SECTION A

CONCEPT OF COMMUNICATION

Although communication act is an easily observable social behaviour, it is a very difficult concept to
define. Communication should be seen as a social process. Communication is an establishment of a
social unit of individuals by the shared use of language or signs. Thus, communication is seen as a
social act or the sharing of ideas, thoughts, feelings etc.

Definitions from scholars:

Peter Little (1967) – communication is the passing of information from one person/organization/firm
etc. to another by means of previously agreed symbols.

Chappell and Read (1984) – communication is any means by which a thought is transferred from one
person to another.

Eyre (1983) – communication is not just the giving of information, but it is the giving of
understandable information and receiving and understanding the message.

Oliveria (1993) – communication can also mean the transfer of ideas or knowledge in ways that
enable the recipient to understand, react to, and act upon the information received.

Mercado (1982) – communication is a process of sharing messages between a source and a receiver
either directly or through a channel.

By whatever name we want to call communication, one thing is very clear, communication touches
on every facet of human endeavour. It serves as an instrument of social interaction and it helps us to
understand ourselves. It is the medium through which relationships are established, extended and
maintained. Communication provides a means by which people in business, politics and in other
professions act and interact; exchange information and ideas, develop plans, proposal and policies;
make decisions and co-ordinate.

PURPOSES OF COMMUNICATION

1. EDUCATION AND INFORMATION

One of the twin functions of communication is to educate and inform. Education means the
impacting of knowledge and new ideas, while information means bringing to one’s
knowledge what was unknown before. Communication serves or provides the channel
through which this very important need of the people living in a democratic society is
achieved.
2. USED TO PERSUADE AND CONVINCE
Communication is the means through which we persuade and convince our audience,
listeners or readers. When we share ideas, opinions, feelings etc. we try as much as possible
to make our opponents see reasons with our views. For example, this could be noticed
during debate and argumentation where we provide facts and figures, to substantiate our
point of views, in order to win our opponents to our side. This is achieved through effective
communication.
3. ENTERTAINMENT
Another function of communication is its effectiveness in providing entertainment for the
reader, viewer or listener. This is done through songs, poetry, drama, cartoons, storytelling

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 etc. we derive relaxation through entertainment which is a way of escaping from realities of
every day’s stress.
4. USED TO UPLIFT, MOBILIZE AND INSPIRE
Through communication, we get uplifted spiritually. And we use communication to mobilize
and inspire a people into action or course that affect their wellbeing, and therefore a means
of creating shift in position through agitation and crusading for an idea or thought.
5. IN PROMOTING THE CULTURE OF THE PEOPLE
Culture is the way of life of a particular group of people. There are cultural practices like
dancing, dressing, speech, pattern etc. These practices are what give the people their
identity. And so, when two people from different cultural backgrounds engage in
communication, they promote or showcase their respective cultures.
6. USEFUL IN KEEPING HUMAN RELATIONS
Effective communication brings about harmony and understanding between human beings
and among societies. Through communication, people understand each other, and they are
bound to relate better since communication has been described as the great relating tool.
7. CREATES AWARENESS FOR GOODS AND SERVICES
In business, a well channeled communication creates and promotes awareness for products
and services through advertising. The appetites of the consumers are ignited through
selecting the right language code.
8. RETRIEVAL OF INFORMATION
In written communication, information can be stored and be retrieved on a later date. In
organizations, people need relevant information that could aid them in handling issues in the
correct manner expected of them. Written communication readily provides this opportunity,
thereby serving as a reminder for what was previously agreed upon during meetings,
briefings, seminars etc.

ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION

Elements here include what many author also called ingredients, components, parts or factors. These
include:

a. OBJECT: this represents any environmental stimulus which stimulates the sender to conceive
an intention or purpose to send a message. It could be education, persuasions, request,
warning, discovery etc. it is this object or events of importance which defines the directions
and the encoding behaviours as well as the transmission of the message.
b. MESSAGE: this represents intention, concept, thought, knowledge, purpose, problem or the
stimulus of communication translated into a symbolic code.
c. SENDER: this is also referred to as the source, originator and sometimes the encoder,
speaker, or the initiator of communication. The sender is stimulated by an object or event of
importance in the environment, and the intention to send a message is conceived. The
meaning in the message is encoded is an understandable code and transmitted to the
intended receiver. The sender creates the message and therefore determines the topic of
conversation while the receiver interprets the message and therefore determines how
communication will proceed and the two of them determine the level of interaction that will
go on.
d. CHANNEL: the channel has also been referred to as the medium, symbol, signal, transmitter
etc. whichever one chooses to use, channel shall be regarded as the vehicle by which the
message of the meaning is conveyed or expressed to the receiver.

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 e. RECEIVER: other terms which have been used in the place of the receiver are destination,
responder, or terminus. The receiver is the pole where the message is sent from the source
or the sender.
f. FEEDBACK: the feedback or response is the second arm of the line of communications sent
from the receiver to the sender to define the message received. The feedback informs the
sender if the receiver got the message sent accurately or not.

PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION

A process is a phenomenon that is ongoing, continuous and ever-changing. If communication is a

process of transferring information, ideas, thoughts and feelings. It is also said that communication is
a continuous action. For the process to be complete there are basic components that should be
present.

a. CONCEPTION: this is the stage at which an idea is born or a need arises for someone to start
to encounter.
b. ENCODING: this has to do with the language initiated into the encounter.
c. SELECTION OF MEDIUM: this entails deciding the form in which the sender (encoder) wants
to put the message being transmitted.
d. TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGE: this involves transferring the message to the receiver.
e. DECODING: this has to do with receiving and responding to a message.
f. INTERPRETATION: this is the act of assigning appropriate meanings to the sender’s message.
g. FEEDBACK: this is the response to the message.

CONCEPTION ENCODING SELECTION OF MEDIUM TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGE

DECODING INTERPRETATION FEEDBACK

EXAMPLE: as a student you have a roommate who is at home while you are at school, after a long
day of attending classes, you are hungry and about to go home.

Hunger sender encodes: please cook rice for me phone using WhatsApp electro-
magnetic waves receiver decodes: please cook rice for me takes action to cook the rice
feedback: okay

CODE MIXING AND CODE SWITCHING

The particular dialect or language one chooses to use on any occasion is a CODE, a SYSTEM used for
communication between two or more parties. This can be code mixing or code switching.

CODE MIXING

This occurs when conversant use two language together to the extent that they change from one
language to the other in the course of a single utterance. Code mixing is the interference of one code
into another. This means that code mixing is not as permanent as code switching is terms of duration
or time it takes to perform.

When we code mix, we allow some aspects of one particular language to interfere in one’s use of
another language. This interference can either be conscious of unconscious. Code mixing usually
takes place with a single utterance. That is one or two words from one language is inserted into the
structure of another language and communication still continues in the dominant language (the
language in which the utterance started). For example, you may start an utterance in English and
then use one or two words or element form Igbo or you may start an utterance in Hausa and use one
or two words from Yoruba, English, Igbo etc.

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EXAMPLES

• Please don’t disturb me jare!

• Gaskiya Mallam, wanan yaro is a fool.
• Wallahi, I am not feeling fine.
• Nna, please have your book.

Form the above, we know that code mixing involves few words and never extends beyond. So many
reasons have been advanced from this development. These include:

• Imperfect acquisition or incomplete acquisition of the dominant language being used in the
starting a conversation.
• Speaker’s deliberate attempt to achieve solidarity form the part of the listener.
• The speaker must have made it habitual.

CODE SWITCHING

This is a situation when a speaker switches or change from one language to another when speaking.
It is a situation when a speaker is making use of one system and later changes to another completely
without mixing them up. Code switching depends on a number of social factors such as:

• The age of interactants

• Social status
• Physical setting in which language is used
• Topic of discourse or subject matter
• Degree of social and cultural distance.

All these are to achieve solidarity with the listener.

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 SECTION B
CORRESPONDENCE
Business letters are a part of the everyday business. In other words, all and every business letter that
is sent out by a business is a business letter. They help the business to communicate with other
entities in a clear and recordable manner. Usually, business letters are sent from on business to
another. However, it can be sent to an individual, vendor or client. These letters can be held as
evidence in case disputes arise about a certain topic in the future. Business letters are an important
part of a business and should be written in utmost care. Mistakes in such letters are costly and can
damage the reputation of the business. There are various types of business letter formats that a
business must write in a day.

THREE (3) CATEGORIES OF BUSINESS LETTERS

In a broad sense, there are three types of business letters. The type of letter depends on the
purpose of writing the letter and the relationship with the receiver of the letter.
1. Formal: formal letters are usually written from one business to another. They are to point
and are usually short. Letters written between two companies are usually formal letters.
2. Informal: informal letters are letters are considered to be friendly and personal letters. They
are written when the writer has a non-professional relationship with the receiver. This type
of letter format is usually written for communication between two parties. Informal letters
are usually longer than formal letters.
3. Semi-formal: semi-formal letters are business letters that are written to someone that the
writer knows but isn’t close with. This letter balances between formal and informal tone.

TYPES OF BUSINESS LETTER

1. Sales Letters: sales letters are the most common types of letters formats in business. Letters
are written to prospective customer or the target audience to introduce your business and
urge them to action. This is why the sales letters should capture the audience’s attention in
its first line, making a bold claim or mentioning statistics is a good way to do that. Sales are
usually used to pitch a product or service to a new audience. Therefore, it is important to
write the letter in the right format.
Things to keep in mind while writing a sales letter:
• Make the introductory paragraph interesting.
• Include a strong CTA which mentions what you want the client to do.
• Keep it short and crisp.
2. Orders Letters: an order is a type of business letter format that is used to order products or
services from a vendor, manufacturer, retailer or a wholesaler. The order letter may or may
not include the payment. This is usually already discussed before sending the order letter
across.
Things to keep in mind while writing an order letter:
• Clearly specify the products required.
• Mention the details of the product like the quantity, product, type, expected price,
etc.
• Mention the expected delivery date.
3. Complaint Letters: as the name suggests, this type of letter of business letter is written to
show dissatisfaction with a product or a service. While complaining about bad service or
product it is easy to get carried away with emotions. However, it is important to write a

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 complaint letter with professionalism and clarity. This will make your complaint letter stand
out and will help the receiver to help you easily. Furthermore, if you can be empathetic to
the receiver in your letter then it is likely that they will want to help you more.
Things to keep in mind while writing a complaint letter:
• Write the letter with a clear goal in mind.
• Use a strong tone but do not be rude.
• Focus on the product or service. Do not throw personal attacks in the letter.
• Try being empathetic to the person, it will resolve your complaint faster.
4. Apology Letter: businesses are run by people and people tend to make mistakes. As a
business, it is important to acknowledge that mistake and move past it. Start the letter by
acknowledging the mistakes. Then sincerely ask for forgiveness and mention the changes
your company will make to avoid such mistakes. End the letter by asking for forgiveness
again.
Things to keep in mind while writing an apology letter:
• Acknowledge your mistakes.
• Apologize in person apart from writing the letter.
• Sincerely apologize in the letter.
• Mention the rectification or improvements that will be made.
5. Inquiry Letter: as the name suggests, inquiry letters are needed to write to inquire about
something. It is usually written to seek certain information from the receiver of the letter.
Inquiry letters are short and work as a request for clarification.
Things to keep in mind while writing an inquiry letter:
• Keep the letter short and clear
• Include your address and contact details in the letter so that the reader can respond
easily.
6. Letter of Resignation: the letter of resignation is a type of business letter form which an
employee submits to the company. It is an official notice that the employee gives to the
company about leaving his/her job. Usually, a resignation letter is submitted to the manager
or the HR department.
Things to keep in mind while writing a letter of resignation:
• Mention the last working date.
• Explain the cause of leaving
• Include your employee code
• Thank the company for the various opportunities
• Keep the letter short
7. Cover Letter: a cover letter is a business letter which has an attachment to it. The
attachment can be a package, a letter or a report. The purpose of a cove letter is to give
instructions to the receiver about what they should do with the package along with why the
product has been sent.
Things to keep in mind while writing a cover letter:
• Mention what is attached with the letter
• Give instructions to the receiver about the attachment
• Mention if any action needs to be taken.
8. Job Application Letter: a job application letter is sent by an aspiring candidate to the
company along with their resume. It provides information about the skills and the
experience of a candidate. The letter gives the candidate a chance to show the company
that they are fit for the role.

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 Things to keep in mind while writing a job application letter:
• Mention your strengths
• Mention experience that proves that you are fit job role. “sell yourself” to the
receiver
• Make sure your application letter is a summary of your resume.
9. In-office Memorandum Letter: the in-office memorandum is an official letter sent to the
employees of a company. It is casually also called a memo. Memorandum is a reminder. It is
usually written to inform the company’s employees of a certain change, policy or a new
decision. However, it can also be written to call for a certain action.
Things to keep in mind while writing an in-office memorandum letter:
• Keep the tone of the letter formal
• Pay attention to the main subject of the letter
• Announce the purpose of the letter in the introductory line.
10. Recommendation Letter: the letter of recommendation is the type of letter that is given an
employee by the company. This helps the employee show proof of their background. If the
employee applies somewhere else, the letter of recommendation will help them add more
weight to their application. Having a strong letter of recommendation helps the employee
while applying for further studies, volunteering opportunities or other work positions.
Things to keep in mind while writing a recommendation letter:
• Mention how you know the candidate
• Mention the experience you had while working with them
• Mention the employee’s expertise
• Share your details in case someone would like to know more about the candidate.

Other business letters include:

Demand on delivery Letter
Adjustment Letter
Follow-up Letter
Networking Letter
Quotation Letter
Acknowledgement Letter
Circular Announcements
Interest
Commendation Letter

The General Format of a business letter goes as follows:

1. Date: mention the date you are writing the letter on the left side of the letter. Use the day,
month and year format. e.g. 2nd August, 2020
2. Receiver’s Address: make sure the sender’s address is left aligned as well. It is a good idea to
include the sender’s email id or receiver’s phone number. When writing a physical letter,
include these details on the envelope.
3. Salutations: all business letters should start with a salutation and the name of the person
the salutation is addressed to. Use their full name and a comma.
4. Body text: state why you are writing the letter. It is appreciated when a business letters are
short and to the point. The body text will vary depending on the type of business letter
format one is writing.

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 5. Call to action: clearly mention the actions that the receiver should take after reading the
letter. This will increase the likelihood of them taking the action.
6. Signature block: sign off the letter with your name and signature. Ensure that the sign is
either in block or blue ink.
7. Enclosures: mention enclosures if the letter has any. Enclosures are the attachments to the
letter. This will give the receiver a clear idea about what to expect in the envelope.

FUNCTION OF THE FIRST PARAGRAPH

The first paragraph which is the introductory part of any letter, introduces the subject matter as to
the aim of the letter. When you are writing a reply to a letter earlier received, the first paragraph will
certainly contain an acknowledgement of the previous correspondence, so as to help the recipient
recall issues dealt with and hence facilitate action. At the beginning of such letter, one can say:

With reference to your letter of 25th June, 2012 ….

In official letters, the popular trend is to head the letter, immediately after salutation with a few
words, indicative of its subject and content. Thus, we can say:

Letter of request

Letter of enquiry

Application for the post of ….

FUNCTION OF THE BODY OF THE LETTER

The content here should relate to the prevailing circumstances already established, nevertheless,
some points are peculiar to business letters. Where the letter is short and deals with only one issue,
it follows that the body should be made up of a paragraph. If several issues are dealt with, then
assign one issue to one paragraph. Here, the paragraphs should be arranged logically. A well-
arranged letter is attractive in appearance and easy to read and so, the use of words must conform to
the subject and style.

FUNCTION OF THE LAST PARAGRAPH

This paragraph should be forceful and convincing as possible. In an official letter, this paragraph may
have one or two phrases of courteous form, either assuring the addressee of every attention, or
expressing the hope for a request to be granted.

SAMPLES

FORMAL LETTERS

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 SECTION C
COMPREHENSION AND INTERPRETATION

Comprehension can be said to be the act of the reader of any piece of writing to understand the
central message or theme contained in the passage. Comprehension and interpretation simply mean
understanding and interpreting. It is a basic language skill of extracting meaning from either speech
or written language. In a typical examination situation for examples, the aim is to test the candidate’s
understanding and his/her ability to answer questions asked. In reading comprehension passages,
the reader will discover that some facts are stated while others are implied. The reader’s ability to
distinguish stated facts from these implied becomes a very important art that would determine his
success. Comprehension passages are meant to test the reader’s mastery of English Language – parts
of speech, tenses, phrases, clauses and sentences, images, synonyms and figure of expression etc.

WAYS COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS ARE SET

a. Direct questions: these are questions which do not have to do with any technique. The
answer to a direct question is usually in the passage. A direct question will be any of the
following: where were the players before the match started? What type pf person is Stephen
according to the passage?
b. Mechanical questions: you may be asked to say what the functions or mechanical devices
(punctuations) are as they are used in the passage. You are expected to know the
commonest punctuations – full stop, comma, colon etc.
c. Word class questions: the third type of question method used is the part of speech question.
You may be asked to change certain underlined words from one class to another for example
a noun to adjective e.g. friend to friendly.
d. Quotation questions: under this type of question, you may be asked to quote a word, a
phrase or a clause. Do not quote a phrase when you are asked to quote a clause. When you
quote, you are expected to put a single inverted comma on top.
e. Figures of speech question: this type of question is to test your ability to recognize literary
devices as they are used. The common figures of expression are metaphor, simile, irony,
personification etc.
f. Contextual and substitution questions: the questions could be framed in two ways and there
is an approach for each. First, replacing each of the following with a similar word or phrase
that means the same and that can replace the one in the passage and or replace each of the
following with a similar word that means the same as the one in the passage.
g. Grammatical function questions: these questions could be in two ways: what is the
grammatical form or name of …? What is its function? First state the form, that is the
grammatical name to that statement: noun phrase/clause, adverbial phrase/clause etc.
second, state the function it performs in the place where it appears.

STEPS ON HOW TO ANSWER COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Read the passage first with speed to be able to understand or grasp the general view
presented by the writer in the passage.
2. Read the passage the second time with a reduced speed to apprehend the central message
of the passage. Should you come across any unfamiliar word, you may need to note and
ponder over the meaning of such word or expressions.
3. At the end of the second reading, if the passage is not understood, you should try and read it
the third time and not beyond.

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 4. Having understood the passage, begin to answer the questions.
5. Consistency is required when attempting comprehension questions. This is regarding the use
of tenses.

COMPREHENSION PRACTICE
STREET TRADING
Barely literate Ugo Emmanuel did not have any relations in Lagos, but he had heard so
much about the city from those of his kinsmen who returned from their different stations to
celebrate the Yuletide back home in the East. Those from Lagos caught his fancy, what with the
exotic attire and cars they paraded on such occasions.
Emmanuel was fed up with the rustic life in the village. So, he gathered enough money
and headed for Lagos. He believed that the city must offer so much, given the lifestyle of his
kinsmen he saw each time they visited the village.
Being the commercial nerve centre of the country, Lagos, famed as a megacity, plays a
strategic role in offering endless opportunities to the residents. Some arrived Lagos from their
villages only to see the arduous task of survival stare them in the face. Again, the city throws up
other realities, where some breadwinners who hitherto were gainfully employed were sacked due
to one reason or another from their places of work. And for those in these categories, the rat-race
for survival begins. This becomes more excruciating if such people are not educated, as there
seems to be a limit to which they could go in search of white-collar jobs. Since survival is a natural
instinct to man, everybody wants to survive. So, they devise ways of surviving; and in the process,
many take to street trading.
During recent raids by the men of KAI (Kick Against Indiscipline), many of these traders
were arrested and prosecuted in the KAI court situated at Alausa. Some street traders who could
not pay the fines imposed on them had ended up in Kirikiri Prison. Besides, those arrested
usually have their goods confiscated.
Despite incessant raids, the culture of street trading has refused to die. However,
divergent views are being expressed about the phenomenon. While some believe that street
trading was a result of the failure of government to provide employment and introduce social
security for the unemployed, some have come to see it as an alternate market, where it satisfies a
need.

ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS.

1. Who heard so much about the city from his kinsmen?

a. The village girls
b. Ugo Emmanuel
c. The kinsmen
d. The village chiefs
2. According to the passage, one evidence of the robust lifestyle of Lagos is ___
a. The Yuletide
b. The rickety cars
c. The exotic attire
d. The exotic cars
3. According to the passage, Emmanuel believed
a. He would also become wealthy in Lagos.
b. He would become a street trader in Lagos.
c. He would be sacked in Lagos.
d. He would never return to the village.
4. The Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) does the following except

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 a. Employ street traders
b. Arrest street traders
c. Prosecute street traders
d. Demand fines from street traders
5. What view of Lagos do people in the village have?
a. A place of great oceans
b. A place for street trading
c. A place to make easy money
d. A place of chaos
6. What realities are faced by residents of Lagos?
a. Life is full of enjoyment.
b. Loss of health
c. Loss of jobs
d. High population
7. How are street traders punished when arrested?
a. They are killed.
b. They are thrown into the lagoons.
c. They are given money.
d. They are sent to prison if they can’t pay fines.
8. How has the government contributed to street trading?
a. Government provides employments.
b. Government builds markets.
c. Government confiscate goods.
d. Government does not give social security to the unemployed.
9. What categories of people are affected by difficult job situations in Lagos?
a. Uneducated people
b. Emmanuel and his kinsmen
c. Literate people
d. Village people
10. ‘…the culture of street trading has refused to die.’ What figure of speech is contained in the
expression?
a. Personification
b. hyperbole
c. metaphor
d. simile
11. ‘…who could not pay the fines imposed on them…’ What grammatical name is given to this
expression as it is used on the passage?
a. Adverbial clause of reason
b. Adjectival clause
c. Noun clause
d. Adjectival phrase
12. ‘…who could not pay the fines imposed on them…’ What is its function?
a. It modifies ‘street.’
b. It qualifies ‘street people.’
c. It is the subject of the sentence.
d. It is the subject complement.
13. For each of the following words, find another word or phrase which means the same and
which can replace it as it is used in the passage.
i. Kinsmen
ii. Endless
iii. Yuletide

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 iv. Arduous
v. Excruciating
vi. Devise
vii. Confiscated
viii. Divergent

COMPREHENSION
Instruction: Read the passage carefully.

MONEY
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, summed up the four chief qualities of money some 2000 years ago.
It must be lasting and easy to recognize, to divide, and to carry about. In other words, it must be
durable, distinct, divisible and portable. When we think about money today, we picture it either as
round, flat pieces of metal which we call coins, or as printed paper notes. But there are still parts of
the world today where coins and notes are of no use. They will buy nothing, and a traveller might
starve if he had none of the particular local money to exchange for food.

Among isolated peoples, who are not often reached by traders from outside, commerce usually
means barter. There is a direct exchange of goods. Perhaps it is fish for vegetables, meat for grain, or
various kinds of food in exchange for pots, baskets, or other manufactured goods. For this kind of
simple trading, money is needed, but there is often something that everyone wants and everyone
can use, such as salt to flavour food, shells for ornaments, or iron and copper to make into tools and
vessels. These things – salt, shells and metals – are still used as money in out-of-the-way parts of the
world today.

Salt may seem rather a strange substance to use as money, but in countries where the food of the
people is mainly vegetable, it is often an absolute necessity. Cakes of salt, stamped to show their
value, were used as money in Tibet until recent times, and cakes of salt will still buy goods in Borneo
and parts of Africa.

Cowrie shells have been used as money at same time or another over the greater part of the old
world. These were collected mainly from beaches of the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean and
were traded in India and China. In Africa, cowries were traded right across the continent from east to
west. Four or five thousand went for one Maria Theresa dollar, an Austrian silver coin which was
once accepted as currency in many parts of Africa.

Metal, valued by weight, preceded coins in many parts of the world. Iron, in lumps, bars or rings, is
still used in many countries instead of money. It can either be exchanged for goods, or more into
tools, weapons, or ornaments. The early money of China, apart from shells, was of bronze, often in
flat, round pieces with a hole in the middle, called “cash”. The earliest of these are between three
thousand and four thousand years old – older than the earliest coins of the eastern Mediterranean.

Nowadays, coins and notes have supplanted nearly all the more picturesque forms of money, and
although in one or two of the more remote countries, people still hoard it for future use on
ceremonial occasions such as weddings and funerals, examples of primitive money are often found
only in museums.

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Questions:

Reading for Facts

1. The main qualities of money were summed up some

a. 1000 years
b. 2000 years
c. 200 years
d. 20000 years
2. Which of the following is not a quality of money a discussed in the passage?
a. It must be durable.
b. It must be easy to identify.
c. It must be fragile.
d. It must be portable.
3. The forms of money used in early China include
a. Iron and pots
b. Shells and cash
c. Salt and shells
d. Cowries and baskets
4. One Austrian silver coin equaled
a. One cowrie
b. One thousand cowries
c. Three thousand cowries
d. Four to five thousand cowries
5. Which of the following statements is false?
a. Primitive forms of money are preserved in museums.
b. Some people hoard primitive forms of money for ceremonial occasions.
c. Coins and notes have displaced cowrie shells.
d. Cowrie shells and other picturesque forms of money are still in vogue in many countries.

Reading for Details and Inference

1. Who summed up the main qualities of money?

2. State all the qualities of money discussed in paragraph one.
3. How do some goods or commodities come to be used as money?
4. Which people accept barter as a normal way of trade?
5. Where was the major source of cowrie shells?
6. Mention two areas associated with the trade in cowrie shells.
7. State the advantages of metal money like iron.
8. Where do you find examples of primitive money?
9. Why do people still hoard the old forms of money?
10. A. what do you think would have happened to trade in your country if the present forms
of money had not evolved?
B. Why do different countries use different forms of paper money today?

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 SECTION D
LITERATURE

Concept of literature
No particular definition of literature has been arrived at yet. While some see the term as a study of
great literary works of men, others see it as the study of skills by which a writer executes his works.
Literature is an all-embracing word or nomenclature for all works or writing of arts. In this regard, it
means every written work is literature.
There are two main divisions of literature.
a. Fiction and;
b. Non-fiction
Fiction means all imaginary works i.e. not based on pure facts. However, even a novel that is based
on facts can still be regarded as fiction, especially if the names of the characters, place and time of
the event are altered by the writer. On the other hand, non-fiction means factual which is about real-
life situations and events. The main forms of non-fiction are essays, history, biography, autobiography
and diary.

Functions of Literature
1. It is used to instruct or educate.
2. It entertains.
3. It is used to preserve the culture of the people.
4. Literature is a vehicle of social control.
5. It improves the use of language.
6. It is the key to open the door of world culture.
7. It promotes understanding of others’ views, feelings, religion, tradition etc.
8. It widens our horizon.
9. It helps us appreciate the work of art.
10. It elevates man’s spiritual well-being.
11. It alters our value judgement through the reading of past events and their resolutions.
12. It creates consciousness and awareness.

Genres of Literature
The three (3) genres of literature include drama, prose and poetry. In any of the above divisions, the
central aim of the writer is that he has an experience or line of thought which he/she wants to share
with other people, and he/she chooses any avenue of literature to drive home his points, thoughts,
imagination, emotions etc.

Prose
This genre has discernible stories, built around characters, who are placed in both realistic and
absurdist situations. Prose usually takes the form of a narrative, illuminating some truths about
human existence. Example ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe.

Characteristics of Prose
• It is written in chapters and paragraphs.

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 • It reflects on real-life situations.
• It is written to inform, instruct and entertain.
• It may be factual or non-factual.

Poetry
William Wordsworth defines poetry as emotions recollected in tranquillity. It can equally be seen as a
spontaneous over-flow of emotions. It usually selects materials from human experiences. Poetry
uses imagery, figurative and didactic language and it is said to be the most elevated of all the genres.

Characteristics of Poetry
• It is written in stanzas.
• It deals with imagination and emotions.
• It is usually musical and in rhyme pattern.
• It is technical.
• It principally expresses an emotion.
• It uses poetic license with the application of incorrect forms of words and expression.

Drama
Drama can be defined as an enactment of human experiences, organized incidentally to create action
through actors. This is the kind of literature where characters are used to send the message that the
playwright wants to share with the audience. One peculiar feature of drama is that it is usually
written to be acted on stage.

Characteristics of Drama
• It is written in acts and scenes.
• It makes use of dialogue.
• It makes use of dramatis personae.
• It is best appreciated when acted on stage.
• It takes place in a theatre, on a stage or platform.

ELEMENTS OF ALL LITERARY WORK

THEME

The theme of a novel, poem or play is the abstracted and generalized views of life and reality that it
represents. According to Lawrence Perrine, the theme is the unifying generalization about life, stated
or implied by the work. To derive the theme of any work of art, one must ask what its central
purpose is, what views of life it supports, what insight in life it reveals. In a nutshell, the theme of any
literary work could be called “the message” of that work, we have the main theme. Any theme other
than the main theme is regarded as a sub-theme. Generally speaking, the theme which is the opinion
of the writer is drawn from socio, economic, political, moral of psychological issues presented in the
work.

CHARACTERIZATION

This is the process of creating life – like characters or persons. It is the goal of a storyteller to create
make-believe-characters who take up roles, whether in a true or invented stories. These characters
are acceptable to the readers of listeners (audience). This disposition is socially conditioned, because

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a novelist lives in a society, interacts with people, affects them and is affected by them. His desire
therefore is to depict characters that live in recognizable but temporal reality, properly
contextualized in their milieu and have an understandable existence.

In its simplest form, characters are the persons about who a story has been written. A character in a
typical story is an individual and should be different from others. He has certain qualities that make
him different from other characters. We can achieve good characterization through the following
means: what the characters does; what he says; what other characters in the story sway about him;
and what the author comments or says about him. Importantly, a good character must be
individualized, plausible and dramatized.

SETTING

Setting denotes the time and specific environment of a community in which an action of the work
takes place. It is a locatable time and space, duration and scope of a fiction work.

BACKGROUND

Background deals with the socio-political and cultural norms of a community where the novel is et. It
deals with issues such as the political, legal or judicial systems, the cultural and religious norms of the
people, traditional institutions etc.

POINT OF VIEW

This means the single from which the story is told or the perceptive of writing. It asks the questions
and provides answers as well on: who tells the story; whose beliefs are projected; who is featured
and who is downplayed and to what extent and end? Presenting a definite story in a literary piece
usually takes any of the following points of view:

• First person points of view is a style choice authors can make. Multiple first-person
narratives are a collection of points of view. Each character might have one or more chapters
devoted to their point view, where they describe an event that the other characters have
also described, adding details or reflections of their own. Or, they might advance the plot as
temporary main characters.
• Third person omniscient is another variation. This allows the most narrative flexibility. It is
the POV one might have if one is a god. You not only know what everyone is doing and
thinking, but you could also include references to future and past events not known to
characters in the story.
• Third person limited omniscient allows the narrator to get inside the mind of one character,
reading the character’s thoughts. All other characters are viewed from outside.

PLOT

Plot is different from the raw story in a novel, as it involves causal relationship. Plot is the structure,
organization or arrangements of incidents in a literary piece. It asks the question: why, when and
how. This further deals with unity and coherence of all incidents in the novel or story.

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