eZine · Nigerian exams
Dramatic techniques
JAMB Literature in English topic guide with 2 practice questions.
What to revise
- characterisation
- dialogue
- flashback
- mime
- costume
- music/dance
- décor/scenery
- acts/scenes
- soliloquy/aside
- figures of speech
You should be able to
- demonstrate adequate knowledge of dramatic techniques and stage directions used in each prescribed text
- differentiate between styles of selected playwrights
From JAMB's Literature in English syllabus official. Full syllabus →
eZine's published bank has 20 questions on this topic (counted 29 October 2026).
Practice questions
Question 1 · Dramatic techniques
A group of performers who stand slightly apart from the main action and comment on it in song or speech is
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. a chorus
The chorus comments collectively on the action. An antagonist opposes the hero; a foil contrasts with another character; a first-person narrator belongs to prose.
eZine practice question (original, teacher-reviewed)
Question 2 · Dramatic techniques
A scene that interrupts the present action of a play to show events that happened years earlier, such as a soldier's memory of the civil war, is
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. a flashback
A flashback presents past events within the present action. Foreshadowing hints at future events; an epilogue comes after the main action ends; the denouement is the final unravelling.
eZine practice question (original, teacher-reviewed)
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