Composition and Writing Skills
What the domain tests
The writing section awards marks for task achievement, organisation, and language accuracy, in that order. Typical tasks are a formal letter to an official or newspaper editor, an informal letter, a short essay or paragraph, a notice, and a story from given points. The paper states a word limit; going far over or under it costs marks.
Core rules
- Formal letter: sender's address, date, receiver's designation, subject line, salutation (Sir/Madam), body in two or three paragraphs, closing (Yours faithfully). Avoid contractions and chatty tone.
- Informal letter: address, date, affectionate salutation, personal news, closing with your name.
- Paragraph or essay: one topic sentence, two or three supporting sentences with examples, and a closing sentence. Keep one idea per paragraph.
- Notice: the heading NOTICE, date, bold subject, two or three sentences of body, then name and designation.
- Use the points given in the question; ignoring them is the biggest single loss.
- Spell place names and official designations consistently in Manipuri.
Worked example
Task: an 80-word paragraph on 'My Village'. Weak opening: 'I live in a village. It is very nice.' Better: a topic sentence naming the village's distinctive feature, a river that floods each monsoon; then two supports, that farming depends on it and that the community repairs the embankment together; then a closing sentence tying both to shared risk. Reasoning: the paragraph has one controlling idea, concrete detail, and a conclusion that does not simply repeat the opening.
Traps
- Missing subject line or date in a formal letter.
- Writing a story when the task is a notice.
- Mixing 'Yours faithfully' with a named salutation.
- Padding to reach length instead of adding detail.