Sorting Grammar, Register and Script Convention
A student edits a 90-word notice for an inter-house recitation. The notice must invite the principal to preside and tell students to assemble at 9 a.m. The draft has three flagged points: (1) it orders the principal with the same plain imperative used for students; (2) it writes a numeral directly before 'student' although the school's Manipuri notices use a classifier with counted people; (3) it says 'the programme will began at ten'. The student also typed the notice in Meitei Mayek, while the school's HSLC answer scripts are usually written in Bengali script. The teacher has 15 minutes and must decide which flags are grammar errors, which are register problems, and which are matters of school convention. The student wants one rule to apply to all three.
1. Sort the three flags and the script choice into grammar, register, and convention. Explain why one rule cannot cover all four.
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Flag 3 is grammar: the auxiliary 'will' requires a base verb, so 'will began' is wrong; the correction is 'will begin'. Flag 2 is grammar and lexis: counted people normally take a classifier in Manipuri, so the English order 'numeral + student' is not automatically acceptable. The exact classifier must be checked in the textbook, not invented. Flag 1 is register: the plain imperative to the principal is grammatically well formed but socially inappropriate; it needs a respectful request or honorific form. The script choice is convention or policy, not grammar: it depends on the board or school instruction, and scripts should not be mixed within one notice. One rule cannot cover all four because 'correct', 'appropriate' and 'allowed' are different criteria. A grammatically correct sentence can still lose marks for register, and a script choice is a policy decision rather than a language error.
2. Give a correction strategy for each flag, including what you would tell the student to check rather than simply supplying a form.
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For flag 3, ask the student to underline the auxiliary and test whether the next verb is base, past or participle; 'will' takes the base form. For flag 2, ask the student to find the numeral-classifier pattern in the textbook's notice or dialogue section, then check whether the counted noun is a person, an object or an abstract noun. Do not simply give a classifier form that may belong to another noun class. For flag 1, ask: who is the addressee, and what is the relation between writer and addressee? The principal needs a request form, not the imperative used for students. For the script, ask which script the school has instructed for this examination; if Bengali script is required, convert consistently, and if Mayek is permitted, use it consistently. The student should leave with four different check questions, not one blanket rule.
3. The student says, 'If the meaning is clear, none of this should matter.' How would you answer in terms of exam marking?
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Meaning is necessary but not sufficient. The notice still has to perform a social action: inviting a principal is not the same as ordering students. Register marks are lost when the verb form treats a superior like a subordinate, even if the message is understandable. The classifier is not decoration; it is part of the grammar of counting in Manipuri, and an examiner may treat it as an accuracy error. The tense error changes the time reference and is a clear grammar slip. Script is different again: it is a convention, so the risk is not misunderstanding but non-compliance with instructions. A useful answer to the student is: 'Clear to you' is not the test; the test is clear, appropriate and within the required convention. Fix grammar first, then register, then check the script instruction.