Marking Idioms and a Reversed Proverb in an Essay Competition
At a higher secondary school in Jorhat, the inter-house essay competition topic is ‘পৰিশ্ৰমৰ মূল্য’. A student, Ankur, writes: ‘মোৰ দাদাই কঠোৰ পৰিশ্ৰম কৰি এখন সৰু দোকান আৰম্ভ কৰিছিল; কিন্তু প্ৰথম বছৰতে লোকচান হোৱাত তেওঁৰ চকুত ধূলি গ’ল।’ He intends ‘he saw the truth’ or ‘he was disappointed’. Later he writes, ‘শিক্ষকে ক’লে, “তুমি মূৰ খাই থকা মানুহ”’ to mean ‘you are a thoughtful person’. He also quotes the proverb ‘বাঘৰ ভয়ত পলাই গৈ শিয়ালৰ মুখত পৰা’ to praise his uncle’s courage in facing a crisis. The examiner, a senior Assamese teacher, must mark language use. The scheme gives 4 marks for idiomatic appropriateness, 4 for grammatical accuracy, and 2 for content. Ankur’s content is strong: 8/10. The teacher must decide the idiom marks, write brief margin comments, and decide whether the proverb is a creative extension or a misuse that should be penalised. Final marks are due tomorrow, and the teacher has 40 scripts.
1. Identify each idiom/proverb error: intended meaning, actual meaning, and a suitable replacement. Then award the 4-mark idiomatic-appropriateness score with reasoning.
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Errors and replacements:
- ‘চকুত ধূলি গ’ল’ - The idiom ‘চকুত ধূলি দিয়া’ means to deceive someone by trickery, not to realise the truth or to be disappointed. Suitable replacements: ‘চকু মেলা’ (to have one’s eyes opened / realise) or ‘হতাশ হোৱা’.
- ‘মূৰ খাই থকা মানুহ’ - ‘মূৰ খোৱা’ means to pester, bother, importune, not to be thoughtful. Suitable replacement: ‘গভীৰ চিন্তাত মগ্ন’ or ‘বুদ্ধিমান’.
- ‘বাঘৰ ভয়ত পলাই গৈ শিয়ালৰ মুখত পৰা’ - The proverb means escaping one danger only to fall into a worse one. Using it to praise courage reverses its evaluative force. It could be an ironic twist, but nothing in the essay signals irony.
Score: 2/4. Two errors are lexical and one is a proverb used with the wrong evaluative direction. The writing shows some control, so 1/4 would be too harsh, but 3/4 would ignore the proverb reversal. Margin note: ‘Idioms carry a fixed evaluative stance; check the direction before using one for praise.’
2. Write the three margin comments you would put beside the errors, each short enough to fit in a narrow margin, that correct without humiliating the student.
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Suggested comments:
- Beside ‘চকুত ধূলি গ’ল’: ‘চকুত ধূলি’ = deceive someone; for “realised”, use ‘চকু মেলা’. Check the direction of the idiom.
- Beside ‘মূৰ খাই থকা’: ‘মূৰ খোৱা’ = pester/bother, not “thoughtful”. Try ‘গভীৰ চিন্তাত মগ্ন’.
- Beside the proverb: This proverb means “out of the frying pan into the fire”; it cannot praise courage. Keep it only if you signal irony.
Each comment names the problem, gives the correct meaning, and offers a replacement. None says ‘wrong’ without a repair.
3. The teacher suspects the proverb may be a misquotation but cannot verify it during marking. What is the defensible procedure under exam conditions?
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Do not penalise for misquotation unless the syllabus lists the proverb or a source is available during marking. Mark what is on the page: the proverb as quoted is being used with the wrong meaning. Record ‘proverb form unverified’ in the moderation note, award the idiom mark on usage, and ask the student after the exam to supply the source. If verification later shows the proverb is nonstandard, treat it as a language issue, not a content issue; do not change the content mark. This protects fairness and avoids pretending to certainty. The teacher should also tell the student that a proverb’s evaluative direction matters more than its exact wording in an essay, because a reversed proverb misleads the reader even if the words are remembered correctly.