ENGLISH PAPER 2

ZOOM CLASS

PRESENTATION
 INTRODUCTION
Revising an English exam can be very hard especially when
you have no idea on how to go about it.
The KCSE English paper two that I want to specifically talk
about examines student’s knowledge on comprehension,
literature(excerpts and oral literature/poetry) and grammar.
Bearing this in mind here are some tips on how to revise.
One can generally prepare for
English exam by:
Starting early revision.
Going through past papers.
Consulting the teacher for assistance.
Forming study groups(collaborative
learning) to assist each other.
Making use of revision books and
notes
REVISING FOR ENGLISH

Since English, especially paper 2, is wide, it

is advisable to study each part separately
while revising.
Plan a special day meant just for revising
comprehension,poetry,excerpts,narratives
or grammar. This will make revision a lot
easier unlike random revision.
 1. REVISING FOR COMPREHENSION/ UNSEEN TEXT
 Comprehension question is the first question in
paper two. The passage can be got from
newspapers, journals, magazines or even
textbooks.
 Asa student, you need to develop an effective
reading skills. This will help you answer the
questions effectively.
 To
revise well for this questions you need to
understand the different questions asked.
The questions can be divided
broadly as:
Factual questions.
Inference question.
Question on summary and note
making
Question on grammar and sentence
structure.
Question on vocabulary.
 FACTUAL QUESTIONS

–Are based on facts or ideas from the passage

–They are recall type of questions
 When answering this type of question,
use words and phrases from the
paragraph that contains the answer.
 INFERENCE QUESTIONS

These are questions that are not lifted directly from the passage.
The student is expected to infer from the details given.
 These questions include:
Application questions- Relating what has been read in the
passage to a different situation.
Judgement question- a student to make judgement on the ideas
that have been presented in the passage.
 QUESTIONS ON SUMMARY
AND NOTE MAKING
 In summary writing- a student should give information from the passage
in the given number of words.
- The answer should be written in complete sentences and in continuous
prose.
- Rules of grammar must be observed I.e. tense, punctuation spelling
etc.
 stick to the instructions given in the question especially on the number
of words- in not more than 50 words(do not exceed 50 words) vs in about
50 words(between 45 to 55 words) remember to indicate number of
words you have used in bracket after your answer.
CONT…

• Note making
 The answer must be in point form.
There must be an indicator that these are
notes. The student can use hyphens, bullets,
asterisks, dots, numbers, letters etc.
 QUESTIONS ON
GRAMMAR
The student will be expected to answer a question or two on grammar
and sentence construction.
I.e. a student can be asked to rewrite a sentence, add a
question tag etc.
All grammatical rules must be observed. Any
grammatical mistake is penalized. No mark is awarded for
answers with grammatical mistakes
 QUESTIONS ON VOCABULARY

Tests on the student’s ability to give meaning of

words and phrases as used in the passage.
• Give the contextual meaning of the words or
expressions.
• The meaning of words/expressions must be
given in the same tense as the word in
question.
 2. REVISING FOR EXCERPT

 anexcerpt/ extract can be drawn from any part of the text and then
questions are set from it.
 To revise on this question familiarize yourself with the below questions
Place the excerpt in the immediate context/Outline events
leading to the excerpt/What happens before/after the excerpt.
Question on styles
Question on themes
Cont…

Question on character traits

A question requiring students to apply their
general knowledge of the set text
A question on grammar and meaning of words
and phrases.
 1.CONTEXTUALIZING THE EXCERPT

To answer a question on placing the excerpt in the immediate

context or outlining the events leading to the excerpt or what
happens immediately before/ after the excerpt, you need to master
the plot and have fine details of the events, including the quotes and
the exact words of the characters.
The Immediate context- Requires the student to outline
what happens before and after the context.
Present your answer in prose form using simple present
tense.
2. ANSWERING A QUESTION ON CHARARCTER
TRAITS,THEMES AND STYLE
 When answering a question on character traits, remember to
describe the characters using adjectives.
Themes and styles are stated using nouns.
• All answers given in these areas(character traits, themes
and styles) must be well illustrated. Ensure that you give
evidence from the excerpt.
•Students who identify themes, styles or character traits without
illustrations will not score because the identification will be regarded as
guess work.
 3. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE AND MEANING OF
WORDS QUESTIONS

4. The question on general knowledge may require the students to relate the
events in the excerpt to others in the text. This emphasizes on the
importance of mastery of the text.
5. The question on the meaning of words/ phrases still tests on the student’s
ability to give meaning of words and phrases as used in the in the excerpt.
When responding to this question, remember to:
Give the contextual meaning of the words or expressions.
The meaning of words/expressions must be given in the same tense as
the word in question.
 4. GRAMMAR QUESTION

6. In the excerpt question, the student will still answer a

question or two on grammar and sentence construction.
I.e. a student can be asked to rewrite a sentence,
add a question tag etc.
All grammatical rules must be observed. Any
grammatical mistake is penalized. No mark is
awarded for answers with grammatical mistakes
 3. REVISING FOR POETRY
 Poetryquestions aims at testing a student’s ability of
reading, understanding and appreciation of a poem.
 When revising for this question, below are some of the
areas that you should be able to respond to.
What the poem is about.
Who the persona of the poem is.
Identification of stylistic devices in the poem.
 CONT..
 Paraphrasing a stanza(s).
Describing the tone/mood/attitude of the poem.
Meaning of words/phrases/lines extracted from the
poem.
 A question to test on general understanding of the
poem.
• In responding to what the poem is about, the candidate is
required to make a brief statement about the literal or
metaphoric or both the metaphoric and literal concerns of
the poem.
• The persona is the voice that speaks in the poem/mouth
piece through which the poet speaks. The persona can be a
driver, a student, a politician, a lover, a wife, a soldier, an
uncle etc. identify this voice and always support your
identification with evidence from the poem.
• When answering a question on style, the instruction given or
the number of marks should guide you.
 CONT.…
For example if the question is;
identify and illustrate any two stylistic devices
that the poet uses (4marks)- You will be required
to identify the style and give evidence from the
poem.
but if the question is
identify and comment on the effectiveness of
any three stylistic devices the poet uses in this
poem(6 marks)-you will do three things; identify,
• Paraphrasing- you are required to summarize the part
asked in your own words. This calls for proper
understanding of what the poem is about.
• Describing tone- This is what our minds ear hears as we
read the poem. It is indicated by the diction used(choice of
words/language used) special adjectives create the tone of
the poem through the descriptive power of the poem.
It is tone which creates our attitude towards the
speaker, message and the poet.
Tone can be: hateful/scornful-disdainful/sarcastic,
loving/gentle
• Describing Attitude-Refers to the persona’s feelings towards
his/her subject matter- how he/she f regards the subject matter.
Attitude is revealed by his tone(diction)
Example if the persona compared one to an
“hungry hyena” the image would show his contempt towards
this person therefor the attitude is contemptuous.
 Attitude can be described as loving, disillusionment, hate
disgust etc.
 Attitude and tone share adjectives.
• Describing Mood-These are the emotions aroused as one
reads through the poem.
The emotions vary from stanza to stanza.
The emotions project a certain atmosphere which is
called MOOD.
Mood may be sad, happy, anxious, somber, romantic,
nostalgic, angry etc.
4.GRAMMAR
• In this question the students are expected to perform various
grammatical tasks. Below are some of the very commonly testable
areas;
Parts of speech-
Nouns -formation/derivation of nouns, gender sensitive etc
Pronouns- personal pronouns(subjective vs objective case)
- relative pronouns.
- Emphatic and reflexive pronouns.
- possessive pronouns.
CONT…
Adjectives- formation/derivation of adjectives, order of
adjectives, quantifiers etc
Prepositions
Adverbs- formation of adverbs, comparative and
superlative forms
Verbs- tense, participle phrases and gerunds, phrasal
verbs
Conjunctions- e.g. both……and not only..... but also
neither…. nor either.... or
CONT…
Clauses-
Direct and indirect speech Form and usage
Inversions
Sentence connectors
Substitution and ellipsis
 Independent and subordinate clauses
(relative and
adverbial clauses).
Active and passive voice.