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KCSE CLUSTER TESTS 24

English Paper 2

1. PASSAGE (20 Marks)

Mwingi
1.

Read the following passage and the n answer the questions that follow (20marks)
Government housing policy should deliberately promote affordable housing to avoid mushrooming of slums and create decent accommodation for lower and medium income households.

Housing still remains unaffordable for the majority of Kenyans because of an insensitive housing policy and declining incomes. The Government lip-service regarding affordable housing means that a majority of Kenyans, especially those residing in Nairobi continue to wallow in poverty, having only slums as their accommodation.

As a matter of fact, very few estates in Nairobi can escape the UN definition of a slum. This is because they lack the essential facilities that are deemed to provide decent accommodation.

It is not uncommon to find a household made up of six adults staying in a one –roomed house. This invades personal space, reduces creativity and makes life just mere survival. Residents are normally pre-occupied with survival instead of building the nation.


Several factors combine to create this housing crunch. These include salaries and wages that have not kept pace with housing costs.
Many employers do not factor the cost of housing in their compensation packages. Pushed by tough economic times and the profit maximization motive, many employers are happy to give a consolidated pay. It is up to the employees to allocate their income to get decent accommodation.
Also most jobs are low paying. Statistics show that a majority of Kenyans earns less than Kshs.10,000 per month.

This small sum is meant to meet accommodation needs, besides other equally important family obligations. With poor wages, most people cannot afford decent accommodation.


Since housing for lower and middle – income groups does not offer good returns, investment in this sector is diminishing by the day. The return here is way below what developers get in up market housing.

With the economy now registering 4.3 percent growth, there are high hopes that there will be huge demand for housing. All of these factors contribute to the current shortage of affordable housing.

According to international practice, housing is considered “ affordable” if it costs no more than 30 percent of the monthly household income for rent and utilities. If your household income is Kshs.10,000 per month, you should pay no more than Kshs. 3,000 monthly for your rent and utilities.

That is why affordable housing is an indispensable proposition in Kenya today. Affordable housing is a concept that can serve Kenya well and offer a solution to the socio-economic development of lower and middle income households.

Affordable housing should serve young families, pensioners and people from economically challenged backgrounds.

This option provides a stepping stone for young families, a stable place to get back to after a hard day building the nation.
It is a cost –effective living situation for persons with special needs. Affordable housing developments normally meet local building standards and design requirements.


Professional on-site resident management includes stringest tenant and quick responses to maintenance requests.

In other developed economies, private developers, mostly non-profit co-operative societies, develop affordable housing using a combination of rental income, private funding and government subsisdies.

Over the past decade, it has become increasingly clear that partnerships among local government, non-profit housing developers, community leaders and private financial institutions can create attractive and affordable housing that only serves residents, but it is an asset to the broader community.

Affordable housing is also used to direct economic benefits to the local community e.g. increased jobs, reduces traffic and better air quality.

It is upon the Government to come up with policies which promote partnerships with the private sector to ensure affordable housing for all Kenyans.

Questions.
a) Why should the government housing policy promote affordable housing? (2mks)

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b) Show why housing has remained out of reach to many Kenyans. (2mks)

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c) Residents are normally pre-occupied with survival instead of building the nation.
(Begin: Instead………………..) (1mk)

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d) In note form, what are the repercussions of congestion? (3mks)

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e) With poor wages most people cannot afford decent accommodation. (1mk)
(Add a question tag)

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f) When is housing considered affordable? (1mk)

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g) Give the antonyms of the following words: (2mks)
i) Promote…………………………………………………………………………………………
ii) Assets……………………………………………………………………………………………

h) State three expectations that could be achieved from affordable housing. (3mks)

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i) Give the meaning of the following words and phrases as used in the passage (5mks)
a) Mushrooming………………………………………………………………………………
b) Lip-service………………………………………………………………………………………
c) Wallow………………………………………………………………………………………

d) Consolidated pay…………………………………………………………………………….
e) Indispensable………………………………………………………………………………..

20 marks

2. THE PLAY (25 Marks)

Henrik Ibsen: An enemy of the people
2.

Read the following extract and then answer the questions that follow‍

MRS. STOCKMANN: What was the matter?
DR. STOCKMANN: I will tell you later on; I have something else to think about now.

(Goes to the table and writes something on a visiting –card.) Look there, Katherine ; what have I written there?

MRS. STOCKMANN: Three big Nos; what does that mean?
DR. STOCKMANN: I will tell you that too, later on.(Holds out the card to PETRA).

There , Petra; tell sooty –nose to run over to “the Badger’s” with that, as quick as she can.

Hurry up! (PETRA takes the card and goes out to the hall.) Well,

I think I have had a visit from every one of the devil’s messengers to-day!

But now I am going to sharpen my pen till they can feel its point; I shall dip in venom and gall;
I shall hurl my inkpot at their heads! They’ll find out that a pen is mightier than an umbrella.

MRS. STOCKMANN: Yes, but we are going away, you know Thomas. (PETRA comes back.)
DR. STOCKMANN: Well?
PETRA: She has taken it.
DR. STOCKMANN: Good! Going away, did you say? No, I’ll be hanged if we are going away! We are not going away!

We are going to stay here Katherine!
PETRA: Stay here?
MRS. STOCKMANN: Here, in this town?
DR. STOCKMANN: Yes, here. This is the field of battle- this is where the fight will be. This is where I shall triumph!

As soon as I have had my trousers sewn up I shall go out and look for another house.

We must have a roof over our heads for the winter.
HORSTER: That you shall have in my house.
DR. STOCKMANN: Can we really ?
HORSTER: Yes, quite easily. I have plenty of room, and I am hardly ever at home.
MRS. STOCKMANN: How good of you, Captain Horster;
PETRA: Thank you!

DR. STOCKMANN: (shaking his hand); Thank you, thank you! That is one trouble over!

Now I can set to work in earnest. There is an endless amount of things to look through here, Katherine!

Fortunately I shall have all the time; because I have been dismissed from the Baths, you know.
MRS. STOCKMANN (with a sigh): Oh yes, I expected that.
DR. STOCKMANN: And they want to take my practice away from me too. Let them! I have got the poor people to fall back upon,

anyway – those that don’t pay anything; and after all , they need me most too.

But, oh, they will have to listen to me; I shall preach to them in season and out of season, or whatever the phrase is!

MRS. STOCKMANN: But, dear Thomas, I should have thought events had showed you what use it is to preach.
DR. STOCKMANN: You are really ridiculous, Katherine. Do you want me to let myself be beaten off the field by public

opinion and the compact majority and all that nonsense? No, thank you! And

what I want to do is so simple and clear and straight forward. I only want to drum

into the heads of these mongrels the fact that the liberals are the most insidious

enemies of freedom- that partly programmes strangle the new truth – that considerations of expediency

turn morality and justice upside down – and that they will end by making life here impossible.

Don’t you think, Captain Horster , that I ought to be able to make people understand that?
HORSTER: Very likely; I don’t know much about such things myself.
DR. STOCKMANN: Well, look here- I will explain! It is the party leaders that must be destroyed. A party leader is like a wolf.

You see- like a gluttonous wolf. He requires a certain number of smaller victims to prey upon every year,

if he is to live. Just look at Hovstad and Aslaksen! How many smaller victims have

they finished off or at any rate maimed and mauled until they are fit for nothing except to be householders

or subscribers to the people’s messengers!( Sits down on the edge of the table.) Come here, Katherine

– look how beautifully the sun shines to-day!
MRS. STOCKMANN: Yes, if only we could live on sunshine and fresh air, Thomas.

Questions
1. Mr. Stockmann asks ‘what was the matter?
Explain what the matter was. (4mks)

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2. Identify and explain one theme brought out in the extract. (3mks)

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3. Who is ‘sooty – nose’ and ‘the badger’? what are their relationships to the Dr’s family? (3mks)

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4. Three big no’s! what does this refer to? (4mks)

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5. ‘Yes, if only we could live, on sunshine and fresh air, Thomas’.
i) From the above statement, what character trait of the speaker is brought
out? (2mks)

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ii) Change the statement in number five above to reported speech. (1mk)

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6. Explain the following as used in the extract. (3mks)
i)

Insidious............................................................................................................................................................................................................

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ii) I shall clip it in venom and gall...................................................................................................................................................................

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iii) Fall back upon................................................................................................................................................................................................

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7. Explain the use of imagery in the extract. (4mks)

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8. They’ll find out that a pen is mightier than an umbrella.
Rewrite beginning: ‘The pen’ (1mk)

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25 marks

3. POETRY (20 Marks)

Read the poem and answer the questions that follow.
3.

A tax Driver on his death
A tax Driver On His Death
When with his prophetic eye I peer into the future
I see that I shall perish upon this road
Driving men that I do not know
This metallic monster that now I dictate
This docile elaborate horse.
That in silence seems to simmer and strain
Shall surely revolt some tempting day
Thus I shall die; not that I care
For any mans journey;
Not for proprietors again
Not yet for love of my own.
Not for these I do attempt the forbidden limits
For this defy the traffic man and the cold cells
Risking everything for the little more;
They shall say I know, who pick up my bones
“ Poor chap, another victim to the ruthless machine”
Concealing my blood under the metal.
By T. Wangusa.

a) i) Why must the poet, ‘peer’ into the future rather than ‘look’ (2mks)

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ii) What is the meaning of “shall surely revolt some tempting day”? (line7)

(2mks)

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b) What is it that the persona does not care about ? (2mks)

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c) Identify two aspects of style and their effectiveness. (6mks)

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d) i) What is the attitude of the taxi-driver (2mks)

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ii) What is your attitude towards the taxi driver (2mks)

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e) What is the tone of the poem? (2mks)

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f) What is the overall message of the poem? (2mks)

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20 marks

4. GRAMMAR (15 Marks)

4.

a) Re-write the following sentences according to the instruction given after each.
i) It must be very exciting to a soldier
Begin; If I were …………………………………………)

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ii) This chair is not sufficiently strong to bear my weight.
(Re-write using……………………………….enough…………………..)

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iii) They alleged that the thieves had set the house on fire.
(Begin: The house…………………………………..)

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iv) Mr. Mutuku is versatile in theatre works.
He is a competent pionist.
(Join into one beginning, not only……………………….)

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b) Give the meaning of the idiomatic expressions underlined in the following sentences.
i) The priest was told to stop beating about the bush.

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ii) The father complained that his son had become the black sheep of the family.

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iii) The government has promised that it will leave no stone unturned to get those behind the Anglo Leasing scandal.

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c) Complete the sentences below using the correct form of the word in brackets.
i) Marion is the………………………………………………………….for class secretary (nomination)
ii) I like her…………………………………………………………..behaviour (child)
iii) You must……………………………………believe in Jesus for you to be saved. (true)
d) Punctuate correctly
i) Lets see if the tree has shed its leaves suggested Asha

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ii) She said Bravo William the company will give you an all expenses paid holiday as a bonus.

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e) Fill in the blank spaces using the most suitable word which gives the opposite meaning of the underlined word.
i) He was sentenced to three years in jail, but his friend was…………………..
ii) Wekulo, bought some fake tablets from the chemist shop. He realized later that they were not …………………………….
iii) Mutua was dropped as the school captain and in his place, Muinde has been…………………………

15 marks

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