WORD PROCESSING

1. (a) What is a Word processor? (1 mark)

An application program used to create, edit, format and print text documents.
(b) State 4 purposes of word processing.
- Creating documents
-editing text
-formatting documents
- Saving and retrieving work
- printing documents
(c) Name any three characteristics of a good word processor. (2 marks)
Has a user friendly interface
Automatically detects and suggests corrections for spelling and grammer.
Provides formatting options
Supports saving files in different formats
Has provision for templates to many documents
Supports printing for print preview to see how a document will appear on paper.
2. State four editing and six formatting features of any good word processor. (10 marks)
EDITING – Cut, copy and paste
Undo and redo
Find and replace
Spell and grammar checker
Comments and notes
Track changes
FORMATTING- Fond style, size and color
Bold, italic, underline and strikethrough
Text alignment
Line and paragraph spacing
Bullets and numbering
Page numbers
Boarders and shading
3. Give four uses of the Horizontal ruler in Microsoft Word. (4 marks)
Setting margins- allows one to adjust the left and right page margins
Control indentation – setting indents
Tab-stop management –
Align text and objects
Measure document width
4. (a) What is a Template? (1 mark)
Is a pre-designed document layout that provides a starting structure for creating new
documents.
(b) State two advantages of using a template to create a document. (2 marks)
Saves time - no need to format from scratch
Ensures consistency- uniform style throughout the document
Easy to customize – Users can replace sample text and adjust elements
(c) List five types of documents where you would use a template. (5 marks)

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Resumes, cv’s, letters, memos, reports, proposals, invoices and receipts, certificates and flyers,
agendas and meeting minutes.
5. Explain the difference between Type over and Insert mode in word processing. (2 marks)
Insert mode inserts a new text at the cursor position without deleting existing words while
typeover mode replaces(overwrites) the existing text as one types
6. Veronica tried to retrieve a document file following all the steps correctly. The filename did
not appear in file list box. State three causes for this. (3 marks)
wrong file location – she may be looking in the wrong folder or directory where the file is not saved.
The file name might have been changed or renamed.
The file might have been deleted.
The file might have been corrupted
Storage device not connected.

7. (a) What is the function of the following combination of keys? (4 marks)

(i) CTRL + A. selects the whole document
(ii) CTRL + Page Up. Moves the cursor to the previous page of the document
(iii) CTRL + Home. Moves the cursor to the very beginning of the of the document/ first character
of the first page.
(iv) CTRL + B. bolds the selected text
(v) CTRL + E centre aligns the selected text
(vi) CTRL + Z undo the last action or command
(vii) CTRL + F opens the find or search dialog box.
(viii) CTRL + SHIFT + HOME selects all the text from the current cursor position to the beginning
of the documents.
8. Explain the role/use of the following features in a word processor: (4 marks)
(a) Find and Replace. A feature that is used to quickly locate a specific text in a document and
replace it with different text automatically.
(b) Undo and Redo. Undo reverts the last action/ command while redo reapplies the action that was
undone.
(c) Thesaurus. Is a tool that helps users find synonyms of words
(d) AutoCorrect. A feature that automatically fixes common spelling, typing and formatting errors
during typing.
9. Differentiate between bolding and highlighting text. (2 marks)
Bolding makes the text thicker and darker to stand out while highlighting applies a background
color to text to draw attention.
10. (a) Name and explain the use of any three buttons found in a Spell-check dialog box.(6 marks)
Ignore/ ignore once – skips the current word without making any changes.
Change/ replace – replaces the misspelled word with the selected suggestion from the list.
Add to dictionary – adds the selected word to the word processor’s custom dictionary
Ignore all, change all, autocorrect
(b) List the steps that you would use to correct wrongly-spelled words in a document using
the spell-checking feature. (3 marks)
open your document
go to the review tab

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click on “spelling and grammar”
the spell check dialog box appears
choose an action for each mistake.
Continue thnrough the document
Finish spell check
Click ok
11. Clearly explain the meaning of the following terms as used in word processing:
(a) Blocking text. Selecting a portion of text in a document
(b) Word wrap. Is a feature where text automatically moves to the next line when it reaches the end
of the currnet line
(c) Italicizing text.
(d) Page Break. A marker that forces text to move to a new page
(e) Header. Top section of each page in a document where you can add text or graphics
(f) Footer. Bottom section of each page in a document
(g) Footnote. A comment placed at the bottom of a page, giving extra information or reference.
(h) Indenting. Moving text away from the margin
(i) Alignment. positioning text relative to the page margin
(j) Scrolling. Moving up and down through a document to view content not currently visible on the
screen
(k) Wildcard. A special character used to represent one or more unknown characters in search
operations.
12. (a) What is document formatting? (1 mark)
(b) Give any five document formatting features. (5 marks)
(c) Differentiate between ‘Superscript’ and ‘Subscript’ font. (2 marks)
Superscript – Text is raised above the normal line/ made to appear above other characters.
Subscript – text is lowered below the normal line/ made to appear below other characters.
(d) State one function of Drop Cap in a document. (1 mark)
Attracts attention
Enhances appearance
Indicates start of a section or chapter.
Improves readability
Creates emphasis
13. (a) Explain the importance of Page numbers in a document. (1 mark)
Helps readers to locate specific information quickly
Provide a clear structure making the document appear organized.
They are important for citing and cross-referencing content
Makes the table of content useful by linking topics to their exact locations
(b) Explain how you can give different page numbering styles to different pages in a
multipage document.
Use section breaks and page breaks
14. Differentiate between:
(a) A Hard page break and a Soft page break. (2 marks)
A hard page break is inserted by the user while a soft page break is inserted automatically by the
word/occurs automaticallt when a page is full.

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(b) Return address and Delivery address. (2 marks)
Return address is the sender’s address while delivery address is the recipient’s address
(c) AutoComplete and AutoCorrect. (2 marks)
Autocomplete automatically completes commonly used words or phrases as you type while
autocorrect automatically corrects common spelling and grammar mistakes.
(d) Drawing and inserting a table in a document. (2 marks)
Inserting a table is the process of adding a table to a document using a predefined grid of rows and
columns provided by ms word.
Drawing a table is the process of manually creating a table by drawing its structure using a pencil
tool in word.
(e) First line indentation and Hanging indentation (2 marks)
First line indent- only the first line of a paragraph is pushed inward from the left margin as the rest
remains aligned with the margin.
Hanging indent- All lines of a paragraph except the first line are pushed inward from the left
margin.
15. (a) Distinguish between Copying and Moving text. (2 marks)
Copying – making a duplicate of the selected text and placing it in a new location without removing
it from its original position
Moving text – relocating the selected text from one position to another.
(b) Explain how a paragraph can be moved from one page to another using a word processor.
(4 marks)
16. Distinguish between margins and borders as used in word processing. (2 marks)
Margins – are blank spaces between the text and the edges of the page
Boarders – decorative or defining lines placed around text, paragraphs, tables or entire page.
17. (a) What is Line spacing? (1 mark)
Is the vertical space/distance between lines of text in a paragrapgh.
(b) Explain any three line spacing specifications used in Microsoft Word. (3 marks)
Single spacing - minimal space between lines
1.5 Spacing – moderate space.
Double spacing – more space
18. Give any four alignment features. (4 marks)
Left alignment – aligns text evenly along the left margin
Right alignment – aligns text evenly along the right margin
Centre alignment – places text in the middle of the page between the left and right margins
Justified alignment – aligns text evenly along both the left and the right margins.
19. Give two advantages of using a Text box to write text in an advertisement. (2 marks)
It can be moved anywhere on the page without affecting the rest of the content.
Allows you to easily combine text with images.
Text inside a text box can be formatted independently.
Keeps the text distinct from other content.
20. (a) Explain the concept of importing objects into a word processor. (1 mark)
Refers to bringing items such as audio, pictures, charts videos etc into a document and make them
part of it.
(b) What is the difference between object linking and Embedding? (2 marks)

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Linking – inserts a reference to the source file instead of a full copy.
Embedding – inserts a complete copy of the object into the document.
21. Give a reason why it may be necessary to merge cells in a table. (1 mark)
In order to create headings that span multiple columns or rows
Improving layout and appearance
Combining related information
Accommodating large content.
22. (a) List two arithmetic operations that can be performed on a row of numeric data in a word
processing table. (1 mark) Sum, average, maximum, minimum, count, product
(b) In each case of (a) above, write the expression used. (2 marks)
=max(left), =min(right), = product(left)
23. (a) Define Mail merging. (2 marks)
is the process of combining a main document with data source to produce multiple personalized
documents at once.
(b) Outline the three basic steps required to mail merge a document. (3 marks)
Prepare the main document
Create or select the data source
Start the mail merge
Insert the merge fields
Preview the results
Complete the merge
(c). List any two ways of merging a document with its data source. (2 marks)
Merge to a new document
Merge directly to a printer
Merge to email messages
(d) Give three advantages of mail merge over copy and pasting several times to mass mail a
document? (3 marks)
saves time- automatically generates multiple copies instead of manually typing them
ensures consistency – the format of wording remains exact
reduces errors –automatic insertion of data minimizes typing mistakes
handles large recipient lists easily.
24. Give two advantages of previewing a document before printing. (2 marks)
Detection of errors – lets you spot spelling mistakes, formatting issues or missing content before
wasting paper and ink
Saves resources – prevents unnecessary printing
Avoid truncated or misplaced content. – ensures everything fits on the page.
Checks page layout. – confirming whether margins, alignment and spacing are correct
25. (a) Distinguish between Portrait and Landscape orientations. (2 marks)
Portrait – the height is greater than the width.
Landscape – the width is greater than the height.
(b) State two reasons why it is necessary to specify the correct paper size before printing a
document? (2 marks)
prevents content from being cut off.
Maintains paper layout.

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Avoids paper and ink wastage.
To match the printer settings.
26. Name two functions performed by a word processor. (2 marks)
Creating documents
Editing text
Formatting documents
Saving and retrieving documents
Printing documents
Spell checking and grammar checking.