KNEC KCSE English Paper 1 Question Paper / 2016 Pre KCSE

You are the manager in Fresha Fruits Company.
You sadly learn that one of the employees in your company has passed on in a fatal accident.
(a) Write a memo to inform all the other employees of the news and remind them to contribute funds
towards giving the deceased a good send off. (12 marks)
(b) Write a condolence note to the spouse of the deceased (8 marks)

Concerns on insecurity (1) ____________________ persisted over the last one year despite assurances from the government that it was taking robust (2) _____________________ to protect life and property.
The situation has been complicated by (3) ________________ “lone wolf” terrorist attacks linked to the Somalia-based Al – Shabaab, eight months after the deadly Westgate (4) _______________ in Nairobi that left at least 70 people dead. The latest in the city’s popular Gikomba market only added to the body count and lives shattered.
This is a dangerous way (5) ____________________ one of Africa’s most promising economies to live.
Kenya’s international (6) __________________ is also slowly being eroded and, with it, the attraction as a magnet for foreign tourists and investors.
This week (7) __________________ advisories by some western governments showed how fragile the situation is when hundreds of British tourists (8) _________________ short their holiday at the coast (9) _______________ flew back home. While some may consider this an overreaction, (10) _____________________ the reality that terrorists with dark intentions are roaming the country ready to attack is equally unhelpful.

(Sunday Nation newspaper 18/05/2014)

Those Winter Sundays.
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labour in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of the house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
Who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?

i) The poet has used the following words in stanza one. Give their homophones. (2 marks)
too
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made
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one
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him
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ii) In stanza two and three, the poet has used the words given below. Identify the silent letters. (2 mark)
driver
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would
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what
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know
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iii) By referring to the entire poem, identify four words used that have the diphthong /ei/. (2 marks)
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iv) Write four words of your own in which the letters “ ch” is pronounced same way as ‘sh’ /ᶴ/. (4marks)
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You are the secretary of a company and someone calls requesting to speak to the manager. The manager is not in office. What would you remember to say and do?
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State what type of intonation you would use in the following sentences.
i) When were you born? …………………………………………………..…………..…..……………………..
ii) Did you complete your work? …………………………………………………………..……………………..
iii) What a beautiful car your have bought! ………………………………….…………….………………………
iv) The deal between you and me is over. ………………………………….……..………………………………
v) How do you interpret this case? ……………………………….…………..………………….………

For each of the following words, supply a minimal pair.
– Lane ……………………………………………………………………………….…………………………….
– cut. ………………………………………………………………………………..…………..………………….
– Pill ……………………………………………………………………….…………..…………………………..
– Chew ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Read the story below and answers the question that follow.
A long time ago, there was a child who used to trouble his parents at night by crying. The mother tried to stop him from crying but in vain. Then, the mother warned the child and said, “If you don’t stop crying, I’ll throw you out to the wizard!” But the child kept on crying. When the mother could stand it no longer, she stood up and threw the child outside. Unfortunately, there was a wizard who was listening outside and picked the child up and ran with him. Suddenly, the father realized that the child’s cries were dying away. He stood up, took his panga and went after the wizard. When the wizard heard the footsteps following him, he quickly placed the child in the fork of a tree nearby and ran away. From that day the child never cried again.

i) How would you make the story more interesting if you were to narrate it to your class? (4 marks)
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ii) Describe how you would introduce this story to your audience. (2marks)
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iii) State two things that will assist you to know if your audience is listening to you. (2marks)
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