Marathi Language (मराठी)
The Marathi section tests formal written grammar and vocabulary: संधी, समास, कारक/विभक्ती, शब्दसिद्धी, समानार्थी व विरुद्धार्थी शब्द, म्हणी व वाक्प्रचार, शुद्धलेखन, अलंकार आणि उताऱ्यावरील आकलन.
Core rules
- संधी: two vowels joining produce a change. Identical vowels (आ + आ) give सवर्णदीर्घ; अ/आ + उ/ऊ gives ओ (गुणसंधी); अ/आ + इ/ई gives ए; इ/उ before a dissimilar vowel gives यण् संधी.
- समास: if the last member carries the meaning, it is तत्पुरुष; if a numeral comes first, द्विगू; if both members are equally weighted, द्वंद्व; if the compound points to a third entity, बहुव्रीही.
- कारक: कर्ता (ने), कर्म (ला), साधन (ने/करून), संप्रदान (ला/साठी), अपादान (पासून), संबंध (चा/ची/चे), अधिकरण (त/मध्ये).
Worked example
विद्या + अर्थी = ? Reasoning: the final आ of विद्या meets the initial अ of अर्थी. Both are the same vowel, so a long आ is written - विद्यार्थी - and the संधी is सवर्णदीर्घ.
Traps
- Writing संधी by sound alone; शुद्धलेखन questions usually turn on long versus short vowels and लघु-दीर्घ उच्चार.
- Reading म्हणी literally instead of finding the idiomatic sense.
- Choosing a समानार्थी शब्द that fits only one shade of meaning - check it inside a sentence.
- Burning time on the उतारा before grammar; comprehension passages are long and carry few marks each.