The sandhi that half the class did not join, and two spellings of the dative
A Class 10 Tamil teacher in Kozhikode is moderating the 8-mark இலக்கணம் section of a mid-term paper with two colleagues. Two items are disputed. In the sandhi item, students had to join மண் + குடம் and கல் + தூண்; the key gives மட்குடம் and கற்றூண். Of 42 scripts, 14 wrote மண்குடம், 11 wrote கல்தூண், one wrote மட்டுக்குடம், and the rest were correct. In the case item, students filled the உருபு in 'நூலகம் ___ சென்றேன்'; the key allows only நூலகத்திற்கு, but nine wrote நூலகத்துக்கு and two wrote நூலகத்தை. The moderation meeting must settle one scheme that will also govern the terminal paper, where the same two rules reappear with different words. One teacher wants both dative forms accepted; another insists on the textbook form only; a third wants no marks for any spelling variant so that students learn the rule. The school's marking policy says keys should reward grammatical understanding, not memorised strings.
1. Fix the mark for each of the five sandhi spellings and state the rule you are applying in a form you could read out to the class.
Read the worked answer
What each spelling shows
| Written form | Rule test | Mark |
|---|---|---|
| மட்குடம் | ண்-ஈறு + வல்லினம் → ண் becomes ட் | 1 |
| மண்குடம் | The two words are identified, but the ஈறு change is not applied, so the answer is the unjoined pair, not a sandhi form | 0 |
| கற்றூண் | ல்-ஈறு → ற், and the following த் doubles | 1 |
| கல்தூண் | Same failure as மண்குடம் | 0 |
| மட்டுக்குடம் | Adds a vowel and doubles the wrong consonant; the change is over-applied | 0 |
Why no half mark inside this item: it is a one-mark sandhi item, so it tests exactly one operation. A student who writes மண்குடம் has separated the words correctly but has not performed the operation; there is nothing left to part-credit inside one mark.
What the moderation meeting should do instead of arguing: in the terminal paper, split the rule into two half-mark items - one where students only identify the two words, one where they write the joined form. The script that knows the words but not the rule then scores ½, which is the honest picture. Use new pairs (பொன் + குடம் → பொற்குடம்) so that memorising மட்குடம் does not help.
Read-out rule for the class: 'ண், ன், ல், ள் என மெய்யில் முடியும் சொல்லுடன் வல்லினம் முதல் சொல் சேரும்போது ஈற்று மெய் மாறும்; மாறிய வடிவமே எழுத வேண்டும்.'
2. Decide the dative item: what does each of the three answers show about the student's understanding, and which of them gets the mark?
Read the worked answer
Separate the two things the item tests: the oblique stem and the case marker.
- நூலகத்திற்கு - stem நூலகத்து- correct, உருபு -இற்கு (textbook form), sense 'to the library'. Full mark.
- நூலகத்துக்கு - the same correct stem with -க்கு, which is standard modern Tamil and the everyday written form. The student has made no grammatical error; the difference is preference, not grammar. Give the full mark and record the variant in the key as accepted. Refusing it would test which edition of the textbook the child owns.
- நூலகத்தை - the stem is right, so the student can build the oblique; what is wrong is the choice of உருபு. ஐ marks the செயப்படுபொருள், and சென்றேன் here needs the இலக்கு sense. Award 0 on the உருபு item, but if the paper carries a separate half mark for the stem, give it, and write in the margin: 'நூலகத்திற்குச் சென்றேன்' against 'நூலகத்தை அடைந்தேன்'.
Principle for the key, given the school's policy on understanding: the mark follows the operation the item names. So name the operation ('ஏற்ற இட உருபை எழுதுக'), list the accepted variants, and give a one-line reason for each rejection. That single step settles both the terminal paper and the parent query.
3. Write the one-line key statement to print on the terminal paper so that the same dispute cannot reopen, and note what the moderation minute must record.
Read the worked answer
Key line to print:
'ஏற்கத்தக்கவை: நூலகத்திற்கு, நூலகத்துக்கு. ஏற்கத்தகாதது: நூலகத்தை (ஐ = செயப்படுபொருள்). சந்தி: ஈற்று மெய் மாறிய வடிவம் மட்டுமே; மண்குடம், கல்தூண் ஏற்கத்தகாதவை.'
The moderation minute must record three things, because each one is what a teacher actually has to say aloud later: the accepted forms, the reason for each rejected form, and the mark split chosen for the sandhi rule. A key that lists only accepted answers forces every teacher to reinvent the reasoning in front of the class, and that is where inconsistent marks come from. The same minute should note that both sandhi pairs must be tested with new words in the terminal paper, so that the rule, not the two textbook examples, is what gets examined.