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JAMB UTME Literature 2026 past questions and answers

This 2026 JAMB UTME Literature set has 40 practice questions. Try these 5 free sample questions, tap a question to reveal the answer and explanation. Then practise the whole 2026 set with instant marking.

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Sample JAMB UTME Literature 2026 questions

1. Which statement is most clearly a theme rather than a subject of a literary work?
  1. Unchecked ambition can destroy the very relationships that sustain a person.
  2. A family migrates from a village to a crowded city.
  3. The story is set during a severe drought.
  4. The central characters are two sisters and their uncle.

Answer: A. Unchecked ambition can destroy the very relationships that sustain a person.

A theme expresses an insight about life, whereas the other choices identify subject matter or setting.

2. At a village performance, the lead singer chants, “Who keeps the road?” and the audience answers, “Those who walk it together!” Which feature of oral performance is illustrated?
  1. A fixed stanza pattern
  2. Call and response
  3. Interior monologue
  4. A dramatic aside

Answer: B. Call and response

Call and response depends on an initiating performer and a responding audience or chorus.

3. A community recites a poem at the burial of an elder, praising the deceased while lamenting the loss. The performance is best described as a
  1. panegyric
  2. riddle
  3. dirge
  4. work song

Answer: C. dirge

A dirge is a lament performed in connection with death or a funeral.

4. A novel begins with a traveller discovering an old diary, and most of the story is then told through the diary entries. The diary narrative is framed by the traveller's discovery. What is this arrangement called?
  1. A subplot
  2. A flashback
  3. An epilogue
  4. A frame narrative

Answer: D. A frame narrative

A frame narrative places one story or account inside a larger framing story.

5. In a play, the audience has seen the sealed letter proving that the steward stole the money, but the governor praises him as the most trustworthy servant. The contrast chiefly creates
  1. dramatic irony
  2. comic relief
  3. a soliloquy
  4. a flashback

Answer: A. dramatic irony

Dramatic irony occurs because the audience knows the truth while the governor does not.

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