English-to-Hebrew Composition - the Restricted Scope

The other ten marks

For each unseen passage in Section A you choose one of two ten-mark tasks: grammar identification, or English-to-Hebrew composition. You do not have to make the same choice on both passages. Candidates often avoid composition because it sounds like writing Hebrew from scratch. It is not. It is the more bounded of the two tasks, and this module is about the boundary: what you are allowed to reach for, and what the paper will never ask you to invent.

A list inside a list

Your reading vocabulary is already closed: Appendix 1 is a fixed Hebrew-English word list, and the passages stay inside it. Composition is governed by Appendix 4, which is a smaller, separately restricted subset of it. Two things follow, and they are the whole task: 1. A word you can read may not be a word you may write. Knowing it from a passage does not put it in scope for composition. 2. Every entry is tagged with the part of speech or the binyan it must be used in. The tag does not just permit the word. It dictates the form you write.

What does the tag do?

An Appendix 4 entry carries a tag such as "qal verb" or "noun". What does that tag oblige you to do?

• Use the word only in that part of speech or binyan
• Use the word in whichever form best fits your sentence
• Recognise the word when reading, but not write it
• Write the word without pointing

Inside and outside the boundary

Suppose the list gives you כָּתַב (katav), "he wrote", tagged as a qal verb. Reading across shows what that tag settles.

Match each form to what it is

The rule

Composition is governed by Appendix _____, which is a restricted _____ of the reading list. So a word you can _____ is not automatically a word you may write. Each entry is _____ with the part of speech or binyan it must appear in, which means the tag fixes the _____ you write, not only the word.

Three tools you already have

You are choosing among constructions you have already been taught, not inventing new ones. These three carry most short composition sentences:

Order the method

Put the steps of a composition answer into a sensible working order.

• Read the English sentence and decide what it actually claims
• Check each word you would need against the restricted list
• Rephrase the English where a word is not available to you
• Choose the construction and the binyan the tags allow
• Write the Hebrew, pointed
• Read it back and check the aspect is the one you meant

Which stay in scope?

The list gives you כָּתַב tagged as a qal verb, and מֶלֶךְ tagged as a noun. Select the TWO decisions that keep your answer inside the restriction.

• Writing וַיִּכְתֹּב for "and he wrote"
• Using a verbless clause where English says "is"
• Writing נִכְתַּב because a passive reads more naturally
• Borrowing a word from the passage that is not on the list

Compose it

You are given: "The king was good, and he wrote a book." Work through it one decision at a time.

• For "The king was good", which construction do you reach for first?
• For "and he wrote", the list gives כָּתַב tagged as a qal verb. Which form do you write?
• You have your two clauses. What do you do before moving on?

What the finished answer looks like

You have just made every decision for "The king was good, and he wrote a book". Written out, pointed, it is: הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב וַיִּכְתֹּב סֵפֶר Read it back against your decisions. The first clause, הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב, has no verb - Hebrew needs none for "is", and English supplies the "was" from the context. The second clause opens with the wayyiqtol וַיִּכְתֹּב, so the verb comes first and the subject is carried over from the first clause rather than repeated. One thing still to check, and it is the habit this whole module is about: סֵפֶר has to be on your restricted list. If it is not, you rephrase the English rather than borrow the word.

Why no verb?

In הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב וַיִּכְתֹּב סֵפֶר, the first clause has no verb in it. Why is that the right answer rather than a gap?

• Hebrew needs no verb for "is" - a verbless clause carries the meaning on its own
• The restricted list gave no verb meaning "to be", so the clause had to be left short
• וַיִּכְתֹּב does the work of both clauses
• Verbs are optional in Biblical Hebrew and can be left out anywhere

The composition option

Composition is one of two _____-mark options per passage, and the other one is grammar identification. The vocabulary you may use is _____ than your reading vocabulary, and every entry is tagged with the binyan or part of speech it must appear in. Where a word is missing you _____ the English rather than invent Hebrew. Where English says "is", Hebrew often needs a _____ clause. And your answer is written _____, because the pointing is part of it.

Advise on the Section A choice

Write in English for a classmate who is deciding which of the two Section A options to take. Explain what makes composition a bounded task rather than free writing, and how you would work through one sentence.

• Say what the choice is, and that it is made per passage rather than once
• Explain what the restricted list changes, and why a word you can read may still be unavailable
• Explain what an entry's tag obliges you to do about the form you write
• Walk through one short English sentence and say what you would do at each stage, including the pointing