Three Disputed Items on a Photocopied Grammar Key
Two students bring a disputed grammar worksheet to the staff room. Item 3 asks for the split of மரக்கொம்பு; one writes மரம் + கொம்பு, the other மர + கொம்பு. Item 5 asks for a Tamil rendering of 'She is reading a novel now'; one writes இப்போது அவள் ஒரு நாவலைப் படிக்கிறாள், the other இப்போது அவள் ஒரு நாவலைப் படித்துக்கொண்டிருக்கிறாள். Item 6 asks for the case marker in அவனுக்கு புத்தகம் கொடுத்தேன்; one says dative -க்கு, the other says accusative because the book is the object. The worksheet key, photocopied from an old guide, allows one answer per item. The teacher must return the papers at the next period, with forty-two students waiting to hear whether they lost 3 marks, and the department head has asked for the key to be filed with the corrected papers for moderation.
1. Resolve items 3, 5 and 6, stating the principle behind each ruling.
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Item 3 - மரம் + கொம்பு. The final ம் of மரம் becomes க் before the வல்லினம் கொ. 'மர' is not a free-standing form here, so the second answer is not a valid split. Principle: a sandhi split must yield two forms that can stand as words; anything else is a syllable division, not a sandhi analysis.
Item 5 - both answers are correct. Tamil does not oblige the speaker to mark progressive aspect in the present tense: படிக்கிறாள் covers both 'reads' and 'is reading', and the adverb இப்போது carries the progressive sense. படித்துக்கொண்டிருக்கிறாள் is a periphrastic progressive that makes the aspect explicit. Principle: when the language permits two well-formed renderings of the same English sentence, the key must accept both; the item is testing tense, not stylistic preference.
Item 6 - dative -க்கு. The marker -க்கு is attached to the recipient அவன். The object புத்தகம் carries no overt accusative -ஐ; it is unmarked, which is normal with கொடு. The second student has identified the object correctly but then looked for its case marker on the wrong noun. Principle: case is read off the noun that carries the marker, not off the noun with the most salient role.
2. The key is wrong or over-narrow on two of the three items. What do you do about the 3 marks and about the key itself?
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Marks: re-mark all forty-two papers before returning them, not only the two brought to the staff room. Award the mark for any defensible answer - both renderings on item 5, and the dative on item 6 - and award it to the students who wrote the key's narrow answer as well. Nobody loses a mark for a mistake in the key.
Key: annotate it in red with the corrected rulings and a one-line reason for each, then file the annotated copy with the corrected papers as the head has asked. Add the item numbers and the class to a short note to the department so the same key is not reused unchanged next year.
Principle to state to students: grammar marking rewards correct application of a rule; an answer key is a guide for the marker, not a statute. Saying this openly costs nothing and stops students from concluding that grammar is arbitrary.
Practical caution: do not return papers and then re-mark. Once marks are seen, corrections look like favouritism even when they are right.
3. Write one replacement item that tests the same rule as item 3 without reusing the word, and state what a full-mark answer must contain.
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Replacement item: Split பூங்கொடி and name the sandhi rule involved.
Full-mark answer must contain three things:
- The split: பூ + கொடி.
- The inserted element: a ங் appears at the junction (பூங் + கொடி), because the junction is between a vowel-final word and a வல்லினம்-initial word.
- The rule named, not merely described: பிறமொழி / தமிழ் இனவொலி addition - the student should identify that a nasal is added, not that a letter 'changes'.
Why this item works: it uses the same family of junction behaviour (a word boundary that is audible but not written as a separate unit) while forcing the student to name the process rather than reproduce a memorised split. A student who has only memorised மரக்கொம்பு will fail it, which is exactly what a diagnostic item should do.