JAMB Syllabus for Use of English

The Use of English is the only compulsory subject in JAMB, and it have the highest number of questions too. This means that passing this subject is vital in getting high score in JAMB. To beat this, students must incorporate the use of JAMB syllabus for Use of English into their study plan.

The JAMB syllabus is a list of topics where possible questions for the UTME is going come from.

To that effect, below is a list of topics that are outlined in the JAMB syllabus for Use of English.

Comprehension/Summary

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

1. Identify main points/topic sentences in passages;
2. Determine implied meaning;
3. Identify the grammatical functions of words, phrases, clauses and figurative /idiomatic expressions;
4. Deduce or infer the writer’s intentions including mood, attitude to the subject matter and opinion.

Content

1. description
2. narration
3. exposition
4. argumentation/persuasion
   1. Each of the two passages to be set (one will be a cloze test) should reflect various disciplines and be about 200 words long.
   2. Questions on the passages will test the following:
      1. Comprehension of the whole or part of each passage.
      2. Comprehension of words, phrases, clauses, sentences, figures of speech and idioms as used in the passages.
      3. Coherence and logical reasoning (deductions, inferences, etc).
      4. The Life Changer by Khadija Abubakar Jalli
      5. Synthesis of ideas from the passages.

NOTE:

By synthesis of ideas is meant the art of combining distinct or separate pieces of information to form a complete whole.

 Lexis and Structure

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

1. Identify words and expressions in their ordinary, figurative and idiomatic contexts;
2. Determine similar and opposite meanings of words;
3. Differentiate between correct and incorrect punctuation and spelling;
4. Identify various grammatical patterns in use;
5. Interpret information conveyed in sentences.

Content

1. synonyms
2. antonyms
3. homonyms
4. clause and sentence patterns
5. word classes and their functions
6. mood, tense, aspect, number, agreement/concord, degree (positive, comparative and superlative) and question tags
7. punctuation and spelling
8. ordinary usage, figurative usage and idiomatic usage are to be tested.

NOTE:

Idioms to be tested shall be those that are formal and expressed in standard British English.

 Oral Forms

Objectives

Candidates should be able to:

1. Make distinctions between vowel types;
2. Differentiate between consonant types;
3. Identify correct accentuation in individual words and connected speech.

Content

1. Vowels (monothongs and diphthongs)
2. Consonants (including clusters)
3. Rhymes (including homophones)
4. Word stress (monosyllabic and polysyllabic)
5. Intonation (words emphatic stress)

NOTE:

Emphatic stress involves the placement of normal stress on words in an utterance for the purpose of emphasis.