The English examination is divided in two categories namely language and literature and the other is called communicative English. From a student’s point of view the basic difference between both lies in the fact the marks allotted to each section in both the examination are different. For instance in language and literature examination the marks allotted to section A, B, C and D are 20, 20, 15, 45 where as in communicative English the marks allotment is 20, 30, 20, 30.

Download CBSE Class X English LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Sample Papers

1. English Sample Paper 1
2. English Sample Paper 2
3. English Sample Paper 3
4. English Sample Paper 4

ENGLISH - LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
(Code No. 184)
Syllabus and Examination Specifications
CLASS X

One Paper Time:3 Hours Marks : 100

SECTION A : READING 20 Marks 30 Periods

Question No. 1 & 2 will be two unseen passages of total 500 words with a variety of questions including 4 marks for vocabulary.Only prose passages will be used. One will be factual and the other will be literary.
Passage 1 - 200 words (8 marks) - Four or five comprehension questions
Passage 2 - 300 words (12 marks) - Four or five comprehension questions and two questions on vocabulary. Marks for vocabulary will not exceed 4 marks.
Typology of questions:
Very short answer type and short answer type questions may be asked to test local comprehension besides questions on vocabulary and comprehension of higher level skills such as drawing inferences and conclusions. Students may also be asked to frame questions for 2 marks. Two passages may be either factual, discursive or literary.

SECTION B : WRITING 20 Marks 40 Periods

Question No. 3 Letter Writing - One letter in not more than 150 words based on provided verbal stimulus and context. Types of letter : Informal; Personal such as to family and friends. Formal : Letters of complaint, enquiry, request & application 8 Marks
Question No. 4 Writing a short paragraph on a given outline/topic in about (50-80 words) 4 Marks
Question No. 5 Writing a short writing task based on a verbal and / or visual stimulus. (diagram, picture, graph, map, chart, flow chart etc.) Descriptive/Argumentative/ imaginative writing-(125-150 words)and 8 marks.

SECTION C : GRAMMAR 15 Marks 45 Periods

Question No. 6-9 A variety of short questions involving the use of particular structures within a context. Text types used will include gap-filling, sentence-completion, sentence-reordering, dialogue-completion and sentence-transformation (including combining sentences). The Grammar syllabus will include the following areas for teaching:
1. Use of non-finites.
2. Sentence connectors : as, since, while, then, just because, just, until.
3. Clauses with what, where and how.
4. Past Tense.
5. Modals : can, could, may, must, might.
Note : All other areas covered in Class IX will also be tested in Class X as this is an integrated course for this area of learning.
Q. 6 Fill in the blanks/editing/omission- 4 marks
(use of tenses/determiners/ preposition/non-finite/modals)
Q. 7 Transformation of sentences and relation between sentences, clauses and the use of the simple past tense tested through sentence completion.- 4 marks
Q. 8 Word building/word finding- 4 marks
(negatives, noun , verb, adjectival & adverb forms; synonyms and antonyms
Q. 9 Rearranging words/phrases to make meaningful sentences- 3 marks

SECTION D : TEXT BOOKS 45 Marks 95 Periods

Prose-20 marks

Q. 10 & Q. 11 Reading a given text – 2 passages of 5 marks each -10 marks
Q. 12 Long answer-(one out of two-80 words) 1×6=6marks
Q. 13 two out of three Short answer-(30-40 words)=4 marks

Poetry-10 marks

Q. 14 One out of two extracts for 4 marks
Q. 15 Three short questions for 2 marks each based on lines given from the poems (2×3)-6 marks

Supplementary Reader – 15 marks

Q. 16 1 out of 2 long answer question-(100 words) -8 marks
Q. 17 1 out of 2 short answer questions -(30-40 words) -4 marks
Q. 18 1 out of 2 short answer questions -(20-30 words) -3 marks