Arabic: Reading Comprehension, Grammar, and Vocabulary
What the section tests
Arabic questions on EmSAT reward careful reading and secure control of formal grammar (النحو). Expect passages followed by questions on main idea, inference, and the author's purpose, plus items on word meaning in context, sentence correction, and إعراب (case endings).
Concepts to master
- Main idea vs. detail: distinguish الفكرة الرئيسة from supporting details; the main idea is usually stated early or restated at the end.
- Reference words: track pronouns (هو، هي، ذلك، الذي) back to their referents.
- Case endings: nominative (مرفوع) for subjects (الفاعل) and predicates (الخبر); accusative (منصوب) for objects (المفعول به) and after إنّ; genitive (مجرور) after prepositions and as second term of إضافة.
- Verb agreement: the verb agrees with the subject in gender and number, but with a plural non-human subject it takes feminine singular.
- Connectors: لكن، لأنّ، بينما signal contrast, cause, and simultaneity; they often drive inference questions.
Common traps
- Choosing an answer that is true but not stated in the passage.
- Confusing synonyms with exact contextual meaning (e.g., a word that fits generally but not here).
- Misreading a plural non-human subject as requiring plural verb agreement.
- Ignoring negation (لم، لن، ما) that reverses the meaning of a sentence.
Worked example
Sentence: «الطلابُ يدرسون بجدٍّ.» Identify the function of الطلابُ. It is the subject (فاعل) of the nominal sentence and is therefore مرفوع, marked by the ضمة. The predicate يدرسون is a verbal clause in the nominative position. Rule of thumb: find the doer first, then assign its case before checking the verb.
Strategy
Read the question before the passage, underline referents, and eliminate options that add information not present in the text.