Two defective items in the 20-mark grammar block
In a 20-item grammar test (1 mark each) for 41 candidates, two items draw clustered errors. Item 7: '"ਅੱਖ ਦਾ ਤਾਰਾ" ਮੁਹਾਵਰੇ ਦਾ ਅਰਥ ਚੁਣੋ - (ੳ) ਬਹੁਤ ਪਿਆਰਾ (ਅ) ਇਕਲੌਤਾ ਸਹਾਰਾ (ੲ) ਬਹਾਦਰ (ਸ) ਅੰਨ੍ਹਾ.' Keyed (ੳ); 9 candidates chose (ਅ), one scribbling in the margin "ਇਕਲੌਤਾ ਬੱਚਾ ਹੀ ਮਾਂ-ਬਾਪ ਦਾ ਸਹਾਰਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ". Item 14: 'ਉਹ ______ ਬਹੁਤ ਪਿਆਰ ਕਰਦੀ ਹੈ' with options ਨੂੰ / ਨਾਲ / ਦਾ / ਤੋਂ; keyed ਨਾਲ; 6 candidates wrote ਨੂੰ, which is also grammatical in Punjabi. Results must be published tomorrow, the class average is already low, and a parent has emailed about Item 14. The board pattern leaves no room to re-moderate a school test, so whatever policy is set now will be repeated in the January pre-board.
1. Decide the fate of Items 7 and 14 - award, discard, or accept both - and explain the decision in words a parent will accept.
Read the worked answer
Both items are defective, for the same reason: each offers two options that a competent speaker could defend.
- Item 7: the core sense of "ਅੱਖ ਦਾ ਤਾਰਾ" is "ਬਹੁਤ ਪਿਆਰਾ", but the phrase is almost always used of an only or favourite child, and "ਇਕਲੌਤਾ ਸਹਾਰਾ" catches that connotation. (ਅ) is not a distractor; it is a second reading. The nine who chose it were reading the idiom, not guessing.
- Item 14: "ਪਿਆਰ ਕਰਨਾ" takes both ਨੂੰ and ਨਾਲ in standard Punjabi. The keyed option is not more correct; it is simply the one the item-writer happened to think of.
Decision: award the mark to the nine and the six; retain the item stem but drop these two from the total, so the section is scored out of 18 and scaled.
For the parent: "The question tested which of two correct forms the paper-setter preferred, not whether your child knows Punjabi. We have given the mark and rewritten the item so it tests one answer only. Correcting a faulty question is not leniency; leaving it would teach the class that grammar is a guess." Note the erratum in the result file, not just in conversation.
2. Rewrite both items so that each has exactly one defensible answer, and say what makes the rewrite work.
Read the worked answer
Item 7 - supply a context that forces the idiomatic sense:
ਮਾਂ ਨੇ ਪੁੱਤਰ ਨੂੰ ਗਲੇ ਲਾਉਂਦਿਆਂ ਕਿਹਾ, "ਤੂੰ ਤਾਂ ਮੇਰੀ ਅੱਖ ਦਾ ਤਾਰਾ ਹੈਂ।" ਇੱਥੇ "ਅੱਖ ਦਾ ਤਾਰਾ" ਦਾ ਭਾਵ ਹੈ - (ੳ) ਬਹੁਤ ਪਿਆਰਾ (ਅ) ਬਹਾਦਰ (ੲ) ਅੰਨ੍ਹਾ (ਸ) ਗਰੀਬ
Why it works: "ਗਲੇ ਲਾਉਂਦਿਆਂ" fixes the feeling as affection, and the wrong options are now plainly wrong. The old option (ਅ) is gone because it cannot be defeated by context - any context that would rule it out would also rule out the idiom's normal use.
Item 14 - choose a verb that governs one postposition only:
ਉਹ ਆਪਣੀ ਭੈਣ ______ ਮਿਲਣ ਗਈ। (ਨੂੰ / ਨਾਲ / ਦਾ / ਤੋਂ)
Why it works: "ਮਿਲਣਾ" takes ਨੂੰ for the person met; "ਨਾਲ ਮਿਲਣ ਗਈ" is not standard. Note the trap that remains - ਦਾ and ਤੋਂ are clean distractors - so the item still discriminates, but it now measures grammar rather than preference.
Rule for future papers: never key an option unless you can write the sentence in which the other options fail.
3. Write the three-minute classroom routine that follows the erratum, so students know what to do when they meet an ambiguous option in the board paper.
Read the worked answer
Say it plainly first: "Two of yesterday's questions had two right answers. That was our mistake, not yours. Here is how you handle it if it happens in the board paper."
The routine (three steps, taught in three minutes):
- Test the whole sentence. Read the option inside the full sentence, not alone. Most ambiguity dies when the sentence is complete - "ਉਹ ਉਸ ਨੂੰ ਮਿਲਣ ਗਈ" survives, "ਉਹ ਉਸ ਨਾਲ ਮਿਲਣ ਗਈ" does not.
- Prefer the fixed form. If both survive, ask which one the phrase normally travels with - idioms and set expressions have habitual shapes, and the habitual shape is the answer the setter intends.
- Choose, mark, move on. Write the answer, circle the question number, and continue; do not spend four minutes on one mark. After the paper, report the circled numbers to the invigilator if the paper allows, or to me in the next class.
What to avoid saying: "If two answers look right, pick the one you like." That is the habit that produced 15 disputed answers. Keep an erratum log on the classroom wall - students who see the teacher recording faulty items take ambiguity seriously instead of treating grammar as luck.