Maharashtra SSC Malayalam - Second/Third Language (MSBSHSE) common mistakes
Maharashtra SSC Malayalam - Second/Third Language (MSBSHSE) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
For an extract-based prose question such as ‘ഈ ഖണ്ഡികയിൽ ഗ്രന്ഥകാരൻ എന്ത് ആശയമാണ് അവതരിപ്പിക്കുന്നത്?’, writes a memorised paragraph on the chapter’s general theme and never locates or paraphrases the sentence in the extract that answers the question.
Revision notes and guidebooks supply ready-made theme summaries, so students recognise the chapter name and reproduce the summary instead of reading the passage closely; they also believe a longer answer earns more marks.
What to do instead
Underline the key noun or verb in the question, find the sentence in the extract that answers it, and begin with a short paraphrase of that sentence. Add one supporting phrase quoted from the passage. Practise five extracts by covering the passage after a 30-second reading and writing only from memory of the located line.
Labels every comparison ഉപമാലങ്കാരം, including lines where one thing is directly called another, as in ‘അവൾ ഒരു പൂവ്’, and gives no reason for the label.
Alankara names are memorised as a list, so students look for the word ‘പോലെ’ or assume any comparison must be ഉപമ; they do not test how the comparison is grammatically constructed.
What to do instead
Apply the test aloud before naming: if the line uses പോലെ, സമം or തുല്യം and explicitly compares two separate things, it is ഉപമ; if the compared object is superimposed without a comparison word, it is രൂപകം. Write the name, the test, and the exact evidence phrase in that order.
Chooses vibhakti endings by translating the English preposition: writes ‘അവനെ പറഞ്ഞു’ for ‘told him’ or attaches ‘ഇൽ നിന്ന്’ to a verb that does not take the ablative.
English uses one pronoun form such as ‘him’ for several relations, while Malayalam verbs select their own case frame; students map English word by word and never learn the verb’s required case.
What to do instead
Learn verb frames as complete chunks: പറയുക → അവനോട് പറഞ്ഞു; കൊടുക്കുക → അവന് കൊടുത്തു; ഭയപ്പെടുക → പാമ്പിനെ ഭയപ്പെട്ടു. For each new verb, write one sentence with the correct case ending and memorise the frame, not the isolated verb.
Calls any two-noun compound ദ്വന്ദ്വസമാസം; for ‘നീലകണ്ഠൻ’ writes ദ്വന്ദ്വ instead of ബഹുവ്രീഹി, and gives no expansion to justify the choice.
Students guess the samasa type from the meaning of the two visible nouns and assume both members are being denoted, without testing whether the compound refers to an outside entity.
What to do instead
Expand the compound into a sentence before classifying. If it denotes both members jointly, as അച്ഛനും അമ്മയും → മാതാപിതാക്കൾ, it is ദ്വന്ദ്വ. If it denotes an outside referent through a possessive relation, as നീലമായ കണ്ഠം ഉള്ളവൻ → ശിവൻ, it is ബഹുവ്രീഹി. Write the expansion next to the answer.
Writes a formal complaint or application with no sender address, date, receiver designation, subject line or formal closing, and uses conversational forms such as ‘ഹായ്’ and ‘എന്താ വിശേഷം’ in the body.
Letter writing is practised as free essay writing rather than as a fixed format; under time pressure students write the content first and forget the structural parts that carry separate marks.
What to do instead
Memorise a six-part skeleton: sender address at top left, date, receiver’s address and designation, subject line, ‘ബഹുമാനപ്പെട്ട …’ salutation, three short body paragraphs, and ‘വിശ്വസ്തതയോടെ’ with the name. Write two timed formal letters and tick each part before moving on.
Starts the essay immediately without an outline, produces one long undivided paragraph, and drifts away from the topic after the first five lines with no concluding stand.
Students equate length with quality and fear that planning wastes exam time, so they write associatively and cannot return to the prompt once a related memory takes over.
What to do instead
Spend three minutes on a four-point outline: introduction, two body points each with one example, and conclusion. Then write one paragraph per point, use linking words such as അതുപോലെ, എന്നാൽ and അതിനാൽ at each shift, and end with a paragraph that restates the central stand in one or two sentences.
Answers unseen-passage questions by copying the whole sentence containing the question word, or writes the answer in English because the question was understood in English.
Students are taught to ‘lift the line’ to avoid grammar mistakes, and they lack confidence in framing a Malayalam sentence independently, especially when the question uses ആര്, എന്ത്, എവിടെ or എന്തുകൊണ്ട്.
What to do instead
Underline the question word, find the single clause that answers it, and rewrite that clause as one Malayalam sentence beginning with the answer rather than the passage’s wording. Do three passages with a five-minute limit and check that each answer is a complete sentence, not a copied paragraph.
Skips the supplementary or rapid-reading questions entirely, or writes only a two-line plot summary that names no character trait and gives no event from the text.
Students allocate revision time only to detailed prose and poetry because they assume supplementary lessons carry no textual questions, so they read those lessons once and cannot recall details under exam pressure.
What to do instead
For each supplementary lesson make a one-page card: five characters with one trait each, three key events in order, one theme statement, and three short answers written in full sentences. Revise the cards weekly and answer every supplementary question in two or three sentences using character names and one event.
Translates idioms word for word: ‘ചെവി കൊടുക്കുക’ becomes ‘give ear’ rather than ‘listen attentively’, and ‘കൈ കഴുകുക’ becomes ‘wash hands’ rather than ‘withdraw from responsibility’.
Idioms are memorised as isolated words with no context, so students decode each component separately and miss the figurative meaning that the phrase carries as a unit.
What to do instead
Store each idiom as a full sentence showing its figurative use, for example ‘അധ്യാപകന്റെ ഉപദേശത്തിന് ചെവി കൊടുത്തു’. In the exam write the figurative meaning first, then one short illustrative sentence; never translate the separate components.
Translates English sentences with the same word order and tense, producing unnatural Malayalam such as ‘ഞാൻ വളരെ സന്തോഷമാണ് അത് കേട്ടതിൽ’ or ‘അവൻ എഴുതാൻ ഉണ്ടാക്കപ്പെട്ടു’.
Students treat translation as one-to-one word substitution and are not trained to re-express the English passive, perfect tense or prepositional phrase in Malayalam clause patterns.
What to do instead
Re-express in Malayalam order with time and place first and the verb last. Convert English passives to active constructions, as ‘അവനെക്കൊണ്ട് എഴുതിച്ചു’, and check natural verb collocations. Translate ten short English sentences daily and compare them with a model Malayalam sentence pattern rather than with word equivalents.