JAMB UTME - Yoruba Language - 2025

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The opening lines of the passage state that Yoruba culture and practice are built on good relationships, the blessing of elders, family contentment (ìtẹ́lọrun ídílé), and advice grounded in the wisdom of the ancestors. The question asks specifically what culture did for the family at the beginning of the passage, so the answer must come straight from that opening sentence rather than from later parts about children's attitudes toward culture.

The option describing culture as something that shows contentment and blessing (ó fi ìtẹ́lọrun àti íbùkún hàn) restates exactly what the passage says: family satisfaction and the blessing that comes from elders. This is why it is the correct answer.

The other options either introduce ideas the passage never mentions, such as going to church or causing arguments, or describe something too vague, such as "bringing enjoyment", that is not the specific benefit the writer names for the family. When answering a comprehension question about what a text says at the beginning, always trace the exact sentence being tested rather than a general impression of the whole passage.

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Alárìnjó is the name of the traditional Yoruba travelling theatre troupe that moved from town to town staging masquerade performances. Their shows combined spoken drama, mime, and satire with drumming and singing, which is why their defining activity is correctly described as eré pẹ̀lú orin, drama performed with music.

Alárìnjó performances were not simply climbing plants, dance on its own without spoken drama, or poetry set to song; their hallmark was theatrical scenes, often comic or satirical, carried along by live musical accompaniment.

Associate Alárìnjó with travelling masquerade theatre powered by music, and you will not confuse it with genres that involve only dance or only chanted poetry.

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Before the arrival of Christianity, the Yoruba people practised a traditional belief system centred on the worship of the òrìṣà, the various deities associated with natural forces, ancestors, and specific areas of life such as Ṣàngó, Ògún, and Ỏyá. This indigenous religious practice is known as ìjọ́sin Òrìṣà, meaning the worship of the deities.

The option naming worship of the Òrìṣà (ìjọ́sin Òrìṣà) correctly identifies this pre-Christian faith, which existed long before missionaries introduced Christianity to Yorubaland.

Teaching, hearing from God in the Christian sense, and naming ceremonies are not religions in themselves; hearing from God in particular reflects a Christian framework rather than the traditional practice the question is asking about. A useful way to check this kind of question is to ask which option names an actual belief system rather than an activity or ritual that could exist within several different belief systems.

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"Yọjú" is formed from "yọ" (to emerge or come out) and "ojú" (face), and in everyday Yoruba usage it describes the act of appearing, coming into view, or showing oneself, for example when someone peeps out of a window or steps briefly into sight. The closest match among the choices is the phrase meaning "to show oneself" (fi ara hàn), since this captures the sense of becoming visible or making an appearance.

A common mix-up is to treat "yọjú" as simply "to see a face" (rí ojú), but that phrase describes the act of viewing someone else, not the act of making oneself visible. "Yọjú" is about the subject appearing, not about an onlooker seeing them, which is why "fi ara hàn" is the better match.

The remaining options, relating to speaking through the mouth or walking, describe unrelated actions that share no root or meaning with "yọjú". When a vocabulary question tests a compound word, breaking it into its component parts, as with "yọ" and "ojú" here, usually reveals which option fits the underlying sense.

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The passage states that many parents and teachers have confirmed that when children lack knowledge of their culture, it leads to suffering and the spread of sorrow within society (àìmọ̀ àṣà lórí àwọn ọmọde ń fa ìjiyà àti ìtànkálẹ̀ íbànújẹ́ nínu awùjọ). The question asks what could happen if culture were abandoned completely, and the passage's own evidence points to harm at the level of society as a whole.

The option stating that society will be ruined (àwùjọ á bàjẹ́) captures this consequence, since the passage links loss of culture directly to social breakdown rather than to a single household or individual.

Options describing a house being built, a head being crushed, or the world tearing apart either misstate the direction of the consequence or exaggerate it beyond what the passage supports. The passage's own cause-and-effect statement, tracing lack of cultural knowledge to societal harm, is the evidence that should guide the choice, not a general impression of what sounds dramatic.

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Èsìn ìbílẹ̀ means the indigenous or traditional religion of a people, as opposed to religions introduced from outside, such as Christianity or Islam. Traditional Yoruba religion centres on the worship of the orisa, deities such as Ògún, Ṣàngó, and Ọbàtálá, so worship of Ọbàtálá is a genuine example of an indigenous Yoruba religion.

Cherub worship belongs to a Christian tradition, and the other two options do not name a recognised indigenous Yoruba deity or practice, so they cannot represent the original faith of the Yoruba people the way orisa worship does.

When a question asks for an example of Yoruba traditional religion, look for the name of an orisa; worship built around one of the orisa is always the indigenous option.

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In the sentence Òjò ń rọ bí i pé ọ̀run ń șú (the rain is falling as if the sky is pouring), the speaker is not stating a fact directly but comparing the intensity of the rain to an imagined event. The phrase that introduces this comparison is bí i pé, which means "as if" or "as though."

This phrase is what grammarians call the comparison marker: it signals that what follows is not literally true but is used to intensify the description of the rain. The remaining words in the sentence, òjò (rain), rọ (to fall/rain), and ọ̀run (sky), simply name the things being talked about; none of them performs the work of setting up a comparison.

When a question asks for the comparison word in a Yoruba sentence, look first for a phrase built around bí (like/as), since that is the standard way Yoruba introduces a simile.

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Yoruba drama is grouped into types based on its tone and purpose. A play that has no serious central theme but is instead filled with light complaints, exaggeration, and laughter is a comic play, known as eré aláwàdà. Its purpose is to entertain the audience through humour rather than to teach a lesson or narrate a serious event.

This matches the description in the question exactly, which is why the comic play (eré aláwàdà) is the correct answer.

A tragic play (eré ìbànújẹ́) is built around sorrow and serious conflict, the opposite of what the question describes, while an educational play and a historical play are organised around instruction or past events rather than humour. Matching a drama type to the mood described, here laughter and lack of serious plot, is the reliable way to answer this kind of classification question.

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This question tests recognition of a collective or plural noun, a word used to refer to a group of people together, as opposed to individual family terms.

The words for father, mother, and child each refer to a single, specific individual within a family. The remaining option combines the plural marker "àwọn" with the word for kinsmen or community members, producing a term that refers to a group of people considered together rather than to any one person. That is precisely what a collective noun does: it names a body of people as a unit rather than naming an individual role within a family.

The prefix "àwọn" is the standard Yoruba marker of plurality when attached to a noun referring to people, and recognising it is a reliable way to identify collective or group nouns in Yoruba sentences.

When asked to identify a word showing a group of people, look for the plural marker attached to a noun, since individual kinship terms such as father, mother, and child will never by themselves indicate a collective group.

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The passage explains how children view their fathers' culture: "Wón ń fi ẹ̀sùn kàn an pé àṣà jẹ́ ohun ateyinwa, kó sì ní ọ̀rọ̀ tó wúlò mọ́" (they accuse it of being outdated, and no longer having anything of use). This describes culture as something the children now regard as no longer meaningful or valuable.

The passage does not describe the children's view as an unfair accusation, as something they ought to learn, or as something accurate and trustworthy; those readings contradict the dismissive attitude the text actually describes.

When answering how a group views something in a passage, match your choice to the writer's own words about that view rather than to what you might expect the attitude to be.

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The statement quoted in the question is phrased as an instruction, telling the listener what attitude or action to take regarding the state of their spirit. Statements of this kind, which tell someone what they should or should not do in order to cope with a situation, are classified as \u00ecm\u1ecd\u0300r\u00e0n, advice or counsel.

\u00ccb\u00e0n\u00faj\u1eb9\u0301 describes a feeling of sadness or grief itself, not an instruction about how to respond to it. \u00ccr\u00edr\u00ed refers to a personal experience someone has lived through, a recollection of what happened, not guidance for the future. \u00c0k\u00edy\u00e8s\u00ed is an observation or a piece of information pointed out for attention, again distinct from a direct instruction on how to behave.

Because the statement is framed as guidance telling the listener how to manage their state of mind, it functions as \u00ecm\u1ecd\u0300r\u00e0n.

Examination tip: identify whether a Yoruba statement describes a feeling, recounts an event, simply draws attention to a fact, or instructs the listener on what to do, an instruction marks it as \u00ecm\u1ecd\u0300r\u00e0n.

Detalles de la respuesta

Àlàyé jẹ́ ìtàn àkọ́kọ́ nípa ohun kan. A le fi hàn bí àșà àti ẹ̀sìn șe wulo.

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Ewì oníròyìn (epic) ni ewì tí ó sọ ìtàn ayé tabi ìṣe eniyan.

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Once the hunter's report ruled out wild animals as the cause of the damage, the passage says the village head called all the villagers together and set up a group whose job was to keep watch at night, in order to find out who or what was really responsible.

The passage does not say the village head went to the second village himself, that only happens later, after the culprits are caught, and it is the elders in general, not the village head alone, who make that visit. There is no mention in the passage of the village head ordering a separate investigation apart from setting up the night watch, or of him holding any kind of festival or ceremony.

Because the passage specifically describes the village head gathering everyone and forming a night-watch group to guard the farmland, that is the action he took to identify the culprit.

Examination tip: track each character's specific action as the passage narrates it in sequence, the village head's contribution here is organising the night watch, distinct from the later reconciliation visit made by the elders.

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After discovering the damage to their farmland, the villagers' first reaction, before any investigation, was to assume that wild animals from the forest were responsible for eating their crops and food.

The passage names the village hunter separately, as the person who later examined the scene and reported that there were no animal footprints to support the accusation, meaning the hunter was not himself accused. The children from the second village are only discovered later, on the fifth night, and are not the group the villagers first suspected. Town thugs are never mentioned anywhere in the passage.

Because the text states plainly that the villagers first blamed wild animals for the damage before the hunter's investigation raised doubt, the group first accused is the wild animals.

Examination tip: comprehension questions asking who was first accused want the earliest suspicion mentioned in the passage, even if later evidence in the story proves it wrong.

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When the night watchers ran towards the sound near the yam barn, the passage says they found some boys and girls from the neighbouring village who were fleeing with food they had stolen.

The passage does not describe the hunter behaving strangely on that night, nor does it mention the lantern catching fire. It also makes clear, through the earlier report of no animal footprints and this later discovery, that the culprits were not animals eating the garden but children taking food.

Because the passage explicitly states that the watchers found boys and girls running away with stolen food, that is what they saw that night.

Examination tip: comprehension questions about the climax of a story want the concrete detail the passage gives, here the identity of the culprits caught in the act, not an inferred or general description.

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A proverb, or òwe, is a short traditional saying that expresses wisdom or a moral lesson gained from experience, often using imagery or comparison to make its point memorable. Among the Yoruba, proverbs are so valued in speech that they are described as "the horse of conversation", carrying meaning that ordinary words alone cannot express as effectively.

The option identifying a proverb as a wise saying (ọ̀rọ̀ ọgbọ́n) captures this core definition, which is why it is the correct answer.

The remaining options describe unrelated ideas: a facial expression, a living creature, or a stage play, none of which define what a proverb fundamentally is. When a question asks for the definition of a familiar literary term like òwe, the correct option is usually the one built from the term's own defining feature, here wisdom (ọgbọ́n), rather than an unrelated noun.

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This question tests recognition of which Yoruba word is a standard, correctly formed term as opposed to unfamiliar or non-standard combinations.

"Àkọ́lé," meaning a title or heading, is a well-established, single unit of Yoruba vocabulary that is used consistently across written and spoken Yoruba, for example as the heading placed at the top of a letter, essay, or newspaper article. It has a fixed, recognisable form and a clear, stable meaning, which is what makes it the word that reads as genuinely well-formed among the options presented.

The other options combine or modify related word parts in ways that either alter the core meaning, as with a word suggesting unification of separate things into one, or produce a less commonly attested form, which makes them less secure choices when a question is testing familiarity with standard vocabulary rather than word-building rules in the abstract.

When a Yoruba vocabulary question asks which word is correct or fitting among similar-looking options, favour the option you can confidently recall being used in ordinary written or spoken Yoruba, since JAMB vocabulary questions often include one authentic, frequently used word alongside less common variants.

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This question tests reading comprehension: understanding the situation of a character based on details stated later in the passage, not simply the first impression given earlier.

Early in the story, the villagers guarding the farm at night hear a commotion and discover young people from a neighbouring village carrying away stolen food. At that point their action looks like theft. But the passage goes on to explain the cause: a serious flood had destroyed the crops and farmland belonging to those children's own village, leaving them without enough to eat, so they took food from a place they knew simply to survive.

This detail is essential to answering the question correctly. The children were not habitual robbers, abandoned orphans, or associated with witchcraft; their circumstance was that a flood had ruined their family's farm produce, which is why they resorted to taking food. Recognising this shows the reading skill of following cause and effect across a passage rather than stopping at the first surface impression a scene creates.

When a comprehension passage answers "why" something happened later in the text, always check that later explanation before settling on an answer, since it often overturns an earlier assumption.

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The passage opens by describing what the villagers discovered every morning: their farmland kept getting damaged and their food supply kept reducing without any clear cause. This was the very first problem the village faced, before any suspects, hunters, or vigilante groups are mentioned.

Wild animals entering the village is only the villagers' first guess about the cause of the problem, not the problem itself, and the passage goes on to say the hunter found no footprints to support that idea. An epidemic disease and a shortage of water are not mentioned anywhere in the passage; neither illness nor lack of water is described as affecting the villagers.

Because the passage explicitly states that the villagers woke to find their farmland ruined and their food reduced without measure, the initial problem they faced was the destruction of their farmland together with the ongoing disappearance of their food.

Examination tip: in a comprehension passage, distinguish the actual event described from characters' guesses about its cause, since a question asking what problem occurred wants the event itself, not the suspected cause.

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This question asks for the overall consequence of everything described in the passage, which means looking at how the story ends rather than at any single incident within it.

The narrative moves from suspicion and a night watch, to the discovery that hungry children from a nearby village had been taking food because a flood had ruined their own farmland, to the elders responding with generosity instead of punishment. The passage's final sentence states directly that from that day onward, a cordial relationship and cooperation developed between the two villages.

That closing statement is the outcome the question is asking about. The events did not lead to lasting sadness, further food damage, or continued theft; they led to reconciliation and a stronger bond between the communities, which is the resolution the whole story builds toward.

When a comprehension question asks for a story's outcome, always check the final lines of the passage, since narratives are usually structured to resolve their central conflict there.

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Ṣíṣe is the gerund form of the verb ṣe, meaning "to do" or "to perform." Doubling the first syllable of a Yoruba verb turns it into a noun describing the act of doing that verb, so ṣíṣe literally means "the doing/performing of something," which corresponds to iṣẹ́, work or task.

A house, a right/entitlement, and seeing are unrelated meanings that do not connect to the act of doing or performing; they belong to entirely different word families in Yoruba.

When a question asks for the meaning of a reduplicated Yoruba verb form like ṣíṣe, think of the base verb it comes from and translate that action into its related noun of work or activity.

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The passage states the cause plainly: "pẹ̀lú ìtẹ̀síwájú ìmọ̀ ìjìnlẹ̀ àti imọ̀-ẹrọ, ọ̀pọ̀ àwọn ọmọde àti àwọn ọdọ ti kọ̀ ẹ̀kọ́ àti àṣà àwọn baba wọn sílẹ̀" (with the advance of science and technology, many children and youths have abandoned the teaching and culture of their fathers). The advance of science and technology is identified as the driver of this change.

Bad conduct, learning religious doctrine, and an unlucky star are not mentioned anywhere in the passage as reasons for children abandoning their culture; they are unsupported by the text.

For this type of question, trace the cause-and-effect language the passage uses, here "with the advance of...", to find the exact factor the writer blames.

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Describing something by likening it to the sound or behaviour of an animal is a form of illustration, using one thing to stand in for and clarify another. In Yoruba, an illustrative comparison of this kind is named àpẹẹrẹ, an example.

Àfihàn refers to a display or manifestation in a broader sense, àròkọ refers to a written composition or letter, and ìsàlẹ̀ refers to the bottom or foundation of something; none of these names the specific technique of using an animal's sound or trait as an illustrative comparison.

When a question asks for the name of a technique that likens something to an animal for effect, look for the option describing an illustrative example, since that is the general term Yoruba uses for this kind of comparison.

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This question asks for the central idea that ties the whole passage together, which is different from asking about any single event in it.

The passage moves through suspicion, a night watch, the discovery that hungry children were taking food because a flood had destroyed their village's farmland, and finally the elders choosing to share food and forgive rather than punish. Every stage of the story builds toward that final act of understanding and the lasting friendship it produces between the two villages.

A title or theme has to capture that overall movement, not just one part of it. Focusing only on the flood's damage, or only on the idea of judgement and punishment, or only on the importance of guarding the village leaves out the story's real point, which is that mercy and human connection grew out of a difficult situation. That is why compassion and relationship-building between people is the theme that best fits the whole narrative.

For "what is this passage really about" questions, test each option against the ending of the passage, since the theme is usually what the resolution demonstrates.

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In the sentence "Mo ń lọ sí ilé" (I am going home), the particle "ń" placed before the verb "lọ" signals that the action is ongoing at the moment of speaking. This particle functions as a tense or aspect marker, showing the listener that the movement is happening right now rather than having been completed in the past or planned for the future.

The option identifying "ń" as a tense marker (àmì àsíkò) correctly names this grammatical role, which is why it is the correct answer.

"ń" is neither an example, a noun, nor a communication device; it carries no meaning of its own outside of the grammatical signal it gives about when an action takes place. Whenever a short particle like "ń" or "yóò" appears directly before a Yoruba verb, checking what it tells the listener about timing is the fastest way to identify its grammatical function.

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Yoruba oral literature separates historical accounts believed to be factual from stories that are imaginative or embellished. "Ìtàn aláwọ̀pupa" describes a story coloured with invention and exaggeration rather than a strictly factual record, placing it in the category of fiction. The Yoruba term for this kind of imaginative prose narrative is àròsọ, a story built from the writer's or narrator's imagination rather than verified fact.

This makes àròsọ the correct example of the kind of embellished story the question describes.

A play (eré) is a performed dramatic form rather than a narrated story, an explanation (àlàyé) is a factual account meant to clarify something, and praise poetry (oríkì) is a chanted tribute to a person or lineage, none of which match the description of an imaginative, coloured narrative. Distinguishing genres by their purpose, entertainment through invention versus factual clarification versus tribute, is the key to this kind of classification question.

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The question Asa ayeye omode ni ...? asks: "What is the cultural celebration for a child?" This tests knowledge of Yoruba traditional customs and ceremonies.

The correct answer is Iko omo, which refers to the naming ceremony in Yoruba culture. The naming ceremony is the traditional celebration held for a newborn child, typically on the seventh or eighth day after birth. It is one of the most important cultural rites associated with children in Yoruba society. During this ceremony, the child is formally given a name, prayers and blessings are offered, and symbolic items such as honey, kola nut, water, palm oil, and salt are used to express wishes for the child's future.

The other options refer to different cultural events:

• Ikave refers to a reading or educational ceremony
• Ikore is the harvest festival, a celebration of agricultural abundance
• Ipeya refers to a different type of cultural gathering, not specifically associated with children

The naming ceremony (Iko omo) is the defining cultural celebration directly tied to the arrival of a new child.

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It implies that through silence and attention, one can learn wisdom and history from elders.

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This question checks whether the reader has followed the passage to its resolution, where the villagers' response changes once they learn the full circumstances behind the earlier disturbance.

After the elders travel to the neighbouring village and speak with the people there, they discover that the young people who had been taking food were driven to it by hardship: a flood had destroyed their farmland, leaving their families without enough to eat. Faced with this information, the passage states plainly that the elders chose to give out of their own remaining food to help them, rather than punish them for what had happened.

This response is what allows the story to end with friendly relations between the two villages. Choosing kindness over blame or punishment is the turning point of the narrative, and it explains why the passage closes by describing lasting cooperation between the communities rather than continued suspicion.

In comprehension passages built around conflict and resolution, the ending usually reveals the story's central value; here that value is compassion shown once the true cause of a problem is understood.

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The Yoruba word "s\u00e1l\u00f3" is formed from two words joined together, "s\u00e1" (to run or flee) and "l\u1ecd" (to go away). Together they describe the act of running away from a place, escaping quickly rather than walking normally.

Gb\u00e9 means to carry or lift something, which does not involve fleeing. K\u00f3 l\u1ecd means to pack up and move away, describing a deliberate relocation with one's belongings, not a hurried escape. B\u1ecc\u0300 means to come or to return, the opposite direction of movement from s\u00e1l\u00f3. S\u00e1 \u00e0s\u00e1l\u00e0, on the other hand, means to flee or escape, exactly the meaning carried by "s\u00e1" in s\u00e1l\u00f3, describing a hurried departure away from danger or trouble.

Because s\u00e1l\u00f3 combines "s\u00e1" (flee) with "l\u1ecd" (go), its meaning matches s\u00e1 \u00e0s\u00e1l\u00e0, to flee in escape.

Examination tip: when a Yoruba word is a compound of two smaller words, break it into its parts first, s\u00e1 and l\u1ecd here, then match the combined meaning to the closest option rather than guessing from the whole word alone.

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This question tests recognition of the pronoun that refers back to the subject already introduced earlier in the sentence, maintaining grammatical agreement across the clauses of the proverb.

The proverb begins by naming the subject, a child, in the phrase describing a child who is literate but does not know the ways of elders. In the clause that follows, advising that such a person should show respect by prostrating, the sentence no longer repeats the word for child; instead it uses a short pronoun standing in for that same subject. That pronoun is the word that ties the second clause back to the person introduced in the first, which is exactly what grammatical concord requires: a later reference must match, in person and number, the subject it stands for.

The remaining options are not concord words at all: one is the phrase describing the elders' ways, one is a subjunctive marker introducing what should happen, and one is the verb for being literate, so none of them performs the pronoun's job of referring back to the subject.

When asked to find a concord or agreement word in a Yoruba sentence, look specifically for the short pronoun that stands in for a noun already mentioned, rather than for descriptive phrases or verbs nearby.

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"Ídàbí" comes from the verb "dàbí", which means "to resemble" or "to seem like". When used to introduce a comparison, this idea is expressed in everyday speech as "bí ẹni pé", meaning "as if" or "as though", the phrase used whenever something is described as appearing or seeming a certain way without actually being so.

This matches the tested word closely, since both "dàbí" and "bí ẹni pé" carry the sense of likeness or apparent resemblance, making it the correct option.

A house, various kinds of something, and something that was made are all unrelated concepts that do not carry any sense of resemblance or comparison. When a Yoruba vocabulary question tests a word built on "dà" or "bí", it is worth checking whether the correct option expresses similarity or seeming, since these roots consistently signal comparison in the language.

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The phrase ohun ìjà means an instrument of fighting or warfare. Among the choices given, ọ̀fà (the arrow, shot from a bow) is the one that names a genuine traditional weapon used in Yoruba hunting and warfare, associated closely with warriors and with Ògún, the deity of iron and war.

The other items are everyday household or personal tools: obẹ is a kitchen knife, abẹ̀ is a small blade or razor used for shaving or minor cutting, and òpá is simply a stick or staff used for support or herding, not a dedicated weapon of combat.

When a Yoruba culture question asks for a weapon rather than a tool, look for the item whose primary traditional use was fighting or hunting rather than domestic work; the arrow fits that description precisely.

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Traditional Yoruba family life (ẹbí) is organised around close kinship ties, and one of the most basic units within an extended family is the group of children born to the same mother, referred to as ọmọ-ìyá. This bond of shared maternal descent is a defining feature of how a Yoruba family is structured and understood.

A decision, a system of government, and a story are not kinship categories; they describe entirely different aspects of life and cannot define how family membership is organised. Family structure in Yoruba culture is built on blood and marriage ties, and ọmọ-ìyá names exactly one such tie.

When a question asks what a Yoruba family is built with or organised around, look for the option that names a kinship relationship rather than an abstract idea like decision-making or governance.

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Ìjálá is a chant traditionally performed by hunters and devotees of Ògún, the Yoruba god of iron and war. Its verses celebrate courage, skill in the hunt, and the strength of the hunter, so a typical example of ìjálá is a chant that praises a valiant, courageous person, matching ìyìn akíkanjú.

Ìjálá is not the same as an entertainment song sung purely for fun, a story told about a masquerade festival, or ordinary speech used while working; those describe other kinds of oral performance. What sets ìjálá apart is its focus on bravery and hunting prowess, delivered in a distinctive chanting style with its own vocabulary.

When identifying ìjálá in an exam question, listen for the theme of valour and hunting; that theme is the surest marker of the genre.

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"Tálákà" is a Yoruba word describing a person who lacks material wealth or resources, someone who is poor or in need. The word carries the same sense as aláìní, which literally means "one who lacks" or "one in need", making it the correct match for the meaning being tested.

A student who confuses "tálákà" with its opposite, ọlọ́rọ̀ (a wealthy person), has reversed the meaning entirely, since the two words describe opposite economic conditions. The remaining options, referring to rebellion and to a child, describe unrelated concepts that share no connection with poverty or need.

When learning paired opposites in vocabulary such as tálákà and ọlọ́rọ̀, it helps to memorise them together so that an exam question testing one cannot be mistaken for its opposite.

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The passage says that the members of the night-watch group sat in the dark for many nights without anything happening. It specifically states that it was on the fifth night, while the moon was shining in the sky, that they heard a rustling sound near the village head's yam barn and rushed to investigate.

The passage does not mention a third or sixth night at all, and it explicitly contrasts the fifth night, when the discovery happened, with the earlier nights, including the first night, when the watchers saw nothing.

Because the passage names the fifth night as the specific night the watchers heard the sound and discovered what was happening, that is the correct night.

Examination tip: for questions asking when an event happened in a narrative, locate the exact time marker the passage gives, here the fifth night, rather than assuming the event happened as soon as the watch began.

Detalles de la respuesta

The passage describes what a culturally untrained child lacks: "ọmọ tí kò mọ̀ ìtẹ́ríba, kò ní lè mọyì àgbà, kó sì ní ìfọkàn tán láti fi ọgbọ́n gbà ìpinnu" (a child who does not know respect cannot value elders, and will not have the confidence to make wise decisions). The passage explicitly names respect and the wisdom to make sound decisions as what such a child is missing.

The passage does not connect this lack to the ability to lie, to food choices, or to relationships in general; those ideas are not part of the sentence describing what the child fails to know.

When a question asks what a passage says someone lacks, match your answer to the exact qualities the text lists, here respect and sound judgement in decision-making.

Detalles de la respuesta

Oríkì is a well known genre of Yoruba oral poetry recited to celebrate a person, a lineage, a town, or even an animal, by listing their attributes, achievements, and defining qualities. Its whole purpose is to praise and honour its subject, which is why it is correctly described as ìyin eni, the praising of a person.

Oríkì is different from a news report, since it does not narrate current events; it is different from an explanation of how something is done; and it is different from general knowledge about the world, since its content is always centred on exalting a specific subject rather than teaching a fact.

Remember oríkì by its function: whenever a Yoruba literature question asks what a genre is used for celebrating someone's identity and achievements, the answer is oríkì, and its defining feature is praise.