Kerala SSLC Malayalam AT cheat sheet

Genre markers: katha is fictional with one central conflict; yaathra vivaranam is first-person travel writing; jeevacharithram is chronological biography; smarana is reflective memoir; lekhanam is argumentative essay.

Character analysis rule: judge a paathra from four sources - the narrator's direct description, the character's own words and actions, other characters' comments, and the change shown by the end.

Theme statement formula: 'This extract establishes that [human value] is revealed through [central incident] in the life of [character]', supported by one textual detail.

Author-work pairs for SSLC prose: P. Kesavadev - Odayil Ninnu; Thakazhi - Chemmeen and Kayar; S.K. Pottekkatt - Oru Theruvinte Katha; M.T. - Naalukettu and Randamoozham; Basheer - Balyakalasakhi.

Narrative point of view: 'njan' signals first-person narration with limited knowledge; third-person narration can report other characters' thoughts and is called sarvajna (omniscient).

Comprehension decision: for 'why' and 'how' questions, answer only with cause-effect evidence from the passage, not with general knowledge about the author or Kerala.

Dialogue function: Malayalam prose often carries theme through sambhashanam rather than description; a repeated phrase in dialogue usually signals a character's motive.

Chronology questions: reconstruct the story's order of events, which may differ from paragraph order; check time markers such as 'pinne', 'athinu sesham' and 'annu'.

Rasa-sthayibhava pairs: sringara–rati, hasya–hasa, karuna–soka, raudra–krodha, veera–utsaha, bhayanaka–bhaya, beebhatsa–jugupsa, adbhuta–vismaya, shanta–sama.

Guru rule: a syllable is guru if its vowel is long (aa, ee, oo), or followed by anusvara, visarga or a conjunct consonant; otherwise it is laghu.

Common Sanskrit metres by syllables per pada: Anushtup 8, Vasantatilaka 14, Malini 15, Mandakranta 17, Shardoolavikridita 19.

Alankara decision: explicit comparison with pole, peley or iva = upama; direct identification without a comparison word = roopakam; deliberate exaggeration = atisayokti; nature given human feeling = manushikaranam.

Poet-work pairs: Kumaran Asan - Nalini, Duravastha, Chandalabhikshuki; Vallathol - Magdalana Mariyam, Sahitya Manjari; Ulloor - Umakeralam, Karnabhushanam; Changampuzha - Ramanan.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, who reshaped Malayalam poetry in the early twentieth century.

Rasa in a poem is decided by the dominant emotion, not by isolated words; a poem may contain karuna passages while its primary rasa is veera.

Dhwani is suggested or implied meaning; vakrokti is oblique or indirect expression; both are used to explain poetic beauty in Malayalam criticism.

Sandhi rule: combine the final and initial sounds of adjacent words - koodi + eluthu = koodiyeluthu; athu + kondu = athukondu; enthe + anu = enthanu.

Sanskrit sandhi types: savarna (a + a = aa), guna (a + i = e), vriddhi (a + e = ai), yan (i + a = ya), ayava, purvarupa, parasavarna; Surya + udayam = Suryodayam.

Samasam decision: if two or more words form one compound with a single meaning, it is samasam; if only sounds change at the word boundary, it is sandhi.

Samasam types: tatpurusha (rajabhavanam), dvandva (achanmarammamar), bahuvrhi (pezhuvayan), dvigu (mumozhi), avyayibhava (prathidinam), karmadharaya (neelakamalam).

Tatpurusha vs bahuvrhi: in tatpurusha the final member is the referent; in bahuvrhi the compound refers to a third thing possessing the quality.

Alankaram split: shabdalankaram works through sound (anuprasam, yamakam, punarukti); arthalankaram works through meaning (upama, roopakam, atisayokti, utpreksha, vyathirekam).

'Alla' negates identity or classification ('ithu pusthakam alla'); 'illa' negates existence, possession or action ('pusthakam illa', 'avan vannilla').

Upama requires four elements: upameyam, upamanam, samanya dharma and a comparison word such as pole, peley or iva.

Essay structure: aamukham (introduction stating topic and stand), aashayam (two or three body paragraphs with examples), upasamharam (conclusion restating the stand).

Letter order: sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, subject, body, closing and signature; official letters use a formal salutation such as 'Mahodaya'.

Precis rule: reduce to about one-third of the original, keep the central idea and logical order, drop examples and repetition, and do not add personal opinion.

Notice components: heading 'Ariyippu', date, event, venue, time, organiser and contact; it must be short and boxed in the answer sheet.

Report structure: headline, place-date line, lead paragraph answering who, what, when and where, then supporting details and a closing line.

Direct speech to indirect: remove quotation marks, change pronouns and tense, and join with 'ennu' - 'avan vannu ennu paranju'.

Paragraph unity rule: one paragraph carries one controlling idea; a new example or a shift in time or place starts a new paragraph.

Character sketch: combine physical description, behaviour, speech, relationships and change, and support each trait with an incident from the text.

Ezhuthachan (16th century) is called the father of Malayalam literature; works: Adhyatma Ramayanam, Mahabharatam, Harinamakeerthanam, in kilipattu and vannappattu style.

Kunchan Nambiar created Thullal; its three forms are Ottamthullal, Seethankan Thullal and Parayan Thullal, using satire and simple Malayalam.

Ramacharitham, composed in Pattu style around the 12th–13th century, is regarded as the earliest major Malayalam poem and retells the Ramayana.

Manipravalam is a mixed Malayalam-Sanskrit literary language of Kerala court poetry; Lilathilakam is a grammatical work on Manipravalam.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer; Vallathol founded Kerala Kalamandalam in 1930.

Jnanpith winners from Malayalam: G. Sankara Kurup (1965), S.K. Pottekkatt (1980), Thakazhi (1984), M.T. Vasudevan Nair (1995), O.N.V. Kurup (2007), Akkitham (2019).

Kathakali is Kerala's classical dance-drama with chutti face paint, mudras, chenda and maddalam; stories come mainly from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Theyyam is a ritual performance of north Kerala in which the performer is treated as a deity; it is a recurring theme in modern Malayalam poetry and fiction.

Genre markers: katha is fictional with one central conflict; yaathra vivaranam is first-person travel writing; jeevacharithram is chronological biography; smarana is reflective memoir; lekhanam is argumentative essay.

Character analysis rule: judge a paathra from four sources - the narrator's direct description, the character's own words and actions, other characters' comments, and the change shown by the end.

Theme statement formula: 'This extract establishes that [human value] is revealed through [central incident] in the life of [character]', supported by one textual detail.

Author-work pairs for SSLC prose: P. Kesavadev - Odayil Ninnu; Thakazhi - Chemmeen and Kayar; S.K. Pottekkatt - Oru Theruvinte Katha; M.T. - Naalukettu and Randamoozham; Basheer - Balyakalasakhi.

Narrative point of view: 'njan' signals first-person narration with limited knowledge; third-person narration can report other characters' thoughts and is called sarvajna (omniscient).

Comprehension decision: for 'why' and 'how' questions, answer only with cause-effect evidence from the passage, not with general knowledge about the author or Kerala.

Dialogue function: Malayalam prose often carries theme through sambhashanam rather than description; a repeated phrase in dialogue usually signals a character's motive.

Chronology questions: reconstruct the story's order of events, which may differ from paragraph order; check time markers such as 'pinne', 'athinu sesham' and 'annu'.

Rasa-sthayibhava pairs: sringara–rati, hasya–hasa, karuna–soka, raudra–krodha, veera–utsaha, bhayanaka–bhaya, beebhatsa–jugupsa, adbhuta–vismaya, shanta–sama.

Guru rule: a syllable is guru if its vowel is long (aa, ee, oo), or followed by anusvara, visarga or a conjunct consonant; otherwise it is laghu.

Common Sanskrit metres by syllables per pada: Anushtup 8, Vasantatilaka 14, Malini 15, Mandakranta 17, Shardoolavikridita 19.

Alankara decision: explicit comparison with pole, peley or iva = upama; direct identification without a comparison word = roopakam; deliberate exaggeration = atisayokti; nature given human feeling = manushikaranam.

Poet-work pairs: Kumaran Asan - Nalini, Duravastha, Chandalabhikshuki; Vallathol - Magdalana Mariyam, Sahitya Manjari; Ulloor - Umakeralam, Karnabhushanam; Changampuzha - Ramanan.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, who reshaped Malayalam poetry in the early twentieth century.

Rasa in a poem is decided by the dominant emotion, not by isolated words; a poem may contain karuna passages while its primary rasa is veera.

Dhwani is suggested or implied meaning; vakrokti is oblique or indirect expression; both are used to explain poetic beauty in Malayalam criticism.

Sandhi rule: combine the final and initial sounds of adjacent words - koodi + eluthu = koodiyeluthu; athu + kondu = athukondu; enthe + anu = enthanu.

Sanskrit sandhi types: savarna (a + a = aa), guna (a + i = e), vriddhi (a + e = ai), yan (i + a = ya), ayava, purvarupa, parasavarna; Surya + udayam = Suryodayam.

Samasam decision: if two or more words form one compound with a single meaning, it is samasam; if only sounds change at the word boundary, it is sandhi.

Samasam types: tatpurusha (rajabhavanam), dvandva (achanmarammamar), bahuvrhi (pezhuvayan), dvigu (mumozhi), avyayibhava (prathidinam), karmadharaya (neelakamalam).

Tatpurusha vs bahuvrhi: in tatpurusha the final member is the referent; in bahuvrhi the compound refers to a third thing possessing the quality.

Alankaram split: shabdalankaram works through sound (anuprasam, yamakam, punarukti); arthalankaram works through meaning (upama, roopakam, atisayokti, utpreksha, vyathirekam).

'Alla' negates identity or classification ('ithu pusthakam alla'); 'illa' negates existence, possession or action ('pusthakam illa', 'avan vannilla').

Upama requires four elements: upameyam, upamanam, samanya dharma and a comparison word such as pole, peley or iva.

Essay structure: aamukham (introduction stating topic and stand), aashayam (two or three body paragraphs with examples), upasamharam (conclusion restating the stand).

Letter order: sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, subject, body, closing and signature; official letters use a formal salutation such as 'Mahodaya'.

Precis rule: reduce to about one-third of the original, keep the central idea and logical order, drop examples and repetition, and do not add personal opinion.

Notice components: heading 'Ariyippu', date, event, venue, time, organiser and contact; it must be short and boxed in the answer sheet.

Report structure: headline, place-date line, lead paragraph answering who, what, when and where, then supporting details and a closing line.

Direct speech to indirect: remove quotation marks, change pronouns and tense, and join with 'ennu' - 'avan vannu ennu paranju'.

Paragraph unity rule: one paragraph carries one controlling idea; a new example or a shift in time or place starts a new paragraph.

Character sketch: combine physical description, behaviour, speech, relationships and change, and support each trait with an incident from the text.

Ezhuthachan (16th century) is called the father of Malayalam literature; works: Adhyatma Ramayanam, Mahabharatam, Harinamakeerthanam, in kilipattu and vannappattu style.

Kunchan Nambiar created Thullal; its three forms are Ottamthullal, Seethankan Thullal and Parayan Thullal, using satire and simple Malayalam.

Ramacharitham, composed in Pattu style around the 12th–13th century, is regarded as the earliest major Malayalam poem and retells the Ramayana.

Manipravalam is a mixed Malayalam-Sanskrit literary language of Kerala court poetry; Lilathilakam is a grammatical work on Manipravalam.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer; Vallathol founded Kerala Kalamandalam in 1930.

Jnanpith winners from Malayalam: G. Sankara Kurup (1965), S.K. Pottekkatt (1980), Thakazhi (1984), M.T. Vasudevan Nair (1995), O.N.V. Kurup (2007), Akkitham (2019).

Kathakali is Kerala's classical dance-drama with chutti face paint, mudras, chenda and maddalam; stories come mainly from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Theyyam is a ritual performance of north Kerala in which the performer is treated as a deity; it is a recurring theme in modern Malayalam poetry and fiction.

Genre markers: katha is fictional with one central conflict; yaathra vivaranam is first-person travel writing; jeevacharithram is chronological biography; smarana is reflective memoir; lekhanam is argumentative essay.

Character analysis rule: judge a paathra from four sources - the narrator's direct description, the character's own words and actions, other characters' comments, and the change shown by the end.

Theme statement formula: 'This extract establishes that [human value] is revealed through [central incident] in the life of [character]', supported by one textual detail.

Author-work pairs for SSLC prose: P. Kesavadev - Odayil Ninnu; Thakazhi - Chemmeen and Kayar; S.K. Pottekkatt - Oru Theruvinte Katha; M.T. - Naalukettu and Randamoozham; Basheer - Balyakalasakhi.

Narrative point of view: 'njan' signals first-person narration with limited knowledge; third-person narration can report other characters' thoughts and is called sarvajna (omniscient).

Comprehension decision: for 'why' and 'how' questions, answer only with cause-effect evidence from the passage, not with general knowledge about the author or Kerala.

Dialogue function: Malayalam prose often carries theme through sambhashanam rather than description; a repeated phrase in dialogue usually signals a character's motive.

Chronology questions: reconstruct the story's order of events, which may differ from paragraph order; check time markers such as 'pinne', 'athinu sesham' and 'annu'.

Rasa-sthayibhava pairs: sringara–rati, hasya–hasa, karuna–soka, raudra–krodha, veera–utsaha, bhayanaka–bhaya, beebhatsa–jugupsa, adbhuta–vismaya, shanta–sama.

Guru rule: a syllable is guru if its vowel is long (aa, ee, oo), or followed by anusvara, visarga or a conjunct consonant; otherwise it is laghu.

Common Sanskrit metres by syllables per pada: Anushtup 8, Vasantatilaka 14, Malini 15, Mandakranta 17, Shardoolavikridita 19.

Alankara decision: explicit comparison with pole, peley or iva = upama; direct identification without a comparison word = roopakam; deliberate exaggeration = atisayokti; nature given human feeling = manushikaranam.

Poet-work pairs: Kumaran Asan - Nalini, Duravastha, Chandalabhikshuki; Vallathol - Magdalana Mariyam, Sahitya Manjari; Ulloor - Umakeralam, Karnabhushanam; Changampuzha - Ramanan.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, who reshaped Malayalam poetry in the early twentieth century.

Rasa in a poem is decided by the dominant emotion, not by isolated words; a poem may contain karuna passages while its primary rasa is veera.

Dhwani is suggested or implied meaning; vakrokti is oblique or indirect expression; both are used to explain poetic beauty in Malayalam criticism.

Sandhi rule: combine the final and initial sounds of adjacent words - koodi + eluthu = koodiyeluthu; athu + kondu = athukondu; enthe + anu = enthanu.

Sanskrit sandhi types: savarna (a + a = aa), guna (a + i = e), vriddhi (a + e = ai), yan (i + a = ya), ayava, purvarupa, parasavarna; Surya + udayam = Suryodayam.

Samasam decision: if two or more words form one compound with a single meaning, it is samasam; if only sounds change at the word boundary, it is sandhi.

Samasam types: tatpurusha (rajabhavanam), dvandva (achanmarammamar), bahuvrhi (pezhuvayan), dvigu (mumozhi), avyayibhava (prathidinam), karmadharaya (neelakamalam).

Tatpurusha vs bahuvrhi: in tatpurusha the final member is the referent; in bahuvrhi the compound refers to a third thing possessing the quality.

Alankaram split: shabdalankaram works through sound (anuprasam, yamakam, punarukti); arthalankaram works through meaning (upama, roopakam, atisayokti, utpreksha, vyathirekam).

'Alla' negates identity or classification ('ithu pusthakam alla'); 'illa' negates existence, possession or action ('pusthakam illa', 'avan vannilla').

Upama requires four elements: upameyam, upamanam, samanya dharma and a comparison word such as pole, peley or iva.

Essay structure: aamukham (introduction stating topic and stand), aashayam (two or three body paragraphs with examples), upasamharam (conclusion restating the stand).

Letter order: sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, subject, body, closing and signature; official letters use a formal salutation such as 'Mahodaya'.

Precis rule: reduce to about one-third of the original, keep the central idea and logical order, drop examples and repetition, and do not add personal opinion.

Notice components: heading 'Ariyippu', date, event, venue, time, organiser and contact; it must be short and boxed in the answer sheet.

Report structure: headline, place-date line, lead paragraph answering who, what, when and where, then supporting details and a closing line.

Direct speech to indirect: remove quotation marks, change pronouns and tense, and join with 'ennu' - 'avan vannu ennu paranju'.

Paragraph unity rule: one paragraph carries one controlling idea; a new example or a shift in time or place starts a new paragraph.

Character sketch: combine physical description, behaviour, speech, relationships and change, and support each trait with an incident from the text.

Ezhuthachan (16th century) is called the father of Malayalam literature; works: Adhyatma Ramayanam, Mahabharatam, Harinamakeerthanam, in kilipattu and vannappattu style.

Kunchan Nambiar created Thullal; its three forms are Ottamthullal, Seethankan Thullal and Parayan Thullal, using satire and simple Malayalam.

Ramacharitham, composed in Pattu style around the 12th–13th century, is regarded as the earliest major Malayalam poem and retells the Ramayana.

Manipravalam is a mixed Malayalam-Sanskrit literary language of Kerala court poetry; Lilathilakam is a grammatical work on Manipravalam.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer; Vallathol founded Kerala Kalamandalam in 1930.

Jnanpith winners from Malayalam: G. Sankara Kurup (1965), S.K. Pottekkatt (1980), Thakazhi (1984), M.T. Vasudevan Nair (1995), O.N.V. Kurup (2007), Akkitham (2019).

Kathakali is Kerala's classical dance-drama with chutti face paint, mudras, chenda and maddalam; stories come mainly from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Theyyam is a ritual performance of north Kerala in which the performer is treated as a deity; it is a recurring theme in modern Malayalam poetry and fiction.

Genre markers: katha is fictional with one central conflict; yaathra vivaranam is first-person travel writing; jeevacharithram is chronological biography; smarana is reflective memoir; lekhanam is argumentative essay.

Character analysis rule: judge a paathra from four sources - the narrator's direct description, the character's own words and actions, other characters' comments, and the change shown by the end.

Theme statement formula: 'This extract establishes that [human value] is revealed through [central incident] in the life of [character]', supported by one textual detail.

Author-work pairs for SSLC prose: P. Kesavadev - Odayil Ninnu; Thakazhi - Chemmeen and Kayar; S.K. Pottekkatt - Oru Theruvinte Katha; M.T. - Naalukettu and Randamoozham; Basheer - Balyakalasakhi.

Narrative point of view: 'njan' signals first-person narration with limited knowledge; third-person narration can report other characters' thoughts and is called sarvajna (omniscient).

Comprehension decision: for 'why' and 'how' questions, answer only with cause-effect evidence from the passage, not with general knowledge about the author or Kerala.

Dialogue function: Malayalam prose often carries theme through sambhashanam rather than description; a repeated phrase in dialogue usually signals a character's motive.

Chronology questions: reconstruct the story's order of events, which may differ from paragraph order; check time markers such as 'pinne', 'athinu sesham' and 'annu'.

Rasa-sthayibhava pairs: sringara–rati, hasya–hasa, karuna–soka, raudra–krodha, veera–utsaha, bhayanaka–bhaya, beebhatsa–jugupsa, adbhuta–vismaya, shanta–sama.

Guru rule: a syllable is guru if its vowel is long (aa, ee, oo), or followed by anusvara, visarga or a conjunct consonant; otherwise it is laghu.

Common Sanskrit metres by syllables per pada: Anushtup 8, Vasantatilaka 14, Malini 15, Mandakranta 17, Shardoolavikridita 19.

Alankara decision: explicit comparison with pole, peley or iva = upama; direct identification without a comparison word = roopakam; deliberate exaggeration = atisayokti; nature given human feeling = manushikaranam.

Poet-work pairs: Kumaran Asan - Nalini, Duravastha, Chandalabhikshuki; Vallathol - Magdalana Mariyam, Sahitya Manjari; Ulloor - Umakeralam, Karnabhushanam; Changampuzha - Ramanan.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, who reshaped Malayalam poetry in the early twentieth century.

Rasa in a poem is decided by the dominant emotion, not by isolated words; a poem may contain karuna passages while its primary rasa is veera.

Dhwani is suggested or implied meaning; vakrokti is oblique or indirect expression; both are used to explain poetic beauty in Malayalam criticism.

Sandhi rule: combine the final and initial sounds of adjacent words - koodi + eluthu = koodiyeluthu; athu + kondu = athukondu; enthe + anu = enthanu.

Sanskrit sandhi types: savarna (a + a = aa), guna (a + i = e), vriddhi (a + e = ai), yan (i + a = ya), ayava, purvarupa, parasavarna; Surya + udayam = Suryodayam.

Samasam decision: if two or more words form one compound with a single meaning, it is samasam; if only sounds change at the word boundary, it is sandhi.

Samasam types: tatpurusha (rajabhavanam), dvandva (achanmarammamar), bahuvrhi (pezhuvayan), dvigu (mumozhi), avyayibhava (prathidinam), karmadharaya (neelakamalam).

Tatpurusha vs bahuvrhi: in tatpurusha the final member is the referent; in bahuvrhi the compound refers to a third thing possessing the quality.

Alankaram split: shabdalankaram works through sound (anuprasam, yamakam, punarukti); arthalankaram works through meaning (upama, roopakam, atisayokti, utpreksha, vyathirekam).

'Alla' negates identity or classification ('ithu pusthakam alla'); 'illa' negates existence, possession or action ('pusthakam illa', 'avan vannilla').

Upama requires four elements: upameyam, upamanam, samanya dharma and a comparison word such as pole, peley or iva.

Essay structure: aamukham (introduction stating topic and stand), aashayam (two or three body paragraphs with examples), upasamharam (conclusion restating the stand).

Letter order: sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, subject, body, closing and signature; official letters use a formal salutation such as 'Mahodaya'.

Precis rule: reduce to about one-third of the original, keep the central idea and logical order, drop examples and repetition, and do not add personal opinion.

Notice components: heading 'Ariyippu', date, event, venue, time, organiser and contact; it must be short and boxed in the answer sheet.

Report structure: headline, place-date line, lead paragraph answering who, what, when and where, then supporting details and a closing line.

Direct speech to indirect: remove quotation marks, change pronouns and tense, and join with 'ennu' - 'avan vannu ennu paranju'.

Paragraph unity rule: one paragraph carries one controlling idea; a new example or a shift in time or place starts a new paragraph.

Character sketch: combine physical description, behaviour, speech, relationships and change, and support each trait with an incident from the text.

Ezhuthachan (16th century) is called the father of Malayalam literature; works: Adhyatma Ramayanam, Mahabharatam, Harinamakeerthanam, in kilipattu and vannappattu style.

Kunchan Nambiar created Thullal; its three forms are Ottamthullal, Seethankan Thullal and Parayan Thullal, using satire and simple Malayalam.

Ramacharitham, composed in Pattu style around the 12th–13th century, is regarded as the earliest major Malayalam poem and retells the Ramayana.

Manipravalam is a mixed Malayalam-Sanskrit literary language of Kerala court poetry; Lilathilakam is a grammatical work on Manipravalam.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer; Vallathol founded Kerala Kalamandalam in 1930.

Jnanpith winners from Malayalam: G. Sankara Kurup (1965), S.K. Pottekkatt (1980), Thakazhi (1984), M.T. Vasudevan Nair (1995), O.N.V. Kurup (2007), Akkitham (2019).

Kathakali is Kerala's classical dance-drama with chutti face paint, mudras, chenda and maddalam; stories come mainly from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Theyyam is a ritual performance of north Kerala in which the performer is treated as a deity; it is a recurring theme in modern Malayalam poetry and fiction.

Genre markers: katha is fictional with one central conflict; yaathra vivaranam is first-person travel writing; jeevacharithram is chronological biography; smarana is reflective memoir; lekhanam is argumentative essay.

Character analysis rule: judge a paathra from four sources - the narrator's direct description, the character's own words and actions, other characters' comments, and the change shown by the end.

Theme statement formula: 'This extract establishes that [human value] is revealed through [central incident] in the life of [character]', supported by one textual detail.

Author-work pairs for SSLC prose: P. Kesavadev - Odayil Ninnu; Thakazhi - Chemmeen and Kayar; S.K. Pottekkatt - Oru Theruvinte Katha; M.T. - Naalukettu and Randamoozham; Basheer - Balyakalasakhi.

Narrative point of view: 'njan' signals first-person narration with limited knowledge; third-person narration can report other characters' thoughts and is called sarvajna (omniscient).

Comprehension decision: for 'why' and 'how' questions, answer only with cause-effect evidence from the passage, not with general knowledge about the author or Kerala.

Dialogue function: Malayalam prose often carries theme through sambhashanam rather than description; a repeated phrase in dialogue usually signals a character's motive.

Chronology questions: reconstruct the story's order of events, which may differ from paragraph order; check time markers such as 'pinne', 'athinu sesham' and 'annu'.

Rasa-sthayibhava pairs: sringara–rati, hasya–hasa, karuna–soka, raudra–krodha, veera–utsaha, bhayanaka–bhaya, beebhatsa–jugupsa, adbhuta–vismaya, shanta–sama.

Guru rule: a syllable is guru if its vowel is long (aa, ee, oo), or followed by anusvara, visarga or a conjunct consonant; otherwise it is laghu.

Common Sanskrit metres by syllables per pada: Anushtup 8, Vasantatilaka 14, Malini 15, Mandakranta 17, Shardoolavikridita 19.

Alankara decision: explicit comparison with pole, peley or iva = upama; direct identification without a comparison word = roopakam; deliberate exaggeration = atisayokti; nature given human feeling = manushikaranam.

Poet-work pairs: Kumaran Asan - Nalini, Duravastha, Chandalabhikshuki; Vallathol - Magdalana Mariyam, Sahitya Manjari; Ulloor - Umakeralam, Karnabhushanam; Changampuzha - Ramanan.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, who reshaped Malayalam poetry in the early twentieth century.

Rasa in a poem is decided by the dominant emotion, not by isolated words; a poem may contain karuna passages while its primary rasa is veera.

Dhwani is suggested or implied meaning; vakrokti is oblique or indirect expression; both are used to explain poetic beauty in Malayalam criticism.

Sandhi rule: combine the final and initial sounds of adjacent words - koodi + eluthu = koodiyeluthu; athu + kondu = athukondu; enthe + anu = enthanu.

Sanskrit sandhi types: savarna (a + a = aa), guna (a + i = e), vriddhi (a + e = ai), yan (i + a = ya), ayava, purvarupa, parasavarna; Surya + udayam = Suryodayam.

Samasam decision: if two or more words form one compound with a single meaning, it is samasam; if only sounds change at the word boundary, it is sandhi.

Samasam types: tatpurusha (rajabhavanam), dvandva (achanmarammamar), bahuvrhi (pezhuvayan), dvigu (mumozhi), avyayibhava (prathidinam), karmadharaya (neelakamalam).

Tatpurusha vs bahuvrhi: in tatpurusha the final member is the referent; in bahuvrhi the compound refers to a third thing possessing the quality.

Alankaram split: shabdalankaram works through sound (anuprasam, yamakam, punarukti); arthalankaram works through meaning (upama, roopakam, atisayokti, utpreksha, vyathirekam).

'Alla' negates identity or classification ('ithu pusthakam alla'); 'illa' negates existence, possession or action ('pusthakam illa', 'avan vannilla').

Upama requires four elements: upameyam, upamanam, samanya dharma and a comparison word such as pole, peley or iva.

Essay structure: aamukham (introduction stating topic and stand), aashayam (two or three body paragraphs with examples), upasamharam (conclusion restating the stand).

Letter order: sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, subject, body, closing and signature; official letters use a formal salutation such as 'Mahodaya'.

Precis rule: reduce to about one-third of the original, keep the central idea and logical order, drop examples and repetition, and do not add personal opinion.

Notice components: heading 'Ariyippu', date, event, venue, time, organiser and contact; it must be short and boxed in the answer sheet.

Report structure: headline, place-date line, lead paragraph answering who, what, when and where, then supporting details and a closing line.

Direct speech to indirect: remove quotation marks, change pronouns and tense, and join with 'ennu' - 'avan vannu ennu paranju'.

Paragraph unity rule: one paragraph carries one controlling idea; a new example or a shift in time or place starts a new paragraph.

Character sketch: combine physical description, behaviour, speech, relationships and change, and support each trait with an incident from the text.

Ezhuthachan (16th century) is called the father of Malayalam literature; works: Adhyatma Ramayanam, Mahabharatam, Harinamakeerthanam, in kilipattu and vannappattu style.

Kunchan Nambiar created Thullal; its three forms are Ottamthullal, Seethankan Thullal and Parayan Thullal, using satire and simple Malayalam.

Ramacharitham, composed in Pattu style around the 12th–13th century, is regarded as the earliest major Malayalam poem and retells the Ramayana.

Manipravalam is a mixed Malayalam-Sanskrit literary language of Kerala court poetry; Lilathilakam is a grammatical work on Manipravalam.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer; Vallathol founded Kerala Kalamandalam in 1930.

Jnanpith winners from Malayalam: G. Sankara Kurup (1965), S.K. Pottekkatt (1980), Thakazhi (1984), M.T. Vasudevan Nair (1995), O.N.V. Kurup (2007), Akkitham (2019).

Kathakali is Kerala's classical dance-drama with chutti face paint, mudras, chenda and maddalam; stories come mainly from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Theyyam is a ritual performance of north Kerala in which the performer is treated as a deity; it is a recurring theme in modern Malayalam poetry and fiction.

Genre markers: katha is fictional with one central conflict; yaathra vivaranam is first-person travel writing; jeevacharithram is chronological biography; smarana is reflective memoir; lekhanam is argumentative essay.

Character analysis rule: judge a paathra from four sources - the narrator's direct description, the character's own words and actions, other characters' comments, and the change shown by the end.

Theme statement formula: 'This extract establishes that [human value] is revealed through [central incident] in the life of [character]', supported by one textual detail.

Author-work pairs for SSLC prose: P. Kesavadev - Odayil Ninnu; Thakazhi - Chemmeen and Kayar; S.K. Pottekkatt - Oru Theruvinte Katha; M.T. - Naalukettu and Randamoozham; Basheer - Balyakalasakhi.

Narrative point of view: 'njan' signals first-person narration with limited knowledge; third-person narration can report other characters' thoughts and is called sarvajna (omniscient).

Comprehension decision: for 'why' and 'how' questions, answer only with cause-effect evidence from the passage, not with general knowledge about the author or Kerala.

Dialogue function: Malayalam prose often carries theme through sambhashanam rather than description; a repeated phrase in dialogue usually signals a character's motive.

Chronology questions: reconstruct the story's order of events, which may differ from paragraph order; check time markers such as 'pinne', 'athinu sesham' and 'annu'.

Rasa-sthayibhava pairs: sringara–rati, hasya–hasa, karuna–soka, raudra–krodha, veera–utsaha, bhayanaka–bhaya, beebhatsa–jugupsa, adbhuta–vismaya, shanta–sama.

Guru rule: a syllable is guru if its vowel is long (aa, ee, oo), or followed by anusvara, visarga or a conjunct consonant; otherwise it is laghu.

Common Sanskrit metres by syllables per pada: Anushtup 8, Vasantatilaka 14, Malini 15, Mandakranta 17, Shardoolavikridita 19.

Alankara decision: explicit comparison with pole, peley or iva = upama; direct identification without a comparison word = roopakam; deliberate exaggeration = atisayokti; nature given human feeling = manushikaranam.

Poet-work pairs: Kumaran Asan - Nalini, Duravastha, Chandalabhikshuki; Vallathol - Magdalana Mariyam, Sahitya Manjari; Ulloor - Umakeralam, Karnabhushanam; Changampuzha - Ramanan.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, who reshaped Malayalam poetry in the early twentieth century.

Rasa in a poem is decided by the dominant emotion, not by isolated words; a poem may contain karuna passages while its primary rasa is veera.

Dhwani is suggested or implied meaning; vakrokti is oblique or indirect expression; both are used to explain poetic beauty in Malayalam criticism.

Sandhi rule: combine the final and initial sounds of adjacent words - koodi + eluthu = koodiyeluthu; athu + kondu = athukondu; enthe + anu = enthanu.

Sanskrit sandhi types: savarna (a + a = aa), guna (a + i = e), vriddhi (a + e = ai), yan (i + a = ya), ayava, purvarupa, parasavarna; Surya + udayam = Suryodayam.

Samasam decision: if two or more words form one compound with a single meaning, it is samasam; if only sounds change at the word boundary, it is sandhi.

Samasam types: tatpurusha (rajabhavanam), dvandva (achanmarammamar), bahuvrhi (pezhuvayan), dvigu (mumozhi), avyayibhava (prathidinam), karmadharaya (neelakamalam).

Tatpurusha vs bahuvrhi: in tatpurusha the final member is the referent; in bahuvrhi the compound refers to a third thing possessing the quality.

Alankaram split: shabdalankaram works through sound (anuprasam, yamakam, punarukti); arthalankaram works through meaning (upama, roopakam, atisayokti, utpreksha, vyathirekam).

'Alla' negates identity or classification ('ithu pusthakam alla'); 'illa' negates existence, possession or action ('pusthakam illa', 'avan vannilla').

Upama requires four elements: upameyam, upamanam, samanya dharma and a comparison word such as pole, peley or iva.

Essay structure: aamukham (introduction stating topic and stand), aashayam (two or three body paragraphs with examples), upasamharam (conclusion restating the stand).

Letter order: sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, subject, body, closing and signature; official letters use a formal salutation such as 'Mahodaya'.

Precis rule: reduce to about one-third of the original, keep the central idea and logical order, drop examples and repetition, and do not add personal opinion.

Notice components: heading 'Ariyippu', date, event, venue, time, organiser and contact; it must be short and boxed in the answer sheet.

Report structure: headline, place-date line, lead paragraph answering who, what, when and where, then supporting details and a closing line.

Direct speech to indirect: remove quotation marks, change pronouns and tense, and join with 'ennu' - 'avan vannu ennu paranju'.

Paragraph unity rule: one paragraph carries one controlling idea; a new example or a shift in time or place starts a new paragraph.

Character sketch: combine physical description, behaviour, speech, relationships and change, and support each trait with an incident from the text.

Ezhuthachan (16th century) is called the father of Malayalam literature; works: Adhyatma Ramayanam, Mahabharatam, Harinamakeerthanam, in kilipattu and vannappattu style.

Kunchan Nambiar created Thullal; its three forms are Ottamthullal, Seethankan Thullal and Parayan Thullal, using satire and simple Malayalam.

Ramacharitham, composed in Pattu style around the 12th–13th century, is regarded as the earliest major Malayalam poem and retells the Ramayana.

Manipravalam is a mixed Malayalam-Sanskrit literary language of Kerala court poetry; Lilathilakam is a grammatical work on Manipravalam.

Modern triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Vallathol Narayana Menon and Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer; Vallathol founded Kerala Kalamandalam in 1930.

Jnanpith winners from Malayalam: G. Sankara Kurup (1965), S.K. Pottekkatt (1980), Thakazhi (1984), M.T. Vasudevan Nair (1995), O.N.V. Kurup (2007), Akkitham (2019).

Kathakali is Kerala's classical dance-drama with chutti face paint, mudras, chenda and maddalam; stories come mainly from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Theyyam is a ritual performance of north Kerala in which the performer is treated as a deity; it is a recurring theme in modern Malayalam poetry and fiction.