The word in capital letters has the emphatic stress. Choose the option to which the given relates. EMEKA finished his home work yesterday.

Analyze the question

In this type of JAMB English question, the word in capital letters carries the emphatic stress, and that word is the new or key information. The sentence is the answer to a question, so you need to find the question that the stressed word answers.

Concept

Emphatic stress marks the part of the sentence that answers the question being asked. Suppose the stress falls on:

• the subject, so the question is "Who...?"
• the time, so the question is "When...?"
• the action, so the question is "What did he do?"
• the object, so the question is "What did he finish?"

Solution

Sentence: EMEKA finished his home work yesterday.

The stress is on Emeka, the doer of the action. So the sentence is giving the answer to the question "Who finished his home work yesterday?"

Check each option:

• A. "Was Emeka helped...?" asks about help, so the stress would be on helped. Wrong.
• B. "Did Emeka do his home work yesterday?" asks yes or no about the whole event. The stress would more likely fall on did or yesterday. Wrong.
• C. "When did Emeka finish...?" asks about time, so the stress would be on yesterday. Wrong.
• D. "Who finished his home work yesterday?" asks about the person, and the answer is "EMEKA." Correct.

Tip

Turn the stressed word into a question word: a person becomes Who, a time becomes When, a place becomes Where, a thing becomes What. Then pick the option that has that question word and keeps the rest of the sentence unchanged.