Sinhala or Tamil Language Proficiency
What this domain tests
Sinhala or Tamil Language Proficiency tests standard orthography, grammar, comprehension, formal register and translation. You choose the language you will teach in; the paper expects the written standard, not colloquial speech.
Core rules (Sinhala; Tamil parallels in brackets)
- Orthography: distinguish අක්ෂර, පිළිවෙළ and සංයුක්ත අක්ෂර; write the standard spelling, not the pronunciation spelling. [Tamil: correct உயிர்/மெய் combinations and pulli placement.]
- Grammar: subject–predicate agreement, case endings (විභක්ති; வேற்றுமை), tense and aspect, active/passive, direct/indirect speech.
- Register: formal written Sinhala/Tamil for letters, notices and reports; avoid spoken forms such as එනවා in formal prose where පැමිණේ is expected.
- Comprehension: identify main idea, sequence, cause and inference; quote from the passage.
- Translation: transfer meaning, not word order; retain official terms and check terminology.
Worked example
Choose the correctly spelled Sinhala word: (a) පිංතූරය (b) පින්තූරය (c) පිංතුරය (d) පින්තුරය. Reasoning: the standard form is පින්තූරය, with the pre-nasal න් and long ූ; the others reflect pronunciation or incomplete vowel marking. In Tamil, the same principle applies to words such as பள்ளிக்கூடம், where the geminate க் is part of the standard spelling.
Traps
- Writing as you speak; colloquial endings and loanword spellings lose marks.
- Confusing similar case endings or verb forms.
- Translating idiom word-for-word, producing grammatically correct but unnatural prose.
- Ignoring the passage in comprehension and answering from background knowledge.
- Mixing formal and informal address within one letter.