JAMB Use Of English 2020
Questions & Answers

1) Distractor check: Students might choose tough, thinking it is a synonym rather than an antonym, or bedridden because of the military context. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Hard-nosed' means tough or stubborn, so the opposite is 'weak', fitting the context of the General’s demeanor. 3) Common mistake: Forgetting to look for an antonym and accidentally selecting a synonym.

1) Distractor check: Students might select struggling with or combating, which are actually synonyms of the underlined word rather than opposites. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Contending' means struggling or fighting against, so the opposite is 'avoiding', meaning to steer clear, fitting the context of dealing with evils. 3) Common mistake: Selecting a word that means the same thing instead of its polar opposite.

1) Distractor check: Students might choose hoarders or savers, which describe the very behavior of misers rather than the opposite. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Misers' hoard money, so the opposite is 'spendthrifts', who spend freely, fitting the context of being loved. 3) Common mistake: Confusing the definition of the target word with its antonym.

1) Distractor check: Students might select qualified for or eligible, missing the negative prefix in the phrase 'not entitled'. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Not entitled' means lacking the right, so 'disqualified from' is closest, fitting the context of access to commodities. 3) Common mistake: Ignoring the word 'not' when evaluating the options.

1) Distractor check: Students might choose extinguished or dead, assuming those are standard geological terms for landforms. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Extinct' for a volcano means no longer active, so 'inactive' is closest, fitting the geological context. 3) Common mistake: Choosing a literal descriptor like dead instead of the standard technical term.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick robbed or were angry, assuming emotional states or crimes describe a chaotic event. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Went on rampage' means became violently out of control, so 'turned violent' is closest, fitting the trade fair context. 3) Common mistake: Selecting a mere emotional reaction instead of actual aggressive action.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick briskly or boldly, confusing secretive movement with confident or fast actions. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Stealthily' means secretly or quietly, so 'quietly' is closest, fitting the context of the nephew’s entry. 3) Common mistake: Equating stealth with speed rather than covertness.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick impresses or frustrates, mixing up positive feelings or general annoyance with direct anger. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Infuriates' means to anger, so 'annoys' is closest, fitting the reaction to patience. 3) Common mistake: Underestimating the exact degree of irritation implied by the root word.

1) Distractor check: Students might choose grandeur or faith, leaning toward abstract nouns associated with lifestyle descriptions. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Make-believe' means pretense or fantasy, so 'fantasy' is closest, fitting the context of his life. 3) Common mistake: Choosing a worldly noun instead of one denoting imagination.

1) Distractor check: Students might select always or very often, failing to notice that the frequency adverb is negative in implication. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Seldom' means rarely, so 'hardly ever' is closest, fitting the teacher’s punctuality. 3) Common mistake: Misinterpreting a low-frequency word as high frequency.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick in anticipation or in anxiety, focusing on emotional states rather than the legalistic security of the action. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'In good faith' means with trust and honesty, so 'in trust' is closest, fitting the Director’s action. 3) Common mistake: Confusing moral assurance with emotional expectation.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick confidential or classified, thinking administrative tasks always involve high-security clearance. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Miscellaneous' means varied or mixed, so 'assorted' is closest, fitting the clerk’s duties. 3) Common mistake: Equating miscellaneous with secret or restricted files.

1) Distractor check: Students might choose real or concerned, mistaking a superficial expression for genuine care. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Affected' means feigned, so 'pretended' is closest, fitting her interest. 3) Common mistake: Assuming 'affected' means influenced rather than put-on.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick withdraw or challenge, thinking about opposing or backing away from previous statements. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Reiterate' means to restate, so 'repeat' is closest, fitting the context of the points. 3) Common mistake: Confusing reiteration with retraction.

1) Distractor check: Students might choose encouraged or rewarded, misinterpreting the idiom as a positive career development. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Put paid to' means to end, so 'terminated' is closest, fitting the Minister’s ambition. 3) Common mistake: Interpreting a destructive idiom as a supportive action.

1) Distractor check: Students might select 'to' or 'in', confusing the phrasal verb with prepositional movement. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Take on' means to challenge or fight, fitting the boxer’s context. 3) Common mistake: Using the wrong preposition for idiomatic challenge phrases.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick fruitful or futile, confusing sound-alike adjectives with contextually appropriate markers of destiny. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Fateful day' means a day marked by a significant event, fitting the father-in-law’s death. 3) Common mistake: Choosing a word based on phonetic similarity rather than precise meaning.

1) Distractor check: Students might select the whole or every, missing plural agreement rules with the noun guests. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'All the guests' correctly refers to the entire group, fitting the party context. 3) Common mistake: Failing to match determiner pluralization with countable nouns.

1) Distractor check: Students might choose up or out, relying on casual speech patterns rather than standard phrasal verb usage. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Rounded off' means concluded, fitting the ceremony’s end. 3) Common mistake: Confusing 'round up' with 'round off' in event contexts.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick student or students, failing to apply the correct plural possessive form for a group department. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Students’ Affairs Officer' uses the possessive plural to indicate the officer’s role for students. 3) Common mistake: Misplacing the apostrophe in plural possessives.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick implied or suggested, mixing up direct semantic references with indirect verbal hints. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Alluded to' means indirectly mentioned, fitting Chinyere’s speech. 3) Common mistake: Using 'implied' without recognizing the prepositional constraints required by the sentence.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick bully or tyrant, focusing on generalized bad behavior rather than the specific psychological pleasure derived from cruelty. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'With relish' implies enjoyment in cruelty, so 'sadist' fits the context. 3) Common mistake: Choosing a general misbehaver instead of a term for someone who enjoys hurting others.

1) Distractor check: Students might choose would say or may have said, misunderstanding conditional verb tenses for counterfactual past actions. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Would have said so' uses the conditional perfect for a past hypothetical, fitting Ore’s decision. 3) Common mistake: Mismatching the tense in conditional clauses.

1) Distractor check: Students might pick blurred or diminutive, thinking about visual aesthetics rather than clinical impairment. 2) Reasoning to the answer: 'Defective sight' means impaired vision, fitting the need for glasses. 3) Common mistake: Selecting a symptom descriptor instead of the proper medical classification term.

Distractor check: A student might choose options like B or C if they confuse idiomatic frequency phrases, but 'At times' is the standard expression used here. Reasoning to the answer: The phrase 'At times' means occasionally, which appropriately fits the boss’s behavior of being very irritable despite usually being a charming man. Common mistake: Confusing standard idiomatic adverbial phrases of frequency.

Distractor check: Options like A, B, or C might be mistakenly selected because they are also common prepositions of place, but they do not fit the specific action of an injection. Reasoning to the answer: The construction 'stuck her needle into every baby' uses the correct preposition for injection, describing movement from the outside to the interior of a target. Common mistake: Choosing surface-level prepositions of position instead of dynamic prepositions of motion.

Distractor check: A student might pick options A, B, or C due to uncertainty regarding collective book titles taking singular verb agreement. Reasoning to the answer: 'A Tale of Two Cities' is a singular book title, so it takes a singular verb ('is') followed by the singular noun ('novel'), yielding the correct pairing 'Is/novel'. Common mistake: Treating a single book title that contains plural words as a grammatically plural subject.

Distractor check: Students might lean toward options B, C, or D by incorrectly matching the relative pronoun clause to a singular noun or altering the tense. Reasoning to the answer: The phrase 'feelings of inadequacy that were experienced' correctly employs a plural verb for the plural head noun 'feelings' in the past tense. Common mistake: Failing to match the relative clause verb number to the actual plural antecedent.

Distractor check: Options A, B, or D might be selected if the sequence of past events is misjudged. Reasoning to the answer: The clause 'had started before he arrived' uses the past perfect tense because the examination beginning is an action that occurred prior to another past action, which is his arrival in the hall. Common mistake: Overlooking the need for the past perfect tense to designate an earlier past action.

Distractor check: Options A, B, or C might be chosen if a student confuses modal verbs of ability or obligation with possibility. Reasoning to the answer: The expression 'I may be getting' expresses possibility for a future salary increase rather than certainty or obligation. Common mistake: Mixing up modals of capability with modals indicating future possibility.

Distractor check: Options A, B, or D might be picked if a student relies on general phrasal verb intuition rather than the exact police tactic. Reasoning to the answer: To 'break through the defense line' means to penetrate, which properly fits the aggressive action taken by the mobile police during the demonstration. Common mistake: Substituting unrelated phrasal particles that alter the precise meaning of physical penetration.

Distractor check: Options B, C, or D might be chosen by students guessing standard prepositions associated with academic subjects. Reasoning to the answer: The correct preposition for natural talent or aptitude is 'for', making 'flair for mathematics' the correct pairing. Common mistake: Using locative prepositions instead of the fixed preposition required by 'flair'.

Distractor check: Options A, C, or D might be selected if direct interrogation word order is mistakenly applied inside an indirect clause. Reasoning to the answer: The phrasing 'why he should do such thing' uses the correct statement word order for an indirect question rather than inverted question order. Common mistake: Forgetting to revert to standard subject-verb word order within embedded clauses.

Distractor check: Options B, C, or D might be chosen due to visual similarity or confusion with directional movement. Reasoning to the answer: The phrasal verb 'looked up to their leader' means admired, which properly fits the context of seeking positive guidance. Common mistake: Confusing phrasal verbs that express respect with those indicating physical gaze or literal elevation.

Distractor check: Options A, B, or C might be selected if a student confuses words dealing with movement or language conversion. Reasoning to the answer: Culture patterns are 'transmitted from one generation to the next', which means they are passed down over time, matching the sociological context. Common mistake: Selecting vocabulary terms that denote physical transport instead of cultural inheritance.

Distractor check: Options A, C, or D might be chosen if the sequence of tenses in conditional or precautionary clauses is ignored. Reasoning to the answer: The phrase 'in case it rained' uses the past tense to account for a hypothetical future event evaluated from a past point of reference. Common mistake: Using present or modal verbs in clauses introduced by 'in case' when narrating past events.

Distractor check: Options A, B, or D might be picked if a student confuses transit phrasal verbs with incorrect spellings or unrelated actions. Reasoning to the answer: To 'get off at the next stop' means to disembark, which fits the context of leaving a slow train. Common mistake: Using general exit phrasal verbs instead of the specific transportation term for leaving a vehicle.

Distractor check: Options B, C, or D might be mistakenly chosen by assuming countable structures or pluralizing an uncountable noun. Reasoning to the answer: The term 'useful information' uses the correct uncountable noun form suitable for Dapo’s research without adding plural markers or fractional words. Common mistake: Treating uncountable nouns as plurals or forcing unnecessary partitive units.

Distractor check: Options A, B, or D might be selected if a student fails to recognize the degree adverb needed before an infinitive. Reasoning to the answer: The phrase 'too tired to do any more work' implies an excessive degree that directly prevents any further work from being accomplished. Common mistake: Using intensity adverbs that do not naturally pair with subsequent infinitive clauses of restriction.

Distractor check: Options A, C, or D might be chosen if a student misreads the passage's discussion on housing demands and governmental solutions. Reasoning to the answer: The passage directly identifies limited land availability as a challenge of urbanization, which makes option B correct. Common mistake: Confusing the consequences or solutions of a problem with the specific challenges mentioned.