When a Correct Variant Does Not Match the Mark Scheme
A teacher is marking a 3-mark grammar item: 'Turn the active sentence كَتَبَ الطَّالِبُ الدَّرْسَ into the passive.' The mark scheme gives one model answer: كُتِبَ الدَّرْسُ. Among 41 scripts, three variants appear: (i) كُتِبَ الدَّرْسُ (ii) كُتِبَ الدَّرْسُ مِنْ قِبَلِ الطَّالِبِ (iii) كُتِبَ الدَّرْسَ A second item asks for the i'rab of الدَّرْسُ in the passive sentence. One student writes مَفْعُولٌ بِهِ مَنْصُوبٌ; another writes نَائِبُ فَاعِلٍ مَرْفُوعٌ. The department has told teachers to follow the mark scheme strictly but also to reward correct grammar that differs from the model. The teacher must decide how to mark the variants, what to tell the class about the agent in a passive sentence, and how to handle the i'rab answers.
1. Mark (i), (ii) and (iii) out of 3 and justify each decision.
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(i) 3/3. The verb is correctly made passive (كُتِبَ), and الدَّرْسُ is a correct na'ib fa'il, marfu' with damma.
(ii) 3/3, with a written note. The transformation is correct; مِنْ قِبَلِ الطَّالِبِ adds the agent in a modern construct. Classical grammar normally leaves the agent of a passive verb unexpressed, but the added phrase is not a grammatical error. Since the item tests transformation, not omission, penalising it would punish a correct variant. Record the variant for moderation.
(iii) 1/3. The verb form is correct, but الدَّرْسَ is marked mansub. In a passive sentence the object's fatha cannot remain; the word becomes na'ib fa'il and takes raf'. One mark for the verb, zero for the case ending.
2. Which i'rab answer is correct, and what board note would you write to prevent the common error?
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نَائِبُ فَاعِلٍ مَرْفُوعٌ is correct. Board note:
Active: كَتَبَ الطَّالِبُ الدَّرْسَ - الدَّرْسَ: مَفْعُولٌ بِهِ مَنْصُوبٌ. Passive: كُتِبَ الدَّرْسُ - الدَّرْسُ: نَائِبُ فَاعِلٍ مَرْفُوعٌ وَعَلَامَةُ رَفْعِهِ الضَّمَّةُ.
Rule: the passive verb needs a subject-like element; the former object takes the subject's case (raf'), not its old case (nasb).
3. A student writes the correct passive form but translates it as 'The lesson wrote.' How should the grammar mark and the feedback be handled?
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Grammar: full 3/3, because the item tests form, not translation. Feedback: point out the meaning shift. The passive verb كُتِبَ means 'was written'; the writer is unnamed. Ask the student to say both versions aloud: 'The student wrote the lesson' / 'The lesson was written.' If the same error appears in a translation item, deduct there, not twice in the grammar item. This keeps the mark scheme valid and still corrects the conceptual confusion.