ANNUAL NATIONAL ASSESSMENT

GRADE 5

ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE

EXEMPLAR TEST 2012

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions based on it.

Patrick never did homework. Too boring, he said. He played rugby, cricket and Play Station
instead. His teachers told him, Patrick! Do your homework or you won't learn a thing! And
it's true, sometimes he did forget about his homework.
But what could he do? He hated homework.
Then one Saturday afternoon, his cat, Fluffy, was playing with a little doll. He grabbed it away
from the cat. To his surprise it wasn't a doll at all, but a man of the tiniest size. He had a little
woollen shirt with old-fashioned pants and a high, tall hat much like a witch's. He yelled, Save
me! Don't give me back to that cat. I'll grant you a wish, I promise you that.
Patrick couldn't believe how lucky he was! Here was the answer to all of his problems. So he
said, Only if you do all my homework until the end of the term, all 50 days. If you do a good
enough job, I could even get A's.
The little man's face wrinkled like a dishcloth thrown in the sink. He kicked his legs and
doubled his fist. He scowled and pursed his lips, Oh, am I cursed! But I'll do it.
True to his word, that little elf began to do Patrick's homework. Except there was one glitch.
The elf didn't always know what to do and he needed help. Help me! Help me!
he'd say. And Patrick would have to help, in whatever way.
I don't know this word, the elf squeaked while reading Patrick's homework. Get
me a dictionary. No, what's even better. Look up the word and sound it out by each
letter.
When it came to Maths, Patrick was out of luck. What are times tables? the elf shrieked. We
elves never need that. What are addition, subtraction, division and fractions? Here, sit down
beside me, you simply must guide me.

Elves know nothing of human history. To them it's a mystery. So the little elf, already a
shouter, just got louder, Go to the library, I need books. Get more and more books. And you
can help me read them too.
As a matter of fact every day in every way that little elf was a nag! Patrick was working
harder than ever and was it a drag! He was staying up nights, had never felt so weary, he
was going to school with his eyes puffed and bleary.
Finally the last day of school arrived and the elf was free to go. As for homework, there was
no more, so he quietly and slyly slipped out the back door.
Patrick got his A's; his classmates were amazed; his teachers smiled and were full of praise.
His parents wondered what had happened to Patrick. He was now the model child. He
cleaned his room, did his chores, was cheerful and was never rude. It was like he had
developed a whole new attitude.
You see, in the end Patrick still thought he'd made that tiny man do all his homework. But I'll
share a secret, just between you and me. It wasn't the elf; Patrick had done it all by himself!
[Original story by Carol Moore]
1.

Circle the letter of the correct answer.

Which title would be most suitable for the above text? Patrick ...
A

did his homework.

played rugby.

played cricket.

played with his cat.

(1)

Circle the letter of the correct answer.

2.
2.1

How did Patrick feel about homework?

He thought it was ...

2.2

long.

difficult.

boring.

interesting.

(1)

Which of the following would best describe the elf? Small and ...

friendly.

sweet.

grumpy.

happy.

(1)

Circle the letter of the correct answer.

3.

Where did the elf send Patrick to go find books?

A

School

Shop

Library

Caf

(1)

4.

Circle the letter of the correct answer.

4.1

How long did the elf have to help Patrick?

A

Eight school weeks

Ten school weeks

Nine school weeks

Seven school weeks

(1)

4.2

5.

What do you think was the elfs plan all along?

He wanted Patrick to fail his schoolwork.

He wanted Patrick to do his own work.

He wanted Patrick to be become clever.

He wanted Patrick to get into big trouble.

(1)

Circle the letter of the correct simile.

5.1 The elf was as sly as a ...
A

snake.

fox.

dog.

cat.

(1)

5.2 Patrick was doing his homework. He was as busy as a ...

6.

ant

mosquito

bee

cockroach

(1)

Cause and effect means when you do one thing, something else will happen.
E.g. Cause: If you eat too many sweets.
Effect: You will have a tummy ache.
Write down what you think could be the cause or effect of the following
sentences:
6.1

Effect: Patrick got As in all his subjects.

Cause:
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

(1)

6.2

Effect:______________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

Cause: The little elf granted Patrick a wish.

(1)

Read the following text and answer the questions that follow:
In towns and cities all over the world, trash is put into a dump. A dump is a place where
trash is left in one spot on top of the ground or in deep holes in the earth. The holes are
then filled with trash. This is done year after year, until there is no more room at the dump.
Then, a new dump is begun. In some towns, there is no room left for dumps. Trash has to
be moved to the dumps in other towns. One of the worst problems with older dumps is that
polluting chemicals were dumped there before any rules were made about how to handle
it. Those chemicals seep into the soil and into the water, polluting that also.

7.

Circle the letter of the correct answer from the options given below.

7.1 The above text teaches us all about ...

A

people.

towns.

trash.

chemicals.

(1)

7.2 Circle the letter of the correct answer from the options given below.
Where is trash sent to in most cities?
A

dumps

bins

rivers

sea

(1)

7.3 Circle the letter of the correct answer from the options given below.
What happens to the trash when the dumps are full?
A

Dumps are full.

Sent to a new dump.

Chemicals are put into the trash.

It is thrown into the rivers.

(1)

7.4 Circle the letter of the correct answer from the options given below.
What is the worst problem of older dumps?

8.

They are too old to put more trash into them.

There are deep holes in the dumps.

They are smelly.

Polluting chemicals were already dumped into them.

(1)

Rearrange the following steps in a recipe on chocolate cookies into the correct
order.
Write numbers 1 to 6 in the box below to show the correct order.

STEPS

ANSWER

Form into soft dough and roll out and cut with a cookie cutter.
Add some oats and coconut to butter mixture and cream.
Bake at 180 0C in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.
Cream 250 gm of butter and cup of castor sugar till creamy.
Once baked, spread over with melted chocolate.
Sift 2 cups flour and cup cocoa into the oats and coconut
mixture.

(3)

Rewrite the following sentence:

9.
9.1

Rewrite the following sentence from the present tense into the future tense.
Mrs Naidoo bakes lovely biscuits.

(2)

________________________________________________________________
9.2

Rewrite the following sentence from the past tense into the future tense.
The children enjoyed making the biscuits.
________________________________________________________________

(2)

10. Join the following two sentences into one good sentence.
Do not use the conjunction and.
The grade five class baked biscuits. It was raining
_____________________________________________________________________

(2)

11. Rewrite the following short paragraph using the correct punctuation.
patrick learnt a valuable lesson he told his mum i will do my homework daily are you
happy with that
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

(3)

12. Rewrite the following sentence into the indirect speech.

Lynsay said, I am so happy to see my daughter.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

(1)

13. Study the graph on the number of learners who did not do their homework at
Patricks school. Then complete the following paragraph by using the words in
the word bank.

% Learners who did not do homework

70
60
50
40
% Learners who did not do
homework

30
20
10
0
Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Word Bank
35%

Friday

Monday

decreased

increased

Wednesday

Now complete this paragraph.

On Thursday, _______________% of learners did not do their homework. The number
____________________ from Tuesday to Wednesday. On ______________, the
lowest number of learners did not do their homework. On _________________, 40% of
the learners did not do homework. ____________________ had the highest number of
learners.

(5)

14.

Write 2 paragraphs of about 8 to 10 sentences on the valuable lesson that Patrick would
have learnt.
Your paragraphs will be marked according to the following criteria:
(a) Sentence construction.
(b) Logic of sentences.
(c) Correct grammar, spelling and punctuation.
(d) Sufficient number of sentences.

Begin your paragraph with the following sentence:

Patrick hated doing homework and performed poorly in his tests, until he realised the value
of actually doing his homework ...

(8)