ASSEB HSLC Elective Santhali cheat sheet

Skim the passage once for topic (ᱢᱩᱬ ᱠᱟᱛᱷᱟ), then reread question by question; Santhali unseen passages usually carry one main idea per paragraph.

Locate the answer sentence and match its exact wording; options that paraphrase loosely but change a qualifier (ᱡᱚᱛᱚ, ᱛᱤᱱᱟᱹᱜ, ᱠᱚᱢ) are wrong.

Distinguish ᱥᱟᱹᱨᱤ (true) from ᱵᱟᱹᱥᱟᱹᱨᱤ (false) statements: a passage fact must be stated, not merely implied, for true/false items.

For 'choose the correct meaning' items, test the word back inside the original sentence; context decides between near-synonyms.

Pronoun tracking: ᱩᱱᱤ/ᱱᱩᱱᱤ/ᱩᱱᱠᱩ refer to the nearest preceding noun phrase unless a new subject is named.

Negative and passive constructions shift the doer; identify who performed the action before answering 'who did what' questions.

Time and number words (ᱯᱟᱹᱦᱤᱞ, ᱛᱟᱭᱚᱢ, ᱵᱟᱨ, ᱯᱮ) are frequent answer keys; underline them while reading.

Answers must stay inside the passage; outside knowledge, however true, is not credited.

Identify the ᱢᱩᱬ ᱵᱷᱟᱵᱽ (central emotion) first: Santhali poems typically carry one dominant mood such as ᱫᱩᱠ, ᱟᱥᱟ, or ᱫᱮᱥᱯᱨᱮᱢ.

Speaker vs poet: the 'I' of the poem is the speaker (ᱠᱚᱵᱤᱛᱟ ᱨᱮᱱ ᱨᱚᱲᱤᱡ), not automatically the poet.

Tone words to test: ᱟᱹᱰᱤ ᱫᱩᱠᱷᱤᱭᱟᱹ (sorrowful), ᱟᱱᱫᱳᱞᱚᱱᱢᱩᱠᱷᱤ (protest), ᱥᱟᱨᱦᱟᱣᱟᱱ (praising), ᱦᱟᱹᱠᱩᱞᱟᱹᱣᱟᱱ (yearning).

Imagery questions ask what is compared to what; name both the ᱪᱤᱛᱟᱹᱨ (image) and the thing it describes.

Refrain (ᱨᱤᱯᱷᱨᱮᱱ) repetition usually signals the theme; the repeated line is rarely decorative.

Structure: count stanzas (ᱯᱚᱫ) and lines per stanza before answering form questions.

Contrast pairs (ᱧᱮᱞ/ᱵᱟᱝ ᱧᱮᱞ, ᱫᱤᱱ/ᱧᱤᱸᱫ) often carry the poem's argument; note them.

If asked for the poet's message, phrase it as a general statement the poem supports, not a plot summary.

Match each prescribed lesson to its author exactly; Santhali prose anthologies mix original Santhali writers with translated pieces, so check the credit line.

Theme questions expect an abstract noun phrase (e.g. ᱟᱹᱫᱤᱵᱟᱹᱥᱤ ᱟᱥᱛᱤᱛᱣᱚ, ᱥᱮᱪᱮᱫ ᱨᱮᱱᱟᱜ ᱫᱟᱲᱮ), not a retelling of events.

Character items: give the trait plus one textual action that proves it; a bare adjective earns partial credit.

Chronology questions follow the narrative order of the lesson, not real-world history.

Title significance: connect the title to the lesson's closing idea, where Santhali prose often states the moral.

Distinguish author's view from a character's speech; quoted dialogue is not automatically the lesson's message.

Vocabulary in context: prescribed prose words may carry a dialect sense different from everyday Santhali; use the lesson's usage.

Locate exact phrases for 'fill in the blank' items; the option must fit both grammar and the surrounding sentence.

Alamkara (ᱚᱞᱚᱝᱠᱟᱨ) identification rule: if comparison uses ᱞᱮᱠᱟ/ᱞᱟᱹᱠᱷᱟᱱ, test for ᱩᱯᱢᱟ (simile); without a comparison word, test for ᱨᱩᱯᱚᱠ (metaphor).

ᱪᱮᱛᱱᱟ ᱫᱷᱚᱨᱚᱢ (personification) = non-human given human action or feeling; ᱫᱤᱥᱟᱹ ᱟᱫᱷᱟᱨ (apostrophe) = addressing an absent person or object.

ᱫᱷᱚᱱᱤ (alliteration) = repetition of the same initial sound in nearby words; ᱡᱷᱚᱸᱠᱟᱨ (onomatopoeia) = sound-imitating words.

ᱩᱞᱴᱟᱹ (irony) and ᱵᱤᱨᱳᱫᱷᱟᱵᱷᱟᱥ (oxymoron) differ: irony says the opposite of intent, oxymoron joins contradictory words in one phrase.

Attach each prescribed poem to its poet; poet-name questions are direct recall and should be answered without hesitation.

Metre/rhythm questions: count syllables per line; Santhali folk metres often alternate short and long lines.

Interpretation options that overstate ('always', 'never') are usually wrong; poems qualify.

Symbol items: identify the object, then the abstract idea it stands for in that specific poem.

ᱥᱚᱸᱫᱷᱤ (sandhi) = junction of two sounds at a word boundary; identify the two source words first, then name the change.

ᱥᱚᱢᱟᱥ (samas) = compound; classify by which member dominates: ᱛᱚᱛᱯᱩᱨᱩᱥ (second member head), ᱫᱣᱚᱱᱫᱚ (both members equal, joined by 'and'), ᱵᱚᱦᱩᱵᱽᱨᱤᱦᱤ (neither member is the referent).

ᱠᱟᱨᱚᱠ (case) is decided by the verb's relation to the noun: ᱠᱚᱨᱛᱟ (doer), ᱠᱚᱨᱢᱚ (object), ᱠᱚᱨᱚᱱ (instrument), ᱟᱫᱷᱟᱨ (location).

Postpositions mark case in Santhali; the ending on the noun, not word order, decides the karak label.

Verb agreement: Santhali verbs agree with person and number; check the subject before choosing the ending.

Tense transformation rule: change the verb form first, then adjust time adverbs (ᱦᱚᱸᱵᱮᱱᱟᱜ ᱠᱟᱱᱟ → ᱦᱩᱭᱮᱱᱟ) so the sentence stays consistent.

Active to passive: the object becomes subject and the verb takes a passive form; keep tense unchanged.

Direct to indirect speech: shift pronouns to the reporter's viewpoint and adjust tense and time words together.

Essay structure: three paragraphs minimum - ᱮᱛᱚᱦᱚᱵ (definition/context), ᱦᱚᱲᱢᱚ (two or three arguments with examples), ᱢᱩᱪᱟᱹᱫ (conclusion restating the stand).

Formal letter layout: sender address, date, receiver address, subject line, salutation, body, closing, signature - each on its own line.

Letter types in the syllabus: ᱟᱹᱯᱞᱤᱠᱮᱥᱚᱱ (application), ᱥᱟᱨᱦᱟᱣ ᱪᱤᱴᱷᱤ (thanks), ᱱᱮᱦᱚᱨ ᱪᱤᱴᱷᱤ (request); the register differs, the layout does not.

Notice (ᱱᱚᱴᱤᱥ) answers the five Ws briefly: what, when, where, who, whom to contact - no salutation, no signature block.

Report writing keeps past tense and third person; do not insert personal opinion.

Essay word budget: roughly 150–200 words; a longer answer with no structure scores below a tight, structured one.

Use at least two Santhali idioms or proverbs in an essay to demonstrate command, placed in the body, not the conclusion.

Mark allocation: content and organisation carry more than length; plan two minutes before writing.

Idiom rule: the meaning of an idiom (ᱞᱟᱹᱭᱠᱟᱛᱷᱟ) is not the sum of its words; learn each as a single unit with a sample sentence.

Synonym items: choose the word that fits the same grammatical slot; a noun synonym cannot replace a verb.

Antonym items: watch for negative prefixes and for pairs like ᱥᱮᱬᱟ/ᱦᱩᱰᱤᱧ, ᱥᱩᱜᱽᱲᱤ/ᱢᱩᱥᱠᱤᱞ.

Word-usage items: test the candidate word in a minimal sentence; if the sentence needs a different postposition, the option is wrong.

Rapid reading: scan for the keyword of the question rather than reading every line at normal speed.

Homophone traps: same sound, different spelling and meaning; confirm the spelling in the option.

Collective and measure words (ᱢᱤᱫ ᱜᱟᱫᱮᱞ, ᱢᱤᱫ ᱴᱷᱟᱹᱱᱤ) pair with specific nouns; mismatched pairing is the usual distractor.

For proverb-completion items, the second half must match in both sense and rhythm; reject halves that only rhyme.