Unseen Prose Comprehension
What this section asks
The reading block of the Madhyamik English (Second Language) paper hands you a prose passage you have never read and asks you to locate, interpret and re-word what is printed there. Marks come from evidence, not from general knowledge or opinion.
Core rules
- First read: get the topic, who did what, where and when; ignore unfamiliar words on this pass.
- Second read: keep the questions beside the passage and underline the line each question points to.
- Match length to mark weight: a single word or phrase for vocabulary items, one short sentence for 1 mark, two linked sentences for 2–3 marks.
- Write "in your own words" answers in your own words; lift a phrase only when the question says "find the word".
- For vocabulary items, copy the word exactly as printed, in the same form (noun stays noun).
- Completion items must finish as grammatically whole sentences; never start the answer with "Because".
- For inference, hunt for the connector - but, although, therefore, so - and build the reason from it.
Worked example
Text: "Although the shopkeeper counted the coins twice, he pushed one of them back across the counter. 'This one is not ours,' he said quietly."
Question 1 (1 mark): Why did the shopkeeper push a coin back? Model: He pushed it back because his second count showed that the coin was not genuine. Reasoning: "although" tells us he checked twice and still rejected a coin, and "not ours" is the clue that the coin was false, not merely extra. A vague "because he did not like it" would score nothing.
Question 2 (1 mark): Find a word in the extract that means "silently". Model: quietly.
Traps that cost marks
- Copying a full sentence when the question says "in your own words" - lifting earns no mark.
- Marking a statement "True" when the passage only hints at it.
- Overlooking a negative in the question ("which is NOT mentioned").
- Writing a paragraph where one word was asked for.
- Missing that a question wants two things ("what happened and why").