Reading Comprehension of Arabic Prose Passages
What the domain tests
The reading-comprehension section of the Kerala DHSE Plus Two Arabic paper asks you to process an unseen Arabic prose passage and answer in Arabic or English/Malayalam according to the question. It tests main idea, specific detail, pronoun reference, inference, vocabulary in context, and the function of connectors such as لكن، لأنّ، لذلك، بينما، ومع ذلك.
Core rules
- Read the questions first, then scan for names, dates, numbers and repeated nouns; answers usually follow passage order.
- Identify the paragraph's topic sentence and the function of each sentence: definition, cause, contrast, example, result.
- Track pronouns (هو، هي، هم، هذا، التي) to their nearest logical antecedent, not merely the nearest noun.
- For "ما المقصود" questions, paraphrase in your own words; do not copy a whole sentence unless asked.
- For true/false or "أي العبارات" items, locate the exact wording and check quantifiers: كل، بعض، غالبًا، لم، لن.
Worked example
Passage: أعلنت الجامعة تأجيل الامتحان بسبب الأمطار الغزيرة، وقد أثار القرار قلق الطلاب. Question: لماذا تأجّل الامتحان؟ Reasoning: The connector بسبب introduces cause; الأمطار الغزيرة is the reason. The pronoun in القرار refers to تأجيل الامتحان. Answer: بسبب الأمطار الغزيرة. Do not answer "قلق الطلاب", which is a result, not cause.
Traps
Literal translation of idioms; confusing cause with result; ignoring negation (لم يحضر ≠ حضر); choosing an option that is true generally but absent from the passage; and missing that a non-human plural may take a feminine singular adjective.