JAMB and WAEC Literature in English questions: Dramatic techniques

44 questions with answers and explanations. Tap an option to check yourself.

All topics Drama: types and elements · 38 Dramatic techniques · 44 Figures of speech · 44 General literary terms · 40 Literary appreciation: unseen poetry · 29 Literary appreciation: unseen prose · 29 Poetry: imagery, sound and structure · 34 Poetry: types and forms · 30 Point of view and narrative techniques · 27 Prose: plot, setting and characterisation · 29 Prose: types of fiction · 26 Set poems: African poetry · 10 Set poems: Non-African poetry · 17 Set text: A Man for All Seasons (Robert Bolt) · 9 Set text: An Inspector Calls (J. B. Priestley) · 10 Set text: Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare) · 13 Set text: The Marriage of Anansewa (Efua Sutherland) · 4 Set text: To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) · 14

Question 21· Dramatic techniques· WAEC
A flashback in drama
Explanation and discussion
Question 22· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Read the extract and answer the question. [A small tailoring shop. Sewing machines hum. MAMA NGOZI pins a gown on a dummy. CHIDI, her apprentice, rushes in, out of breath.] CHIDI: Madam, the chairman's wife is coming herself! MAMA NGOZI: (without looking up) Then let her come on her feet like everybody else. CHIDI: But the gown is not ready. She will shout the roof down. MAMA NGOZI: A roof that falls from shouting was never a roof. Bring me the blue thread. CHIDI: (searching frantically) There is no blue thread, Madam. Only green. MAMA NGOZI: (finally turning) Then today, my son, the sky will be green. [Enter MRS OKAFOR, fanning herself with a large hat.] MRS OKAFOR: Ngozi! Is my gown ready, or must I attend the launching in my night dress? MAMA NGOZI: (smiling sweetly) Madam, a beautiful woman makes any cloth look like a gown. (An original extract written for AdmitMe practice.)
The line 'Then today, my son, the sky will be green' reveals Mama Ngozi's
Explanation and discussion
Question 23· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Anagnorisis is the moment when
Explanation and discussion
Question 24· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
A brief remark a character makes to the audience, supposedly unheard by others on stage, is an
Explanation and discussion
Question 25· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Read the extract and answer the question. [A village square at dusk. BABA ALAO sits on a stool. KEMI enters with a bucket.] BABA ALAO: You walk as if the ground owes you money. KEMI: (setting the bucket down) The ground owes nobody, Baba. It is the borehole that owes us water. BABA ALAO: In my day we drank from the stream and thanked the gods. KEMI: In your day the stream did not carry the factory's colours. BABA ALAO: (aside) The child speaks like her mother, sharp as a new cutlass. KEMI: Tomorrow the women will march to the council. Will you come? BABA ALAO: (rising slowly) An old tortoise does not race. But it arrives. (An original extract written for AdmitMe practice.)
Baba Alao's last line suggests that he will
Explanation and discussion
Question 26· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Read the extract below and answer the question. (An AdmitMe scene. The palace courtyard. CHIEF OKORO sits among his ELDERS.) CHIEF OKORO: (rising) Who dares to speak of tax in my palace? ADA: (stepping forward) I dare, Chief. The market women have paid three times this year, and still the road to the market is a river of mud. CHIEF OKORO: (laughing, to the elders) Listen to her! A woman who sells pepper now teaches the elders how to rule. ELDER IKE: (aside) The pepper seller's words are hotter than her goods. ADA: Laugh, Chief. But when the rains come and your car sinks on that road, you will remember who told you.
Chief Okoro's attitude to Ada in the extract is
Explanation and discussion
Question 27· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Read the extract and answer the question. [A village square at dusk. BABA ALAO sits on a stool. KEMI enters with a bucket.] BABA ALAO: You walk as if the ground owes you money. KEMI: (setting the bucket down) The ground owes nobody, Baba. It is the borehole that owes us water. BABA ALAO: In my day we drank from the stream and thanked the gods. KEMI: In your day the stream did not carry the factory's colours. BABA ALAO: (aside) The child speaks like her mother, sharp as a new cutlass. KEMI: Tomorrow the women will march to the council. Will you come? BABA ALAO: (rising slowly) An old tortoise does not race. But it arrives. (An original extract written for AdmitMe practice.)
The main problem raised in the extract is
Explanation and discussion
Question 28· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Read the extract below and answer the question. (An AdmitMe scene. The palace courtyard. CHIEF OKORO sits among his ELDERS.) CHIEF OKORO: (rising) Who dares to speak of tax in my palace? ADA: (stepping forward) I dare, Chief. The market women have paid three times this year, and still the road to the market is a river of mud. CHIEF OKORO: (laughing, to the elders) Listen to her! A woman who sells pepper now teaches the elders how to rule. ELDER IKE: (aside) The pepper seller's words are hotter than her goods. ADA: Laugh, Chief. But when the rains come and your car sinks on that road, you will remember who told you.
Elder Ike's remark contains a pun on the word
Explanation and discussion
Question 29· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Deus ex machina refers to
Explanation and discussion
Question 30· Dramatic techniques· WAEC
The point at which the conflict in a plot reaches its highest tension is the
Explanation and discussion
Question 31· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
A speech in which a character alone on stage speaks his thoughts aloud is a
Explanation and discussion
Question 32· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Read the extract and answer the question. [A village square at dusk. BABA ALAO sits on a stool. KEMI enters with a bucket.] BABA ALAO: You walk as if the ground owes you money. KEMI: (setting the bucket down) The ground owes nobody, Baba. It is the borehole that owes us water. BABA ALAO: In my day we drank from the stream and thanked the gods. KEMI: In your day the stream did not carry the factory's colours. BABA ALAO: (aside) The child speaks like her mother, sharp as a new cutlass. KEMI: Tomorrow the women will march to the council. Will you come? BABA ALAO: (rising slowly) An old tortoise does not race. But it arrives. (An original extract written for AdmitMe practice.)
'sharp as a new cutlass' is an example of
Explanation and discussion
Question 33· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Read the extract and answer the question. [A small tailoring shop. Sewing machines hum. MAMA NGOZI pins a gown on a dummy. CHIDI, her apprentice, rushes in, out of breath.] CHIDI: Madam, the chairman's wife is coming herself! MAMA NGOZI: (without looking up) Then let her come on her feet like everybody else. CHIDI: But the gown is not ready. She will shout the roof down. MAMA NGOZI: A roof that falls from shouting was never a roof. Bring me the blue thread. CHIDI: (searching frantically) There is no blue thread, Madam. Only green. MAMA NGOZI: (finally turning) Then today, my son, the sky will be green. [Enter MRS OKAFOR, fanning herself with a large hat.] MRS OKAFOR: Ngozi! Is my gown ready, or must I attend the launching in my night dress? MAMA NGOZI: (smiling sweetly) Madam, a beautiful woman makes any cloth look like a gown. (An original extract written for AdmitMe practice.)
Mama Ngozi's reply 'Then let her come on her feet like everybody else' shows that she is
Explanation and discussion
Question 34· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Read the extract and answer the question. [A village square at dusk. BABA ALAO sits on a stool. KEMI enters with a bucket.] BABA ALAO: You walk as if the ground owes you money. KEMI: (setting the bucket down) The ground owes nobody, Baba. It is the borehole that owes us water. BABA ALAO: In my day we drank from the stream and thanked the gods. KEMI: In your day the stream did not carry the factory's colours. BABA ALAO: (aside) The child speaks like her mother, sharp as a new cutlass. KEMI: Tomorrow the women will march to the council. Will you come? BABA ALAO: (rising slowly) An old tortoise does not race. But it arrives. (An original extract written for AdmitMe practice.)
Baba Alao's remark 'You walk as if the ground owes you money' suggests that Kemi is walking
Explanation and discussion
Question 35· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Read the extract below and answer the question. (An AdmitMe scene. The palace courtyard. CHIEF OKORO sits among his ELDERS.) CHIEF OKORO: (rising) Who dares to speak of tax in my palace? ADA: (stepping forward) I dare, Chief. The market women have paid three times this year, and still the road to the market is a river of mud. CHIEF OKORO: (laughing, to the elders) Listen to her! A woman who sells pepper now teaches the elders how to rule. ELDER IKE: (aside) The pepper seller's words are hotter than her goods. ADA: Laugh, Chief. But when the rains come and your car sinks on that road, you will remember who told you.
The main conflict in the extract is between
Explanation and discussion
Question 36· Dramatic techniques· WAEC
In which of these plays is a play within a play used to test a guilty king?
Explanation and discussion
Question 37· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Comic relief in a tragedy is
Explanation and discussion
Question 38· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
When the audience knows something that a character on stage does not know, the playwright is using
Explanation and discussion
Question 39· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
Read the extract and answer the question. [A small tailoring shop. Sewing machines hum. MAMA NGOZI pins a gown on a dummy. CHIDI, her apprentice, rushes in, out of breath.] CHIDI: Madam, the chairman's wife is coming herself! MAMA NGOZI: (without looking up) Then let her come on her feet like everybody else. CHIDI: But the gown is not ready. She will shout the roof down. MAMA NGOZI: A roof that falls from shouting was never a roof. Bring me the blue thread. CHIDI: (searching frantically) There is no blue thread, Madam. Only green. MAMA NGOZI: (finally turning) Then today, my son, the sky will be green. [Enter MRS OKAFOR, fanning herself with a large hat.] MRS OKAFOR: Ngozi! Is my gown ready, or must I attend the launching in my night dress? MAMA NGOZI: (smiling sweetly) Madam, a beautiful woman makes any cloth look like a gown. (An original extract written for AdmitMe practice.)
Chidi functions in the extract mainly as
Explanation and discussion
Question 40· Dramatic techniques· JAMB
A chorus in traditional drama
Explanation and discussion

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JAMB and WAEC Literature in English questions: Dramatic techniques

A flashback in drama

The line 'Then today, my son, the sky will be green' reveals Mama Ngozi's

Anagnorisis is the moment when

A brief remark a character makes to the audience, supposedly unheard by others on stage, is an

Baba Alao's last line suggests that he will

Chief Okoro's attitude to Ada in the extract is

The main problem raised in the extract is

Elder Ike's remark contains a pun on the word

Deus ex machina refers to

The point at which the conflict in a plot reaches its highest tension is the

A speech in which a character alone on stage speaks his thoughts aloud is a

'sharp as a new cutlass' is an example of

Mama Ngozi's reply 'Then let her come on her feet like everybody else' shows that she is

Baba Alao's remark 'You walk as if the ground owes you money' suggests that Kemi is walking

The main conflict in the extract is between

In which of these plays is a play within a play used to test a guilty king?

Comic relief in a tragedy is

When the audience knows something that a character on stage does not know, the playwright is using

Chidi functions in the extract mainly as

A chorus in traditional drama