Teachers' Professional License – Subject Test: Arabic Language 2: free practice test

Past exam question Unit: Syntax (Nahw)

1. Adirect object

   The direct object is (أولادكم), the thing the killing falls on; (خشية) is not acted upon.

2. Bobject of purpose (mafʿūl li-ajlih) ✓ Correct answer

   (خشية) is an accusative mental-state verbal noun giving the reason for the forbidden killing: an object of purpose with a fatḥa.

3. Cadverbial object (mafʿūl fīhi)

   The adverbial object is a noun of time or place, and (خشية) is neither.

4. Dobject of accompaniment (mafʿūl maʿahu)

   The object of accompaniment follows a waw of accompaniment, and there is no such waw here.

Reference: ETEC Arabic Language Teacher Standards – Level 2 (2020), Standard 6.2.3 (accusative nouns), indicator 2, p. 8; Ibn ʿAqīl, Sharḥ al-Alfiyya, chapter on the object of purpose (al-mafʿūl lahu)

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Past exam question Unit: Syntax (Nahw)

1. A(بدأتِ الدراسةُ مِنَ الصباحِ الباكرِ)

   (مِنْ) here marks the starting point in time.

2. B(عُذِّبَتِ امرأةٌ فِي هِرَّةٍ حَبَسَتْهَا) ✓ Correct answer

   (فِي) here expresses cause: the woman was punished because of a cat she confined, not location.

3. C(جلسَ المعلمُ عَلَى الكرسيِّ الجديدِ)

   (عَلَى) here marks physical elevation: he sat on the chair.

4. D(ذهبَ الطلابُ إِلَى المدرسةِ مبكرينَ)

   (إِلَى) here marks the end point: the students reached the school.

Reference: ETEC Arabic Language Teacher Standards – Level 2 (2020), Standard 6.2.4 (genitive nouns and their rules), indicator 2, p. 8; Ibn ʿAqīl, Sharḥ al-Alfiyya, chapter on prepositions (ḥurūf al-jarr)

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Past exam question Unit: Syntax (Nahw)

1. Aa causal adjective (naʿt sababī) following (العالِمُ)

   A causal adjective is a derived adjective that governs a following noun; (نفسُهُ) is not an adjective.

2. Bverbal emphasis (tawkīd lafẓī) following (العالِمُ)

   Verbal emphasis repeats the same word, and (العالِمُ) is not repeated here.

3. Cexplanatory apposition (ʿaṭf bayān) following (العالِمُ)

   Explanatory apposition clarifies its antecedent like a proper name; (نفسُهُ) emphasizes rather than clarifies.

4. Dsemantic emphasis (tawkīd maʿnawī) following (العالِمُ) ✓ Correct answer

   (نفسُهُ) is one of the semantic-emphasis words, annexed to a pronoun referring to the emphasized word, so it follows it in the nominative.

Reference: ETEC Arabic Language Teacher Standards – Level 2 (2020), Standard 6.2.6 (use of followers, tawābiʿ), indicator 6, p. 9; Ibn ʿAqīl, Sharḥ al-Alfiyya, chapter on emphasis (tawkīd)

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Past exam question Unit: Morphology (Sarf)

1. Ataḥassun ✓ Correct answer

   The verbal noun of Form V (tafaʿʿala) is (tafaʿʿul), with ḍamma before the last letter: (taḥassun).

2. Btaḥsīn

   (taḥsīn) is the verbal noun of (ḥassana), pattern (tafʿīl), not of (taḥassana).

3. Ciḥsān

   (iḥsān) is the verbal noun of (aḥsana).

4. Dtaḥāsun

   (taḥāsun) is the verbal noun of (taḥāsana), pattern (tafāʿul).

Reference: ETEC Arabic Language Teacher Standards – Level 2 (2020), Standard 6.2.9 (morphological terms and rules), indicator 5, p. 10; Shadhā al-ʿUrf, chapter on the verbal noun

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Past exam question Unit: Literature and Criticism

1. AIbn Khafāja

   Ibn Khafāja was an Andalusian poet (d. 533 AH).

2. BʿUrwa ibn al-Ward

   ʿUrwa ibn al-Ward was a pre-Islamic ṣuʿlūk poet.

3. Cal-Buḥturī

   al-Buḥturī was an Abbasid poet (d. 284 AH).

4. DIbn Nubāta al-Miṣrī ✓ Correct answer

   Ibn Nubāta al-Miṣrī (d. 768 AH) was a poet of the Mamluk era.

Reference: ETEC Arabic Language Teacher Standards – Level 2 (2020), Standard 6.2.10 (literary eras, genres, schools and figures), indicator 1, p. 10; Shawqī Ḍayf, History of Arabic Literature

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Past exam question Unit: Literature and Criticism

1. Aal-Maʿarrī, al-Aʿshā, Aḥmad Muḥarram

   al-Maʿarrī was Abbasid, so he cannot precede the pre-Islamic al-Aʿshā.

2. BAḥmad Muḥarram, al-Maʿarrī, al-Aʿshā

   Aḥmad Muḥarram was modern (d. 1945), so he cannot precede the two older poets.

3. Cal-Aʿshā, Aḥmad Muḥarram, al-Maʿarrī

   al-Maʿarrī came before Aḥmad Muḥarram, not after.

4. Dal-Aʿshā, al-Maʿarrī, Aḥmad Muḥarram ✓ Correct answer

   al-Aʿshā is pre-Islamic (d. c. 7 AH), then al-Maʿarrī is Abbasid (d. 449 AH), then Aḥmad Muḥarram is modern (1877–1945).

Reference: ETEC Arabic Language Teacher Standards – Level 2 (2020), Standard 6.2.10 (literary eras, genres, schools and figures), indicator 1, p. 10; Shawqī Ḍayf, History of Arabic Literature

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Past exam question Unit: Rhetoric (Balagha)

1. Areversed (maqlūb) ✓ Correct answer

   The poet compares the dawn's brow to the caliph's face; normally the face would be compared to the dawn, but he reverses it to claim the face is the brighter, so the simile is reversed.

2. Bcomposite (tamthīlī)

   A tamthīlī simile has a composite image as its ground; here the ground is brightness alone.

3. Cimplicit (ḍimnī)

   In an implicit simile the comparison is not stated but understood; here the particle (كأنّ) states it.

4. Deloquent, with tool and ground omitted (balīgh)

   In a balīgh simile the tool and the ground are dropped; here the tool (كأنّ) is present.

Reference: ETEC Arabic Language Teacher Standards – Level 2 (2020), Standard 6.2.12 (figures of speech: majaz, simile, metonymy), indicator 4, p. 10; al-Īḍāḥ (al-Qazwīnī), chapter on tashbīh

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Past exam question Unit: Prosody and Rhyme

1. Athe ḍarb and the ʿarūḍ

   Incorrect: this reverses the terms; the ḍarb is the last foot of the second hemistich, not of the first.

2. Bthe ʿarūḍ and the ḍarb ✓ Correct answer

   Correct: the final foot of the first hemistich is the ʿarūḍ, and the final foot of the second hemistich is the ḍarb.

3. Cthe ḥashw and the ḍarb

   Incorrect: the ḥashw is the feet in the body of the hemistich, not its final foot.

4. Dthe ʿarūḍ and the ḥashw

   Incorrect: the last foot of the second hemistich is the ḍarb; the ḥashw is only the feet that precede it.

Reference: ETEC Arabic Language Teacher Standards – Level 2 (2020), Standard 6.2.15 (prosody terms, scansion and metres), indicator 1, p. 11

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Past exam question Unit: Linguistics

1. AQuickly leafing through a text to form a general idea of it (skimming)

   This is skimming: a general glance to grasp the content, not a search for one specific item.

2. BReading a text slowly to enjoy its style (pleasure reading)

   Pleasure reading is for enjoyment and does not aim to extract information.

3. CReading a text aloud to improve pronunciation

   Reading aloud trains pronunciation; it is not used for searching.

4. DSweeping the page quickly with the eye to find a specific piece of information (scanning) ✓ Correct answer

   Correct: scanning (also called al-qirāʾa al-tamshīṭiyya) is a quick sweep of the page for a specific item, such as a word in a dictionary.

Reference: ETEC Arabic Language Teacher Standards – Level 2 (2020), Standard 6.2.16 (concept of language, its development, sciences, features and acquisition theories), indicator 4, p. 11

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Past exam question Unit: Teaching Arabic

1. Aknowing how to form letters

   Learning to form letters belongs to the early stages of childhood.

2. Bknowing the meanings of numbers

   Understanding the meanings of numbers also appears in early stages.

3. Cpronouncing first syllables

   Pronouncing first syllables belongs to the first years of life.

4. Dliterary appreciation ✓ Correct answer

   In this later stage of childhood an inclination to reading and appreciation of literature and fine expression emerges.

Reference: ETEC Arabic Language Teacher Standards – Level 2 (2020), Standard 6.2.20 (strategies, activities and aids for teaching Arabic), indicator 3, p. 12

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