English Grammar is oft compromised in the pursuit of other, tougher subjects. Truth be told, the grammar paper is not difficult per se. However unlikely it might sound, getting a 97+ in English is possible by studying smart for the Grammar paper. In this article, we break down the Grammar paper and analyse each part in detail.
Q1: The Composition (25 marks)
The Composition consists of a huge portion of the paper, and it takes the most time to complete. Enough option is given for students to choose from. The main kinds on compositions are:
a. The Descriptive Essay
The Descriptive essay involves describing a given scene or situation. Attempting such an essay requires the writer to focus on all aspects on sensory perception: sound, sight, smell, touch, etc. Descriptive essays can be attempted by those students who can provide in detail vivid pictures of what they want to convey.
b. The Narrative Essay
This kind of essay involves narrating an incident, often viewed personally and sometimes requires the writer to explain their takeaways form the incident. Narrative essays need considerable amounts of exposition, and thus present their own challenges. Again, attempting such an essay depends on the preferences of the writer. Make sure that the narrative essay is also factually correct.
c. The Argumentative Essay
The Argumentative essay presents a statement the writer has to express their views on. It is a form of written debate where the writer must convince the reader of their opinions with the ample use of relevant examples. Note that the writer cannot sit on the fence i.e. YOU CANNOT TAKE A NEUTRAL STAND and must choose a side.
d. The Reflective Essay
This essay is by far the easiest to attempt, the most scoring and has the widest scope. The topic of the essay is a word, and the writer can reflect on that word in any way they desire. Being an open topic, all interpretations are accepted. Just be factually right and grammatically correct.
e. The Story
The story is the toughest question to attempt. It should have all aspects of a story, like dialogues, characters, a plot, a climax and suitable conclusion. Most importantly, it should be original. Marks are often deducted even if an inspiration from an existing story is spotted. It is often suggested to not attempt the story unless completely sure of your originality.
Some generic tips: Be grammatically correct and don’t get your punctuation wrong. Keep in mind the perspective of an 18-year-old while writing your essay i.e. do not include an experience or event in your narrative essay that an 18-year-old could not have experienced. Anything between 3.5 to 5 pages is an acceptable length for the essay.
Q.2(a) The Guided Composition (20 marks)
The guided composition is, in the words of the Pupil Analysis, an exercise in amplification. This question requires you to expand on the key words given in the question. While the order of the key words does not need to be strictly followed, make sure your points have a coherent flow. The guided composition has a wide scope of questions: Articles, Reports, Speeches, Book Reviews, Movie Reviews, Event Reviews, Articles on cultural events, etc.
It is absolutely imperative that you cover at least all the points/guides mentioned in the question. An approach to practice such questions can be to expand each guide point into around 3 sentences.
At the same time, the word limit should be strictly followed in case of the guided composition. It always helps to indicate the approximate number of words you have written in a bracket at the end of your work (only the approximate number, do not waste time by counting the actual number of words).
In case of book and movie reviews, it makes sense to have them prepared well before your examination. The question paper might ask for the review of a “recent” movie. In such a case, keep the relevant material prepared. This helps you save time in the examination. There is no need to learn any review by heart, as you might have to modify your prepared work as per the requirements of the questions. Even if you prefer learning your work by heart, cramming your own material is better than cramming a guide book.
Q.2(b) The Proposal (10 marks)
This question is an addition to the Grammar paper w.e.f. March 2019. The proposal will include a heading (in 10 to 15 words), a Statement of Objective and Measures.
While writing a proposal, be formal and concise in your language. Mention all relevant specifics like the time required to complete the project, financial and other needs, etc. The Statement of Objective should include the aims of the project undertaken and the resolution to be arrived at.
Make sure to stay within the word limit of 150 words for the Proposal.
We discuss the rest of the paper i.e. Functional Grammar and Comprehension in the next article.
We hope this helped you. Feel free to share your suggestions/doubts with us in the comments below!
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