Composition: Essay and Paragraph Writing
Composition asks for an essay or a paragraph in Santali on a familiar topic: village life, a festival, a person you admire, a social problem, a season, or a school event. The examiner rewards a clear plan, relevant detail, correct Ol Chiki spelling and paragraph unity - not length.
Structure that scores
- Paragraph: one topic sentence, three or four supporting sentences (reason, example, detail), one concluding sentence. Keep one idea per paragraph.
- Essay: introduction (2–3 sentences), 3–4 body paragraphs, a conclusion that returns to the title without repeating it word for word.
- Cohesion: use Santali link words for addition, contrast, cause and sequence; keep tense consistent.
- Register: personal reflection suits 'My village'; a social problem needs a more public, reasoned tone.
Plan before you write
Spend three minutes on a skeleton: title, four main points, one example for each. A 200-word essay needs roughly 25–35 Santali words per paragraph; do not pad with repeated phrases.
Worked example
Topic: 'The jaherthan (sacred grove) in our village.' Plan: (1) what and where it is; (2) who cares for it and when the village gathers there; (3) its meaning for Santali identity and ecology; (4) a threat - felling or encroachment - and a conclusion about protecting it. Each body paragraph opens with a claim, then gives a concrete detail (the sal tree, the annual festival, the village council's rule).
Traps
A long, empty introduction; mixing several topics in one paragraph; wrong Ol Chiki vowel signs; writing dialogue in an essay; ignoring the word limit; ending with a new idea instead of a conclusion.