Peribahasa dan Ungkapan - Idioms, Proverbs and Figurative Language
This section tests whether you can recognise and use Punjabi figurative language: ਅਖਾਣ (proverbs), ਮੁਹਾਵਰੇ (idioms), ਉਪਮਾ (simile) and ਰੂਪਕ (metaphor). Questions ask you to match a proverb to its meaning, choose the proverb that fits a described situation, complete a half-given proverb, or explain a figurative phrase used in a passage. Marks are lost mainly by treating a proverb literally.
What to know
- A proverb is a complete sentence carrying folk wisdom; an idiom is a phrase that only works inside a sentence.
- Learn each item as a package: literal image, real meaning, and a typical situation where it fits.
- Useful examples: ਨਾਚ ਨਾ ਜਾਣੇ ਆਂਗਣ ਟੇਢਾ (a bad workman blames his tools); ਅੰਨ੍ਹਿਆਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਕਾਣਾ ਰਾਜਾ (the one-eyed man is king among the blind); ਦੁੱਧ ਦਾ ਦੁੱਧ ਪਾਣੀ ਦਾ ਪਾਣੀ (to give each their due, to sort the true from the false); ਬਿੱਲੀ ਦੇ ਗਲ ਘੰਟੀ ਬੰਨ੍ਹਣਾ (to bell the cat, to take on a dangerous job); ਕੁੱਤੇ ਦੀ ਪੂਛ ਕਦੇ ਸਿੱਧੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੁੰਦੀ (a leopard does not change its spots); ਅੰਗੂਰ ਖੱਟੇ ਹਨ (sour grapes); ਇੱਕ ਅਤੇ ਇੱਕ ਗਿਆਰਾਂ (unity is strength).
- Simile uses likeness words such as ਵਾਂਗ or ਜਿਹਾ; metaphor asserts an identity with no such marker.
Worked example
Situation: A student fails a test and says the question paper was unfair, though he never opened the book. Best choice: ਨਾਚ ਨਾ ਜਾਣੇ ਆਂਗਣ ਟੇਢਾ. Reasoning: the proverb's literal picture is someone blaming the courtyard for his dancing; the real meaning is blaming tools or circumstances for your own lack of skill. The situation matches the real meaning, not the literal picture, so the answer is a fit rather than a mood match.
Traps that cost marks
- Reading a proverb literally and choosing a physically similar situation.
- Using an idiom whose tone is comic where the passage is serious.
- Stuffing proverbs into an essay until the argument disappears.
- Half-remembering a proverb and completing it with the wrong word.