Word Knowledge and Usage

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, General Hindi (the Commission's text, in Hindi):

• शब्द ज्ञान एवं प्रयोग:
  (अ) उपसर्ग एवं प्रत्यय प्रयोग
  (ब) विलोम शब्द
  (स) वाक्यांश के लिए एकशब्द
  (द) वर्तनी एवं वाक्य शुद्धि

In English (the academy's rendering, not the Commission's words): knowledge and use of words: (a) use of prefixes and suffixes, (b) antonyms, (c) one word for a phrase, (d) spelling and sentence correction.

Topics in detail

(अ) उपसर्ग एवं प्रत्यय प्रयोग (prefixes and suffixes)

• What a prefix (upsarg) is: a word part added before a word that changes or strengthens its meaning
• Sanskrit prefixes, of which twenty-two are usually counted, such as ati, adhi, anu, apa, abhi, ava, aa, ut, upa, dur, ni, nir, para, pari, pra, prati, vi, sam, su
• Hindi prefixes, such as a, an, aun, du, bin, bhar
• Prefixes from Urdu and Persian, such as kam, khush, gair, na, bad, be, hum
• What a suffix (pratyay) is: a word part added after a root or word
• Krit suffixes (added to verb roots) and taddhit suffixes (added to nouns, adjectives and other words)
• Common suffixes forming abstract nouns and adjectives, such as -ta, -tva, -pan, -aai, -ik, -iya, -vaan, -maan, -it
• Splitting a word into prefix, root and suffix, and forming new words from given parts
• Spelling changes when a suffix is added (for example the change of the first vowel with -ik)

(ब) विलोम शब्द (antonyms)

• Antonym pairs of everyday and tatsam words
• Antonyms formed by a prefix (a-, an-, nir-, vi-, ku-)
• Pairs where both words change entirely
• Choosing an antonym of the same part of speech and register as the given word
• Using the antonym correctly in a sentence

(स) वाक्यांश के लिए एक शब्द (one word for a phrase)

• Replacing a descriptive phrase with a single word, mostly tatsam words
• Words for kinds of people: by belief, character, profession or relationship
• Words for qualities and states: what cannot be seen, described, counted, or compared
• Words for places and times
• Choosing between close words that differ in shade of meaning

(द) वर्तनी एवं वाक्य शुद्धि (spelling and sentence correction)

• Common spelling errors: short and long vowels (i/ee, u/oo), the ri sign, anusvar and chandrabindu, half letters and conjuncts
• Confusion between similar letters and sounds: the three sibilants (palatal sha, retroflex sha and sa), ba and va, dental and retroflex na
• Errors with sandhi and with suffixes that change a vowel
• Sentence errors of gender (ling) and number (vachan) agreement
• Errors of case and postposition, including the use of ne with transitive verbs in the past tense
• Redundancy (punarukti): two words of the same meaning used together
• Wrong word order, wrong choice of word and errors of tense
• Rewriting a faulty sentence correctly, without changing its meaning

How it is tested

• A question on this part can give a list of words or sentences: add the prefix or suffix, give the antonym, give one word for each phrase, or correct each item.
• Each item is short, so accuracy in spelling matters as much as knowing the word.
• A personal list of words and corrections, revised often, is the most direct way to prepare.

Overlaps

• Prelims General Hindi tests विलोम शब्द, वर्तनी, word formation and common errors in objective form.