English

The paper at a glance

English carries the subject code 101. The syllabus described here is the one published for 2026-27.

This is a language paper, and NTA's syllabus for it is short: a cover page and a single page of content. It does not list grammar rules, prescribed texts or vocabulary lists. It names skill areas, and it opens with a caveat: questions will be from the following topics but are not limited to. Treat the headings below as the guaranteed core, not as the outer boundary.

How the syllabus is organised

The document is laid out in two skill areas — Reading Comprehension and Verbal Ability. The first is about understanding a passage; the second is about handling words and sentences on their own. There are no units within either area, only a short list of item types.

The syllabus itself is a list of skills only. It does not print question counts, marks, negative marking or timing, and it does not say how many questions come from each area. Read it alongside the exam pattern.

Reading Comprehension

The one place where the syllabus becomes specific is here: it fixes the kinds of passage you will read and puts an upper limit on their length. Each passage runs to at most 300 words.

Three passage types are named. A factual passage reports information; a narrative passage tells a sequence of events; a literary passage is drawn from or written in the manner of literature. The syllabus does not say how many passages appear or how many questions follow each.

Verbal Ability

The second area lists four item types. None is explained further in the source; the names are all you get.

Rearranging the parts is about putting jumbled pieces of a sentence or passage into order. Match the following pairs items from two columns. Choosing the correct word is a fill-in-the-blank of the usual kind. Synonyms and antonyms test vocabulary directly. That is the whole of the list, and the opening line of the syllabus reserves the right to go beyond it.

What this syllabus does not tell you

The document is a skills list and nothing more. From it you cannot learn:

• how many questions come from Reading Comprehension and how many from Verbal Ability, or the marks, negative marking and duration — those are on the exam pattern;
• how many passages there are, or how many questions follow each passage; only the word ceiling is given;
• whether grammar, spelling, idioms or usage are tested — the opening caveat leaves the door open, but the syllabus names none of them;
• how difficult the passages or the vocabulary will be;
• which books to use; the syllabus names no textbook and no author;
• how much weight a university gives this paper once you qualify — the programmes that accept it are listed below, but the marks or ranking rule each one applies sits in its own admission bulletin.

For anything about attempt rules or numbers of questions, go to the NTA information bulletin and the exam pattern rather than to this list.