FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH

General:

The paper was easy but a large number of candidates could not score high. Students should read newspapers, journals, magazines, in addition to the prescribed books and reference books. This will enhance their writing skills and improve spelling and vocabulary. It will also update them about the latest events happening in different parts of the world. Students should write a paragraph of at least 100 words daily because this will also help them learn new words. Referring regularly to dictionary and thesaurus will definitely bring up the level of English.

Candidates should make sure that they take care of the following points while attempting the paper.

Incorrect numbering of questions should be avoided.

Questions, paragraphs and sentences should not be copied unnecessarily thus wasting time.

Instructions should be read carefully and followed correctly.

In Functional English candidates should be aware that Punctuation, Grammar, Spelling is focused through out the paper.

Topic of the essay should be written and heading of the précis should be given clearly by the candidates even if they are not asked for.

Question wise comments are given below:


Q.1	This question tested the vocabulary of the students. Most of the students did well in this question, however, there were a few who due to lack of preparation could not match the meanings even though the words were right there.

Q.2	In part (a) most of the students did the antonyms correctly but were unable to do the Synonyms. In part (b) the performance was extremely poor. It reflected that some did not comprehend the question but many were not aware of the proverbs. Candidates should increase their knowledge of proverbs because they are very helpful in communicating your views.

Q.3	There were two parts in this question a and b. In the first part candidates were asked to form sentences by using the given idioms so that the meaning of the idiom becomes clear. The following errors were identified:- Most of the students wrote similar sentences which clearly showed that there was rote learning by referring to a key or textbook. Many wrote sentences such as, “Don’t work day and night”. Don’t burn the candle at both ends.” These sentences are not acceptable because the meaning of the idioms does not become completely clear. The second part of the question was very easy but students made mistakes in choosing between unsatisfied/dissatisfied, and dependent/dependant. This type of deficiencies can easily be removed by developing the habit of reading and listening to news and other similar programs in English.


Q.4	Majority secured full marks in this question.

Q.5	In part (a) candidates scored high however some of them wasted time in copying the whole passage which was not required. In part (b) the response was very poor as students lacked imagination. It also showed that students are not used to reading english. In part (c) adverbs were required to be underlined whereas adjectives were required to be circled, but many candidates did the reverse. The examiners obviously could not make out whether it was a mistake or just a failure in following the instructions.

Q.6	(a)	Active and Passive voice was tested in this question. Many students erred in choosing the correct tense of the sentence while changing from active to passive and vice versa.
	(b)	This was again a very easy question but lot of students made mistakes. However many scored full marks also. Many students tried to be over-smart and wrote both options which was obviously treated as incorrect.

Q.7	Most candidates are aware of the format of the letter. However, considerable improvement is required in the text of the letter. The common deficiencies were as follows:

	The introduction and conclusion of the letter were not very meaningful as they began and ended abruptly.
	The letter did not give genuine reasons for the upward trend of the price. Just stating the increase in price is not enough to convince the customers.
	There were numerous errors of grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Q.8

Q# 1,2,3 were answered success-fully.

Q # 4&5 asked to quote the words from the passage. The candidates instead of writing the exact words from the passage rearranged it and explained it in their own words.

Q # 6 the précis writing was not at all satisfactory and the following errors were noted.

Many students wrote less than 100 words whereas the required words were 200.
Heading was not given.
Many failed to explain in their own words.
Word count was not given importance.

Q.9

In Composition few candidates wrote very well and had excellent ideas. However, many failed to score high because:

They wrote either very short or very long essays ignoring the word count.
Spelling and vocabulary was very weak.
Handwriting was illegible and untidy.
Grammar especially tenses and subject verb agreement was not correct.
Each paragraph should begin with a linker such as, however, subsequently, although and many others. Candidates begin sentences with ‘And’ which is incorrect. They used ‘So’ frequently. No linker should be repeated. Sentences in a paragraph should be short. Sometimes a paragraph of four to five lines was written without a comma, full stop or a question mark.
Unnecessary use of apostrophe was noticed.
Numbering of sentences or paragraphs is not acceptable.