocket-propelled grenades on the windscreen. "If you sit in one of these vehicles and come under an attack, it sounds like it is raining. You shouldn't be worried," he says as he points out the openings through which the soldiers shoot.
He says he was with his son in convoy when they came under attack from Al-Shabaab in an ambush. Interestingly, Snr Sgt Abuga and his son were among the first to undergo training on driving, servicing and maintaining the new APCs when they were delivered in September 2011.
Sgt Abuga is based at Kahawa Barracks while his son is with the Nanyuki-based First Kenya Rifles Battalion.
Now they keep in touch on the Hormuud Telecom mobile phone network, which somehow operates in the infamously lawless state and is a useful communication channel with those back home.
Does he worry that either he or his son could be hit in one of the attacks? "Kifo cha nyani kikifika, miti yote huteleza," he says, using the Swahili proverb that suggests each man is born with his destiny, and there is no avoiding death
For Snr Sgt Abuga and other soldiers in Somalia, spending the nights and a good part of the day in trenches is normal, and nobody seems to mind the dust.
"I'm happy to have fought here," he says as we look at his reinforced trench, which he has been converting into a bunker of sorts, immune to mortars and RPGs.
He does not foresee a longer future in the army once Operation Linda Nchi is over - whenever that may be - but hopes for a promotion to the next rank, Warrant Officer 11, before he retires.
"If I get a little more pension and I'm able to buy myself a small pick-up, buy a few cattle and work on my farm, I'll be one happy senior sergeant," he says. Sgt Abuga was in a convoy last Tuesday that unearthed a significantly large improvised explosive, device (IED) about 12 kilometres away from Tabda towards Belesc Qoogani.
Al-Shabaab attempted to stage an ambush on the convoy but were repulsed by a combination of the Transitional Federal Government soldiers and the Kenyan troops.
The Abugas were happy to be reunited, if only for a short while. Although they are a generation apart -the son speaks Sheng, showing a silver tooth while the father speaks Kiswahili with a thick Kisii accent-their resemblance is obvious. The son, who is also a father of one, foresees a long future serving in the army.
Snr Sgt Abuga might not have his pick-up, cows and farm yet, but he appears to be one happy senior sergent
Extract from Sunday standard 2012

Comprehension questions 20 mks

a) Why does the author mention that Daniel Abuga Nyatigo tried five times to join the army? (3 mks)

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

b) How did he finally land in the army? (3mks) ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

c) Daniel Abuga is referred to as “babu” and “sokoro” by the younger colleagues give reasons for this (2mks) ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

d) His dream has in a sense been accomplished .Rewrite this in the past perfect tense (1mk) ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

e) Who is the commander of the K D F troops? (1mk) ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

f) Describe the relationship between father and son illustrate your answers (4 mks) ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

g) In about 70 words write a summary of paragraph 9 -11 (6 mks) ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

20 marks

2.EXCERPT (25 Marks)

Read the excerpt below and answer the questions that follow
2.

The sacrifices went hand in hand with preparations for the coming circumcision. Everywhere candidates for the initiation were gathering. They went from house to house, singing and dancing the ritual songs, the same that had been sung from the old times, when Demi na Mathathi were on the land. Waiyaki was one of the candidates. He was now a young man with strong, straight limbs.

He did not like the dances very much, mainly because he could not do them as well as his fellow candidates, who had been practicing them for years. After all, it was soon after his second birth that he had gone to Siriana, and he had lived there for all those years, although he normally came home during the holidays.Waiyajki was often surprised at his father, who in some ways seemed to defy age.

His voice, however, thin and tremulous, betrayed him. Waiyaki often remembered why he was sent to to Siriana. But with years the dream had grown less vivid and less real. He saw it mainly as an illusion, an old man’s dream. Yet he worked hard in school. He was now in the senior class in Siriana secondary school and he was able to meet boys from all over Kenya. Waiyaki’s absence from the hills had kept him out of touch with those things that most mattered to the tribe. Besides, however much he resisted it, he could not help gathering and absorbing ideas and notions that prevented him from responding spontaneously to these dances and celebrations.

But he knew that he had to go through the intiation. And he did not like to disappoint his father. For Waiyaki knew that the old man would die in that dream of the future which had probably been a real, essential part of his life. Not that Waiyaki disliked the idea of circumcision. On the contrary, he looked forward to it. It was his boy’s ambition to test his courage at the ceremony. In fact, he considered Livingstone, for all his learning and holiness, a little dense in attacking a custom whose real significance in the tribe he did not understand and probably never would understand.


a) From elsewhere in the text explain who Demi na Mathathi were and the activities they were involved in (4 mks)

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

b) Describe the process of the second birth as portrayed elsewhere in the text (4 mks)

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

c) Make notes on the significance of circumcision as brought out in the text (4 mks)

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

d) What was the impact of Whiteman’s education on Waiyaki (2 mks) ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

e) From the passage what shows that Waiyaki really valued circumcision? (3 mks) ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

f) Why Waiyaki was sent to Siriana that he often remembered? (3 mks) ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

g) Identify and explain the main theme portrayed in this extract (2 mks) ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

h) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage (3 mks

i) Initiation

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
ii) Tremulous

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

iii) Notions.

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

25 marks

3. POEM (20 Marks)

Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow
3.

Questions:

a) Explain the major theme tackled in this poem (2 mks)

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

b) Describe the style used in stanza two of the poem (2mks) ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

c) What is the significance of line four of stanza one to the relationship between the two main characters (2 mks) ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

d) Describe how the complexion of the boy changed his fortune. (4 mks) ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

e) Why is the word “accident” used twice in the poem? (2 mks) ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

f) What was the cause of separation between the two characters? (2 mks) ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

g) The resource was legitimate He disclaimed responsibility Rewrite into one sentence beginning Although ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

h) Why is the “poor boy” roaming the streets of town (3 mks) ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

i) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem

a) The casualty was male.................................................................................................................................................................................

b) They both took their go................................................................................................................................................................................

20 marks

4.GRAMMAR (15 Marks)

4.

4a

b) Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions after each. Do not change the meaning (4 mks)

i) I have never heard a more ridiculous story (Rewrite beginning:

That is

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

ii) Mary came to work late she was rude to the matron (Rewrite as one sentence beginning;

Not only

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

iii) The District officer represented the District commissioner during the meeting (replace the underlined word with a phrasal verb) ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

iv) Bats make very faint sound although one has to listen very carefully to hear them (Begin; if one..........................................)
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

4 b) Fill in the blank spaces in each of the following sentences with the adjectives given in brackets in their correct order (2mks)

The baby played with a..............................................................toy (plastic,small,lovely)

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

ii) She gave me a .......................................story book(new,intresting,big)

4c Select the best of the four choices given to complete the following sentences (3mks)

i) I would like to apply but I am not sure whether I am really .......................................................for job (Legible, illegible illicit)

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

ii) The commander in chief said that their action had been highly ....................................( commendary, commemorative, commendable, complementary) ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

4 d) Complete the second second sentence using an appropriate form of the underlined word (4 mks)

i) She is always studying She is very........................................................................

ii) He behaved like a coward He is..................................................................

iii) His spine was injured during the accident He sustained a......................................................injury

iv) The meat is not fresh enough to eat It is.....................................................

4 e) Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb from the brackets (2 mks)

i) The little girl.................................................... (hang,hung) the coat on the nail

ii) After he had ..................................... ( swam,swum) in the sea, he began to feel cold F

Fill the blank space with an appropriate interjection

i).................................................! That was painful

15 marks

Back Top