درست جواب: پتھر۔ محاورہ ہے: “دل پر پتھر رکھنا”، یعنی صبر اور ضبط سے مشکل فیصلہ کرنا۔
پس منظر: پتھر بھاری ہوتا ہے، اس لیے یہ محاورہ بڑے دکھ پر صبر کے لیے بولا جاتا ہے۔
کیا آپ جانتے ہیں؟ اس کا مطلب ہے: دل مضبوط کر کے ایسا کرنا۔
یاد رکھنے کی ترکیب: دل پر پتھر = صبر۔
درست جواب: گھر گھر پھرنے والی عورت۔ “جلے پاؤں کی بلی” سے مراد ہے بے چین ہو کر گھر گھر پھرنے والی عورت۔
پس منظر: جس بلی کے پاؤں جل جائیں وہ ایک جگہ ٹک نہیں سکتی۔
کیا آپ جانتے ہیں؟ یہ محاورہ بے قرار شخص کے لیے بھی بولا جاتا ہے۔
یاد رکھنے کی ترکیب: جلے پاؤں = بے قراری۔
درست جواب: اسمِ ضمیر۔ “وہ” اسم کی جگہ آیا ہے، اس لیے یہ اسمِ ضمیر ہے۔
پس منظر: ضمیر کی تین بڑی قسمیں ہیں: متکلم، مخاطب اور غائب۔
کیا آپ جانتے ہیں؟ “وہ” ضمیرِ غائب ہے۔
یاد رکھنے کی ترکیب: اسم کی جگہ = ضمیر۔
درست جواب: پاؤں۔ مثل ہے: “جھوٹ کے پاؤں نہیں ہوتے”، یعنی جھوٹ زیادہ دیر قائم نہیں رہتا۔
پس منظر: جس کے پاؤں نہ ہوں وہ چل نہیں سکتا، اسی طرح جھوٹ زیادہ نہیں چلتا۔
کیا آپ جانتے ہیں؟ اس کا مفہوم ہے: “سچ سامنے آ کر رہتا ہے”۔
یاد رکھنے کی ترکیب: جھوٹ کے پاؤں نہیں۔
درست جواب: بات۔ مثل ہے: “رات گئی بات گئی”، یعنی وقت گزرنے کے ساتھ پرانی بات ختم ہو جاتی ہے۔
پس منظر: یہ مثل بیتی ہوئی بات بھلا دینے کے لیے بولی جاتی ہے۔
کیا آپ جانتے ہیں؟ انگریزی میں اس کا مفہوم “Let bygones be bygones” ہے۔
یاد رکھنے کی ترکیب: رات گئی = بات گئی۔
Correct answer: Mongols. The Mongols, under Hulagu Khan, destroyed the Abbasid caliphate by capturing Baghdad in 1258.
Background: The fall of Baghdad ended the Abbasid caliphate in Iraq.
Did you know? The Abbasids had ruled from 750 CE.
Memory trick: 1258: Mongols in Baghdad.
درست جواب: حضرت عائشہؓ۔ واقعہ افک (بہتان کا واقعہ) حضرت عائشہؓ کے بارے میں پیش آیا۔
پس منظر: یہ واقعہ غزوہ بنی مصطلق سے واپسی پر پیش آیا۔
کیا آپ جانتے ہیں؟ اللہ تعالیٰ نے سورۃ النور میں حضرت عائشہؓ کی پاکدامنی کی گواہی دی۔
یاد رکھنے کی ترکیب: افک = عائشہؓ۔
Correct answer: Hazrat Sauda (RA). After Hazrat Khadija (RA), the Prophet (PBUH) first married Hazrat Sauda (RA).
Background: Hazrat Sauda (RA) married the Prophet (PBUH) in the 10th year of prophethood.
Did you know? She was a widow who had migrated to Abyssinia.
Memory trick: After Khadija → Sauda.
Correct answer: Diwan-ul-Kharaj. Hazrat Umar (RA) set up the Diwan-ul-Kharaj to manage land revenue.
Background: Hazrat Umar (RA) created many departments (diwans) to run the growing Islamic state.
Did you know? He is also credited with the Hijri calendar.
Memory trick: Kharaj = land revenue.
Correct answer: He was completely exhausted, yet he continued studying for his exam. “Yet” correctly joins the two contrasting ideas.
Background: “Yet” means “but” and shows contrast.
Did you know? Other contrast words are “but” and “however”.
Memory trick: Contrast → yet.
Correct answer: Relative pronoun. “Who” is a pronoun (relative or interrogative) that refers to a person.
Background: Example: “The man who came is my uncle.”
Did you know? “Who” is for people, “which” for things.
Memory trick: Who = person pronoun.
Correct answer: Hour. A break is a short part of a shift, just as a minute is a short part of an hour.
Background: Analogies often use a part-and-whole relationship.
Did you know? 60 minutes make one hour.
Memory trick: Small part → bigger unit.
Correct answer: Mourning. A whoop expresses exuberance, and a keen (a wailing cry) expresses mourning.
Background: “Keen” can be a noun for a loud wailing lament for the dead.
Did you know? Whoop is a loud cry of excitement.
Memory trick: Whoop → joy; keen → grief.
Correct answer: Been. “Has been to” is the present perfect used for a visit that is finished and the person has come back.
Background: “Been” is the past participle of “be”.
Did you know? “Has gone to” means he has not returned yet.
Memory trick: Been = visited and returned.
Correct answer: Nothing. Because he does not like food, he will eat nothing.
Background: The sentence needs a word that agrees with “does not like food”.
Did you know? “Nothing” means not anything.
Memory trick: No liking → eats nothing.
Correct answer: Which I visited. In a non-defining clause (set off by commas), “which” is used for things.
Background: A non-defining clause gives extra information about a noun.
Did you know? “That” is only used in defining (restrictive) clauses.
Memory trick: Commas → which.
Correct answer: Noun. “Rose” names a flower, so it is a noun (and “black” is the adjective describing it).
Background: “Rose” can also be a verb (the past tense of rise), but here it is a noun.
Did you know? The same word can be different parts of speech in different sentences.
Memory trick: Rose here = flower = noun.
Correct answer: Man. The proverb is “A drowning man catches at a straw”, meaning a desperate person will try anything.
Background: It describes someone who is hoping for any help in a hopeless situation.
Did you know? In Urdu it is similar to “ڈوبتے کو تنکے کا سہارا”.
Memory trick: Drowning man → straw.
Correct answer: Supple. Lissome means thin, supple, and graceful.
Background: It is often used for people who can bend easily, such as gymnasts.
Did you know? A similar word is “lithe”.
Memory trick: Lissome = lithe = supple.
Correct answer: Dullness. Éclat means brilliant display or great success, so “dullness” is the opposite.
Background: The word is borrowed from French.
Did you know? It is often used in the phrase “with great éclat”.
Memory trick: Éclat = brilliant; opposite = dull.
Correct answer: Washes. The idiom is “One hand washes the other”, meaning people help each other.
Background: It describes a favour that is returned.
Did you know? A similar saying is “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”.
Memory trick: One hand washes the other.
Correct answer: 47. Powers first: 8 × 9 − 25 = 72 − 25 = 47.
Background: Follow BODMAS: brackets, orders (powers), division and multiplication, then addition and subtraction.
Did you know? Multiply before you subtract.
Memory trick: BODMAS.
Correct answer: 5, −2. Factorising gives (x − 5)(x + 2) = 0, so x = 5 or x = −2.
Background: Find two numbers with product −10 and sum −3: that is −5 and +2.
Did you know? Check: 25 − 15 − 10 = 0.
Memory trick: Product −10, sum −3.
Correct answer: (4x + 3)². 16x² + 24x + 9 = (4x)² + 2(4x)(3) + 3² = (4x + 3)².
Background: It is a perfect square trinomial of the form a² + 2ab + b².
Did you know? The middle term 24x = 2 × 4x × 3 matches.
Memory trick: a² + 2ab + b² = (a + b)².
Correct answer: 3/2. Factorising gives (2x − 3)(x + 4) = 0, so x = 3/2 or x = −4. Of the options, 3/2 is a solution.
Background: Split the middle term: 2x² + 8x − 3x − 12.
Did you know? The other root, −4, is not in the options.
Memory trick: Product ac = −24; sum = 5.