Grammar judgement: teacher marks three, only two are wrong
In a 5-mark grammar drill, a student writes five sentences: 1. جَاءَ الطَّالِبَاتُ إِلَى الْمَدْرَسَةِ. 2. رَأَيْتُ الْمُسْلِمُونَ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ. 3. فِي الْبَيْتِ رَجُلٌ. 4. الطَّالِبَانِ مُجْتَهِدُونَ. 5. سَلَّمْتُ عَلَى أَخِي. The teacher marks 1, 2 and 5 wrong and writes 'correct the agreement' beside each. The student accepts 1 and 2 but argues that 5 must also be wrong because 'أخي' looks nominative. He has 8 minutes left to revise and must give a one-line i'rab for every corrected word. He is tempted to change 5 to 'أَخًا' to satisfy the teacher. Another student says sentence 3 is wrong because it starts with a preposition.
1. Identify which sentences actually contain errors, correct them, and give the i'rab needed for the drill.
Read the worked answer
Only 1, 2 and 4 contain errors. Corrections:
- جَاءَتِ الطَّالِبَاتُ - the verb must be feminine because the subject is feminine plural; الطَّالِبَاتُ is فاعل مرفوع بالضمة.
- رَأَيْتُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ - the object is accusative; الْمُسْلِمِينَ is مفعول به منصوب بالياء لأنه جمع مذكر سالم.
- الطَّالِبَانِ مُجْتَهِدَانِ - the predicate must agree in duality; مُجْتَهِدَانِ is خبر مرفوع بالألف لأنه مثنى.
Sentence 3 is correct: the prepositional phrase is fronted, and رَجُلٌ is مبتدأ مؤخر مرفوع. Sentence 5 is also correct: عَلَى أخي - أخي is اسم مجرور وعلامة جره الكسرة المقدرة على ما قبل ياء المتكلم. The teacher's mark on 5 is the trap.
2. The student wants to change sentence 5 to 'أَخًا' to satisfy the teacher. Explain why that is the wrong repair, using the preposition.
Read the worked answer
Changing to 'أَخًا' would create a new error. The preposition عَلَى governs the genitive, so the noun after it must be مجرور, not منصوب. 'أَخًا' is the accusative form; it would be correct after a verb such as رَأَيْتُ, but not after عَلَى. The correct form 'أَخِي' is majrur with a kasra muqaddara on the letter before the ya' of the speaker, and the ya' is مضاف إليه. The student is confusing the written shape with case: the ya' is not a nominative sign here. The exam-safe rule is: fix an error only when you can name the governor (عامل) and the case it requires. If the teacher's mark conflicts with the rule, do not invent a change; explain the rule in one line.