JAMB 2022 English Language · Question 51

She WORKS at the hospital.

Question

In each of the following sentences, the word that receives the emphatic stress is written in capital letters . From the options lettered A to D, choose the one which the sentence is the appropriate answer. She WORKS at the hospital.

A.Who works at the hospital?
B.Where does she work?
C.Does she work at the hospital?
D.What does she do at the hospital?

Answer: D. What does she do at the hospital?

Explanation written with AI and checked against the answer key

Analyze the question: This is an emphatic stress question (Oral English). The capitalized word carries the main stress because it gives the new or important information that answers the question being asked. We need to find the question to which "She WORKS at the hospital" is the natural reply.

Concept: In speech, we stress the word that answers the question or provides the focus.

If the answer is about who, the subject is stressed: "SHE works at the hospital."
If it is about where, the place is stressed: "She works at the HOSPITAL."
If it is about what she does, the verb is stressed: "She WORKS at the hospital."
If it is about confirming whether the action happens, the verb can also be stressed: "She WORKS at the hospital" (yes, she does work there).

Step-by-step check of each option:

A. Who works at the hospital? The answer would stress the subject: "SHE works at the hospital." Not a match.
B. Where does she work? The answer would stress the place: "She works at the HOSPITAL." Not a match.
C. Does she work at the hospital? The answer is "Yes, she WORKS at the hospital." This is a real possibility, because the verb can be stressed to affirm the statement. But the question already contains the verb "work", so the new information is just yes or no. The stress here is usually a confirmation or contrast, for example in response to someone doubting it ("She doesn't just visit, she WORKS there").
D. What does she do at the hospital? The new information asked for is her activity or role, which is the verb "works". So the stress falls on WORKS.

Which is better, C or D? Option D asks directly about the action, so the verb is the focus of the answer. Option C asks a yes/no question about the whole proposition, where the stress would typically land on the verb only as a contrast. D is the more natural, standard answer in JAMB's pattern.

Correct answer: D. What does she do at the hospital?

Exam tip: Ask yourself, "Which word is the new information in this sentence?" Then pick the question that is asking for exactly that word.

Stress on the subject → Who?
Stress on the verb → What does she do?
Stress on the place → Where?

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