SACE Stage 2 Hindi (continuers) cheat sheet

Register choice: use आप + verb for formal/unknown adults; तुम for peers and close friends; तू only for very intimate or deliberately rude contexts.

Politeness markers: कृपया (please), ज़रा (just/a little), and the continuous form कर रहे हैं soften requests more than imperatives.

Turn-taking openers: अच्छा, तो..., वैसे..., and हाँ, बिल्कुल signal receipt before adding a new point.

Question formation: yes/no questions end in क्या...? or use rising intonation; wh-questions place क्या/कहाँ/कब/क्यों/कैसे before the verb.

Tag checks: है ना?, ठीक है?, and है कि नहीं? invite confirmation and keep the floor open.

Repair phrases: माफ़ कीजिए, समझ नहीं आया; ज़रा दोहराइए lets you ask for repetition without breaking flow.

Disagreement softeners: मुझे लगता है कि... plus थोड़ा-सा or शायद reduces face threat compared with a bare नहीं.

Postpositions drive meaning: ने marks the agent of perfective transitive verbs; को marks experiencers (मुझे पता है) and direct objects.

Skimming strategy: read title, first sentence of each paragraph, and any bolded or numbered items to extract the topic before detailed reading.

Scanning targets: numbers, dates, proper nouns, and English loanwords written in Devanagari (e.g., टिकट, स्टेशन) locate specific detail fast.

Note-taking shorthand: record verbs in their dictionary (masculine singular) form and mark tense separately to save space.

Inference rule: if a text says कल से बारिश होगी, the tense is future, so the event has not yet happened at the time of speaking.

Cause-effect connectors: इसलिए (therefore), क्योंकि (because), इस कारण (for this reason) mark logical links to quote in summaries.

Contrast connectors: लेकिन, पर, परंतु, जबकि signal a shift you must report to avoid misrepresenting the writer's stance.

Source evaluation: distinguish fact (numbers, named institutions) from opinion (मेरे ख़याल से, मुझे लगता है) before using material in your own text.

Summarising rule: keep the main clause verb and drop adjectives and examples; aim for one clause per key idea.

Word order is Subject–Object–Verb; the auxiliary (है/था/होगा) sits last, so place new information just before it for emphasis.

Tense formulas: present habitual करता है; present continuous कर रहा है; simple past किया; past continuous कर रहा था; future करेगा.

Gender agreement: adjectives ending in -ा agree (अच्छा लड़का/अच्छी लड़की); adjectives ending in a consonant or -ी (e.g., सुंदर, ख़ुश) do not change.

Obligation and permission: चाहिए (should/need), सकना (can), and अनुमति देना (to permit) express modality without changing the main verb.

Formal letter frame: प्रिय महोदय/महोदया opens; धन्यवाद ज्ञापन or सादर closes; date and place sit at the top left.

Essay structure: भूमिका (introduction), मुख्य भाग (body with 2–3 arguments), निष्कर्ष (conclusion) - one paragraph each for a 200-word task.

Cohesion devices: सबसे पहले, इसके अलावा, दूसरी ओर, अंत में sequence paragraphs and should appear at sentence start.

Punctuation: Hindi uses the danda (।) for a full stop and the double danda (॥) for verse ends; commas and question marks follow English usage.

Genre cues: कहानी (story) uses past tense and dialogue; निबंध (essay) uses present habitual and abstract nouns; कविता (poem) uses rhyme, repetition and inverted word order.

Tone vocabulary: हास्य (humour), व्यंग्य (satire), करुण (pathos), गंभीर (serious) - identify tone from diction, not just topic.

Cultural markers: festivals (दिवाली, होली, ईद, लोहड़ी), kinship terms (चाचा, मौसी, साला), and greetings (नमस्ते, नमस्कार, सलाम) reveal setting and relationships.

Kinship precision: चाचा = father's younger brother; ताऊ = father's elder brother; मामा = mother's brother; मौसा = mother's sister's husband.

Register in literature: तत्सम (Sanskrit-derived) vocabulary signals formality or tradition; Perso-Arabic loans (इंतज़ार, दिल, शुक्रिया) often signal everyday or Urdu-influenced style.

Author-context facts: प्रेमचंद wrote realist rural fiction (गोदान, गबन); हरिवंश राय बच्चन wrote मधुशाला; महादेवी वर्मा wrote छायावाद poetry.

Figurative language: उपमा (simile, like/as), रूपक (metaphor), अनुप्रास (alliteration), मानवीकरण (personification) - name the device and quote the phrase.

Analysis formula: claim + quotation + effect on reader; each paragraph should tie one device or cultural detail to the text's overall message.