ICSE Class 10 Question Paper 2026 English Language

ICSE | Class 10

English Language
Question Paper 2026

Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE)

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ENGLISH LANGUAGE
(ENGLISH PAPER – 1)

Maximum Marks: 80

Time allowed: Two hours

1. Answers to this Paper must be written on the paper provided separately.

2. You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes.

3. This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.

4. The time given at the head of this Paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.

5. Attempt all five questions.

6. The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets [ ].

7. You are advised to spend not more than 30 minutes in answering Question 1 and 20
minutes in answering Question 2.

Instruction for the Supervising Examiner

Kindly read aloud the Instructions given above to all the candidates present in the
Examination Hall.

This paper consists of 10 printed pages and 2 blank pages.
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Question 1
(Do not spend more than 30 minutes on this question.)
Write a composition (300 - 350 words) on any one of the following: [20]
(i) Write an original short story beginning with the words: It was midnight and
the doorbell rang…
(ii) If you could change one period in your school timetable, which one would
you choose? Why do you think it needs to be changed and with which subject
or activity would you replace it?
(iii) You and your family enjoy eating out. Give a description of your favourite
restaurant or food stall, and the sights and smells that attract you to the place.
Explain why you like eating here.
(iv) ‘Homework is a necessary evil.’
Express your views either for or against this statement.
(v) Study the picture given below. Write a story or a description or an account of
what it suggests to you. Your composition may be about the subject of the
picture, or you may take suggestions from it. However, there must be a clear
connection between the picture and your composition.

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Question 2
(Do not spend more than 20 minutes on this question.)
Select any one of the following: [10]

(i) Your examinations are drawing near, and you would like to form a study
group. Write a letter to one of your classmates inviting him or her to join it.
Give details of how you plan to revise and explain why it would be helpful.

(ii) The drainage system in your locality needs repair. Write a letter to the
Municipal Commissioner stating the problems caused due to this. Suggest
solutions to improve the situation.

Question 3

(i) Your school is organising an Inter House Non-Flame Cooking Competition. [5]
Write a notice informing the students about the event.

(ii) Write an email to a famous chef, inviting him/her to judge the event. [5]

Question 4
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
“This is your teacher today. He’s going to show you all sorts of things.” With
that the headmaster introduced a new teacher. Totto-chan took a good look at
him but he wasn’t dressed like a teacher at all. He wore a striped cotton jacket
and he had a towel hanging around his neck. His trousers were of dyed cotton
and were full of patches. Instead of shoes, he wore thick socks, while on his
head was a rather dilapidated straw hat.

The children were all assembled by the pond at the temple.

As she stared at the teacher, Totto-chan thought that she had seen him before.

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“Where?” she wondered. His kindly face was sunburnt and full of wrinkles.
She suddenly remembered! 10

“Aren’t you the farmer who works in the field by the stream?” she asked him,
delighted.

“That’s right,” said the ‘teacher’, with a smile wrinkling up his face. “You
pass my place every time you go to the village!

That’s my field. That one over there full of mustard blossoms.”

“Wow! So you’re going to be our teacher today,” cried the children excitedly.

“No!” said the man, waving his hand in front of his face. “I’m not a teacher!
I’m just a farmer. Your headmaster just asked me to do it, that’s all.”

“Oh yes, he is, he’s your farming teacher,” said the headmaster, standing
beside him. “He very kindly agreed to teach you how to plant a field.” 20

At an elementary school, anyone who taught the children anything would
probably have to have teaching qualifications, but the headmaster didn’t worry
about things like that. He thought it important for children to learn by actually
seeing things done.

“Let’s begin then,” said the farming teacher.

The farming teacher told the children to get spades and other tools from the
car and started them on weeding. He told them all about weeds: how hardy
they were; how some grew faster than crops and hid the sun from them; how
weeds were good hiding places for bad insects; and how weeds could be a
nuisance by taking all the nourishment from the soil. He taught them one thing 30
after another. And while he talked, his hands never stopped pulling out weeds.
The children did the same. Then the teacher showed them how to dig, how to
make furrows; how to spread fertilizer; and everything else you had to do to
grow things in a field, explaining as he demonstrated.

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A little snake put its head out and very nearly bit the hand of Ta-chan, one of
the older boys, but the farming teacher reassured him, “The snakes here are
not poisonous, and they won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt them.”

Besides teaching the children how to plant a field, the farming teacher told
them interesting things about insects, birds, and butterflies, about the weather,
and about all sorts of other things. 40
[Adapted from ‘Totto-chan – The Little Girl at the Window’ by Tetsuko
Kuroyanagi]
(i) For each word given below choose the correct meaning (as used in the [2]
passage) from the options provided:

1. dilapidated (line 6)
(a) faded and yellow
(b) new and shining
(c) tightly wrapped
(d) old and ragged

2. elementary (line 21)
(a) primary
(b) special
(c) secondary
(d) village
(ii) Which word in the passage is the opposite of ‘boring’? [1]
(a) important
(b) nuisance
(c) nourishment
(d) interesting

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(iii) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:

(a) How was the new teacher dressed? [2]

(b) Which sentence in the passage tells us that Totto-chan had seen the new [2]
teacher before?

(c) Why do you think the headmaster had to correct the farmer about his [2]
role?

(d) Why was the headmaster right in inviting the new teacher to take a [2]
class?

(e) What did the farmer say that proved that he knew a lot about snakes? [1]

(iv) In not more than 50 words, give an account of what the farmer taught the [8]
children that day.

Question 5
(i) Fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in [4]
brackets. Do not copy the passage but write in correct serial order the word or
phrase appropriate to the blank space.

Example: The road northwards through Tanganyika was narrow and often
deeply rutted. And once I (0) __________ (see) a very large brown cobra.
Answer: saw

It (1) __________ (glide) slowly over the ruts in the road ahead of me. It was
seven or eight feet long and (2) __________ (hold) its flat spoon-shaped head
six inches up in the air. I (3) __________ (stop) the car smartly so as not
(4) __________ (run) over it. To be truthful, I was so (5) __________
(frighten), I (6) __________ (go) quickly into reverse and (7) __________
(keep) backing away. The fearsome thing (8) __________ (disappear) into
the undergrowth.

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(ii) Fill in the blanks with appropriate words. [4]

(a) He acted according __________ my instructions.

(b) They scaled up the wall __________ means of a rope.

(c) Gina has a passion __________ music.

(d) Father patted Jai __________ his back for his good results.

(e) I have not seen Sonia __________ last May.

(f) They worked __________ the night to complete the project on time.

(g) Ms. Sharma refused to buy a new car because the cost was __________
her means.

(h) Saif knew nothing about the event since it had happened _________ he
was born.

(iii) Choose the correct option to make one complete sentence without using and, [4]
but or so.
1. He picked up the bundle. He walked away.

(a) He picked up the bundle and walked away.

(b) Packing up the bundle, he walked away.

(c) Picking up the bundle, he walked away.

(d) He walked away by picking up the bundle.

2. Ravi is not a technician. Ravi is not a musician.

(a) Ravi is both a technician also a musician.

(b) Ravi is neither a technician nor a musician.

(c) Besides not being a technician, Ravi is a musician.

(d) Ravi is not a musician but a technician.

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3. Tanya is extremely polite. We like her.

(a) Tanya is extremely polite but we like her.

(b) We like Tanya despite her being extremely polite.

(c) Tanya’s extremely polite ways make us like her.

(d) We like Tanya because she is extremely polite.

4. The construction started on time. It was delayed due to the bad weather.

(a) Although the construction started on time, it was delayed due to
the bad weather.

(b) Since the construction started on time, it was delayed due to the
bad weather.

(c) The construction started on time, so it was delayed due to the bad
weather.

(d) The construction started on time, as well as got delayed due to the
bad weather.

(iv) Choose the correct option and rewrite the sentence according to the instruction [8]
given after each.

1. Samudragupta was one of the greatest of the Indian kings.
(End with: …Samudragupta.)

(a) No other king is as great as Samudragupta.

(b) All other kings are greater than Samudragupta.

(c) Very few Indian kings were as great as Samudragupta.

(d) Some Indian kings are greatest as Samudragupta.

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2. One should keep one’s promises.
(Begin with: Promises …)

(a) Promises should keep one.

(b) One’s promises are not meant to be kept.

(c) Promises should be kept.

(d) Promises are one’s to keep.

3. He said, “I have passed the examination.”
(Begin: He said that………)

(a) He said that he had passed the examination.

(b) He said that he passed the examination.

(c) He said that he has passed the examination.

(d) He said that he will pass the examination.

4. He finished his exercise and put his books away.
(Begin: Having ……)

(a) Having his books put away, he exercised.

(b) Having put his books away, he finished his exercise.

(c) Having finished his exercise, he put his books away.

(d) Having to finish his exercise, he put his books away.

5. Unless she practises every day, she will not be able to meet her goal.
(Begin with: If…)

(a) If she practises every day, she will be able to meet her goal.

(b) If she practises every day, she will not be able to meet her goal.

(c) If she does not practise every day, her goal will be met.

(d) If she practises every day, her goal will not be met.

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6. Rashmi was too late to hear the first speech.
(Use: …so…that…)

(a) Rashmi was so late for the first speech.

(b) Rashmi was so late that she could hear the first speech.

(c) Rashmi is so late that she cannot hear the first speech.

(d) Rashmi was so late that she could not hear the first speech.

7. There is a slight difference between the two shades.
(Use: ‘different’)

(a) The slight difference is between two shades.

(b) The two shades are slightly different.

(c) The slightly different shades are between two.

(d) The two different shades are slightly different.

8. Dr. Shetty is a professor and a research scientist.
(Begin with: Not only…….)

(a) Not only was Dr. Shetty a professor but also a research scientist.

(b) Not only is Dr. Shetty a professor as well as a research scientist.

(c) Dr. Shetty is both a professor and research scientist.

(d) Not only is Dr. Shetty a professor but also a research scientist.

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