13 Concepts from Phonology that every KPSC HSA English Aspirant Should Know! (Based on Previous Question Paper)

 Terms from Phonology

1. Phoneme. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another (e.g., /p/ and /b/ in "pat" and "bat").

2. Allophone. An allophone is a variation of a phoneme that does not change the meaning of a word. For instance, the aspirated 'p' in "pin" and the unaspirated 'p' in "spin" are allophones of the phoneme /p/. 

3. Gradation (or Weak Forms) In phonology, many function words in English (like for, at, can) have two different pronunciations: a strong form and a weak form. The strong form is used when the word is stressed or spoken in isolation. The weak form, which usually involves a reduced vowel sound like the schwa (/ə/), is used when the word is unstressed within a sentence. This variation is known as gradation or the use of weak forms.

4. Voiceless bilabial plosive. Sounds produced with both lips (bilabial), involve a complete stop of airflow (plosive), and the vocal cords do not vibrate (voiceless). Example: /p/.

5. Labiodentals. Labiodentals are consonants produced by bringing the lower lip into contact with the upper teeth. The /f/ sound, as heard in laugh, cough, and photo, is a common labiodental fricative.

6. Alveolar: Those sounds during the production of which the tip or blade of the tongue moves against the alveolar ridge (the gum ridge just behind the upper teeth). Alveolar sounds: /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, and /l/. Examples: /t/ as in tap, /n/ as in nap.

7. Post-alveolar (or Palato-alveolar): The blade of the tongue just behind the alveolar ridge. The post-alveolar english consonants are as follows: 

/ʃ/ as in “shot” or “brash”,

/ʒ/ as in “vision” or “measure”

/tʃ/ as in “chick” or “match”  

/dʒ/ as in “jam” or “badge“

8. Palatal: The body of the tongue against the hard palate (the hard roof of your mouth). English has only one palatal consonant:  /j/ as in “yes”.

9. Velar: The back of the tongue against the velum (the soft palate). 

/ŋ/ as in “going” and “uncle”

/k/ as in “kite” and “back“

/g/ as in “good” and “bug“

/w/ as in “wet” and “howard”

10. A syllable is a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, that forms the whole or a part of a word.

11. Monosyllabic words are words that consist of only one syllable. Examples: cat, dog, run

12. Disyllabic words are words that consist of exactly two syllables. Examples: water (wa-ter), table (ta-ble)

13. Trisyllabic Word A trisyllabic word is a word that contains exactly three syllables. For example, the word "impatient" can be divided into three syllables: im-pa-tient.

13 Concepts from Morphology that every KPSC HSA English Aspirant Should Know! (Based on Previous Question Paper)

Concepts from Morphology

1. A morpheme is the minimal meaningful unit in a language. For example the word 'human', 'legal' 'mortal' are morphemes. 

2. Two types of Morphemes.Morphemes are categorized into two types: lexical (or content) and functional (or grammatical). 

3. Lexical morphemes are morphemes that carry the main semantic meaning of a word. They are typically nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, forming the core vocabulary of a language. Examples: Nouns: cat, house, tree, joy. Verbs: run, eat, sleep, think Adjectives: happy, blue, tall, sad

4. Functional morphemes are words that have little meaning on their own but serve to express grammatical relationships between other words in a sentence. They include prepositions (e.g., on, of), articles (e.g., the, a), conjunctions (e.g., and), and pronouns (e.g., them).

5. Allomorphs are the phonetically variant forms of a morpheme. Example- 1. The plural morpheme -s/-es is phonologically realized in words cats, dogs and watches as /s/, /z/ and /iz/ respectively. The same morpheme has different phonetic representation, hence they are the allomorphs of 'plural morpheme -s'

6. Clitic.  A clitic is a morpheme that is grammatically a word but cannot stand on its own phonologically and attaches to another word. An example is the possessive 's in "John's book."

7. A grapheme is the smallest unit in a writing system (a letter or a combination of letters) that represents a single sound (phoneme). 

8. A digraph is a specific type of grapheme where two letters are used together to represent one sound, such as 'sh' in "ship" or 'ph' in "photo".

9. Back-formation Back-formation is a word-formation process where a new word (typically a verb) is created by removing an affix from an existing word (usually a noun). For example, the verb "televise" was created from the noun "television" by removing what was mistakenly thought to be a suffix.

10.  Hyponymy. Hyponymy is a term in linguistics that describes a specific kind of semantic relationship between words where the meaning of a more specific word (the hyponym) is included within the meaning of a more general word (the hypernym). For example the word for a specific flower 'rose' (hyponym) is included in the general word flower (hypernym).

11.  Semantics. Semantics is the the study of meanings in a language

12. Polysemy. Polysemy is defined as “one form having multiple meanings which are all related by extension. Polysemous words will have a single entry with a numbered list of the different meanings of the word. Examples: the word Head may mean human head, department head, a place of entry in accounting.

13. Homonym. Homonyms are two or more different lexemes (a meaningful word) which have the same form but are unrelated in meaning.

13 Things to Note while Preparing for KPSC HSA English Exam 2025

Factual & Biographical Details.

You have to memorise facts about the author, major works, details of publication and first performance of the dramas.

1. Date of Composition or Publication.
   The question paper includes questions regarding the exact date of a poem was written or published. 

For example, you may expect a question like this:

Question: When was the poem “Obituary” published?

Answer: 1971

2. Title of the Anthology.

It is a common question in all competitive exams to select the title of the anthology from which a poem or essay is taken.

Question: The essay “On the Rule of the Road” by A. G. Gardiner is taken from the anthology ------------

Answer: Leaves in the Wind.

3. First Performance of Drama

In the case of dramas, it is usually the name of the theatres where it was first performed. This assures the examiner that the candidate is familiar with the poet/ dramatist and his works. You may expect a question like this:

Question: The School for Scandal was first performed in London at -------- on 8th May, 1777.

Answer: Drury Lane

4. Sources of the Plot.

Dramatists usually work with existing plots and develop them into interesting plays. For example, Shakespeare’s primary source for English history plays was Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Similarly, Girish Karnad adapted plots of his plays from the Mahabharatha. Of course, novels and other literary forms also have interesting sources.

Question: Nagamandala is based on two folk stories Karnad heard from his guru -----------------

Answer: A K Ramanujan

Textual Details (Plot, Setting, and Character):

In order to answer these types of questions, you need to read the text thoroughly and note down important details.

5. Setting

Note down the town or place where the story takes place. In addition, try to remember places where important actions happened. For example, you may get a question like:

Question: Where does most of the action in the novel The Bluest Eye take place?

Answer: Lorain, Ohio

6. Character Details:

It is important to remember the profession of characters, their specific traits, relationships and allegiances.

For example, you may expect questions like:

Question: By profession, the protagonist of Roots and Shadows, Indu, is a/an----------------------?

Answer: Journalist.

Question: Who is Santiago’s hero?

Answer: Joe DiMaggio

7. Plot Points.

Read the texts thoroughly so that you know every detail of the plot. Pay attention to specific events, especially from the beginning or end of a text.

Question: With whom does Napoleon play cards at the end of the novel Animal Farm?

Answer: Mr. Pilkington

Structural and Formal Analysis 

8. Literary Form

Identify the Genre of a poem or play or novel. Note down whether a poem is an epic, a dramatic monologue or an ode. Similarly, note whether a drama is a tragedy, comedy or a tragicomedy. Usually these types of questions come from poetry.

For example, you may expect a question like:

Question: The poem “Africa” is --------------

Answer: A dramatic monologue.

9. Poetic Structure

When studying poetry, note down who is the speaker of the poem. It is also important to know how many speakers are there in a poem and the number of stanzas.

You may expect question like:

Question: How many stanzas does the poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” have?

Answer: 6

10. Literary and Poetic Devices

Identifying the primary literary devices of a poem and the meaning of imagery is very important. 

You may expect a question like:

Question: The most important literary device employed in the poem “This is a Photograph of me” is -----------

Answer: Enjambment.

Thematic and Critical Understanding

11. Themes in Prose

While studying essays,  identify the important argument of an essay. You may expect a question like:

Question: According to Bertrand Russel, ----------- is essential to the proper fulfilment of the teacher’s functions.

Answer: Intellectual independence.

12.  Critical Interpretation of a Work

Make sure that you are familiar with a specific critic’s view on a work. These questions are a bit difficult to answer as modern theorists such as psychoanalysts or feminists have made in-depth studies on older texts. But remember that difficult questions decide the rank holder. So, pay attention to this section.

For example, you may expect a question like:

Question: Name the Shakespearean critic who argues that Macbeth begins “by unleashing the terrible threat of destructive maternal power and demonstrates the helplessness of its central male figure before that power”?

Answer: Janet Adelman

13.  Understanding Critical Texts

It is important to remember specific references made within a prescribed essay. This often comes in critical essays in which authors will quote other texts in order to support their argument. 

For example, you may get a question like:

Question: Which cantos of Dante’s Inferno are referred to in the essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent”?

Answer: Cantos XV and XXVI 

Full Text of The Ambiguous Fate of Gieve Patel, He Being Neither Muslim nor Hindu in India by Gieve Patel

 The Ambiguous Fate of Gieve Patel, He Being Neither Muslim nor Hindu in India                   

by Gieve Patel

   To be no part of this hate is deprivation.

   Never could I claim a circumcised butcher

   Mangled a child out of my arms, never rave

   At the milk-bibing, grass-guzzing hypocrite

   Who pulled off my mother's voluminous

   Robes and sliced away at her dugs.

   Planets focus their fires

   Into a worm of destruction

   Edging along the continent. Bodies

   Turn ashen and shrivel. I

   Only burn my tail.

Full Text of the Poem "Dead Women Walking" by Meena Kandaswamy

Dead Woman Walking

      Meena Kandasamy

i am a dead woman walking asylum corridors,
with faltering step, with felted, flying hair,
with hollowed cheeks that offset bulging eyes,
with welts on my wrists, with creasing skin,
with seizures of speech and song, with a single story
between my sobbing, pendulous breasts.

once i was a wife: beautiful,
married to a merchant: shifty-eyed.
living the life, until he was lost in listless doubt—
of how, what i gave him was more delicious
than whatever, whatever had been given to me.
his mathematics could never explain
the magic of my multiplying love—this miracle—
like materializing mangoes out of thin air,
like dishing out what was never there.

this discrepancy drove him away:
a new job in another city.
he hitched himself to a fresh and formless wife.
of course, as all women do, i found out.

i wept in vain, i wailed, i walked on my head, i went to god.

i sang in praise of dancing dervishes, i made music
for this world to devour on some dejected day.
i shed my beauty, i sacrificed my six senses.
some called me mad, some called me mother
but all of them led me here,
to this land of the living-dead.