મુખ્ય વિષય ૨, પેટા-વિષય ૧: માધ્યમ — the internet, reliability and the press

The specification says Paper 3 Section A sources will include material from online media. You hear a short online news bulletin in Gujarati in which a presenter introduces a story and a reporter then speaks from a location. A question asks: અહેવાલ આપનાર પત્રકાર કઈ બાબતમાં ખાતરી આપી શકતા નથી? Answer it.

1. 01Read what the question is fishing for

   ખાતરી આપવી is to give an assurance or to confirm; ખાતરી આપી શકતા નથી is cannot confirm. The question is therefore about a hedge, not about a fact. Broadcast Gujarati hedges in recognisable ways and you can listen for them specifically: હજી સુધી પુષ્ટિ થઈ નથી (it has not yet been confirmed), એવું કહેવાય છે કે (it is said that), સૂત્રોના જણાવ્યા મુજબ (according to sources), પ્રાથમિક માહિતી પ્રમાણે (according to preliminary information).

2. 02Use the replay provision to hunt the hedge, not the story

   You control the recording. Play it once for shape — presenter, then reporter, then perhaps a return to the studio. Then replay only the reporter's section listening for the four hedge phrases above and nothing else. This is a different activity from listening for content and it is far faster once you know you are doing it.

3. 03Distinguish the hedge from the correction

   A common Section A distractor is a fact that the reporter states plainly and then qualifies later. If the reporter says a number and then says આ આંકડો સત્તાવાર નથી (this figure is not official), the unconfirmed thing is the figure, not the event. Attach the hedge to what it actually modifies before you write.

4. 04Write the answer in your own Gujarati, briefly

   પત્રકાર જણાવે છે કે નુકસાનનો ચોક્કસ આંકડો હજી સત્તાવાર રીતે પુષ્ટિ પામ્યો નથી. The reporter says that the exact figure for the damage has not yet been officially confirmed. Section A open responses are marked on content: give the information asked for and no more. Padding a short answer with restatement wastes the time you need for Section B.

Result: The transferable skill is listening for a class of phrase rather than for content. Four hedge formulae, memorised, convert an apparently hard comprehension question into a search task that the replay provision makes easy.

A Section B text is a Gujarati newspaper feature on young people and the internet. One question asks: નીચેનામાંથી કયું વાક્ય લેખકનો પોતાનો અભિપ્રાય છે? Four sentences from the text are offered. Work out how to decide without guessing.

1. 01Learn the three sentence types and their signals

   A Gujarati news text mixes three kinds of sentence and each announces itself. A plain fact has no attribution and no evaluative word: સરકારે ૨૦૨૧માં નવા નિયમો બનાવ્યા. An attributed claim carries a source phrase: સૂત્રોના જણાવ્યા મુજબ, અહેવાલ પ્રમાણે, નિષ્ણાતોના મતે, એક અભ્યાસ અનુસાર. The author's own opinion carries an evaluative word or a first-person frame: મારા મતે, ખરેખર, દુર્ભાગ્યે, એ સ્પષ્ટ છે કે, જોઈએ તેવું નથી.

2. 02Apply the test to each option in turn

   Option with પ્રમાણે or મુજબ: attributed, not the author's. Option with a bare date and a verb: fact, not the author's. Option containing જોઈએ (ought), દુર્ભાગ્યે (unfortunately), or a superlative such as સૌથી મોટો ભય (the greatest danger): that is evaluation, and unless it too is attributed it is the author's. The test takes seconds and is far more reliable than reading for tone.

3. 03Watch the trap: attributed evaluation

   The commonest distractor in this question type is an evaluative sentence that IS attributed — નિષ્ણાતોના મતે આ સૌથી મોટો ભય છે, in the experts' view this is the greatest danger. It is evaluative, so it feels like opinion, but the opinion belongs to the experts, not to the author. Attribution beats evaluation: if a source phrase is present, the sentence is not the author's own view.

4. 04Carry the same test into your own writing

   This is not only a reading skill. Every essay you write in this qualification is marked partly on whether the examiner can tell your claims from your sources', and the same three signals do the work. Use મુજબ or પ્રમાણે for a source, keep bare sentences for facts, and reserve મારા મતે for the judgements you are prepared to defend.

Result: Three sentence types, three signal sets, and one rule for the distractor: attribution beats evaluation. The same taxonomy that answers the question is the one that structures your own Section C essay.

Translate into English: સામાજિક માધ્યમો પર એવો દાવો કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો કે શહેરમાં પાણી પીવાલાયક નથી. પણ કોઈ સત્તાવાર સંસ્થાએ તેની પુષ્ટિ કરી નહોતી. પછીથી નગરપાલિકાએ ખંડન કર્યું, છતાં અફવા ફેલાતી રહી.

1. 01Sentence one: an agentless passive and a complementiser

   એવો દાવો કરવામાં આવ્યો હતો કે — a claim had been made that. કરવામાં આવવું is Gujarati's ordinary agentless passive, formed on the verbal noun plus આવવું, and it is exactly the construction English renders with the passive; do not supply an agent that the Gujarati withholds. હતો makes it pluperfect: had been made, not was made. પાણી પીવાલાયક નથી — the water is not fit to drink; પીવાલાયક is fit for drinking, built from the infinitive plus લાયક, worthy of.

2. 02Sentence two: a negative pluperfect, and the word સત્તાવાર

   કોઈ સત્તાવાર સંસ્થાએ તેની પુષ્ટિ કરી નહોતી — no official body had confirmed it. કોઈ with a negative gives no or none; સત્તાવાર is official, from સત્તા, authority; સંસ્થા is a body or institution and takes the ergative -એ because પુષ્ટિ કરી is a perfective transitive; નહોતી is the negative past copula agreeing with the feminine પુષ્ટિ. That agreement is a small thing that a marker will notice.

3. 03Sentence three: a concessive that must survive the translation

   પછીથી નગરપાલિકાએ ખંડન કર્યું — later the municipal corporation issued a denial; નગરપાલિકા is the municipality and again takes the ergative. છતાં અફવા ફેલાતી રહી — yet the rumour went on spreading. છતાં is the concessive yet or nevertheless; ફેલાવું is to spread and ફેલાતી રહી, with રહેવું as the auxiliary, gives went on spreading rather than simply spread. The whole point of the paragraph lives in that continuative aspect, so it must appear in the English.

4. 04Assemble and check tense sequence

   The paragraph moves pluperfect, pluperfect, then simple past with a continuative. English needs the same sequence for the argument to work: a claim had been made, no official body had confirmed it, later the corporation denied it, yet the rumour went on spreading. Flattening all four verbs into a simple past would leave the reader unable to see that the denial came after the claim and failed to stop it.

Result: A claim had been made on social media that the water in the city was not fit to drink. No official body had confirmed it. Later the municipal corporation issued a denial, yet the rumour went on spreading. The three teaching points are the agentless passive કરવામાં આવવું, the ergative on both perfective transitives, and the continuative ફેલાતી રહી.

Paper 3 Section B gives you a recorded discussion in which an editor defends the political coverage of the Gujarati press, and a written column arguing that coverage has narrowed. Part (c) asks you to evaluate the viewpoints in both sources, say which you agree with and why, and draw conclusions, in about 200 to 250 words. Build the answer.

1. 01Read the grids before you write a word

   Part (c) is marked by three grids: understand and respond to spoken language, AO1, out of 6; understand and respond to written language, AO2, out of 6; and accuracy and range of language, AO3, out of 10. Two things follow. Both sources must be used, because two of the three grids are source-specific and an answer that neglects one forfeits six marks. And AO3 is the largest single grid on this question, so range and accuracy are not a garnish here — they are 10 of the 22 marks the extended response carries.

2. 02State each viewpoint as a claim with a ground

   તંત્રીના મતે ગુજરાતી અખબારો આજે પણ સ્થાનિક રાજકારણનું ઝીણવટભર્યું આવરણ આપે છે, કારણ કે જિલ્લા-સ્તરની આવૃત્તિઓ ટકી રહી છે. In the editor's view Gujarati newspapers still give detailed coverage of local politics, because district editions have survived. Then the written source: લેખકના મતે આવરણ ઘટ્યું નથી પણ સંકોચાયું છે — વિષયોની સંખ્યા એટલી જ છે, પરંતુ મતભેદની જગ્યા ઓછી થઈ છે. In the writer's view coverage has not shrunk but narrowed: the number of subjects is the same, but the room for disagreement has reduced.

3. 03Evaluate by testing whether they actually contradict

   This is the move that lifts the answer. The two claims are about different things — volume and range — and noticing that is evaluation rather than description. બંને દલીલો એકબીજાનું ખંડન કરતી નથી: એક જથ્થા વિશે છે, બીજી વિવિધતા વિશે. The two arguments do not refute each other: one is about quantity, the other about variety. An examiner reading the band descriptor about relevant and substantiated judgements showing clear evaluation is looking for exactly this.

4. 04Say which you find better supported, and why, then conclude

   મારા મતે લેખકની દલીલ વધુ મજબૂત છે, કારણ કે તેમણે બે અખબારોના શબ્દોની સરખામણી કરીને પુરાવો આપ્યો છે, જ્યારે તંત્રીએ માત્ર આવૃત્તિઓની સંખ્યા ગણાવી છે. In my view the writer's argument is stronger, because he has given evidence by comparing the wording of two newspapers, whereas the editor has only counted editions. The reason is about the quality of the evidence, not about which conclusion you prefer, and that is what makes it a judgement rather than a preference.

5. 05Spend the last minutes on AO3, deliberately

   With 10 of 22 marks on range and accuracy, reread for three things specifically: at least one subordinate clause with જો…તો or કારણ કે…તેથી; at least one passive or one participial construction to show range; and every perfective transitive carrying its ergative. The specification's own guidance defines complex language as including the pluperfect and future perfect, the passive, the subjunctive and subordination, so putting one of each in on purpose is not artificial — it is the grid.

Result: Two attributed claims, a test of whether they truly conflict, a judgement grounded in the quality of the evidence, and a deliberate final pass for AO3. In a 22-mark question where accuracy and range carry 10, that last pass is worth more than another sentence of content.

Translate into Gujarati: It is often said that newspapers have lost their influence. According to one editor, however, district editions are still read closely, and readers write letters when they disagree. Social media has contributed to the change but has not replaced the daily paper.

1. 01Sentence one: keep the passive agentless

   It is often said that becomes ઘણી વાર એવું કહેવામાં આવે છે કે — the agentless passive plus obligatory કે. newspapers have lost their influence becomes વર્તમાનપત્રોએ પોતાનો પ્રભાવ ગુમાવ્યો છે; વર્તમાનપત્રો takes the ergative -એ because ગુમાવ્યો છે is a perfective transitive, પોતાનો is the reflexive possessive meaning their own, and પ્રભાવ is masculine singular so the participle is ગુમાવ્યો. Resist the temptation to supply an agent such as લોકો કહે છે: the English withholds one and so should the Gujarati.

2. 02Sentence two: attribution first, then a concessive

   According to one editor becomes એક તંત્રીના મતે, with મતે following the oblique genitive. however becomes જોકે, placed early in the clause. district editions are still read closely becomes જિલ્લા-આવૃત્તિઓ આજે પણ ધ્યાનથી વંચાય છે — વંચાવું is the passive of વાંચવું, and ધ્યાનથી, with attention, does the work of closely. and readers write letters when they disagree becomes અને જ્યારે વાચકો સહમત ન હોય ત્યારે તેઓ પત્રો લખે છે, with the જ્યારે…ત્યારે correlative pair.

3. 03Sentence three: the graded effect verb, used on purpose

   Social media has contributed to the change becomes સામાજિક માધ્યમોએ આ પરિવર્તનમાં ફાળો આપ્યો છે — the ergative again, and ફાળો આપવો chosen deliberately over પ્રભાવ પાડવો because the English says contributed. but has not replaced the daily paper becomes પણ તેણે દૈનિક અખબારનું સ્થાન લીધું નથી; સ્થાન લેવું, to take the place of, is the natural Gujarati for replace, and the negative perfect લીધું નથી keeps the tense of the English.

4. 04The three checks, in order

   First, ergatives: વર્તમાનપત્રોએ, સામાજિક માધ્યમોએ, and the elided one in લીધું નથી whose subject તેણે is expressed. Second, agreement: ગુમાવ્યો with પ્રભાવ, આપ્યો with ફાળો, લીધું with સ્થાન. Third, the two obligatory particles: કે after કહેવામાં આવે છે, and the જ્યારે…ત્યારે pair kept intact. Those checks take a minute and they are where the marks are.

Result: ઘણી વાર એવું કહેવામાં આવે છે કે વર્તમાનપત્રોએ પોતાનો પ્રભાવ ગુમાવ્યો છે। જોકે એક તંત્રીના મતે જિલ્લા-આવૃત્તિઓ આજે પણ ધ્યાનથી વંચાય છે, અને જ્યારે વાચકો સહમત ન હોય ત્યારે તેઓ પત્રો લખે છે। સામાજિક માધ્યમોએ આ પરિવર્તનમાં ફાળો આપ્યો છે, પણ તેણે દૈનિક અખબારનું સ્થાન લીધું નથી। Two passives, two ergatives and one deliberately graded effect verb: everything the AO3 grid calls complex language, present because it was planned.