व्याकरण: Sandhi, Samas, Alankar, Kaal and Vachya
The grammar domain carries the most predictable marks on the paper. Items recur in the same shapes each year: संधि-विच्छेद and संधि-नाम, समास-विग्रह and समास-नाम, अलंकार-पहचान, काल-परिवर्तन, वाच्य-परिवर्तन and कारक-चिह्न.
High-yield rules
- स्वर संधि: दीर्घ (विद्या + अर्थी = विद्यार्थी), गुण (सूर्य + उदय = सूर्योदय), वृद्धि (एक + एक = एकैक), यण (इति + आदि = इत्यादि), अयादि (ने + अन = नयन).
- समास: तत्पुरुष (राजपुत्र), कर्मधारय (नीलकमल), द्विगु (त्रिलोक), द्वंद्व (माता-पिता), बहुव्रीहि (दशानन), अव्ययीभाव (प्रतिदिन).
- अलंकार: उपमा needs a वाचक word (सा, जैसा, सम); रूपक has no such word; अनुप्रास repeats consonants; अतिशयोक्ति exaggerates; मानवीकरण gives human traits to nature.
- वाच्य: कर्मवाच्य uses the कर्म as subject with 'द्वारा' and a past participial verb form.
Worked example
Identify the संधि in 'सूर्योदय' and state the rule. Reasoning: split it - सूर्य + उदय. At the joint, 'अ' meets 'उ' and becomes 'ओ'. Since a + u = o, this is गुण संधि, not दीर्घ (which needs like vowels: अ + अ = आ). The order is always: split, inspect the two vowels at the joint, apply the स्वर-मेल rule, then name the संधि.
Traps that cost marks
- Labelling every अ/आ combination दीर्घ without checking the actual vowels.
- Confusing बहुव्रीहि with कर्मधारय: in बहुव्रीहि the whole compound points to a third entity.
- Naming an अलंकार without citing the वाचक शब्द or the basis of comparison.
- In कर्मवाच्य, forgetting 'द्वारा' or leaving the verb in the active form.
- Writing the विग्रह but not the समास-नाम, or vice versa, when both are asked.