Grammar and Language Study (Vyakaran): sandhi, samas, synonyms, antonyms, idioms
Grammar and Language Study (Vyakaran)
This section is mechanical: the same few operations return every year - sandhi, samas, samanarthi (synonyms), viruddharthi (antonyms) and muhavara (idioms), plus word formation. These are the easiest marks to secure and the easiest to lose through careless vowel length.
Rules
- Sandhi: locate the join, then classify. Swar sandhi covers dirgha (a + a = ā), guna (a + u = o), vriddhi (a + e = ai) and yan (i + i = ī/iy). Vyanjan sandhi involves a consonant change at the join.
- Samas: write the vigraha (split) before naming the compound. Tatpurush keeps a case relation in the vigraha; dvandva splits with 'ane' (and); bahuvrihi's vigraha ends in jo/ja and describes someone or something else; avyayibhav begins with an indeclinable.
- Synonyms and antonyms: give one word each, matching the part of speech and register of the prompt.
- Muhavara: state the figurative meaning, then use it in a short sentence of your own.
Worked example
sūrya + udaya. Reasoning: the join is a + u; a + u becomes o (guna), so sūrya + udaya = sūryodaya, swar–guna sandhi. rājaputra. Reasoning: the vigraha is rājāno putra (the king's son); a case relation remains, so it is shashthi tatpurush - not bahuvrihi, because the compound still names the son himself.
Traps
Writing sūryaudaya and calling it dirgha; naming a compound before splitting it; treating a bahuvrihi as tatpurush; giving a literal reading of an idiom; one-word idiom answers with no sentence; mixing up samanarthi and viruddharthi instructions.