The one rule that governs everything here
Ornament loses marks. Precision wins them. Examiners reward clarity and economy and penalise decoration. Wordcraft never teaches a word so you can sound impressive. It teaches the word that is exactly right, the pair you must never swap, the verb a noun takes, and the fifteen words you can delete.
Glossary from the edition
18 words, each quoted in the sentence where it appeared in the 30 August 2026 edition. Meaning first, then the sentence, then where it came from.
A very large rock avalanche that travels much farther and faster than ordinary friction would allow; the mass behaves like a flowing stream. A German loanword (Sturz fall + Strom stream); the English plural is usually sturzstroms.
हिंदी: विशाल, तेज़ चट्टानी हिमस्खलन (जर्मन शब्द)
Some accounts use sturzstrom, from Albert Heim’s German coinage of 1932 and formalised by Hsü in 1975: a stream of very rapidly moving debris from a disintegrating rock mass, typically over one million cubic metres, often exceeding 100 km per hour.
From The Rasuwa Disaster Was Not a GLOF · Technical register; use it only where the article’s own precision is wanted.
The condition of not being assignable to any particular source or cause. The adjective is unattributable; contrast unattributed, which means merely not yet assigned.
हिंदी: किसी स्रोत या कारण को न सौंपे जा सकने की स्थिति
A research paper from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory on the unattributability of generative diffusion model outputs is being read as strengthening the legal position of image-generation firms, because the influence of any single training image falls as datasets grow.
From Current Affairs Today, August 30, 2026 · Today’s root lesson grows from this word.
Capable of being decided by a court; having the shape of a question a judge can rule on. Not a synonym for legal or just. Its opposite, non-justiciable, is the constitutional status of the Directive Principles under Article 37.
हिंदी: न्यायालय द्वारा निर्णय-योग्य; वाद-योग्य
To these add the legal frontier: attribution increasingly serves liability claims against carbon majors, where Raghu Murtugudde’s scepticism about counterfactual worlds holding up in court meets the 2025 landmark rulings, the Hamm court’s in-principle acceptance of proportional emitter liability in Lliuya v RWE and the ICJ advisory opinion, which together make the fraction-of-attribution question justiciable.
From What Attribution Science Can Honestly Say · Today’s "from the edition" lesson.
Not marked out on the ground. Boundary-making has two stages: a boundary is delimited when it is described on paper or a map, and demarcated when it is physically marked with pillars or fences. The India-China boundary is neither settled nor demarcated.
हिंदी: ज़मीन पर सीमांकित नहीं किया गया
On an undemarcated boundary, that agreement carries an implication about the alignment of the LAC at that spot.
From Two New Border Meeting Points Were Agreed. Neither Has Been Named. · Delimit (on paper) before demarcate (on the ground): a Prelims-grade distinction.
A person who takes part in a dialogue or conversation. In Indian political usage, the government’s designated negotiator in a peace process or with a state’s political groups.
हिंदी: वार्ताकार; संवाद में भाग लेने वाला
What has been offered so far is a committee headed by a Minister of State, not an interlocutor of ministerial rank.
From Naga Talks Move to Ministerial Level, While the NSCN-IM Splits · Latin inter "between" + loqui "to speak", the same root as eloquent and colloquial.
Crossing a boundary between states or countries; used of rivers, pollution, hazards and their governance. The Bhotekoshi flood began in Tibet and killed people in Nepal, so its early warning was a transboundary problem.
हिंदी: सीमा-पार; एक से अधिक देशों को छूने वाला
Early-warning limitations in high mountains, transboundary hazard chains without a binding trilateral protocol, and the siting of run-of-river hydropower in the narrowest valleys.
From The Rasuwa Disaster Was Not a GLOF · Corrected 30 Aug: first attributed to the Bhotekoshi editorial; the sentence is from the daily article.
Relating to a doctrine, meaning a body of settled legal principle. A court’s doctrinal contribution is the rule of law it adds, as distinct from the facts it decided. Do not confuse with doctrinaire, which means rigidly attached to theory.
हिंदी: सिद्धांत-संबंधी; स्थापित विधिक सिद्धांत से जुड़ा
Its doctrinal contribution is the cleanest line in this whole area: the FIR is a public document under Section 74 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and an accused should get a copy "at the earliest possible stage".
Left to the judgement of the person exercising the power, rather than fixed by rule. A discretionary power hedged by conditions is one whose exercise is limited by them.
हिंदी: विवेकाधीन; अधिकारी के विवेक पर छोड़ा गया
That structure, a discretionary power hedged by rank, time limits and review, is a model worth citing in any answer on balancing rights against investigative necessity.
From Can an Accused Be Denied a Copy of the FIR? · Spell it discretion (judgement), never discreetion; discreet is a different word meaning tactful.
That interprets: a label is interpretive when it tells the reader what the numbers mean (a warning, a traffic light) rather than merely stating them. Interpretive and interpretative are both correct; British usage leans to the longer form, American to the shorter, and Indian writing uses both.
हिंदी: व्याख्यात्मक; अर्थ बताने वाला
WHO recommends interpretive front-of-pack labelling over non-interpretive formats.
A thing that completes or goes well with another. Two policies are complements when each supplies what the other lacks. Never confuse with compliment, an expression of praise, which the same editorial also uses, correctly: "that is a diagnostic, not a compliment".
हिंदी: पूरक; जो दूसरे को पूरा करे
Argue claims-policing and warning labels as complements, deleting false reassurance while supplying true warning.
From A Claim on a Food Packet Is a Claim, Not a Guarantee · Memory hook: a complement completes; a compliment is what I like to hear.
As a noun: a sign or test that reveals the state of something. Usually an adjective (diagnostic test); the noun use, common in medicine and engineering, is formal and exact.
हिंदी: निदान-सूचक; स्थिति उजागर करने वाला संकेत
Where a regulator moves fastest tells you where resistance binds least, and that is a diagnostic, not a compliment.
In British and Indian English the noun is licence and the verb is license (like advice and advise). American English spells both license. The edition uses both forms correctly: ONGC Videsh "received a licence"; a State that shrugs at abuse "licenses it".
हिंदी: लाइसेंस (संज्ञा, ब्रिटिश/भारतीय वर्तनी licence) / लाइसेंस देना (क्रिया license)
As background, ONGC Videsh received a licence to operate upstream oil and gas projects in Venezuela in early August 2026.
From A Fifth of a Country's Oil · Same pattern: practice (noun) / practise (verb) in British and Indian English; American English uses practice for both.
Not answered by evidence or argument to the contrary. To rebut is to offer evidence against a claim; to refute is to prove it false; to deny is simply to say it is untrue. Careful writers keep the three apart, and "refute" is the one most often misused for "deny".
हिंदी: अखंडित; जिसका खंडन नहीं किया गया
Advocate Nipun Saxena’s charge of routine non-compliance stands unrebutted because nothing official exists to rebut or confirm it.
Something that draws attention away from the real question. The usual origin story is a smoked herring dragged across a trail to mislead hounds; whatever its history, the idiom is standard in British, American and Indian English and is safe in formal prose.
हिंदी: ध्यान भटकाने वाली बात; असली प्रश्न से हटाने वाला मुद्दा
Oil researcher Rory Johnston has called the 65-billion-barrel figure "a red herring", on the ground that reserves in the ground are not production and Venezuela’s constraint has never been how much oil exists.
From A Fifth of a Country's Oil · Today’s idiom lesson places it beside smoking gun and on the back foot.
A narrow passage whose closure blocks an entire route; in strategy, a strait or pass that controls trade or movement (the Strait of Hormuz, the Malacca Strait). Also written choke point.
हिंदी: संकरा मार्ग जिसके बंद होने से पूरा रास्ता रुक जाए; अवरोध-बिंदु
A war in West Asia closes a chokepoint, which raises fuel prices in the United States, which drives a resource agreement in South America.
To spread or transmit, of ideas, signals, plants or behaviour. Latin propagare, to breed plants by cuttings; the sense of spreading an idea is a metaphor from the garden.
हिंदी: फैलाना; प्रसारित करना
Reference-group imitation: choice under uncertainty made by copying the highest-status acquaintance, Asthana’s own confessed method, which propagates elite behaviour downward as aspiration.
In statistics, predicting each value in a sequence from the values before it. A language model is autoregressive because it generates each word from the words already produced; that is why, the editorial argues, copied text can still be traced when copied images cannot.
हिंदी: स्व-प्रतिगमन: पिछले मानों से अगला मान अनुमानित करना (सांख्यिकी)
That distinction, diffusion versus autoregression, is exactly the kind of technical precision that separates a science-literate answer from a newspaper-literate one.
From The Smoking Gun Dissolves at Scale, but Only for Images
That cannot be done without; absolutely necessary. Spelling trap: -able, not -ible, because it is built on dispense + -able.
हिंदी: अपरिहार्य; जिसके बिना काम न चले
A process whose indispensable interlocutor is excluded from its benefits asks the movement to trust the state with everything at once: weapons surrendered first, certification later, founder in prison throughout.
From How a Forty-Year Insurgency Ends · Note interlocutor again, here in its exact peace-process sense.
The seven lessons
One entry of each type, every day: a system, not a word list.
1 · Root & family
tribuere
Latin · "to allot, to assign"
One Latin verb, and you own eight English words. Tribuere meant to assign a share, originally to the tribes (tribus) of Rome. Every descendant keeps the idea of assigning something to someone.
| Word | Literal build | What it assigns |
|---|---|---|
| attribute (v.) | ad "to" + assign | a cause to an effect: the flood was attributed to a landslide dam |
| attribute (n.) | same word, noun stress | a quality assigned to a thing: patience is his best attribute |
| contribute | con "together" | your share, into a common pool |
| distribute | dis "apart" | shares, outward to many |
| retribution | re "back" | what is paid back: always punishment, never reward |
| tribute | bare root | what a subject people were assigned to pay; now, assigned honour |
| tributary | -ary "that which pays" | a river that pays its waters to a larger one: the Yamuna is a tributary of the Ganga |
| unattributable | negated, -able | that which cannot be assigned to a source |
Stress discipline
The verb is a-TRIB-ute; the noun is AT-trib-ute. English shifts stress between verb and noun constantly (re-CORD / RE-cord, pro-JECT / PRO-ject, con-DUCT / CON-duct), and hearing it marks a careful speaker.
The trap in the family
A tributary flows into a river. A distributary flows out of one, as the channels of the Ganga delta do. Same root, opposite direction: dis- "apart" sends the water away.
Spelling across varieties
No variation: British, American and Indian English spell every member of this family identically. The only difference is stress, which no variety marks on paper.
Harvested from the roundup and "The Smoking Gun Dissolves at Scale", where the MIT paper turns on the unattributability of diffusion-model outputs. The rest of the family is added from the root, not from the edition.
2 · Confusable pair
principal / principle
two Latin parents, one English trap
Noun: the first-ranked person (a school principal) or the first-ranked money (loan principal, on which interest runs).
The discriminating test
Can you put a or the before it and mean "a rule"? Then it is principle. Is it doing the work of main? Then it is principal. There is no such thing as a "principle reason", and examiners notice.
Memory hook, used honestly
A principle is a rule. The principal is your pal only in primary school; the useful half of the hook is the -le / -le match.
Where the exam meets it
The Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV). The principal secretary to a minister. The principle of natural justice. Loan principal in every RBI story. Four phrases, all examinable.
Across varieties
Identical in British, American and Indian English. This pair is confused everywhere, which is why getting it right is noticed everywhere.
Both words appear in today’s edition, each used correctly: "Nepal’s principal overland trade link with China" and the "Do No Harm" principle of the India AI Governance Guidelines.
3 · Collocation
The verbs of governance
which verb a noun takes
Fluency is knowing which verb a noun takes. Governance nouns are strict about their partners, and the wrong verb ("the bill was passed in the committee stage", "the declaration was signed by the summit") is the fastest tell of unsteady English in a Mains answer.
| Noun | Takes | Never |
|---|---|---|
| a bill | is tabled, introduced, moved, passed, deferred | |
| an Act | is passed, assented to, enacted, amended, repealed | |
| a declaration | is adopted, issued | |
| a treaty / agreement | is signed, then ratified; it enters into force | |
| a resolution | is moved, adopted, defeated | |
| an ordinance | is promulgated, later replaced by an Act | |
| rules / a notification | are notified, issued, gazetted | |
| a ceasefire | holds, collapses, is extended, is violated |
Why this matters beyond style
Each collocation encodes procedure. Signed, then ratified, then in force is three legal stages; a candidate who writes "the treaty was passed" has flattened the law along with the English. In India the President promulgates an ordinance under Article 123 and assents to a bill under Article 111; a Governor promulgates under Article 213.
The transatlantic trap: to table
In British and Indian English, to table a bill is to put it forward for consideration. In American English, to table a motion is to set it aside, often for good. The same verb, opposite meanings. Indian usage follows the British sense, as today’s Naga coverage does; if you write for an American reader, say introduce.
Every verb in the "takes" column was used in today’s edition: the Nagaland Bill "would be tabled in the Assembly session beginning September 1", the Framework Agreement signed in 2015 (Naga talks), "No declaration has been adopted" (SCO), rules notified, a ceasefire extended.
4 · From the edition
justiciable
/ jə-STISH-ə-bəl /
Found in situ, at the end of a long sentence in today’s attribution editorial: the 2025 rulings "together make the fraction-of-attribution question justiciable." Not a synonym for legal or just. A question is justiciable when it is capable of being decided by a court, when it has the shape a judge can rule on.
The family
From Old French justicier, to bring to trial; ultimately Latin justitia. Its opposite, non-justiciable, carries real constitutional weight: Article 37 says the Directive Principles "shall not be enforceable by any court". True, binding on the state’s conscience, but no court can enforce them. That single word does the work of a sentence.
Register
Formal, precise, and welcome in a Mains answer because it is exact, not because it is rare. Compare the flabby alternative: "this issue can now be taken to court and decided there", eleven words for one.
Near-neighbours to keep apart
| Word | Describes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| justiciable | the question | a justiciable dispute |
| judicious | a person’s judgement | a judicious decision to wait |
| judicial | the courts | judicial review |
| juridical | law in theory | a juridical concept of personhood |
Spelling note: judgment
Indian courts, like the British legal profession, write judgment without the e; general British prose prefers judgement; American English uses judgment for everything. In an answer on a court ruling, judgment is the safe form.
Harvested from "What Attribution Science Can Honestly Say", where climate liability crossing from science into court is precisely a question becoming justiciable.
5 · Say it shorter
Killing the zombie noun
nominalisation, and how to undo it
The most common inflation in aspirant prose is nominalisation: burying the verb inside an abstract noun, then propping that noun up with make, take, conduct, carry out. The sentence lengthens; the agent disappears; the marks leak away. The examples below are constructed in the register of regulatory prose; they are not quotations from today’s edition.
The government has taken a decision with regard to the implementation of front-of-pack warning labels in order to bring about a reduction in obesity.
The government has decided to implement front-of-pack warning labels to reduce obesity.
Same facts. Thirteen words returned to your word limit.
The mechanical fix
Hunt the endings -tion, -ment, -ance, -ence, -ality, -isation; ask what verb is trapped inside (decision → decide, implementation → implement, reduction → reduce); free it. Three passes over any answer, one hunt per pass.
The padding that props zombies up
| Padding | Replace with |
|---|---|
| in order to | to |
| with regard to / in terms of | on, about, or nothing |
| carried out an examination of | examined |
| made a decision | decided |
| a number of | several, or the number |
| the fact that | that |
| at this point in time | now |
When nominalisation is right
When the abstract thing is itself the topic: "Attribution has limits" is correct, because attribution-as-a-practice is the subject. The crime is using the noun to avoid the verb, not using it to name a concept.
Spelling across varieties
Nominalisation, organisation, realise: British and Indian English prefer -ise; American English uses -ize; Oxford house style uses -ize even in Britain. Pick one and hold it through an answer. UPSC accepts both; inconsistency is what reads as carelessness.
Prompted by the register of the day’s regulatory coverage (FSSAI). Officialese is where zombie nouns breed, and where an answer that resists them stands out.
6 · Usage watch
revert · discuss · comprise
Indian professional English that does not travel
Three constructions common in Indian office English that read as errors to examiners and to readers abroad. No sneering: Indian English is a legitimate variety, and prepone is recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary. But these three are grammatical slips, not coinages, and they cost credibility everywhere.
| Watch | The slip | The repair |
|---|---|---|
| revert | "Please reply by Friday." (A policy can revert to its 2020 form.) | |
| discuss | "The committee discussed the Bill." (But: talked about, deliberated on.) | |
| comprise | "The SCO comprises ten members." Or flip it: "Ten members constitute the SCO." |
Three more from the same family
| Slip | Repair | Why |
|---|---|---|
| return | re- already means back | |
| explain the rule to me | explain takes to before a person | |
| cope with | up belongs to keep up with, not cope |
The principle underneath
Each slip adds a preposition English does not want (back, about, of, up) or drops one it does (to). When unsure, strip the preposition and test the bare verb. English is stingier with prepositions than the postposition habit of Hindi trains us to expect.
What is not a slip
"At the earliest possible stage", which the Supreme Court and today’s FIR coverage both use, is standard English. The officialese slip is the bare "at the earliest" in place of a date. Prepone, lakh, crore and do the needful are Indian English, not errors; the last is register (office correspondence), so keep it out of an exam answer.
The harvest found no usage slip in the day’s own prose. Its one flag, "at the earliest", was inside the standard phrase "at the earliest possible stage" in the FIR coverage, which is correct. Today’s entry therefore draws on the standing watch list.
7 · Idiom in formal register
on the back foot
idiom · where it is safe
From cricket: a batter forced onto the back foot is defending, deprived of the drive. In prose: forced into a defensive position by an opponent’s move. Today’s Mecca-pact editorial concludes that "the pact has not put India on the back foot, but it has narrowed India’s margin for error".
Why this idiom is safe in an exam
When most are not: it is (a) common in Indian and British broadsheet English, (b) instantly literal to any reader who knows cricket, and (c) doing analytical work: it names a strategic posture, not a decoration. Compare "the ball is in India’s court", equally safe, against "raining cats and dogs", which belongs nowhere near a Mains answer.
Two more from today’s edition
A red herring (the Venezuela article: the 65-billion-barrel figure) is something that diverts attention from the real question. A smoking gun (the AI editorial) is conclusive evidence of who did it. Both are standard across British, American and Indian English, and both do analytical work; either may open an argument, neither should open an answer.
The register rule for all idiom
One idiom per answer at most, only where it compresses an idea, never in the introduction, never two in a row. Essays tolerate a little more; GS answers a little less; précis and reports, none.
Formal siblings
| Idiom | One step more formal |
|---|---|
| on the back foot | on the defensive · ceding the initiative · reactive rather than proactive |
| the ball is in X’s court | the next move is X’s |
| a red herring | a distraction from the real question |
| a smoking gun | conclusive evidence |
| a level playing field | equal conditions of competition |
| moving the goalposts | changing the criteria mid-process |
Does it travel?
Cricket idioms (on the back foot, a sticky wicket, played with a straight bat) are at home in Indian, British and Australian English but may not land with an American reader, whose sporting idioms come from baseball (a ballpark figure, touch base, step up to the plate). For an international readership, the formal sibling is safer than either.
Harvested from "The Mecca Pact Is Not About India. Its Consequences Are.", with red herring from the Venezuela article and smoking gun from the AI editorial.
Worksheet
Every exercise from the session, on paper. Answers are folded under each one; the online session marks them for you and keeps your score.
Root & family · tribuere
-
Pair each word with what it assigns.
- attribute
- contribute
- distribute
- retribution
- tributary
- tribute
- honour, or a payment owed by a subject people
- a river's waters to a larger river
- punishment paid back
- shares outward to many
- one's share into a common pool
- a cause to an effect
Answer
- attribute: a cause to an effect
- contribute: one's share into a common pool
- distribute: shares outward to many
- retribution: punishment paid back
- tributary: a river's waters to a larger river
- tribute: honour, or a payment owed by a subject people
-
Which word means "cannot be assigned to a source"?
- unattributable
- unattributed
- non-contributory
- undistributed
Answer
unattributable. Unattributed means not yet assigned; unattributable means it cannot be. The MIT paper’s claim is the stronger one: at scale, no source can be found.
-
"The report attributes the flood to a landslide dam." Which stress is right?
- a-TRIB-utes
- AT-trib-utes
- at-tri-BUTES
- either is fine
Answer
a-TRIB-utes. It is a verb here, so the stress falls on the second syllable. Only the noun ("a key attribute") takes AT-.
-
The Yamuna is a ___ of the Ganga.
- tributary
- distributary
- tribute
- contributor
Answer
tributary. It pays its waters into the Ganga at Prayagraj. A distributary would carry water away from a river, as in a delta.
-
The pension is ___: members pay a share in every month.
- contributory
- distributive
- retributive
- attributive
Answer
contributory. Con- "together": everyone puts a share into the pool. Distributive is about sharing out; retributive is about paying back punishment.
-
Tap the wrong word. The victory was contributed to the captain's calm.
Answer
contributed → attributed. You attribute an effect to a cause. Contribute needs the giver as subject: "The captain’s calm contributed to the victory."
-
The court ordered ___, not compensation: the sentence was meant to pay the crime back.
- retribution
- restitution
- attribution
- distribution
Answer
retribution. Retribution is punishment paid back. Restitution (a different root, statuere) restores what was taken.
Confusable pair · principal / principle
-
Rasuwagadhi is Nepal's ___ overland trade link with China.
- principal
- principle
Answer
principal. It means main, so it is the adjective: principal. This is the edition’s own sentence.
-
He refused the bribe on ___.
- principle
- principal
Answer
principle. A rule of conduct: principle. "On principle" is a fixed phrase.
-
Interest accrues on the outstanding ___.
- principal
- principle
Answer
principal. The first-ranked money, the sum itself: principal.
-
The ___ of natural justice requires that the accused be heard.
- principle
- principal
Answer
principle. "The ___ of" followed by a rule: principle passes the test.
-
The ___ reason for the delay was procedural.
- principal
- principle
Answer
principal. Main reason. There is no "principle reason".
-
The Directive ___ of State Policy are set out in Part IV.
- Principles
- Principals
Answer
Principles. Foundational rules for the state: Principles.
-
The ___ secretary briefed the minister before the Cabinet meeting.
- principal
- principle
Answer
principal. Chief secretary to the minister, an adjective of rank: principal.
-
Tap the wrong word. The committee's principle recommendation was rejected by the House.
Answer
principle → principal. It means the main recommendation. Principle can never modify a noun.
-
Which of these is never an adjective?
- principle
- principal
- both can be
- neither can be
Answer
principle. Principle is a noun and nothing else. That single fact resolves most cases.
Collocation · The verbs of governance
-
The President ___ the ordinance on Friday.
- promulgated
- passed
- signed
- adopted
Answer
promulgated. Ordinances are promulgated (Article 123). Only Acts are passed; the President assents to a bill rather than "signing" it.
-
The summit ___ a joint declaration on connectivity.
- adopted
- passed
- enacted
- promulgated
Answer
adopted. Declarations are adopted or issued. They have no legislative force, so they are never passed or enacted.
-
The agreement ___ on 1 January, ninety days after the last ratification.
- entered into force
- was launched
- was passed
- commenced operations
Answer
entered into force. A treaty enters into force. "Launched" is for schemes and satellites.
-
The Bill will be ___ in the Assembly session beginning 1 September.
- tabled
- signed
- adopted
- promulgated
Answer
tabled. A bill is tabled (Indian and British sense: put forward). Nobody signs a bill.
-
An American newspaper says a committee "tabled the motion". What happened?
- the motion was set aside
- the motion was put forward
- the motion was passed
- the motion was signed
Answer
the motion was set aside. In American usage, to table is to shelve. In Indian and British usage it is the opposite. Know the reader.
-
The Assembly ___ the resolution by voice vote.
- adopted
- signed
- gazetted
- ratified
Answer
adopted. Resolutions are moved, adopted or defeated. Ratification is for treaties.
-
The rules were ___ on 28 August and take effect immediately.
- notified
- declared
- adopted
- ratified
Answer
notified. Rules and notifications are notified, issued or gazetted: published in the Gazette of India.
-
Put a treaty's life in order. enters into force · ratified · signed · negotiated
Answer
negotiated → signed → ratified → enters into force. Signature shows intent; ratification binds the state under its own law; entry into force is when obligations begin. Three verbs, three legal facts.
-
Tap the wrong word. The Framework Agreement was passed by both sides in 2015.
Answer
passed → signed. Agreements are signed. "Passed" belongs to bills and resolutions in a legislature.
-
Tap the wrong word. The ordinance was passed by the Governor last night.
Answer
passed → promulgated. A Governor promulgates an ordinance under Article 213; the legislature passes the Act that replaces it.
-
Pair each instrument with the verb it takes.
- a bill
- an Act
- an ordinance
- rules
- a treaty
- is ratified
- are notified
- is promulgated
- is assented to by the President
- is passed by Parliament
Answer
- a bill: is passed by Parliament
- an Act: is assented to by the President
- an ordinance: is promulgated
- rules: are notified
- a treaty: is ratified
From the edition · justiciable
-
Pair each word with what it describes.
- justiciable
- judicious
- judicial
- juridical
- jurisdiction
- the authority to decide
- of law in theory
- of the courts
- showing good judgement
- a question a court can decide
Answer
- justiciable: a question a court can decide
- judicious: showing good judgement
- judicial: of the courts
- juridical: of law in theory
- jurisdiction: the authority to decide
-
The Directive Principles of State Policy are:
- non-justiciable
- unconstitutional
- injudicious
- extra-judicial
Answer
non-justiciable. Article 37: not enforceable by any court, yet fundamental in the governance of the country.
-
Fundamental Rights are ___; a citizen may move the Supreme Court under Article 32.
- justiciable
- judicious
- juridical
- judicial
Answer
justiciable. They can be decided and enforced by a court: justiciable.
-
Tap the wrong word. The minister made a judicial decision to postpone the launch.
Answer
judicial → judicious. A minister shows good judgement: judicious. Judicial decisions come from courts.
-
Say it in five words.
This issue can now be taken to a court of law and decided there by a judge.
Model
This issue is now justiciable. Sixteen words to five, and the five are more exact.
-
Which pronunciation is right?
- jə-STISH-ə-bəl
- JUS-ti-sigh-ə-bəl
- jus-TIK-ee-ə-bəl
- jus-ti-SHY-bəl
Answer
jə-STISH-ə-bəl. Stress the second syllable; the -ci- is "sh".
-
In an answer about a Supreme Court ruling, the safe spelling is:
- judgment
- judgement
- either, at random
- judgemant
Answer
judgment. Indian courts write judgment. General British prose prefers judgement; American English uses judgment throughout.
Say it shorter · Killing the zombie noun
-
Deflate to eight words or fewer.
The committee carried out an examination of the proposal and made a recommendation for its rejection.
Model
The committee examined the proposal and recommended rejection. Two zombie nouns (examination, recommendation) freed into two verbs. Sixteen words to eight.
-
Deflate to seven words or fewer.
There has been a significant increase in the number of farmers who are making use of drip irrigation.
Model
Far more farmers now use drip irrigation. "There has been an increase in the number of" is one idea: more. "Making use of" is one verb: use.
-
Deflate to ten words or fewer.
It is the opinion of the Commission that the implementation of the scheme should be undertaken in a phased manner.
Model
The Commission thinks the scheme should be implemented in phases. "It is the opinion of X that" is "X thinks". "In a phased manner" is "in phases".
-
Free the verb trapped in each noun.
- implementation
- reduction
- assessment
- utilisation
- commencement
- facilitation
- help
- begin
- use
- assess
- reduce
- implement
Answer
- implementation: implement
- reduction: reduce
- assessment: assess
- utilisation: use
- commencement: begin
- facilitation: help
-
When is a nominalisation the right choice?
- when the abstract thing is itself the topic
- when the answer must sound formal
- when the agent is unknown
- never
Answer
when the abstract thing is itself the topic. "Attribution has limits" names a practice as its subject. That is naming, not hiding.
-
Tap the padding. In order to reduce obesity, the regulator issued warning labels.
Answer
In order to → To. "In order to" is "to" with two words of packaging.
-
Which verb is trapped in "conducted an investigation into"?
- investigated
- conducted
- inquired
- examined
Answer
investigated. Conduct is the prop; investigation is the zombie; investigate is the verb.
-
Tap the padding. The state is aware of the fact that the aquifer is falling.
Answer
the fact that → that. "The fact that" is "that" almost every time. Here even "aware that" is enough.
Usage watch · revert · discuss · comprise
-
Tap the slip. Kindly revert back at the earliest.
Answer
revert back → reply. Revert means return to an earlier state; back doubles it; neither means reply. And give a date instead of "at the earliest".
-
Tap the slip. The committee discussed about the Bill for two hours.
Answer
about → (delete). Discuss takes its object directly: discussed the Bill.
-
Tap the slip. The SCO is comprised of ten full members.
Answer
comprised of → comprises. The whole comprises its parts. "Comprised of" is the one form careful editors reject.
-
Ten members ___ the SCO.
- constitute
- comprise
- are comprised of
- consist
Answer
constitute. Parts constitute (or compose) the whole. Only the whole comprises.
-
The SCO ___ ten full members.
- comprises
- consists
- is constituted
- comprises of
Answer
comprises. The whole comprises its parts, with no "of". "Consists" would need "of".
-
"Prepone" is:
- an Indian coinage recorded in the OED
- a grammatical error
- an American usage
- a Latin borrowing
Answer
an Indian coinage recorded in the OED. Coinage is how a language grows. The three slips in the lesson are grammar, not coinage; that is the difference.
-
Tap the slip. Please return back the file by Monday.
Answer
return back → return. Re- already means back. Return, revert, reply, respond: none takes "back".
-
Tap the slip. Can you explain me the new rule?
Answer
explain me → explain to me. Explain takes "to" before the person: explain the rule to me, or explain to me the rule.
-
Tap the slip. Farmers are struggling to cope up with the delayed monsoon.
Answer
cope up with → cope with. "Up" belongs to keep up with. Cope takes only "with".
-
The committee ___ the Bill clause by clause.
- deliberated on
- discussed about
- discussed on
- talked
Answer
deliberated on. Deliberate takes "on"; discuss takes nothing. Both are right when the preposition matches the verb.
Idiom in formal register · on the back foot
-
Pair each idiom with its formal sibling.
- on the back foot
- the ball is in India's court
- a red herring
- a smoking gun
- a level playing field
- moving the goalposts
- changing the criteria mid-process
- equal conditions of competition
- conclusive evidence
- a distraction from the real question
- the next move is India's
- on the defensive
Answer
- on the back foot: on the defensive
- the ball is in India's court: the next move is India's
- a red herring: a distraction from the real question
- a smoking gun: conclusive evidence
- a level playing field: equal conditions of competition
- moving the goalposts: changing the criteria mid-process
-
Which idiom is safe in a Mains answer?
- the ball is in Pakistan's court
- raining cats and dogs
- spill the beans
- kick the bucket
Answer
the ball is in Pakistan's court. It passes all three tests: broadsheet-common, literal to any reader, and it names who must act next.
-
How many idioms may a GS answer carry?
- one at most
- none
- two, well spaced
- as many as compress ideas
Answer
one at most. One, only where it compresses an idea. Précis and reports take none.
-
Where must an idiom never appear?
- in the introduction
- in the body
- in the conclusion
- in an example
Answer
in the introduction. The introduction sets register. Open plainly; earn the figure later.
-
A "red herring" is:
- a distraction from the real question
- conclusive evidence
- a defensive posture
- a fair set of rules
Answer
a distraction from the real question. The Venezuela article: the barrel count distracts from the real constraint, which is production.
-
Rewrite with no figure of speech at all.
The pact has not put India on the back foot.
Model
The pact has not forced India into a defensive position. Plain version: exact, a little longer, no image. Now you can choose the idiom rather than reach for it.
-
Two idioms in a row. Tap the one to cut. The government, on the back foot since the leak, now finds the ball in its court.
Answer
the ball in its court. → must now decide. Keep the idiom doing analytical work (the posture); replace the second with plain prose.
-
Which idiom would an American reader most likely miss?
- a sticky wicket
- a red herring
- a smoking gun
- a level playing field
Answer
a sticky wicket. Cricket idioms are Indian, British and Australian property. The other three are shared across varieties.
Reading in the CSAT shape
A passage quoted from What Attribution Science Can Honestly Say, then inference questions on it.
Attribution is now a fixture of GS3 environment questions and of every post-disaster press cycle, including this week's Nepal flood, where scientists have pointedly stopped short of attribution. This piece supplies the machinery, the limits and, inadvertently, a lesson in source criticism: two of its quoted "experts" are not experts, and spotting that is a transferable exam skill.
Build a two-axis mental table: event class against claim strength. Heatwaves: strong probabilistic claims, safe to cite. Seasonal rainfall shifts: moderate. Sub-daily convective events, cloudbursts, tornadoes: attribution generally unavailable, say so. Then apply the source filter: is the sceptic inside the peer-reviewed conversation or outside it? Mishra doubting baselines is science; a hoax author in a partisan blog is not. An answer that demonstrates both filters, event-class and source-class, is doing what the examiner actually wants tested.
According to the passage, for which class of event is attribution "generally unavailable"?
- Sub-daily convective events such as cloudbursts
- Heatwaves
- Seasonal rainfall shifts
- All extreme events
Answer
Sub-daily convective events such as cloudbursts. The passage grades three classes: heatwaves strong, seasonal shifts moderate, sub-daily convective events "generally unavailable, say so".
The "source filter" the passage recommends asks whether a sceptic is:
- inside or outside the peer-reviewed conversation
- a scientist by training
- quoted in a newspaper
- doubting baselines
Answer
inside or outside the peer-reviewed conversation. "Is the sceptic inside the peer-reviewed conversation or outside it?" Mishra doubting baselines is inside; a hoax author is outside.
Which statement is best supported by the passage?
- Scientists deliberately refrained from attributing the Nepal flood
- Scientists attributed the Nepal flood to climate change
- Attribution should not be cited in GS3 answers
- Heatwave attribution is weak
Answer
Scientists deliberately refrained from attributing the Nepal flood. "Scientists have pointedly stopped short of attribution": a deliberate refusal, not an absence of interest.
The author calls spotting a non-expert a "transferable exam skill" because:
- an answer showing both the event-class and the source-class filter is what the examiner tests
- hoax authors are common in newspapers
- GS3 carries more marks than GS1
- baselines are uncertain
Answer
an answer showing both the event-class and the source-class filter is what the examiner tests. The last sentence: an answer that demonstrates both filters "is doing what the examiner actually wants tested".
"Mishra doubting baselines is science" implies that:
- doubt raised from inside the field is legitimate scepticism
- Mishra is a hoax author
- baselines are settled
- attribution is unscientific
Answer
doubt raised from inside the field is legitimate scepticism. The contrast is with "a hoax author in a partisan blog"; the scepticism is legitimate because of where it comes from.
Writing task · The FIR question, in 120 words
In no more than 120 words, argue whether an accused person’s right to a copy of the FIR should be written into the BNSS. Use justiciable or non-justiciable correctly, one governance verb from today’s table (tabled, notified, promulgated, adopted, ratified), and exactly one idiom, not in the first sentence. No padding, no zombie nouns you can free.
Weekly answer clinic
Extreme event attribution is scientifically strongest for heatwaves and weakest for short-duration localised events. Explain why, and discuss the implications for climate litigation and for India's disaster management priorities. (150 words; from What Attribution Science Can Honestly Say). Use at least 5 words from this week’s glossaries. Open with the two-axis idea (event class against claim strength), give one line each on litigation and on disaster priorities, close with what an answer may honestly claim.
Companion to Vocab Builder (what a word scores in a GS answer) and Key Terms. Wordcraft is the language itself.
