NAME…………………………………………………………... ADM NO……………….

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SCHOOL………………………………………………………CANDIDATE’S SIGN…………
FORM………………………………………………………… DATE…………………………

101/2
ENGLISH
MARCH – APRIL 2025
TIME: 2 HOURS

CEKENAS END OF TERM ONE EXAM-2025

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (K.C.S.E)
FORM FOUR
ENGLISH
PAPER 2
101/2

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
1. Answer all questions
2. Write your name, class, admission numbers and school in the spaces provided and Sign.
3. The paper consists of four questions.

FOR EXAMINERS USE ONLY

QUESTION MARKS
1 20
2 25

3 20
4 15
TOTAL 80

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1. COMPREHENSIVE (20 MARKS)
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow
Writing skills are an important part of communication. Good writing skills allow you to communicate
your message with clarity and erase to a far larger audience than through face to face or telephone
conversations.
You might be called upon to write a report, plan or strategy at work; write a grand application or press
release within a volunteering role; or you may fancy communicating your ideas online via a blog. And, of
course, a well written CV or resume with no spelling or grammatical mistakes is essential if you want a
new job.
Today, when anyone can be their own publisher, we see more and more examples of poor writing skills
both in print and on the web. Poor writing skills create first impressions and many readers will have an
immediate negative reaction if they spot a spelling or grammatical mistake. As just one example, a
spelling mistake on a commercial web page may cause potential customers to doubt the credibility of the
web and the organization.
Correct grammar, punctuation and spelling are key in written communication. The reader will form an
opinion of you, the author, based on both the content and presentation, and errors are likely to lead them
to form a negative impression.
If you are unconvinced about the importance of accurate writing, think of the clues we use to identify
spam emails, “phishing’ websites, and counterfeit products: poor grammar and spelling.
Similarly, some employers state publicly that any cv or resume containing spelling or grammatical
mistakes will be rejected immediately, whilst a BBC news article quotes research that calculates spelling
mistakes cost online businesses ‘millions’ in lost sales.
Checking for poor writing and spelling mistakes should be seen as a courtesy of your readers since it can
take them much longer to understand the messages in your writing if they have to think and re-read text
to decipher these.
All written communications should therefore be re-read before sending to print, or hitting the send button
in the case of emails, as it is likely that there will be errors. Do not assume that spelling and grammar
checkers will identify all mistakes as many incorrect words can indeed be spelt correctly (for example,
when ‘their’ is used instead of ‘there’ or ‘principle’ instead of ‘principal’) or entire words may be
missing. If at all possible, take a break before re-reading and checking your writing, as you are more
likely to notice problems when you read it fresh.
Even if you know spelling and grammar rules, you should still double check your work or even better,
have it proof-read by somebody else. Our brains work faster than our fingers can type the accidental
typographical errors (typos) inevitably creep in.
The good news is that writing is a skill, which can be learned like any other. One trick for checking and
improving your work is to read it aloud. Reading texts forces you to slow down and you may pick up
problems with the flow that your eye would otherwise skip over.
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As well as grammar, spelling and punctuation, it is important to remember your audience.
Always write with your audience in mind, and it can also help to bear in mind the medium in which you
plan to publish. This knowledge will help you decide whether you need to write in a formal style or a
more informal one, and will also help you to decide on a suitable structure.
1. Why are good writing skills important? (3marks)
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2. What effect does poor writing skills have? (2marks)
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3. In a paragraph of not more than 50 words, summarize the steps involved in good writing
(5marks)
Rough copy
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Fair copy
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4. Explain the irony in paragraph three (3marks)
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5. The good news is that writing is a skill which can be learnt like any other. (Re-write beginning
with a participle) (1mark)
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6. Mention any two things apart from grammar, spelling and punctuation that the writers advocate
we should remember when writing (2marks)
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7. Explain the meaning of the following words. (4marks)
(i) Counterfeit products
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(ii) Decipher
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(iii) Phising
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(iv) Typographical errors
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2. EXCERPT
Read the following excerpt and answer the questions that follow
(Same day, Thursday, late afternoon in the Sky Room at the Madingo Golf Club. Sky Room is a
replica of the jungle Room and is furnished and arranged in the same way. The Deputy Mayor,
Hon. Ramdaye, Hon. Seymour, and Hon. Ted, are standing around the table on which are bottles
of Gold, White and Darm Rum. The trio is sipping from their glasses and gesticulating as they
converse)

Ramdaye: Aaa, aah, aah aah that was serious mayhem! It never occurred to us that Mayor
Mossi would violently disrupt our meeting. The message is now very clear: he will
not allow any meeting to discuss his ouster!
Seymour: It certainly was. The hooligans were very brutal. (Demonstrating) But I drew my
gun and refused to run away. I dared them to touch me!
Ted: One of them aimed a rock at my head. I never thought anybody could handle such
a huge stone. It flew past my head like a rocket-propelled grenade. It missed by
head by the thickness of a pig’s bristle!
Seymour: (Looking at Hon. Ramdaye) I was shocked you could run as you did, at your age!
You whizzed past me like an express train! I never thought you would ever come
to a stop!
Ted: I doubt they were just hooligans.
Seymour: Yes, their organization and speed suggest there is more than meets the eye. It was
like a military operation.
Ted: And there was smoke all over burning trees, papers, mattresses and sacks,
combined with teargas smoke. Sadly, we never anticipated this. I think the Mayor
is a good organizer.
Ramdaye: He is called Mossi-oa-Tunya, the smoke that thunders! He is a master schemer and
a go-getter!
Seymour: It is very clear that we are at war. We need to carry on with our plan, to the last
detail. We will not be cowed! We must mobilize the entire Municipal Council to
pass the no confidence motion against him. (Looking at Hon. Ted) And, to get
down to business, you remember we tasked you to talk to Councillors and
Aldermen and assess whether they will support the no confidence motion.
Yes, you did, and as you know, our political landscape comprises Councillors and
Aldermen of mixed ethnicity as well as those of the Afro and Indo descent.
Ramdaye: Oh, yes, it does. So?
Ted: I was on the phone almost all night and very little support was forthcoming. I
assumed wrongly that we could whip up racial and class prejudice to get many of
them to support us. How mistaken I was! After talking to them, I realized that our
chamber members are of different categories that we must keep in mind even as we
seek to woo them to support our cause.
Ramdaye: Categories? Which ones?
Ted: The first is the indecisive type
Seymour: Like who?
Ted: They are quite a number. Hon. Ferreira, or Mr. Key, as they call him, is the best
example. This man has never seen a fence on which he can’t sit. He can hardly
ever commit to any side. We chatted at length, and he kept talking n circles, citing
proverbs and idioms here and there.
Ramdaye: I wonder why they called him Mr. Key. I hear he can never make up his mind
which door to open or in fact whether to open any door at all!
Seymour: So, what did he say?
Ted: He said that what will be, will be because something certainly will be.
Ramdaye: Is that a proverb?
Ted: I have since been wondering whether it is, but he also said you don’t cross the
bridge until you get to it.

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 Seymour: Which bridge now?
Ted: I am not sure which bridge he meant, but I guess he must have been talking about
the cases, in case we are sued.
Ramdaye: What an upstart he is! I hear he even has difficulties deciding what and how much
to eat!
Seymour: You talked of different categories. What are the other categories?
Ted: The other category comprises the majority. I would best describe them as the
headless type.
Ramdaye: Headless?
Ted: Yes, they have brains, alright, but they don’t use them.
Seymour: How on earth?
Ramdaye: You mean they’re like a headless chicken?
Ted: Exactly! They are headless chicken. They follow the leader of their ethnic group
who thinks for them. And they wait for that leader to make decisions for them in
all matters, including the decision to go to pee. Most members of the People’s
Party of Mr. Basdeo belong here, and so do the members of Mossi’s Liberal Party.
Seymour: I thank God I don’t belong to any ethnic group.
Ted: Then, there is what I can best describe as the entrepreneurial type
Ramdaye: Who are these?
Ted: These are political entrepreneurs, very keen on making money. They vote with the
stomach, so to speak. That means they will vote the side that gives more money.
Seymour: Are you saying they demanded money to support the no confidence motion?
Ted: Yes, that was my understanding. In indicated funds would be available. They
promised to deal as soon as money changes hands.
Ramdaye: That is very sad indeed!
Red: Then finally there is the independent-minded category. This is the type that listens
to and serves the people.
Seymour: I get you. (With contempt) I believe Hon. Yongrui, or Mr. Developer, as he is
popularly known, is the best example of these.
Ramdaye: I hear he’s a highly disciplined man. His ancestry is mixed and it’s hard to tell if he
is Indo-Japanese or Indo-Chinese. He was previously a headteacher. He exerts the
same school discipline in running his ward.
Seymour: What did he say when you talked to him?
Ramdaye: Sshs, sshs, I hear he is terminally ill, so we don’t have to worry about him. Some
say he ate uninspected meat.
Ted: Yes, so I never got to talk to him. Hope he gets well, he’s a kindly soul, you know.
Seymour: His political star has been rising steadily with people thinking he is the right person
for the mayor’s seat. Who knows, maybe Mayor Mossi gave him rat poison or
some insecticide! The man can do anything or eliminate opposition against him.
Ramdaye: I expect the so-called Mr. Torch is also in that group of the independent-minded. I
understand he is a highly educated man. People say he has many ideas that don’t
seem to tie up sometimes.
Ted: I got much the same impression because he spoke many wise things and did
strange things on phone.
Ramdaye: For example?
Ted: (Pointing at Hon. Ramdaye) When he heard you are against Mossi, he gave a very
snort of derisive laughter
Ramdaye: Devil take his soul! He has never liked me
Ted: I sensed as much.
Seymour: How did you sense that?
Ted: Well, we argued about who has better leadership qualities between Hon. Ramdaye
and Mayor Mossi.
Ramdaye: What was his choice?
Ted: He said there is always a winner even in a beauty contest of monkeys!
Seymour: His real name is Hon. Brian Hyde. He boats of being a Mulatto of noble birth!
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 Ramdaye: What a scoundrel!
Seymour: So, what was your overall assessment?
Ted: The situation is not very good. It is very difficult to know how the vote would go
Ramdaye: What do we do?
Ted: the only way forward for us is to enlist the support of the opposition chief, Hon.
Basdeo. If he sides with us, Councillors and Aldermen allied to….
(a) Place the excerpt in its immediate context (4marks)
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(b) What two things do we learn about Mr. Key from this excerpt? (4marks)
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(c) Discuss use of hyperbole in this excerpt (2marks)
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(d) Discuss blackmail and materialism as a theme brought out in the excerpt (4marks)
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(e) I never got to talk to him. (Rewrite beginning; Under………………) (1mark)
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(f) Explain the effects of any two stylistic features used in the excerpt (6marks)
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(g) What cause makes Ted to look for support all night from your knowledge of the text?
(1mark)
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h) Explain the meaning of the following expressions as used in the excerpt (3marks)
(i) Ideas that don’t seem to tie up
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(ii) Derisive laughter
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(iii) Upstart
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3. Read the oral narrative below and answer the questions that follow (20 marks)
When the dog was living with his friends in the jungle, he was a very wild animal-wilder than the lion.
He flouted all the laws laid down by their King. All the animals were living together and men were living
together too. These two societies were always loggerheads with each other. The population of the animal
kingdom was diminishing because men were hunting and killing their members.

Within the kingdom, troubles were many and varied. Most of the complaints brought to the king were
about the dog. There was nothing that could be done since the dog was about the strongest of them all.
The chief of the human society summoned a meeting of his subjects and invited the king of the animals to
come. At the meeting, men promised to stop killing members of the animal kingdom but one condition
had to be satisfied. They wanted the animals to give them one of their members. All the animals were
asked to attend a meeting convened by their king and were told what the men had said.

“Very good. Give them the dog,” some of them said. “The dog, no one else but the dog. Good riddance.
Let him go to men now!” There was a general uproar and the king was startled. He decided to put an end
to the confusion by voting. The one hundred and five members present cast their votes. Eight of them
wanted the fox to be given away; thirteen felt the antelope should be done away with. Twenty-one
wanted the lion to go, but the others said the dog must go. The dog was dismayed. He promised to turn
over a new leaf, but the animals appeared stone-hearted. Men were asked to come and take away the dog.

A few months later there was a shortage of fish in the human society. The only solution to the acute
shortage was to turn to meat, but there was no meat since the peace treaty was made between men and the
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animals. The remaining solution was to kill the dog, but this they would not because he was a very useful
member of their society.
“Let us break the peace treaty,” the chief adviser suggested.

There was no alternative but to implement the decision. Directed by the new member of their society,
men killed many animals. The remaining animals were very uneasy. They felt the action was instigated
by the dog. The king came to men and to say he was ready to take back the dog and give another dozen
animals in his place.
The dog refused to go. “I am happy in my new environment,”{ he asserted. The two societies have not
come to terms to this day.
(a) With a reason, classify the narrative above (2marks)
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(b) Explain two features typical of an oral narrative used in this story (4marks)
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(c) Describe the character traits of the following: (6marks)
(i) The dog
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(ii) The animals
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(iii) Men.

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(d) Explain how the community from which this narrative is sourced were organized socially,
politically and economically (6marks)
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(e) What lesson do we learn from this story? (2marks)

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GRAMMAR (15MARKS)
a) Rewrite the following sentences as instructed.
Do not change the meaning (3marks)
(i) Students went away as the university was closed indefinitely.
(Begin Following….)
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(ii) Children often ignore advice from their parents, which they sometimes regret later. (Change into
passive).
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(iii) He is disabled. He completed the race. (Combine into one sentence using despite)
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(b) Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with the correct form of the word in brackets
(3marks)
(i) It was impossible to ………………………………………….the rowdy crowd. (peace)

(ii) The burden was …………………………………………………….. (bear)

(iii) Although she didn’t have much money, Mweni bought the dress because it was
…………………………….. (expense)

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c) Complete the following sentences with the appropriate prepositions (2marks)
(i) Please pay ……………………………….. cheque for security reasons

(ii) Jamie attended the meeting …………………………… the company of her lawyer.

d) Replace the underlined phrasal verb with an appropriate phrasal verb (2mks)
(i) Local authorities withdrew their plans to demolish the cinema
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ii) The plane landed on time.
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e) Rewrite the sentences removing the repetition (3marks)
(i) Please repeat what you have said again
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(ii) How many people ascended up the mountain.

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(iii) He hit a tree as he reversed the car back
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f) Complete the following with the correct auxiliary verb (2marks)

(i) The contractor …………………………………. the work poorly

(ii) I ………………………………… away from school last week

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