PSEB Matric Urdu Elective key terms

Prose writing not bound by metre or rhyme. The textbook uses it for essays, sketches, short stories and biographies, read for theme, style and character rather than for line-by-line recitation.

One lesson from the prose textbook. For each, a candidate should know the author, the situation described, the central idea, and what the behaviour of the people in it teaches.

The single most important idea that a lesson, nazm or ghazal carries. It is stated in one or two plain sentences and is what the writer wants remembered after reading.

A person portrayed in a story, sketch or play. Questions ask what the character does and says, how others react, and what this shows about his or her nature.

A short passage copied from a textbook lesson and printed in the question paper for explanation. The answer must stay close to those printed words and their setting.

A poem on one subject, argument or story, in lines that may or may not rhyme. Its thought usually runs continuously from the first line to the last.

A poem of usually five to fifteen independent couplets sharing one rhyme and refrain. Each couplet stands alone in meaning, and the poet's pen name closes the poem.

Two lines of poetry that together complete one idea. The first line sets up the thought and the second sharpens, completes or turns it.

The repeated word or short phrase that ends every couplet of a ghazal, coming after the rhyme. Its repetition holds the whole poem together.

The rhyming word placed immediately before the radeef in each couplet. Its ending sound must match throughout, even when the letters used are different.

The first couplet of a ghazal, where both lines carry the qafiya and radeef. It establishes the rhyme that all later couplets must follow.

The last couplet of a ghazal, in which the poet inserts his or her pen name. Identifying it is a common short question in poetry sections.

The metre of an Urdu poem: the fixed sequence of long and short syllables each line must follow. A line that departs from it is called be-bahr.

Explaining a printed couplet or stanza in plain prose. A full answer gives the literal sense, the images, the poet's feeling and the thought being made.

A figure of speech that compares two things sharing a quality, using an explicit word of comparison such as like or as. The comparison is openly announced.

A figure of speech that uses a word for something it does not literally denote, because the two resemble each other, with no word of comparison given.

The part of speech naming a person, place, thing or idea. In Urdu it carries gender, number and case, and it commonly serves as the subject of a sentence.

The part of speech expressing an action or a state, changing its form for tense, person, gender and number. A complete Urdu sentence normally contains one.

A word with no independent meaning that links other words, covering case particles, postpositions and conjunctions. It cannot act as the subject or object of a sentence.

A word describing a noun or pronoun and matching it in gender and number, such as 'honest' in 'an honest man'. It may come before or after the noun.

A pronoun: a short word used instead of a noun already known, such as I, we, he, she or they, with distinct masculine and feminine plural forms.

A group of words expressing a complete thought, built from a subject and a predicate. Sentences may be statements, questions, commands or exclamations.

A fixed group of words whose meaning cannot be guessed from the individual words. It must be used whole and unchanged, as one unit, inside a sentence.

A proverb: a complete, often very short sentence carrying familiar folk wisdom. It is quoted in speech and writing to support a point or comment on behaviour.

A word whose meaning stands opposite to another, such as light and darkness. Papers ask candidates to supply opposite pairs drawn from the textbook vocabulary.

The grammatical gender of Urdu nouns, masculine or feminine. Choosing the correct verb and adjective ending depends on knowing a noun's gender.

A written piece on a set topic, organised as introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion, keeping one consistent viewpoint and using formal, connected sentences throughout.

Writing a short block of five to eight sentences on one narrow point, opening with a topic sentence and adding supporting detail, without headings or sub-sections.

Creative writing that invents characters, scenes or events instead of reporting facts. It is marked for originality, vivid description and control of language more than for information.

A much shortened version of a lesson or passage that keeps only its main points, written in the candidate's own words and usually a third or a quarter of the length.

Rendering a passage from one language into another while preserving meaning, tone and technical terms, and shaping sentences according to the grammar of the target language.

The words and sentences surrounding an expression, which fix its precise meaning. Candidates are asked to work out a difficult word's sense from this surrounding text.

Reading comprehension of an unseen passage: answering questions on its main idea, stated details, vocabulary and implied meaning, writing full sentences in the candidate's own words.

A formal application set out in a fixed order: sender's address, date, recipient, subject line, body of request and signature. It asks an office for leave, permission or a document.

A letter. Personal letters are informal, ask after the reader's health and family, and close warmly; official letters follow a set format with a subject line.

A short notice put on a board to give one piece of information to many readers at once, arranged as heading, date, time, place and the name of the issuer.

A paid public advertisement in a newspaper or on a wall, written in brief attractive lines to sell a product, announce an event or issue a public warning.