Grammar and Composition: Qawaid, Tarkeeb and Muhavarat
What is tested
Qawaid covers correctness: gender, number, case, tense and agreement. Tarkeeb is grammatical analysis: you label each word's role in the sentence. Muhavarat are idioms that must be used in context, not translated literally. In Urdu, a jumlah ismiya begins with a noun (mubtada) and its predicate (khabar); a jumlah failiya centres on a verb with its doer (fail) and object (maf'ul).
Tarkeeb method
- Decide whether the sentence is ismiya or failiya.
- In an ismiya, label mubtada and khabar; check gender and number agreement.
- In a failiya, label fail, maf'ul and the verb; note markers such as ne.
- Label sift–mausuf, muzaf–muzaf ilaih, and harf-e-jar with its majroor where present.
Worked example
Sentence: 'احمد نے کتاب پڑھی' (Ahmad read the book). This is a jumlah failiya. 'احمد' is fail (doer), 'نے' marks the ergative doer, 'کتاب' is maf'ul (object), and 'پڑھی' is the verb. The verb agrees with the object's gender here, not with the doer. A weak answer labels every word as ism or fail without showing the sentence structure.
For a muhavara, 'آنکھوں میں خاک ڈالنا' means to deceive or mislead, not to throw dust physically. Use it in a full sentence that makes the figurative meaning clear.
Traps
Literal idiom translation; missing the ergative ne; confusing mubtada with fail; ignoring gender agreement in khabar; writing tarkeeb as a translation rather than a grammatical map.