Grammar (Qawaid) and Composition (Insha): conversion rules and written formats
Grammar and composition carry the marks that separate a safe pass from a high score in Kerala SSLC Second Language Urdu. Grammar items are recognition-and-conversion tasks: identify the kalma, change the zaman, make jama, supply mutazad, use a muhawara. Composition asks for a khat (letter), a short mazmoon (essay) or a paragraph, and the format itself is marked.
Grammar core
- Kalma ki iqsaam: ism (noun), fail (verb), harf (particle). A word that neither names nor performs an action is usually harf - se, mein, par, aur, lekin.
- Fail: mazi (past), muzare (present/future), amr (command).
- Siffat agrees with its mausoof in gender and number.
- Jama: qiyasi plurals follow a pattern (kitab to kitaben); ghair-qiyasi plurals change shape (khat to khatoot), so learn them as vocabulary.
Worked example
Sentence: Bacchon ne kitaben padhin. Identify the tarkeeb and change it to muzare. Reasoning: ne marks a transitive mazi, so the verb agrees with the mafool, not the faail. Kitaben is muannas jama, hence padhin and not padhe; faail is bacchon ne, mafool is kitaben. In muzare the ne disappears and the verb again follows the faail: Bacche kitaben padhte hain. That one rule explains most agreement errors in the paper.
Composition formats
- Informal khat: Aziz dost, body, Tumhara, name. Formal khat: Janab-e-Ali, body, Mukhlis, plus date and address. Keep tum and aap consistent throughout.
- Mazmoon: sar-nama, tamheed of two lines, badan of two or three paragraphs with one idea each, khatima. Every paragraph needs an example or a muhawara, not just a claim.
Traps that cost marks
- Using a qiyasi pattern on a ghair-qiyasi plural.
- Confusing harf-e-ataf (aur) with harf-e-jar (se, mein, par).
- A letter with no date or signature, or a mid-letter switch from aap to tum.
- An essay made only of general statements, with no example and no idiomatic phrase.