Vocabulary, Idioms and Proverbs
What is tested
Vocabulary items ask for samanarthi (synonyms), virudharthi (antonyms), anekarthi (words with several senses) and one-word substitutes; the idioms and proverbs items ask for the meaning of a muhavaro or akhan and, very often, a sentence showing it in use.
Rules
- An idiom's meaning is not the sum of its words; learn each idiom with one model sentence attached.
- Use the idiom as a fixed unit: do not change its verb form, its postposition or its number to fit your sentence.
- Proverbs carry folk wisdom and usually have two parallel halves. In a completion item, the parallel structure and the rhyme narrow the missing word.
- For a 'use in a sentence' item, the sentence must make the figurative meaning clear from context; one that could be read literally earns nothing.
- A synonym must fit the sense in which the word appears in the prescribed text, not a dictionary's first sense.
Worked example
A proverb glossed 'one hand cannot clap' is set with the second half blanked. Reason: the halves are parallel (one hand against two hands), the sense is cooperation, and the missing element must supply the contrasting quantity, not a fresh image. Then check the rhyme. Candidates who supply a word that fits the meaning but breaks the parallel structure lose the mark.
Traps that cost marks
Giving a literal gloss for an idiom. Altering an idiom's verb to match your sentence's tense. Choosing a synonym that is correct in general but wrong in the lesson's context. Writing a sentence for an idiom that is grammatical but does not display its meaning.