Use Of English 2018 Jamb Examination

This question tests the knowledge of spelling and phrasal verbs. The word 'pastime' refers to an activity done regularly for enjoyment rather than work; it is frequently misspelt with a double 's' or as a hyphenated word, but the correct spelling is 'pastime'. In the second gap, the phrasal verb 'get through' means to finish or complete a task, especially a difficult one. 'Get over' usually means to recover from an illness or a disappointment. Therefore, the combination of the correctly spelt noun and the appropriate phrasal verb makes this the only grammatically sound choice.

The phrasal verb 'paid off' is used to describe a situation where a particular course of action (like an experiment or a hard task) has been successful or has yielded the desired results after some effort. 'Paid up' refers to settling a debt in full, 'paid for' relates to the cost of an item or suffering a consequence, and 'paid out' refers to the distribution of large sums of money. Given that the context involves an experiment following many trials, the implication is that the effort eventually resulted in success.

The idiomatic expression for the gesture of greeting or agreement involving the gripping of hands is 'to shake hands'. In English, this is almost always used in the plural form 'hands' because the action involves at least two hands (one from each person) coming together. Using the singular 'hand' or the possessive 'his hand' is considered non-idiomatic in this specific context of a mutual greeting or refusal thereof.

The idiom 'to catch a glimpse of' means to see someone or something for a very short time or only partly. This is the most appropriate phrase when describing a crowd of people struggling to see a famous or important leader passing by. While 'look', 'view', and 'picture' all relate to sight, they do not collocate with 'catch a...' in the same idiomatic way to describe the brief and difficult nature of seeing someone in a moving crowd.

The use of the preposition 'since' followed by a specific point in time (1975) indicates an action that started in the past and is still continuing into the present. In United Kingdom English, this context requires the present perfect continuous tense. The structure for this is 'has/have + been + verb-ing'. Therefore, 'has been teaching' is the correct form to show that her employment began in 1975 and she is still a teacher at the school. 'Taught' would imply she no longer works there, and 'is teaching' does not account for the long duration starting in the past.

This question tests the ability to distinguish between homophones and similar-sounding words in English. The context refers to a sporting competition between two teams. The correct word for a contest in a game or sport is 'match'. In contrast, 'march' refers to a rhythmic walk or a month of the year, 'marsh' refers to a type of wetland or swampy ground, and 'martch' is an incorrect spelling. Therefore, 'match' is the only word that fits both the spelling and the contextual requirements of a sporting event.

This question involves the use of phrasal verbs. The phrasal verb 'make out' means to manage to see, hear, or understand something with difficulty. In this sentence, the young man is looking at a document but is unable to discern or understand its meaning. 'Make up' would mean to invent or compensate, 'make off' means to hurry away (often after stealing something), and 'make through' is not a standard phrasal verb used in this context. Consequently, 'make out' is the only option that logically completes the sentence's meaning of understanding a document.

The phrasal verb 'make away with' (or 'make off with') means to steal something and take it away quickly. The sentence describes a situation where a thief took advantage of the worshippers' distraction to steal the collection money. 'Make up' would imply creating something or reconciling, 'make by' is not a standard phrasal verb for theft, and 'make through' does not fit. Thus, 'away' correctly completes the phrasal verb to indicate that the thief successfully fled with the stolen goods.

This question addresses the common confusion between 'loose' and 'lose'. 'Loose' is an adjective used to describe something that is not firmly or tightly fixed in place, which perfectly describes what happens to a door handle if it is constantly tampered with. On the other hand, 'lose' is a verb meaning to be deprived of or to cease to have something. 'Loosed' and 'loosing' are less common verb forms that do not fit the descriptive requirement of the state of the handle. Therefore, 'loose' is the correct adjective to describe the resulting state of the handle.

The idiom 'as good as' is used to indicate that something is almost certainly the case or practically equivalent to a particular state. When someone says a game is 'as good as lost', they mean that although the game might not be officially over yet, the outcome is virtually certain to be a defeat. The phrase 'for all he cared' indicates his lack of concern, but the core information about the game itself is the near-certainty of the loss. Therefore, the interpretation that he was almost certain the game would be lost best captures the meaning of the original statement.