Marking a 5-mark application when the draft is incomplete and another script is the wrong genre
You are marking the 5-mark letter-writing item in a half-yearly paper. The task: 'Write an application to your Principal asking for a duplicate admit card because you have lost the original before the HSLC examination.' The rubric is format 2, content 2, language 1. Script A has the date, 'To, The Principal', a subject line, a salutation, a two-sentence body, 'Yours obediently', and the student's name, but omits class, section and roll number, and writes 'Please give me a new card soon.' Script B writes a friendly letter to a classmate asking for borrowed notes, with 'Dear Ratan', 'Your friend', and no subject line. Script C writes the correct format and includes all details but uses 'I am very much sorry' and 'kindly do the needful' repeatedly. The other marker wants to give Script B 2 format marks because 'it has a date and a salutation'.
1. Mark Scripts A, B and C out of 5. Explain each award, especially the genre problem in B.
Read the worked answer
A: 3/5. Format 1/2 - date, receiver, subject, salutation, closing and name are present, but class, section and roll number are missing from the identification block. Content 1/2 - the request is clear but the office cannot trace the student without details. Language 1/1 - intelligible, though 'Please give me' is blunt. Total 3.
B: 0/5. The rubric's format criterion is application format, not 'any letter layout'. A friendly letter with 'Dear Ratan' and 'Your friend' cannot earn application format marks even if it has a date and a salutation. The content is also off-task: borrowed notes are not a duplicate admit card. This is a genre error, not a minor slip.
C: 4/5. Format 2/2, content 2/2, language 0/1 - 'I am very much sorry' is nonstandard and 'kindly do the needful' is repeated formulaic padding. The message is clear, but the language mark should signal that official register needs tightening.
2. List the non-negotiable content elements in this application and explain why each matters.
Read the worked answer
The application needs: the date; the receiver's designation and school address; a subject line naming the request; the salutation; a clear statement that the original admit card is lost; the examination name and year; the student's full name, class, section and roll number; a request for a duplicate before a stated date; and the closing with signature. The identification details are not decoration: without them the office cannot match the request to a candidate record, and the duplicate cannot be issued. The date matters because the request is time-bound before the examination.
3. Rewrite Script A's body in formal register, keeping the student's request and adding the missing details.
Read the worked answer
I respectfully state that I have lost my original admit card for the HSLC Examination, 2025. My details are: Name - [name], Class - [class], Section - [section], Roll No. - [roll]. I request you to issue a duplicate admit card before [date] so that I can appear in the examination. I shall be grateful for your kind action.