Maharashtra HSC Tamil (MSBSHSE) flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Urainadai

The prose section of the Tamil syllabus; exam questions test theme, character, author's message and line-level comprehension of the prescribed lessons.

Karupporul

The central theme of a prose lesson; in answers it must be stated as one controlling idea supported by two incidents from the text.

Baathira valarchi

Character development; a character question is answered by naming three traits, each tied to a specific action or speech in the lesson.

Aasiriyar karuthu

The author's or teacher's stated viewpoint, which must be separated from a character's opinion when a question asks 'according to the lesson'.

Uvanai and uruvakam

Uvanai is simile, marked by comparison words such as pola; uruvakam is metaphor, stating the comparison directly without any comparison word.

Edugai and monai

Edugai repeats the same initial consonant across lines; monai matches the second consonant. Both are common sound devices in Tamil verse.

Iyaibu

A Tamil poetic device where successive lines end with similar or identical sounds, producing rhyme and musical flow in the poem.

Kural venpa

The metre of Thirukkural: a couplet of seven and four cirs, tested by asking for the porul (meaning) then the karuthu (moral application).

Thinai-verrumai

Personification in Tamil poetics: attributing human feeling or action to nature, objects or abstract qualities within a poem.

Rasanai

Poetic appreciation; answers move in four steps - theme, central image, poetic device, and emotional effect on the reader.

Thunai noool

The supplementary non-detailed reader; questions test event sequence, character comparison, setting, central conflict and the moral of each chapter.

Kadhai muraippaduthal

Sequencing the plot; before analysing a motive in the supplementary reader, order the chapter's events in the sequence the text gives them.

Uyir, mei, uyirmei

Tamil letters: 12 vowels (uyir), 18 consonants (mei), and 216 compound letters formed by combining a consonant with a vowel.

Vallinam, mellinam, idaiyinam

The three letter classes: hard consonants (k, ch, t, th, p, r), soft nasals (ng, nj, n, n, m, n), and medials (y, r, l, v, zh, l).

Punarchi

Tamil word-joining rules; the main types are iyalbu, thodar, vikaram and thonmai, classified by whether a letter is added, doubled or dropped.

Vetrumai urubugal

Case markers in Tamil: ai, aal, ku, in, athu and il, answering whom, by whom, to whom, from, of and in respectively.

Sol vagai

Parts of speech in Tamil: peyar (noun), vinai (verb), idaichol (particle) and urichol (modifier), which precedes the noun it qualifies.

Sollakkam

Tamil idioms whose meaning is figurative; an exam answer gives the figurative sense and, if asked, one illustrative usage sentence.

Pazhamozhi

Tamil proverbs, often rooted in a story; the usual task is to identify the situation the proverb fits or to complete it in exact wording.

Ottrar and ethir porul

Synonyms and antonyms; answer with the single best word rather than a list, since extra wrong options cost marks.

Kadanchol

Loan words absorbed into Tamil from Sanskrit, English, Urdu and Portuguese; some questions ask the source language of a given word.

Nilaiyana kaditham

A formal Tamil letter: sender address, date, receiver address, subject line, salutation, body, closing and signature are all required.

Surakkam

A precis; it keeps only the main idea, uses third person, runs about one-third of the original length, and carries a title.

Arikkai

A report in Tamil, requiring a heading, date and place, factual past-tense narration of events, and a reporter or source line.

Katturai amaipu

Essay structure: introduction, three body paragraphs each carrying one point plus an example, then a conclusion with a forward-looking closing line.

Mozhipeyarppu

Translation; meaning is translated rather than word order, proper nouns are transliterated, and standard technical terms stay in English.

Ainthinai

The five Sangam landscapes and love situations: kurinji (hills, union), mullai (forest, waiting), marutham (fields, sulking), neythal (sea, separation), palai (wasteland, elopement).

Ettuthogai and Pathupattu

The two divisions of Sangam poetry: eight anthologies of short poems and ten longer idylls; Tolkappiyam is the oldest extant Tamil grammar.

Aimperunkappiyam

The five Tamil epics: Silappathikaram, Manimekalai, Civaka Cintamani, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi, studied as literature-history context.

Nayanmars and Alwars

Saiva and Vaishnava Bhakti poet-saints; the Nayanmars composed Tevaram hymns and the Alwars the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, with Andal the only woman Alwar.

Unseen passage strategy

Read the questions before the passage, answer fact questions from the exact sentence, and never import outside knowledge the passage does not state.

Vocabulary in context

For an unseen-passage word question, choose the meaning that fits the sentence given, not the word's most common dictionary meaning.

Suitable title question

A title answer is a short phrase capturing the passage's main idea; a full sentence or a detail from one paragraph scores poorly.