CBSE Class 9 English Language & Literature 2025-26 Syllabus

There are 11 questions in the paper divided into three sections: (i) Reading (ii) Writing and Grammar (iii) Literature.

CBSE Class 9 English Language & Literature 2025-26 Syllabus

Exam Structure

Section Topic Marks
A Reading Skills 20
B Writing Skills and Grammar 20
C Language through Literature 40
  Total 80

The annual examination is of 80 marks, with a duration of three hours.

Section A: Reading Skills

This section will have two Reading Comprehension through Unseen Passage:

1. Discursive passage of 400-450 words. (10 marks)

2. Case-based factual passage (with visual input - statistical data/chart etc.) of 200-250 words. (10 marks)

(Total length of two passages to be 600-700 words)

Multiple Choice Questions / Objective Type Questions / Very Short Answer Questions will be asked to assess comprehension, interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation and vocabulary.

Section B: Writing Skills and Grammar

Grammar (10 Marks)

  1. Determiners
  2. Tenses
  3. Modals
  4. Subject - verb concord
  5. Reported speech
    • Commands and requests
    • Statements
    • Questions

3. The courses at the secondary level seek to cement high professional grasp of grammatical items and levels of accuracy. Accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar will be assessed through Gap Filling / Editing / Transformation exercises. Ten out of twelve questions will be attempted.

Writing Skills (10 marks)

4. Writing a Descriptive Paragraph (word limit 100-120 words), describing a person / event / situation, based on visual or verbal cue/s. One out of two questions to be answered. (5 marks)

5. Writing a Story (on a given cue / title) / Diary Entry, in 100-120 words. One out of two questions is to be answered. (5 marks)

Section C: Language through Literature

Reference to the Context (5 + 5 = 10 Marks)

6. One extract out of two, from Drama / Prose.

7. One extract out of two, from poetry.

Multiple Choice Questions / Objective Type Questions will be asked to assess interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, appreciation and vocabulary.

Short & Long Answer Questions

8. Four out of Five Short Answer Type Questions to be answered in 40-50 words from the book BEEHIVE to assess interpretation, analysis, inference and evaluation. (4 x 3 = 12 marks)

9. Two out of Three Short Answer Type Questions to be answered in 40-50 words from the book MOMENTS to assess interpretation, analysis, inference and evaluation. (3 x 2 = 6 marks)

10. One out of two Long Answer Type Questions from BEEHIVE to be answered in about 100-120 words to assess creativity, imagination and extrapolation beyond the text and across the text. This can also be a passage-based question taken from a situation/plot from the text. (6 marks)

11. One out of two Long Answer Type Questions from MOMENTS, on theme or plot involving interpretation, extrapolation beyond the text and inference or character sketch to be answered in about 100-120 words. (6 marks)

Prescribed Books

Beehive

Prose

  1. The Fun They Had
  2. The Sound of Music
  3. The Little Girl
  4. A Truly Beautiful Mind
  5. The Snake and the Mirror
  6. My Childhood
  7. Reach For The Top
  8. Kathmandu
  9. If I were You

Poems

  1. The Road Not taken
  2. Wind
  3. Rain on The Roof
  4. The Lake Isle of Innisfree
  5. A Legend of The Northland
  6. No Men Are Foreign
  7. On killing a tree
  8. A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

Moments

  1. The Lost Child
  2. The adventures of Toto
  3. Iswaran the Storyteller
  4. In the kingdom of fools
  5. The Happy Prince
  6. The Last Leaf
  7. A House is not a Home
  8. The Beggar

Words and Expressions - I (Workbook for Class IX) - Units 1 to 6 and Units 8, 10 & 11