Composition: Essay, Letter and Report Writing
Composition: Essay, Letter and Report Writing
Three formats, three sets of marks. Prabandha (essay) is marked for content, organisation and language; patra (letter) for format and tone; varadi (report) for factual completeness and impersonal style. Prepare one model of each and vary the content to fit the topic.
Essay (Prabandha)
- Three blocks: an opening that defines the topic, two or three body paragraphs each with one point and one local example, and a closing that returns to the opening.
- Tulu topics reward local material: kambala, bhuta kola, Yakshagana, Aati Kalenja, the Tigalari script, coastal agriculture, school life.
- One idea per paragraph; do not stack three examples into a single sentence.
Letter (Patra)
- Personal: place and date, informal address, an opening inquiry about welfare, body, closing, name.
- Official: sender's address, date, receiver's designation, subject line, salutation, purpose stated in the first line, request, closing, signature.
Report (Varadi)
- Headline, then place and date, then a lead sentence answering what, where, when and who.
- Third person, past tense, no personal opinion, no 'I'.
- Close with a source line such as 'according to the head teacher'.
Worked example
Report on a school kambala: the lead reads, 'The school kambala was held on the college grounds on Friday, with forty pairs competing.' Details follow in order of importance, then the source line. There is no adjective of praise anywhere; that restraint is what keeps a report a report.
Traps that cost marks
- Missing the date or subject line in a letter.
- Writing 'I think' inside a report.
- An essay with no example from Tulu Nadu.
- Blending personal and official letter formats.
- Overshooting the word limit and losing presentation marks.