NECO Senior School Certificate Examination · English Language

Oral Forms, Phonetics, Stress and Idioms

35 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 35 questions

  1. Which of the following words contains the long vowel sound /iː/ as in 'machine'?
  2. Which of the following words contains the short vowel sound /ʊ/ as in 'put'?
  3. Which word contains the vowel sound /ɜː/ as in 'bird'?
  4. In which of the following words is the letter 'b' completely silent during pronunciation?
  5. In which of the following words is the initial letter 'p' completely silent?
  6. In which of the following words is the letter 't' completely silent?
  7. Which of the following words has the voiceless dental fricative consonant sound /θ/ as in 'thin'?
  8. Which of the following words has the voiced alveolar fricative consonant sound /z/ as in 'zoo'?
  9. Which word contains the voiced post-alveolar fricative consonant sound /ʒ/ as in 'measure'?
  10. Identify the word in which primary stress falls on the FIRST syllable (nouns/adjectives):
  11. Identify the syllable that receives primary stress in the four-syllable noun 'education':
  12. Identify the syllable that receives primary stress in the adjective 'photographic':
  13. Identify the syllable that receives primary stress in the five-syllable noun 'hospitality':
  14. Consider the sentence: 'FATIMA bought the red bicycle yesterday.' Which question does this emphatic sentence answer?
  15. What is the meaning of the idiom 'to burn the midnight oil'?
  16. What is the meaning of the idiom 'to spill the beans'?
  17. What is the meaning of the idiom 'a bone of contention'?
  18. What is the meaning of the idiom 'to cut corners'?
  19. What is the meaning of the idiom 'to hit the nail on the head'?
  20. What is the meaning of the idiom 'a drop in the ocean'?
  21. What is the meaning of the idiom 'to leave no stone unturned'?
  22. What is the meaning of the idiom 'to see eye to eye'?
  23. What is the meaning of the idiom 'to throw in the towel'?
  24. Which of the following words rhymes perfectly with 'tomb' /tuːm/?
  25. Which of the following words contains a silent 'k' during pronunciation?
  26. Which of the following words contains a silent 'l' during pronunciation?
  27. Which of the following words contains a silent 'w'?
  28. Which intonation pattern is conventionally used for a standard closed question (polar Yes/No question) in English?
  29. Identify the syllable that receives primary stress in the verb 'understand':
  30. In which of the following words does the consonant digraph 'ch' sound like /k/ as in 'chemistry'?
  31. Which of the following words contains the diphthong /aɪ/ as in 'my'?
  32. Which of the following words contains the diphthong /əʊ/ as in 'go'?
  33. Which of the following compound nouns has primary stress placed on the FIRST constituent element?
  34. In which of the following words is the final letter 'n' silent?
  35. Consider the sentence: 'Chidi purchased the GREEN motorcycle last month.' Which question does this emphatic sentence answer?

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