WAEC 2024 English Language · Question 104

We left for MAKURDI yesterday.

Question

In each of the following sentences, the word that receives the emphatic stress is written in capital letters. From the questions lettered A-D, choose the one to which the given sentence is the appropriate answer. We left for MAKURDI yesterday.

A.Did we leave for Lagos yesterday?
B.Did we arrive from Markurdi yesterday?
C.Did they leave for Markurdi yesterday?
D.Did we leave for Markurdi today?

Answer: A. Did we leave for Lagos yesterday?

Explanation written with AI and checked against the answer key

Analyze the question

This is an emphatic stress (focus) question. The capitalised word, MAKURDI, carries the stress because it is the new or corrective information. The question that fits is the one that gets that detail wrong, so the sentence corrects it.

Concept

Emphatic stress marks the part of the answer that corrects or supplies what the question got wrong or asked about. If the answer stresses the destination, the question must have mentioned a different destination.

Step by step

The answer is: "We left for MAKURDI yesterday."

A. Did we leave for Lagos yesterday? The destination is Lagos. The answer corrects it: "No, we left for MAKURDI yesterday." Stress on MAKURDI fits.
B. Did we arrive from Markurdi yesterday? The question is about arriving. The answer would stress "left" (LEFT for Makurdi). It doesn't fit.
C. Did they leave for Markurdi yesterday? The error here is "they". The answer would stress WE. It doesn't fit.
D. Did we leave for Markurdi today? The error here is "today". The answer would stress YESTERDAY. It doesn't fit.

In B, C and D the destination "Makurdi" is already correct in the question, so the answer wouldn't need to stress it.

Answer: A

Tip: Find the word that is stressed in the answer, then look for the option where that same element is wrong or different in the question. The stressed word in the answer is the correction.

AI can make mistakes. Report anything that looks wrong.