Bengali: Grammar, Vocabulary and Comprehension
What to master
Bengali questions in NTRCA School-2 test formal grammar first: সন্ধি (vowel and consonant joining), সমাস (compound classification), কারক ও বিভক্তি, বচন ও লিঙ্গ, ক্রিয়ার কাল ও পুরুষ, and বাক্য প্রকরণ (সরল, জটিল, যৌগিক). Vocabulary items usually ask for সমার্থক শব্দ, বিপরীত শব্দ, and এককথায় প্রকাশ. Literature questions ask about writers, their era, and famous lines, so keep a short list of major poets and novelists with one signature work each.
Traps that catch candidates
- সন্ধি versus সমাস: সন্ধি joins sounds inside a word; সমাস joins words to make a new compound meaning. A question naming two words with a new combined sense is usually সমাস.
- Identifying সমাস type by the first member's role, not by sound. দ্বন্দ্ব keeps both words' meanings separate; কর্মধারয় has a common attribute; বহুব্রীহি's meaning points to something else.
- বিভক্তি endings that look alike but belong to different কারক; always ask which question-word (কে, কী, দ্বারা, জন্য) the noun answers.
- Proverbs (প্রবাদ-প্রবচন) asked with a slightly changed wording; read all options fully.
Rule of thumb
For any grammar item, first name the category the stem is testing, then apply the definition. If two options survive, choose the one that matches the definition exactly rather than the one that sounds familiar.
Worked example
“অক্ষির সমক্ষে” - is this সন্ধি or সমাস? Two words combine into one expression with a single meaning, so it is a সমাস (অব্যয়ীভাব, since the first member is an অব্যয়). If the stem instead gave “বिद्या + আলয় = বিদ্যালয়”, the change happens at the sound boundary, so it is সন্ধি.