Class IX English Course A SYLLABUS AND EXAMINATION SPECIFICATIONS

English (Communicative)
One Paper 3 Hours 100 Marks

SECTION A : READING 20 Marks 40 Periods

Two unseen passages with a variety of comprehension questions including 04 marks for word-attack skills such as word formation and inferring meaning.

1 250-350 words in length – 08 marks
2 400-450 words in length – 12 marks

The total length of the two passages will be between 650 and 800 words.
Question No.1 First passage will have a factual passage (e.g., instruction, description, report etc.) or a literary passage (e.g., extract from fiction, drama, poetry, essay or biography).

Question No. 2 Second passage will have a factual passage or a discursive passage involving opinion, (argumentative, persuasive or interpretative text).

Only 2 will have questions on word-attack skills for 04 marks.

SECTION B : WRITING 30 Marks 63 Periods

Four writing tasks as indicated below:

Question No.3 and 4 will be Short composition of not more than 50 words each - e.g., notice, message, telegram or short postcard. Each composition will carry 5 marks

Important note on format and word limit :
Notice : Word limit : 50 words for body of the notice. Notice must be placed in a box. If the candidate exceeds the word limit by more than 5 words ½ mark will be deducted.

Message: Word limit : 50 words for body of the message. Message must be placed in a box. If the candidate exceeds the word limit by more than 5 words ½ mark will be deducted.

Postcard: Word limit : 50 words for body of the letter. Format of postcard has to be printed in the question paper for candidates to copy while writing the answer. 1 mark will be deducted if the student fails to copy the proper layout. If the candidate exceeds the word limit by more than 5 words ½ mark will be deducted.

Telegram: Word limit : 25 words inclusive of receiver’s name and address, sender’s name and the word STOP/. However Sender’s address, which is not to be telegraphed, will not be counted for deciding word limit. Format of telegraph form has to be printed in the question paper for candidates to copy while writing the answer. 1 mark will be deducted if the student fails to copy the proper layout. If the candidate exceeds the word limit by one or two words ½ mark will be deducted. If he/she exceeds the word limit by three or more words 1 mark will be deducted.

Question No. 5 will be a Composition based on a verbal stimulus such as an advertisement, notice, newspaper cutting, table, diary extract, notes, letter or other forms of correspondence.
Word limit : 200 words (For letter : 150 words only for body of the letter) 10 marks.

Question No. 6 will be a Composition based on a visual stimulus such as a diagram, picture, graph, map, cartoon or flow chart.
Word limit : 150-200 words 10 marks.

One of the longer (10 marks) compositions will draw on the thematic content of the Main Course book.

Note : for question No. 5 and 6 : If the candidate exceeds the word limit by 15 words or more 1 mark will be deducted. Word limit applies only to the body of the letter (150 words) / article (200 words)/speech (150 words) /report (excluding the format—200 words) etc.

SECTION C : GRAMMAR 20 Marks 42 Periods

Question No. 7-11 A variety of short questions involving the use of particular structures within a context (i.e., not in isolated sentences). Test types used will include gap-filling, cloze (gap filling exercise with blanks at regular intervals), sentence completion, reordering word groups in sentences, editing, dialogue completion and sentence transformation.
The grammar syllabus will be sampled each year, with marks allotted for :Verb forms, sentence structures and Other areas.
Note : Jumbled words in reordering exercise to test syntax will involve sentences in a context. Each sentence will be split into sense groups (not necessarily into single words) and jumbled up.

SECTION D : LITERATURE 30 Marks 65 Periods

Question N. 12 and 13 : Two extracts from different poems from the prescribed reader, each followed by two or three questions to test local and global comprehension of the set text. Each extract will carry 4 marks.
Word limit : one or two lines for each answer.

Question No. 14 will be one question (with or without an extract) testing global or local comprehension of a poem or a play from the prescribed reader.
Word limit : 75-100 words 05 marks

Question No. 15 will carry up to three questions based on one of the drama texts from the prescribed reader to test local and global comprehension of the set text. An extract may or may not be used.
Word limit : one or two lines for each question if an extract is given. If an extract is not given, the word limit will be roughly 75 words. Total 05 marks

Question No. 16 will be one question based on one of the prose texts from the prescribed reader to test global comprehension and extrapolation beyond the set text.
Word limit : 50-75 words 04 marks.

Question No. 17 will be one extended question based on one of the prose texts from the prescribed reader to test global comprehension and extrapolation beyond the set text.
Word limit : 150-175 words 08 marks.
Questions will test comprehension at different levels : literal, inferential and evaluative.