Grammar and Language Usage
What this domain tests
Control of Karbi structure: word order, case and postpositions, number, verb agreement and tense/aspect, negation, interrogation, and sentence transformation. Item types are fill-in-the-blank, do-as-directed, error correction, and sentence joining.
Core rules
- Karbi is verb-final (SOV). In any transformation, move the verb to the end and keep modifiers before their heads.
- Karbi uses postpositions, not prepositions: the relational word follows its noun.
- Nouns take number marking; verbs agree with person and number. Re-check agreement after any change of subject.
- Negation is marked on or next to the verb. Converting affirmative to negative changes only the verb phrase.
- Yes/no questions are normally marked by a final particle; wh-words stay in the pre-verbal slot.
- Numeral expressions take a classifier between number and noun.
- Reduplication signals repetition, intensity or distribution - do not delete it in transformation items.
Worked example
Directive: "Rewrite in the negative: 'The boys brought the baskets.'" Reasoning: (1) the subject is plural, so plural agreement stays; (2) tense remains past; (3) the negative marker goes at the verb, not at the noun; (4) SOV order is retained. Result: subject – object – negated past verb. The commonest error is fronting the negative on the English model ("Not the boys brought…"), which Karbi does not do.
Traps that cost marks
- Carrying English preposition order into Karbi.
- Dropping the classifier in a numeral phrase.
- Changing tense while negating.
- Forgetting that a new subject forces new verb agreement.