Article writing
Class 8 English · Writing · 7 questions with answers
Read enough Class 8 articles and one pattern repeats: a good opening, a good second paragraph, and a third that repeats the second in different words. The child had two ideas and the question needed four. That is a planning problem rather than a language one, which is why it is the most improvable thing on the whole paper.
- Lays out an article with heading and byline in place
- Plans four points in two minutes before writing
- Writes paragraphs that each carry one distinct idea
- Acknowledges the other side of an argument
Exercise 1 of 3 · 4 questions
Put the parts of an article in order. Number them 1 to 4.
Put in order · Warm-up
Here’s one done for you
Heading, byline, body, conclusion. These are format marks, awarded before anyone reads what the article says, and children lose them by forgetting the byline more often than by anything else. Ten seconds of layout secures marks that no amount of good writing can recover once they have gone.
- 1)A. Body - two or three paragraphs, one idea each
- 2)B. Heading
- 3)C. Conclusion - what should happen, or what it adds up to
- 4)D. Byline - by, and the writer's name
Answers
- 1) B, D, A, C. Heading first, then the byline, then the body, then the conclusion.
Exercise 2 of 3 · 2 questions
Write a four-point plan for each topic. Do not write the article - just the plan.
Write the answer · Guided
Here’s one done for you
Four bullet points, two minutes, and the article is already decided. Position, reason, reason, conclusion - or position, reason, counter-argument, conclusion where the topic has two sides. Children resist this because it feels like time taken away from writing. It is the only part of the writing section that reliably turns practice into marks, and skipping it is what produces the third paragraph that repeats the second.
- 1)Should mobile phones be allowed in schools?
- 2)The importance of reading outside the syllabus
Answers
- 1) 1. Position: phones should be allowed but kept switched off during class. 2. Reason for: safety and contact with parents while travelling. 3. Reason against: they are a serious distraction and can be misused. 4. Conclusion: a clear rule - deposited at the start of the day, returned at the end - solves both.
- 2) 1. Position: reading beyond the textbook matters more than it is given credit for. 2. Reason: it builds vocabulary and comprehension without feeling like study. 3. Reason: it introduces ideas the syllabus has no room for. 4. Conclusion: twenty minutes a day of anything a child chooses is enough to change how they read.
Exercise 3 of 3 · 1 questions
Now write the article in full, about 150 to 200 words. A model answer is given.
Write the answer · Practice
Here’s one done for you
The model follows its own plan exactly: position, reason for, reason against, resolution. Notice that it argues both sides before choosing - that is what makes it a Class 8 article rather than a Class 5 opinion, and it is the single easiest way to lift a piece of writing. Your child's position may be the opposite of this one and score just as well, provided it is argued rather than asserted.
- 1)Should mobile phones be allowed in schools? Write an article for your school magazine.
Answers
- 1) PHONES IN SCHOOL: A RULE, NOT A BAN by Ananya Rao, Class 8-B Few school arguments are as tired as the one about mobile phones, and few are settled so badly. Most schools choose between allowing them entirely and banning them entirely, when neither extreme reflects how they are actually used. There is a real case for allowing them. Many of us travel a considerable distance to school, and a phone is how a parent knows we have arrived. A bus that does not come is a genuine problem when there is no way to say so. There is an equally real case against. A phone in a pocket during a lesson is a distraction even when it is not touched, and every teacher knows it. Photographs taken without permission and messages sent in class are not imaginary problems either. But these are arguments for a rule rather than for a ban. Phones deposited at the start of the day and returned at the end would answer both concerns at once. The device is available when it is needed and absent when it is not, which is all anyone on either side was really asking for.
While your child works
- Insist on the plan before the writing. Two minutes, four bullet points, and the flat third paragraph disappears.
- Check the byline. It is the format mark most often forgotten and it costs nothing to remember.
- Either position is correct. Judge the article on whether the other side was acknowledged, not on whether you agree with it.