JAMB UTME - Yoruba Language - 2025

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

This question tests knowledge of which group of performers is traditionally associated with a specific genre of Yoruba oral poetry.

Ìjálá is a chanted poetic form performed specifically by hunters, traditionally recited to honour Ògún, the deity associated with iron and hunting, and to recount hunting exploits, animal lore, and hunters' experiences in the forest. Its distinctive vocabulary, imagery drawn from wildlife and the bush, and its ceremonial occasions are all tied to hunting culture, which is why hunters, rather than drivers, market traders, or any other occupational group, are the performers historically identified with this chant.

Yoruba oral literature assigns different chant and poetry forms to different social or occupational groups, for example herders, hunters, or praise singers, and recognising which genre belongs to which group is a recurring feature of this area of the syllabus.

When a question names a specific chant genre and asks who performs it, recall the occupational or ceremonial group historically linked to that genre rather than guessing from the sound of the word alone.

Détails de la réponse

The passage explains that although the villagers first suspected wild animals, the village hunter, who is skilled at tracking animals, examined the scene and reported that he could find no animal footprints at all to support the idea that an animal was responsible.

No garden being eaten is not what the passage says; the garden was in fact being damaged, which is precisely the problem being investigated. The passage never mentions that an animal was actually caught, so that cannot be the reason the villagers changed their thinking. Absence of animal noise is also not stated anywhere in the passage as evidence.

Because it was specifically the hunter's report of finding no animal footprints that undermined the idea of an animal being responsible, that report is what made the villagers realise it was not an animal.

Examination tip: when a comprehension question asks what made a character realise something, search the passage for the specific piece of evidence given, here the hunter's statement about footprints, rather than assuming a general explanation.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

Yoruba sentences are classified by the purpose they serve: a declarative sentence states a fact or gives information, an interrogative sentence asks a question, and an imperative sentence gives a command. "Ó ra aṣọ tuntun" (He bought new clothes) simply reports an event that took place, without asking anything or instructing anyone to act.

Because it states information rather than questioning or commanding, this sentence is a declarative sentence, called gbolohun àfihàn in Yoruba grammar, which is the correct classification.

It cannot be a question, since it contains no question word or rising interrogative structure, and it cannot be a command, since it describes a completed action rather than instructing someone to act. Checking whether a Yoruba sentence states, asks, or instructs is the quickest way to sort it into its correct grammatical type.

Détails de la réponse

Orin ewì ni a máa n lò fún ìtósónà àti ìmoràn. O je ohun elo lati koni ati lati taniji.

Détails de la réponse

This question tests knowledge of the Yoruba word for a device or tool that converts words from one language into another.

Yoruba forms agent nouns, words naming the doer or performer of an action, by combining the prefix "a-" with a verb, so that a verb meaning to interpret or translate becomes a noun meaning "that which translates." This is the correct term for a translating device or dictionary, distinguishing it from the word for translation as an activity or result, from a general term for a language's vocabulary, and from an unrelated word that does not name a device at all.

Recognising this "a-" prefix pattern is useful more broadly in Yoruba, since the same construction produces many everyday tool and agent names, such as the words for a broom, a cutter, or a teacher, each built from a verb describing what that person or tool does.

When a question asks for the Yoruba name of a tool or device that performs an action, look for a word built with the "a-" prefix attached to the relevant verb, since that pattern reliably signals an agent or instrument noun.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

"Șe" jẹ́ ọ̀ro ìfarapa tí a fi n dá àtẹ̀gùn gbolohun àșẹ sílẹ̀.

Détails de la réponse

The passage opens by defining Yoruba culture directly: "àṣà Yorùbá jẹ́ àfihàn ìdánimọ̀, ìbùkún àti ìpẹ̀yà fún àwọn tí wọ́n bá tẹ̀síwájú nínú rẹ̀" (Yoruba culture is a display of identity, blessing, and heritage for those who continue in it). The passage's own words state that culture is a manifestation of identity.

Good character (ọmọlúwàbí), modern technology, and the religious history of the Egyptians are not statements the passage makes about what culture is; they either appear elsewhere in a different sense or do not appear in the passage's definition at all.

When a comprehension question asks what a passage says something is, return to the exact sentence in the text that defines it rather than relying on general knowledge of the topic.

Détails de la réponse

The passage lists the foundations of Yoruba culture and practice in one sentence: good relationships (íbáṣepọ̀ rere), the blessing of elders, family contentment (ìtẹ́lọrun ídílé), and advice built on the wisdom of the ancestors (ọgbọ́n àwọn baba-nlá wa). The question asks which areas or branches Yoruba culture brings together, so the correct option must match this list.

The option naming relationship, contentment, and the application of wisdom (íbáṣepọ̀, ìtẹ́lọrun, ímúlò ọgbọ́n) directly mirrors these three pillars named in the passage, making it the correct answer.

The other options introduce items the passage never groups together under culture, such as song, fighting, and medicine, or religion, evil, and prayer. These sound like they could belong to a general discussion of Yoruba life, but none of them appear in the specific sentence the question is testing, so they must be rejected.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

This question tests knowledge of the specific Yoruba term for a well-known cultural rite, the ceremony held to welcome and name a newborn child.

In Yoruba tradition, a newborn is formally given a name during a dedicated ceremony that usually takes place about a week after birth, attended by family and community elders who bless the child and confer names chosen for their meaning. The Yoruba term for this specific rite, literally "naming a child," is the one that correctly answers the question. It is distinct from a burial rite, from an ordinary story-telling occasion, and from a general discussion or meeting, none of which refers to a newborn-child ceremony.

A useful way to recognise this vocabulary is to notice how the word is built from "so," to make or turn something into, "ọmọ," child, and "orúkọ," name, so that the whole word literally means "to make the child into a name-bearer."

When a Yoruba vocabulary question describes a life-stage ritual, break the compound word into its parts to confirm what activity it names before choosing an answer.

Détails de la réponse

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

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

This question is loosely worded, but it is asking for something in Yoruba speech that people habitually point to or refer back to when making an argument, described here as an àtọ́ka (a pointer or reference). In Yoruba oral tradition, that role belongs to àwọn òwe, proverbs.

Yoruba speech leans heavily on proverbs as ready-made points of reference: a speaker cites a proverb the way a writer cites a source, to point to accepted wisdom and strengthen an argument. This function is captured in the well known saying that a proverb is the horse used to trace and recover a lost line of speech.

Application, complex sentence structure, and machinery do not serve this referencing function in everyday speech, while proverbs are specifically kept and reused as fixed points that a speaker points back to; that is why proverbs are the best fit here, even though the question's phrasing is not fully precise.

Détails de la réponse

This question tests knowledge of the Yoruba term for the celebration held to mark a birthday.

In Yoruba culture, a birthday is marked with a festive gathering involving family, friends, food, music, and well-wishes for the celebrant, and the general Yoruba word for this kind of celebration or party is the one that correctly answers the question. It is distinct from the words for a town, a story or historical account, and an unrelated term that does not refer to a festive occasion, none of which describes a celebratory gathering of this kind.

This term applies broadly to festive occasions in Yoruba culture beyond birthdays as well, covering celebrations held for a range of joyful events, which is why it is the word most directly associated with marking an occasion such as a birthday with festivity.

When a Yoruba culture question asks for the term describing a celebration or party, look for the vocabulary specifically tied to festivity and joyful gathering rather than words describing places, records, or unrelated customs.

Détails de la réponse

This question tests the ability to recognise a form of Yoruba oral literature from a short, compact statement rather than from a formal definition.

The statement about an ordinary blacksmith not fashioning a bridle bit without a reason works the way traditional Yoruba proverbs do: it uses a specific, concrete image from everyday craft and trade to express a general truth, namely that a person does not go to the trouble of preparing something without a purpose behind it. This indirect, image-based way of stating a general truth is the defining feature of a proverb, distinguishing it from praise poetry, which honours a person's or lineage's qualities, and from ordinary verse, which does not carry this compressed, wisdom-teaching structure.

Recognising proverbs by this pattern, a short concrete picture standing in for a broader lesson, is useful because JAMB frequently tests whether a statement is a proverb versus another oral genre using unfamiliar sayings rather than well-known ones.

When a statement names an everyday object or trade action and implies a wider lesson about intention or consequence, treat it as a proverb even if you have not heard that exact saying before.

Détails de la réponse

This question tests the ability to identify which word in a set functions as a noun, "orúkọ" in Yoruba grammar, as opposed to a verb.

Three of the words describe actions: singing, going, and eating, and each behaves as a verb because it can only complete a sentence when paired with a subject performing the action, for example "o kọrin," "o lọ," or "o jẹ." The remaining word names a thing, a dwelling or house, and can stand as the subject or object of a sentence on its own, for example "ilé náà tóbi," the house is big. That grammatical behaviour, naming a person, place, or thing rather than an action, is what marks it as the noun in this group.

A quick test for separating nouns from verbs in Yoruba is to ask whether the word can be preceded by a determiner such as "náà" ("the") or a quantity word; only a noun accepts that construction naturally.

When asked to pick out a noun among Yoruba words, check first whether each word denotes an action or a thing, since that single distinction settles most of these questions quickly.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

"Jẹ" jẹ́ àsọyé tí ó fi ișe tí ẹni náà șe hàn (eating - verb).

Détails de la réponse

This question tests recognition of a compound noun, a noun formed by joining two or more words into a single naming unit, as opposed to a simple, single-word noun or a verb.

Among the options, a river and a spouse or vehicle are each a single, unanalysed noun, while a word meaning "to know" is a verb rather than a noun at all. The remaining option joins the general word for a vehicle with a second word describing motion by wheel, combining two separate elements into one naming unit for a specific kind of vehicle, a car. That structure, two independent words fused together to name one distinct thing, is exactly what defines a compound noun in Yoruba grammar.

Spotting compound nouns is useful because Yoruba builds a large part of its modern vocabulary this way, joining an existing word to a descriptive term to name something more specific, much as "aṣọ" (cloth) combines with other words to name particular garments.

When identifying a compound noun, check whether a word can be split into two independently meaningful Yoruba words that together narrow down to one specific thing; if it can, it is compound rather than simple.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

This question tests the ability to complete a sentence with the clause that follows logically from what has already been stated.

The sentence begins by stating that the speaker is going to the hospital. A hospital is a place people visit specifically for medical reasons, so the continuation that makes sense is one that gives a medical reason for the visit, namely that the speaker is unwell. This connects cause to effect directly: being unwell is the reason for going to a hospital, in the same way going to a place of worship would logically follow a statement about wanting to pray, not about visiting a hospital.

The other options either describe an unrelated destination, an unrelated intention to turn back, or an unrelated errand to buy herbs, none of which follows naturally from the specific statement about heading to a hospital.

For sentence-completion questions, test each option by asking whether it gives a reason, result, or detail that a listener would naturally expect to follow the opening statement, rather than one that is merely grammatically possible.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

"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.

Détails de la réponse

Gbolohun àșe máa ń bẹ̀rẹ̀ pẹ̀lú àsọyé tí ó fún ní ìtọ́sọ́nà tàbí àṣẹ.

Détails de la réponse

The proverb "Ìyàwó tí kò mọ ibi tí ọkọ rẹ̀ ti ń ra ẹran, yóò jẹ ẹran ẹlẹ́dẹ̀" (a wife who does not know where her husband buys meat will end up eating pork) uses the risk of unknowingly eating a forbidden meat as a warning image. The point is not literally about meat; it is about the danger of staying ignorant of a husband's dealings and affairs.

The lesson the proverb teaches is that a wife must make it her business to know what her husband does, so that she is not caught off guard or led into something she would not have accepted knowingly. This matches the idea that a woman must know what her husband is doing.

The other statements about home training, eating together, or a boy helping out do not connect to the specific image of being tricked through ignorance that the proverb builds around the meat.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

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.

Détails de la réponse

The word onígbàgbọ́ means a believer, someone who practises a religious faith. When it qualifies eré (a play or dramatic performance), it marks out a play whose content and structure are built around worship rather than around a secular theme.

A play of this kind is organised the way a service of worship is organised, carrying prayer, scripture, preaching, and religious song within its scenes. That is why the performance described this way is one that has a programme of worship running through it, and not a play about national education, a musical news report, or a general story about the origin of the world, since none of those are defined by a religious structure.

When a Yoruba vocabulary question qualifies eré with the name of a group of people, look for the option that names the activity that defines that group. For believers, that activity is worship.

Détails de la réponse

This question tests knowledge of the standard layout used for a Yoruba informal letter, specifically what the second address in the letter refers to.

A properly structured Yoruba letter opens with the writer's own address and the date, placed at the top. Beneath the salutation, a second address identifies the person the letter is being written to, that is, the recipient, so that the letter is clearly directed at a specific individual. This is why the second address corresponds to the person addressed, rather than to the writer, the location the letter was written from, which is already covered by the first address, or an unrelated person such as a child mentioned only within the body of the letter.

Keeping the two addresses distinct, one for where the letter comes from and one for who it is going to, mirrors the structure expected in formal correspondence generally and is a detail JAMB checks directly in letter-writing questions.

When answering questions on letter format, work through the layout in order, writer's address and date first, then salutation, then who the letter is addressed to, so that each address is matched to its correct role.

Détails de la réponse

This question tests knowledge of the author of a foundational work of Yoruba prose literature.

"Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmalẹ̀" is a landmark Yoruba novel that follows a hunter's adventures through a world of forests, spirits, and mythical creatures, blending Yoruba folklore with narrative fiction. It was written by D.O. Fagunwa, widely regarded as a pioneer of written Yoruba fiction, whose works established the fantastical hunter's-tale genre in Yoruba literature. This distinguishes his authorship from other well-known Yoruba literary figures, whose own works are associated with different titles and genres, such as drama or poetry rather than this particular hunter's narrative.

Knowing which author is linked to which title is a recurring feature of Yoruba literature questions, since JAMB frequently pairs a well-known book title with a set of plausible author names.

When asked to match a Yoruba literary title to its author, recall the genre and subject matter of the work, since an author's known body of work, such as Fagunwa's hunter narratives, usually points directly to the correct name.