JAMB UTME - Use of English - 1993

In the question below choose the most appropriate option nearest in meaning to the word(s) or phrase(s) underlined:

The town looked deserted but we moved in with trepidation

In the question below choose the most appropriate option nearest in meaning to the word(s) or phrase(s) underlined:

The vice chancellor, who is a stickler of rules, refused the request by the students for the semester to be rescheduled

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

Wudu will not come _____ she is asked

  ADUKE: Listen my fellow women. The issue has little to do with being literate or not. It is true that most members of NAM (New Awareness Movement) are literate, but this does not make all of us enlightened. We must be able to draw a line between the two. You may be literate and yet possess a consciousness that is decadent and servile. On the other hand you may not have received formal education and yet may be the greatest exponent of progressive ideas.

  HASANA: I agree with what our sister has said. Let us not allow ourselves to be divided by a greedy and an inflated notion of the certificates we possess. In this century, as we march towards the year 2000, our primary concern should be how best to improve the lot of womanhood in our society. Let us not forget that for each woman who is beaten up by her man for flimsy reasons are status of all of us here is downgraded. For each woman who is insulted for no reason than that of her sex, every one of us here is spat on in the face. For each woman who is denied opportunities in the society simply because she is a woman, the whole lot of us are dehumanized. Each widow in this society is an everywoman, and the lot of each of us should be viewed as collective. Each rotten egg that is thrown at anyone of us is an eternal splash of dirt on our faces. Each decayed tomato that is cast at her is a collective curse on our fecundity: each pebble thrown at her, a missile against our womanhood. This is an age of awareness, and it is the duty of NAM to collectively rise in defence of the right of women.

  IME: We can no longer allow ourselves to be fried alive. We are going to squeeze ourselves into tight-fitting trousers, register into judo classes, and then file out into the street and punch the face of every man we behold.

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

I was anxious to arrive early for the lecture that i _____ my note in the car

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

The college was worried about Tunji;s garrulous tendency

The disease afflicting Western societies have undergone dramatic changes. In the course of a century, so many mass killers have vanished that two-third of all deaths are now associated with the disease of old age. Those who die young are more often than not, the victims of accidents, violence and suicide.

These changes in public health are generally equated with progress and attributed to more or better medical care. In fact there is no evidence of any direct relationship between changing disease pattern and the so-called progress of medicine.

The impotence of medical services to change life expectancy and the insignificance of much contemporary clinical care in the curing of diseases are all obvious, well documented but well suppressed.

Neither the proportion of doctors in a population nor the quality of the clinical tools at the disposal not the number of hospital beds is a casual factor in the striking changes in disease patterns. The new techniques available to recognize and treat such conditions as pernicious anaemia and hypertension, or correct congenital malformations by surgical interventions, increase our understanding of disease but do not reduce its incidence. The fact that there are more doctors where certain diseases have become rare has little to do with their ability to control or eliminate them. It simply means that doctors, more than other professionals, determine where they work. Consequently, they tend to gather where the climate is healthy, where the water is clean and where people work and can pay for their services.

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

Their high level of dishonesty has made that department infamous in the entire secretariat

ADUKE: Listen my fellow women. The issue has little to do with being literate or not. It is true that most members of NAM (New Awareness Movement) are literate, but this does not make all of us enlightened. We must be able to draw a line between the two. You may be literate and yet possess a consciousness that is decadent and servile. On the other hand you may not have received formal education and yet may be the greatest exponent of progressive ideas.

  HASANA: I agree with what our sister has said. Let us not allow ourselves to be divided by a greedy and an inflated notion of the certificates we possess. In this century, as we march towards the year 2000, our primary concern should be how best to improve the lot of womanhood in our society. Let us not forget that for each woman who is beaten up by her man for flimsy reasons are status of all of us here is downgraded. For each woman who is insulted for no reason than that of her sex, every one of us here is spat on in the face. For each woman who is denied opportunities in the society simply because she is a woman, the whole lot of us are dehumanized. Each widow in this society is an everywoman, and the lot of each of us should be viewed as collective. Each rotten egg that is thrown at anyone of us is an eternal splash of dirt on our faces. Each decayed tomato that is cast at her is a collective curse on our fecundity: each pebble thrown at her, a missile against our womanhood. This is an age of awareness, and it is the duty of NAM to collectively rise in defence of the right of women.

  IME: We can no longer allow ourselves to be fried alive. We are going to squeeze ourselves into tight-fitting trousers, register into judo classes, and then file out into the street and punch the face of every man we behold.

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

We have found that cassava is a sine qua non item in our industry

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

The governor's action is out of tune with the declarations of his party

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The policemen who were to keep watch connived _____ the robber's escape

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

He moved out of the house because the landlord and his wife were always fighting _____

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

When he joined the staff of the school, he had various duties _____ to him

In the question below choose the most appropriate option nearest in meaning to the word(s) or phrase(s) underlined:

The chief's brother was a complete nonentity

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The helpless _____ our sympathy

In the question below select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence:

Emeka wished he had started school early

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

The awareness of mortality has always imposed some restraint on man's excesses

In the question below select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence:

Between you and me, i would say the equipment has outlived its usefulness

In the question below choose the most appropriate option nearest in meaning to the word(s) or phrase(s) underlined:

He won most of his fight because of his unorthodox style

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

I have no respect for individuals who are too _____

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The carpenter asked for ten packets of _____ nails

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

The decision we have taken is irrevocable

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

The economic situation is responsible for the recent discord in many families

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

The lawyer pointed out a discrepancy in the two stories

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The president refused to shake _____ with the visiting Prime Minister

When I set out for London, little did I suspect that I was not on a journey to God?s own city where harmony reigned supreme. So used to the frenzied life of Lagos was I that I had come to associate that city with everything that was chaotic, and there was no doubt in my mind that Lagos was one giant symbol of our backwardness. As the plane taxied its way out of the tarmac of our national airport, of our national airport, I heaved a sigh of relief, not so much because I was leaving my own country as that I was being relieved of the tension that had possessed me during those tense hours in the untidy lounge. I had felt so uneasy, my thoughts racing from one uncertainty to another. But at least I was air-borne, moving away from the whole uncertainty, from the whole load of fear towards a place which I supposed would be El Dorado.

Everything that happened in the plane passed through my eyes like pictures on the screen. The white air hostess who instructed me on how to use the safety belt was an angel, what with her beauty, her pretty blue dress, and her ever-smiling face. The same lady of the air served me snacks and supper. Another angel, whose queenly voice through an invisible public address system, dished out occasional information on the progress of our journey. I had never felt so relaxed, and my jolted heartbeats each time the plane took what appeared like a sudden brief descent, did not matter. When eventually we were set for landing, the anxiety that came over me was almost thrilling. What was the wonderland going to be like? So overwhelmed was I that I almost lost consciousness of what happened thereafter.

But I would never forget the shock that greeted me when we arrived in the tube station and boarded a train to behold the sea of white faces and furtive glances from apparently indifferent co-passengers. I believe that the nostalgic feeling for Lagos which later became part of my life all my days in London began at a point.

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

How can we believe this witness when no one will _____ his story?

In the question below select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence:

His refusal to help us, dealt a death-blow to our plans

In the question below choose the most appropriate option nearest in meaning to the word(s) or phrase(s) underlined:

Jide says he read in the papers that our uncle has been declared a persona non grata by the French government

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

He won the election because he was able to carry his people along with him

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

No sooner _____ to fall

The disease afflicting Western societies have undergone dramatic changes. In the course of a century, so many mass killers have vanished that two-third of all deaths are now associated with the disease of old age. Those who die young are more often than not, the victims of accidents, violence and suicide.

These changes in public health are generally equated with progress and attributed to more or better medical care. In fact there is no evidence of any direct relationship between changing disease pattern and the so-called progress of medicine.

The impotence of medical services to change life expectancy and the insignificance of much contemporary clinical care in the curing of diseases are all obvious, well documented but well suppressed.

Neither the proportion of doctors in a population nor the quality of the clinical tools at the disposal not the number of hospital beds is a casual factor in the striking changes in disease patterns. The new techniques available to recognize and treat such conditions as pernicious anaemia and hypertension, or correct congenital malformations by surgical interventions, increase our understanding of disease but do not reduce its incidence. The fact that there are more doctors where certain diseases have become rare has little to do with their ability to control or eliminate them. It simply means that doctors, more than other professionals, determine where they work. Consequently, they tend to gather where the climate is healthy, where the water is clean and where people work and can pay for their services.

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

They spent the last holiday with their _____

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

My brother got married to a woman with _____ manners

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

It is entirely up to you to make a profession of your faith

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

You must forbid _____ coming

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

Otokpa is not very bold. He's not _____ a rough life

When I set out for London, little did I suspect that I was not on a journey to God’s own city where harmony reigned supreme. So used to the frenzied life of Lagos was I that I had come to associate that city with everything that was chaotic, and there was no doubt in my mind that Lagos was one giant symbol of our backwardness. As the plane taxied its way out of the tarmac of our national airport, of our national airport, I heaved a sigh of relief, not so much because I was leaving my own country as that I was being relieved of the tension that had possessed me during those tense hours in the untidy lounge. I had felt so uneasy, my thoughts racing from one uncertainty to another. But at least I was air-borne, moving away from the whole uncertainty, from the whole load of fear towards a place which I supposed would be El Dorado.

Everything that happened in the plane passed through my eyes like pictures on the screen. The white air hostess who instructed me on how to use the safety belt was an angel, what with her beauty, her pretty blue dress, and her ever-smiling face. The same lady of the air served me snacks and supper. Another angel, whose queenly voice through an invisible public address system, dished out occasional information on the progress of our journey. I had never felt so relaxed, and my jolted heartbeats each time the plane took what appeared like a sudden brief descent, did not matter. When eventually we were set for landing, the anxiety that came over me was almost thrilling. What was the wonderland going to be like? So overwhelmed was I that I almost lost consciousness of what happened thereafter.

But I would never forget the shock that greeted me when we arrived in the tube station and boarded a train to behold the sea of white faces and furtive glances from apparently indifferent co-passengers. I believe that the nostalgic feeling for Lagos which later became part of my life all my days in London began at a point.

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The _____ discouraged me from reading it

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The company was charged with a _____ of contract

In the question below select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence:

The boys who rioted, were suspended by the principal

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The vermin on his body _____ hideous

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

Kaka is _____ to acquire knowledge, but also eager to display it

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

When the teacher asked him to join the queue outside, he considered it _____ to his dignity

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

Idubor has gone to see his mechanic because his car engine needs to be turned

ADUKE: Listen my fellow women. The issue has little to do with being literate or not. It is true that most members of NAM (New Awareness Movement) are literate, but this does not make all of us enlightened. We must be able to draw a line between the two. You may be literate and yet possess a consciousness that is decadent and servile. On the other hand you may not have received formal education and yet may be the greatest exponent of progressive ideas.

  HASANA: I agree with what our sister has said. Let us not allow ourselves to be divided by a greedy and an inflated notion of the certificates we possess. In this century, as we march towards the year 2000, our primary concern should be how best to improve the lot of womanhood in our society. Let us not forget that for each woman who is beaten up by her man for flimsy reasons are status of all of us here is downgraded. For each woman who is insulted for no reason than that of her sex, every one of us here is spat on in the face. For each woman who is denied opportunities in the society simply because she is a woman, the whole lot of us are dehumanized. Each widow in this society is an everywoman, and the lot of each of us should be viewed as collective. Each rotten egg that is thrown at anyone of us is an eternal splash of dirt on our faces. Each decayed tomato that is cast at her is a collective curse on our fecundity: each pebble thrown at her, a missile against our womanhood. This is an age of awareness, and it is the duty of NAM to collectively rise in defence of the right of women.

  IME: We can no longer allow ourselves to be fried alive. We are going to squeeze ourselves into tight-fitting trousers, register into judo classes, and then file out into the street and punch the face of every man we behold.

In the question below select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence:
You could have heard the sound if you weren't asleep

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The thief we caught yesterday was _____ as an official of the company

The disease afflicting Western societies have undergone dramatic changes. In the course of a century, so many mass killers have vanished that two-third of all deaths are now associated with the disease of old age. Those who die young are more often than not, the victims of accidents, violence and suicide.

These changes in public health are generally equated with progress and attributed to more or better medical care. In fact there is no evidence of any direct relationship between changing disease pattern and the so-called progress of medicine.

The impotence of medical services to change life expectancy and the insignificance of much contemporary clinical care in the curing of diseases are all obvious, well documented but well suppressed.

Neither the proportion of doctors in a population nor the quality of the clinical tools at the disposal not the number of hospital beds is a casual factor in the striking changes in disease patterns. The new techniques available to recognize and treat such conditions as pernicious anaemia and hypertension, or correct congenital malformations by surgical interventions, increase our understanding of disease but do not reduce its incidence. The fact that there are more doctors where certain diseases have become rare has little to do with their ability to control or eliminate them. It simply means that doctors, more than other professionals, determine where they work. Consequently, they tend to gather where the climate is healthy, where the water is clean and where people work and can pay for their services.

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

Do you prefer _____ my rickety car?

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The journalist's unpopular views made him the subject of much _____

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

They often quarrelled before leaving the house but made it up by the time they returned home

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

You should not need _____ twice

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

Science may be a complicated area of learning, but its teaching needs to be demystified

ADUKE: Listen my fellow women. The issue has little to do with being literate or not. It is true that most members of NAM (New Awareness Movement) are literate, but this does not make all of us enlightened. We must be able to draw a line between the two. You may be literate and yet possess a consciousness that is decadent and servile. On the other hand you may not have received formal education and yet may be the greatest exponent of progressive ideas.

  HASANA: I agree with what our sister has said. Let us not allow ourselves to be divided by a greedy and an inflated notion of the certificates we possess. In this century, as we march towards the year 2000, our primary concern should be how best to improve the lot of womanhood in our society. Let us not forget that for each woman who is beaten up by her man for flimsy reasons are status of all of us here is downgraded. For each woman who is insulted for no reason than that of her sex, every one of us here is spat on in the face. For each woman who is denied opportunities in the society simply because she is a woman, the whole lot of us are dehumanized. Each widow in this society is an everywoman, and the lot of each of us should be viewed as collective. Each rotten egg that is thrown at anyone of us is an eternal splash of dirt on our faces. Each decayed tomato that is cast at her is a collective curse on our fecundity: each pebble thrown at her, a missile against our womanhood. This is an age of awareness, and it is the duty of NAM to collectively rise in defence of the right of women.

  IME: We can no longer allow ourselves to be fried alive. We are going to squeeze ourselves into tight-fitting trousers, register into judo classes, and then file out into the street and punch the face of every man we behold.

In the question below select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence:

Whoever would have thought that he would lose the presidential election?

The disease afflicting Western societies have undergone dramatic changes. In the course of a century, so many mass killers have vanished that two-third of all deaths are now associated with the disease of old age. Those who die young are more often than not, the victims of accidents, violence and suicide.

These changes in public health are generally equated with progress and attributed to more or better medical care. In fact there is no evidence of any direct relationship between changing disease pattern and the so-called progress of medicine.

The impotence of medical services to change life expectancy and the insignificance of much contemporary clinical care in the curing of diseases are all obvious, well documented but well suppressed.

Neither the proportion of doctors in a population nor the quality of the clinical tools at the disposal not the number of hospital beds is a casual factor in the striking changes in disease patterns. The new techniques available to recognize and treat such conditions as pernicious anaemia and hypertension, or correct congenital malformations by surgical interventions, increase our understanding of disease but do not reduce its incidence. The fact that there are more doctors where certain diseases have become rare has little to do with their ability to control or eliminate them. It simply means that doctors, more than other professionals, determine where they work. Consequently, they tend to gather where the climate is healthy, where the water is clean and where people work and can pay for their services.

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

Surveying the sky in the quiet of the night gives me an ethereal feeling

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

You think she hasn't got any friends? Of course she's got _____

In the question below select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence:

Had Aminu been a dull student, his failure wouldn't have surprised anybody

In the question below select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence:

He was between the devil and the deep blue sea

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

Some of the food _____ spoilt

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

When Uche wouldn't come to quickly enough, the principal rushed him to the hospital

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The trader complained that he _____ robbed

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

Oche should leave for New York on Friday _____ being equal

The disease afflicting Western societies have undergone dramatic changes. In the course of a century, so many mass killers have vanished that two-third of all deaths are now associated with the disease of old age. Those who die young are more often than not, the victims of accidents, violence and suicide.

These changes in public health are generally equated with progress and attributed to more or better medical care. In fact there is no evidence of any direct relationship between changing disease pattern and the so-called progress of medicine.

The impotence of medical services to change life expectancy and the insignificance of much contemporary clinical care in the curing of diseases are all obvious, well documented but well suppressed.

Neither the proportion of doctors in a population nor the quality of the clinical tools at the disposal not the number of hospital beds is a casual factor in the striking changes in disease patterns. The new techniques available to recognize and treat such conditions as pernicious anaemia and hypertension, or correct congenital malformations by surgical interventions, increase our understanding of disease but do not reduce its incidence. The fact that there are more doctors where certain diseases have become rare has little to do with their ability to control or eliminate them. It simply means that doctors, more than other professionals, determine where they work. Consequently, they tend to gather where the climate is healthy, where the water is clean and where people work and can pay for their services.

The author’s attitude to developments in medicine is

In the question below choose the most appropriate option opposite in meaning to the word(s) underlined:

The effect of rising prices has snowballed considerably

In the question below select the option that best explains the information conveyed in the sentence:

It's wonderful that Musa is already out of hospital

When I set out for London, little did I suspect that I was not on a journey to God’s own city where harmony reigned supreme. So used to the frenzied life of Lagos was I that I had come to associate that city with everything that was chaotic, and there was no doubt in my mind that Lagos was one giant symbol of our backwardness. As the plane taxied its way out of the tarmac of our national airport, of our national airport, I heaved a sigh of relief, not so much because I was leaving my own country as that I was being relieved of the tension that had possessed me during those tense hours in the untidy lounge. I had felt so uneasy, my thoughts racing from one uncertainty to another. But at least I was air-borne, moving away from the whole uncertainty, from the whole load of fear towards a place which I supposed would be El Dorado.

Everything that happened in the plane passed through my eyes like pictures on the screen. The white air hostess who instructed me on how to use the safety belt was an angel, what with her beauty, her pretty blue dress, and her ever-smiling face. The same lady of the air served me snacks and supper. Another angel, whose queenly voice through an invisible public address system, dished out occasional information on the progress of our journey. I had never felt so relaxed, and my jolted heartbeats each time the plane took what appeared like a sudden brief descent, did not matter. When eventually we were set for landing, the anxiety that came over me was almost thrilling. What was the wonderland going to be like? So overwhelmed was I that I almost lost consciousness of what happened thereafter.

But I would never forget the shock that greeted me when we arrived in the tube station and boarded a train to behold the sea of white faces and furtive glances from apparently indifferent co-passengers. I believe that the nostalgic feeling for Lagos which later became part of my life all my days in London began at a point.

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

After a long talk with the police, Baba confessed his guilt and so the other boys with whom he was accused were _____

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

Good schools don't just teach their students they _____

ADUKE: Listen my fellow women. The issue has little to do with being literate or not. It is true that most members of NAM (New Awareness Movement) are literate, but this does not make all of us enlightened. We must be able to draw a line between the two. You may be literate and yet possess a consciousness that is decadent and servile. On the other hand you may not have received formal education and yet may be the greatest exponent of progressive ideas.

  HASANA: I agree with what our sister has said. Let us not allow ourselves to be divided by a greedy and an inflated notion of the certificates we possess. In this century, as we march towards the year 2000, our primary concern should be how best to improve the lot of womanhood in our society. Let us not forget that for each woman who is beaten up by her man for flimsy reasons are status of all of us here is downgraded. For each woman who is insulted for no reason than that of her sex, every one of us here is spat on in the face. For each woman who is denied opportunities in the society simply because she is a woman, the whole lot of us are dehumanized. Each widow in this society is an everywoman, and the lot of each of us should be viewed as collective. Each rotten egg that is thrown at anyone of us is an eternal splash of dirt on our faces. Each decayed tomato that is cast at her is a collective curse on our fecundity: each pebble thrown at her, a missile against our womanhood. This is an age of awareness, and it is the duty of NAM to collectively rise in defence of the right of women.

  IME: We can no longer allow ourselves to be fried alive. We are going to squeeze ourselves into tight-fitting trousers, register into judo classes, and then file out into the street and punch the face of every man we behold.

When I set out for London, little did I suspect that I was not on a journey to God’s own city where harmony reigned supreme. So used to the frenzied life of Lagos was I that I had come to associate that city with everything that was chaotic, and there was no doubt in my mind that Lagos was one giant symbol of our backwardness. As the plane taxied its way out of the tarmac of our national airport, of our national airport, I heaved a sigh of relief, not so much because I was leaving my own country as that I was being relieved of the tension that had possessed me during those tense hours in the untidy lounge. I had felt so uneasy, my thoughts racing from one uncertainty to another. But at least I was air-borne, moving away from the whole uncertainty, from the whole load of fear towards a place which I supposed would be El Dorado.

Everything that happened in the plane passed through my eyes like pictures on the screen. The white air hostess who instructed me on how to use the safety belt was an angel, what with her beauty, her pretty blue dress, and her ever-smiling face. The same lady of the air served me snacks and supper. Another angel, whose queenly voice through an invisible public address system, dished out occasional information on the progress of our journey. I had never felt so relaxed, and my jolted heartbeats each time the plane took what appeared like a sudden brief descent, did not matter. When eventually we were set for landing, the anxiety that came over me was almost thrilling. What was the wonderland going to be like? So overwhelmed was I that I almost lost consciousness of what happened thereafter.

But I would never forget the shock that greeted me when we arrived in the tube station and boarded a train to behold the sea of white faces and furtive glances from apparently indifferent co-passengers. I believe that the nostalgic feeling for Lagos which later became part of my life all my days in London began at a point.

The writer, on getting into the train, was shocked because

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

Ali is crying because his mother was killed in a _____ accident

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

Do you think all _____ not enough to help the investigator?

In the question below choose the most appropriate option nearest in meaning to the word(s) or phrase(s) underlined:

Ator led a dog's life for twenty years he stayed in the United Kingdom

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The secretary was blamed _____ the untidy state of the office

In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:

The army ran short of _____