Class 11English · Writing SkillsFull chapter

Writing: Advertisements, Posters, Speech and Debate

The whole chapter in one place — read it, then test yourself. Clear notes, a reference sheet, a practice quiz, and worked NCERT solutions & PYQs.

In this chapter
How the 16 Creative Writing marks are actually awardedThe classified advertisement: 3 marks in fifty wordsThe poster: layout is the answerThe speech: written to be heard onceThe debate, and how it differs from a speech

How the 16 Creative Writing marks are actually awarded

Quick answer Creative Writing is 16 of the 80 marks, split into four tasks whose marking scheme is printed in the syllabus as Format plus Content plus Expression, which means four of the sixteen marks are handed to whoever remembers a skeleton.

Section B of the Class 11 English Core paper is worth 23 marks: 7 for grammar and 16 for creative writing. Those 16 marks are spread over four separate writing tasks, and every one of them gives you two questions of which you attempt one.

TaskLengthMarksSplit
Classified advertisementUp to 50 words3Format 1 / Content 1 / Expression 1
PosterUp to 50 words3Format 1 / Content 1 / Expression 1
Speech120-150 words5Format 1 / Content 2 / Expression 2
Debate120-150 words5Format 1 / Content 2 / Expression 2

Now read that table the way an examiner reads it. Add the columns up and the section gives you 4 Format marks, 6 Content marks and 6 Expression marks. A Format mark does not ask whether your idea was good. It asks whether the piece looks like the thing it claims to be. That is a mark you can secure the night before the exam by memorising four skeletons, and it is the mark students throw away every single year by writing a genuinely good speech with no salutation on top of it.

What the three headings mean in practice

  • Format is the shape on the page. A box and a classification heading for the advertisement. A box, a bold title and the issuing authority for the poster. Salutation, self-introduction and a closing for the speech. The debate salutation, a declared side and a closing for the debate.
  • Content is the information. Can the reader act on this? An advertisement with no phone number, a poster with no venue, a speech that repeats one idea three times: all content failures, however neat they look.
  • Expression is the language. Grammar, spelling, tense, vocabulary, sentence variety, and whether the register fits the form: telegraphic for the advertisement, phrase-based for the poster, spoken and direct for the speech and debate.

Choosing between the two options. Do not pick the topic you find interesting. Pick the one for which you can already name three concrete things: a place, a date, a rule, an example from your own school or town. Content and Expression both pay for specifics, and you cannot manufacture specifics about a topic you know nothing about.

A working time plan. These four questions are exactly a fifth of the written paper. Roughly three minutes for the advertisement, four for the poster, ten each for the speech and the debate: about twenty-seven minutes in all. Do the two 50-word tasks first. They are quick, they are the most format-driven, and finishing them early stops you from arriving at the cheapest marks in the paper with four minutes left.

Four mistakes that cost marks in all four tasks

  1. No skeleton. The answer reads like a paragraph about the topic instead of an advertisement, a poster, a speech or a debate.
  2. Wrong length. A 40-word speech cannot carry two marks of content. A 90-word advertisement has stopped being an advertisement and become a note.
  3. No specifics. Vague praise fills the page and earns nothing. Write the rent, the date, the room number, the actual habit you want changed.
  4. No second read. Two minutes checking tense, spelling and word count protects 6 of the 16 marks.
Creative Writing total 16 marks (Section B = Grammar 7 + Creative Writing 16 = 23) marks · Exactly a fifth of the 80-mark written paper, and the most predictable fifth.
Classified advertisement Up to 50 words - 3 marks - Format 1 / Content 1 / Expression 1 3 marks · One out of two questions. The format mark is the box plus the classification heading.
Poster Up to 50 words - 3 marks - Format 1 / Content 1 / Expression 1 3 marks · One out of two questions. The format mark is the box, the bold title and the issuing authority.
Speech 120-150 words - 5 marks - Format 1 / Content 2 / Expression 2 5 marks · Based on verbal or visual cues on a contemporary, age-appropriate topic. One out of two.
Debate 120-150 words - 5 marks - Format 1 / Content 2 / Expression 2 5 marks · Based on visual or verbal inputs on a contemporary topical issue. One out of two.
Mark type totals Format 4 + Content 6 + Expression 6 = 16 Learn the four skeletons and 4 marks are secure before you have had a single idea.
Remember
  • Creative Writing is 16 of the 80 marks: advertisement 3, poster 3, speech 5, debate 5, with one out of two questions to attempt in each.
  • Totalled across the four tasks the section awards 4 Format marks, 6 Content marks and 6 Expression marks. The Format marks are pure memory.
  • Format asks whether it looks like the right kind of writing, Content asks whether a reader could act on it, Expression asks whether the language suits the form.
  • Choose the option you have concrete details for, not the topic you like the sound of.
  • Write the two 50-word tasks first; about 27 minutes covers all four questions comfortably.

The classified advertisement: 3 marks in fifty words

Quick answer A classified advertisement is a paid, boxed, category-headed newspaper notice written in telegraphic phrases, so the format mark is the box and heading, the content mark is the details a reader needs to respond, and the expression mark is the compression.

A classified advertisement is the small-print notice you see in the back pages of a newspaper, grouped under a category heading and charged by the word. Hold on to that single fact, because every rule follows from it. Charged by the word means you write in phrases, not sentences. Grouped under a heading means the heading is not decoration, it is how the reader finds you at all.

The skeleton

  1. Draw a box around the whole thing.
  2. Write the classification heading in capitals at the top, centred: SITUATION VACANT, TO LET, FOR SALE, VEHICLES, LOST AND FOUND, MATRIMONIAL, EDUCATIONAL, and so on.
  3. State what is offered or wanted in the first phrase. No preamble.
  4. Give the specifics a reader must have: size, model, year, condition, qualification, experience, price or rent, terms.
  5. Close with the contact line: a name, an address or a phone number. Never leave this out.

Telegraphic style, and why it earns the expression mark. Drop articles and linking verbs. Use numerals for numbers and standard abbreviations. Compare these two ways of saying much the same thing:

  • Weak: It is a two-bedroom flat which is situated in Kothrud and it has an area of about 950 square feet. (20 words)
  • Correct: 2 BHK flat, 950 sq. ft., Kothrud, Pune. (8 words)

Twelve words saved, and those twelve words are what let you fit the rent, the terms and the phone number inside 50.

Worked model. Task: your school needs a Post Graduate Teacher of Computer Science. Draft a classified advertisement for the Situation Vacant column of a local daily in not more than 50 words.

(Draw a box around the whole advertisement.)
SITUATION VACANT
Required immediately: PGT Computer Science, reputed CBSE senior secondary school, Kanpur. B.Tech/MCA with B.Ed, min. 3 yrs' experience teaching Classes XI-XII. Salary as per school scale. Apply with photograph and testimonials within 10 days to The Principal, Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines, Kanpur-208001. Ph: 0512-2450XXX.

Word count: 47, including the heading. Note what is present: the post, the urgency, the qualification, the experience, the pay, how to apply, the deadline, and two ways to reach the school. Note what is absent: not one full sentence with a subject and a verb doing polite work.

The same task, done badly

I want to inform everyone that our school is a very good school in Kanpur and we are looking for a teacher who can teach Computer Science to the students of Class XI and Class XII. The teacher should be well qualified and experienced. Interested people may please contact our school office as soon as possible. We will pay a good salary. (62 words)

MarkScoredWhy
Format (1)0No box and no classification heading. Nothing on the page identifies this as a classified advertisement rather than a note to a friend.
Content (1)0No qualification, no years of experience, no salary figure or scale, no address, no phone number, no deadline. A reader who wants the job cannot apply for it.
Expression (1)0Full first-person sentences instead of telegraphic phrasing, empty adjectives (very good school, good salary), and 62 words against a 50-word ceiling.
Total0/3All three marks were available to anyone who boxed it, headed it and abbreviated.

The partial-credit version. Put the box and the SITUATION VACANT heading on that same weak paragraph and you rescue the Format mark: 1/3. Compress it into phrases and bring it under 50 words as well and you rescue Expression: 2/3. The Content mark only comes back when the qualification, the pay and the contact line go in. That is the exact ladder the examiner climbs, and it is why the contact line is worth more than any clever phrase you could put in its place.

Advertisement marks 3 = Format 1 + Content 1 + Expression 1 3 marks · Every mark is a single mark, so one omission is a full third of the question.
Word limit Up to 50 words words · Count the classification heading and the contact line too. Then you are never accidentally over.
Format checklist Box + classification heading in capitals + contact line Three visible things. Miss any of them and the Format mark is at risk.
Telegraphic style '2 BHK flat, 950 sq. ft., Kothrud, Pune.' not 'It is a two-bedroom flat which is situated in Kothrud and it has an area of about 950 square feet.' Eight words against twenty, saying much the same thing. This is what the Expression mark rewards.
Headings you will need SITUATION VACANT - SITUATION WANTED - TO LET - FOR SALE - VEHICLES - LOST AND FOUND - MATRIMONIAL - EDUCATIONAL Match the heading to the task in the question. A car being sold goes under VEHICLES or FOR SALE, never under TO LET.
Never omit Who to contact, and how Name, address or phone. This is the first thing an examiner checks for the Content mark.
Remember
  • The heading and the box are the Format mark. Write SITUATION VACANT, TO LET, VEHICLES or LOST AND FOUND in capitals before you write anything else.
  • Telegraphic style is not laziness, it is the register of the form. Drop articles and linking verbs, use numerals and standard abbreviations.
  • The contact line is the single most valuable piece of content. An advertisement nobody can answer has failed at the only job it had.
  • Count the heading and the contact line inside your 50 words and you will never be over the limit.
  • Specifics carry the Content mark: rent, model year, kilometres, qualification, deadline, terms. Adjectives carry nothing.

The poster: layout is the answer

Quick answer A poster is read from across a corridor in a single glance, so it is marked on a boxed layout with a bold title, a slogan, the five Ws and a named issuing authority, and continuous prose inside the box loses two of the three marks.

Everything about poster marking comes from one physical fact: a poster is stuck on a wall and read from a distance by someone walking past. They give it a glance, not a reading. So a poster is made of short centred lines, not paragraphs, and the most important words are the biggest.

Two kinds, slightly different checklists

  • An announcement poster tells people about an event: a play, a camp, a fair, a match. It must carry the date, the time and the venue.
  • An awareness or appeal poster pushes a cause: save water, no crackers, plant a tree, donate blood. It carries a reason and an action instead of a schedule, though it often has an event attached as well.

The skeleton

  1. Box the whole poster.
  2. Title or caption at the top in the largest capitals. This is the thing read from across the corridor.
  3. Slogan in quotation marks, short and rhythmic. One line only.
  4. What is happening or being asked for.
  5. When and where, on their own labelled lines, for an announcement. For an appeal, the one-line reason.
  6. Call to action: come, register, bring, pledge, donate.
  7. Issuing authority at the bottom: the club, the society, the school, the residents' association. A poster with no issuer is an anonymous handbill.

The three marks are Format, Content and Expression. None of them is for drawing. You do not need to be able to sketch, shade or use colour. A neat box, well-spaced centred lines and capitals where they matter do everything an illustration would.

Worked model. Task: as a member of the Eco Club of your school, design a poster in not more than 50 words for a plastic-free pledge drive.

(Box the whole poster. Centre every line.)
SAY NO TO SINGLE-USE PLASTIC
"One cloth bag today, a cleaner Rohtak tomorrow"
PLASTIC-FREE PLEDGE DRIVE
Date: Saturday, 3 October 2026 | Time: 9:00 a.m.
Venue: School Assembly Ground
Bring one cloth bag. Take home a sapling.
Refuse. Reuse. Recycle.
Eco Club, Govt. Senior Secondary School, Rohtak
Contact: Room 12

Word count: 49. Run the checklist over it. Box, yes. Title in capitals, yes. Slogan in quotes, yes. What, when, where, all labelled. A call to action that a student can obey tomorrow morning. Issuing authority and a contact point at the bottom. Nine short lines and not one sentence longer than eight words.

The same task, done badly

Our school is organising a programme about plastic. Plastic is very harmful for the environment and it causes a lot of pollution in our country. It does not decompose easily and animals eat it and die. Therefore all the students of our school should come and attend the programme and take a pledge that they will not use plastic in their daily life. It will be very good for all of us. (72 words)

MarkScoredWhy
Format (1)0No box, no title, no slogan, no named issuing authority. Nothing distinguishes it from an answer to a comprehension question.
Content (1)0No date, no time, no venue, no contact. It announces a programme and then hides every detail of it.
Expression (1)0One continuous paragraph where the form demands short lines, the word plastic repeated three times, and 72 words against a 50-word ceiling.
Total0/3The information about plastic is true and relevant. It is still a nought, because none of it is delivered in the form asked for.

The lesson buried in that. An essay on why plastic is harmful is not a poster, even at 48 words, even when every word is correct. A poster announces or appeals. The reason why belongs in one slogan line at most, and everything else is schedule, action and signature.

Poster marks 3 = Format 1 + Content 1 + Expression 1 3 marks · Same split as the advertisement, so the same discipline applies: shape first, details second, language third.
Word limit Up to 50 words words · Nine or ten short centred lines is about right. If you have written five lines of prose, you have written the wrong thing.
Format checklist Box + bold title in capitals + issuing authority at the bottom Three visible conventions. The examiner can check all three without reading a word of your content.
Content checklist (event) What / When / Where / Who is organising / How to contact Miss any one of these on an announcement poster and the single Content mark is in danger.
Slogan "One cloth bag today, a cleaner Rohtak tomorrow" One short quoted line. It is the cheapest way to lift Expression, and it takes eight words.
Register Phrases and labelled lines, never continuous sentences Bring one cloth bag. Take home a sapling. Short imperatives are the poster's natural voice.
Remember
  • Poster marks reward layout as much as ideas: box, bold title, quoted slogan, labelled lines, issuing authority at the foot.
  • An announcement poster must carry date, time and venue. An awareness poster carries a reason and an action instead.
  • There are no marks for artwork. Format, Content and Expression are all satisfiable with a ruler and clear capitals.
  • Never write a continuous paragraph inside the box. Prose costs the Format mark and drags Expression down with it.
  • The issuing authority is the line students forget most often, and it is the line that turns a notice into an official poster.

The speech: written to be heard once

Quick answer A speech is a spoken address to a live audience, so the single Format mark rests on salutation, self-introduction and a closing, while the four remaining marks go to two or three developed points aimed at what the people in front of you can actually do.

A speech is written to be heard once, by people who cannot go back and reread a sentence. That is the whole design brief. Short sentences. One idea per paragraph. Direct address, so we and you rather than one and people. And a real ending, because an audience needs to be told the speech is over.

The skeleton

  1. Title (optional, but write one anyway: a few words, and it makes your format visible at a glance).
  2. Salutation: Respected Principal, respected teachers and my dear friends,
  3. Self-introduction and occasion: I am ___ of Class XI-__, and today I want to speak about ___.
  4. Hook: a question, a small concrete scene, or a plain statement of the problem.
  5. Body: two or three points. For each one, give the point, the reason, and one example.
  6. Call to action: something this audience can do this week.
  7. Close: Thank you.

Where the marks sit. The Format mark is a single mark and it depends on three visible things: the salutation, the self-introduction with the occasion, and the closing thanks. The two Content marks are for ideas that are relevant to the cue you were given, developed rather than listed, and aimed at the audience in front of you. The two Expression marks are for grammar, spelling, consistent tense, connectives, some sentence variety, and staying inside 120 to 150 words.

One warning that matters more in this subject than any other. Do not invent statistics. A number you made up looks impressive to you and looks like a guess to an examiner, and it earns nothing that a concrete example would not have earned more safely. Write about the tap in your own corridor, not about a percentage you cannot source.

Aim at the right audience. A morning-assembly speech that concludes the government should build better roads has quietly changed audience halfway through. The people listening are students. Ask them for something they can do before lunch.

Worked model. Task: write a speech in 120-150 words to be delivered in the morning assembly on road safety for students who cycle or ride to school.

The Helmet You Left at Home
Respected Principal, respected teachers and my dear friends,
I am Ananya Rao of Class XI-B, and today I want to talk about something we do every morning without thinking: the ride to school.
Many of us come by cycle, or on a two-wheeler behind an elder brother. We know the rules. We still leave the helmet on the hook, still ride three to a scooter, still look at a phone at a crossing. We do it because nothing has happened yet.
But a road does not warn you twice. A helmet takes a few seconds to strap on; a moment of attention costs nothing at all.
So I request each of you: wear it, slow down at the gate, and cross only at the zebra line. Let us not learn this lesson the hard way.
Thank you.

Word count: 137 for the speech itself, or 143 if you count the six-word title as well. Either way it sits inside the 120-150 band, which is exactly why a short title is safe to add. The format is all three legs. The content is one clearly stated problem, one honest reason for it, and three specific actions. The expression varies sentence length deliberately, repeats still for rhythm, and ends on a line the audience will remember.

The same task, done badly

Road safety is a very important topic in today's world. Every day many accidents happen on the roads. Students should wear helmets and follow traffic rules. If we do not follow rules then accidents will happen and people will get injured. The government should also make good roads. Everyone should be careful. Road safety is very necessary for all of us. That is all I want to say. (68 words)

MarkScoredWhy
Format (1)0No salutation, no self-introduction, no occasion, no closing thanks. Nothing marks it as a spoken address at all. This is one mark, so it is lost once, but it is lost completely.
Content (2)1The ideas are relevant, so it is not a nought. But nothing is developed, there is no example, and it drifts to what the government should do, which the assembly cannot act on.
Expression (2)1Very important, very necessary. Accidents happen and accidents will happen. No connectives, no variety, and 68 words against a 120-word floor, which by itself makes two content marks impossible to earn.
Total2/5Roughly two minutes of remembering a skeleton and adding one real example is the gap between 2 and 5.
Speech marks 5 = Format 1 + Content 2 + Expression 2 5 marks · Only one of the five depends on memory. The other four depend on developing two or three ideas properly.
Word limit 120-150 words words · The salutation and the closing count towards it. Aim at roughly 130 words, which leaves room even if a title is counted too.
Salutation Respected Principal, respected teachers and my dear friends, The standard assembly address. Adjust the first name if the occasion has a chief guest.
Self-introduction I am ___ of Class XI-__, and today I want to speak about ___. One sentence that carries your identity, the occasion and the topic. The second leg of the Format mark.
Close Thank you. Two words, and the third leg of the Format mark. Students who run out of time drop this first and pay for it.
Body shape Hook -> 2-3 points, each with one example -> call to action -> thanks Point, reason, example. A point with no example is a claim, and claims do not earn content marks.
Remember
  • The single Format mark rests on three things: salutation, self-introduction with the occasion, and a closing thanks.
  • Content is two marks, and they pay for developed points with examples, not for a list of true statements.
  • Speak to the audience you actually have. An assembly speech should end with something students can do, not with advice to the government.
  • Never invent statistics. A specific example from your own school or street is safer and scores better.
  • Stay in 120-150 words. Below 120 there is not enough room to earn two content marks, however good the ideas are.

The debate, and how it differs from a speech

Quick answer A debate argues one declared side of a motion in front of a chairperson, judges and an opposing team, which means it needs a different salutation, an explicit stand, and a real rebuttal of the other side's strongest argument rather than a refusal to agree with it.

Students lose marks here for one reason: they write a speech and put the word debate at the top of it. A speech persuades an audience. A debate argues for or against a stated motion, in a room that contains people arguing the opposite, and it must answer them.

What a motion is. The question gives you a proposition, usually phrased as This house believes that... You are told to speak for it or against it, or you are allowed to choose. Choose the side you can find three concrete examples for, not the side you personally believe. You are being marked on argument, not sincerity.

The skeleton

  1. Salutation: Respected Chairperson, honourable judges, my worthy opponents and dear friends,
  2. Identity and declared side: I am ___ of Class XI-__, and I stand firmly for/against the motion that ___. Say the motion in full. The examiner must be able to tell which side you are on from one sentence.
  3. Rebuttal: name the opposition's strongest argument, concede whatever is true in it, then show why it does not carry.
  4. Your arguments: two, with a reason and an example each.
  5. Conclusion: restate your stand as a single memorable line.
  6. Close: Thank you.

The rebuttal is the whole subject. Look at what is not a rebuttal: Some people say phones are useful, but I do not agree. That names the other side and then refuses it. A rebuttal has a shape: My opponents say the phone distracts. A phone in a pocket is not a distraction; an unsupervised phone is. Concede the fact, contest the conclusion. That move is where the second Content mark lives.

Speech against debate, side by side

SpeechDebate
PurposeInform and persuade an audienceWin one side of a stated motion
SalutationRespected Principal, respected teachers and my dear friendsRespected Chairperson, honourable judges, my worthy opponents and dear friends
StandMay be balanced or exploratoryMust be declared explicitly in the opening lines
The other viewNeed not appear at allMust appear and must be answered
ToneWarm, inclusive, encouragingAssertive and argumentative, but always courteous
Typical endingA request or a call to actionA restated stand and an appeal to the judges

Worked model. Task: write a debate in 120-150 words for or against the motion that students should not be allowed to bring smartphones to school.

Respected Chairperson, honourable judges, my worthy opponents and dear friends,
I am Rohit Verma of Class XI-A, and I stand firmly against the motion that students should not be allowed to bring smartphones to school.
My opponents say the phone distracts. A phone in a pocket is not a distraction; an unsupervised phone is. The answer to misuse is a rule, not a ban: phones deposited at the first bell, returned at the last.
Consider what a ban actually removes. A girl travelling forty minutes by bus loses her only way to say she has reached. A student with a doubt loses a dictionary, a calculator and a recorded lesson.
We do not ban notebooks because someone doodles in them. Teach the tool; do not fear it.
Thank you.

Word count: 129, inside the 120-150 band. Salutation names all four groups. The side is declared in the second sentence with the motion quoted back. The rebuttal comes before the arguments, concedes the distraction and then reframes it. Two concrete examples follow. The conclusion is one line that a judge could repeat afterwards.

The same task, done badly

I think mobile phones are not good for students. They waste time on social media and games. Their studies get affected and their eyes get damaged. Parents also worry. So the school should not allow phones. Some people say phones are useful but I do not agree. Phones should be banned completely. Thank you. (54 words)

MarkScoredWhy
Format (1)0No debate salutation, no self-introduction, and the motion is never stated. Thank you at the end is the only convention present, and one leg out of three does not hold the mark up.
Content (2)1The points are relevant but bare, with no example anywhere. Worse, the rebuttal is fake: it names the opposing argument and then declines it without a reason, which is the one thing a debate must not do.
Expression (2)1Flat repetitive clauses, no debating register, no connectives, and 54 words against a 120-word floor.
Total2/5The gap between this and the model is one salutation, one stated motion and one properly answered objection.

Register, and the courtesy that protects your marks. Attack the argument, never the person. My worthy opponents and my opponents have argued keep you inside the form. Sarcasm about the other team, or about anyone's community, background or ability, is the fastest way to lose expression marks in a paper where the register is half the point.

Final check before you turn the page. Ask four questions of every creative writing answer. Does it look like the form asked for? Could a reader act on it? Is it inside the word band? Have I read it once for tense and spelling? Those four questions cover all sixteen marks.

Debate marks 5 = Format 1 + Content 2 + Expression 2 5 marks · Identical split to the speech, but the Content marks are earned differently: one for your case, one for answering theirs.
Word limit 120-150 words words · Roughly: salutation and stand 35 words, rebuttal 40, arguments 40, conclusion and close 15.
Salutation Respected Chairperson, honourable judges, my worthy opponents and dear friends, Four groups, in that order. This one line is most of the Format mark.
Declaring the side I stand firmly for/against the motion that ___. Quote the motion back in full. An examiner who cannot tell your side in one sentence cannot award content.
The rebuttal move My opponents say X. That is true, but ___. Concede the fact, contest the conclusion. This is the difference between a debate and a speech with a motion on top.
Speech vs debate in one line A speech persuades an audience; a debate answers an opponent. If your answer never mentions the other side, you have written a speech and the debate question is half unanswered.
Remember
  • A debate must declare its side on the motion in the opening lines and must answer the opposing argument. A speech need do neither.
  • The debate salutation names four groups: chairperson, judges, opponents, friends. Using the assembly salutation signals the wrong form and endangers the Format mark.
  • A real rebuttal concedes what is true in the opponent's point and then shows why it does not decide the question. I do not agree is not a rebuttal.
  • Choose the side you have three concrete Indian examples for, not the side you personally hold.
  • Stay courteous. Attack arguments, never people, and keep the phrase my worthy opponents in the answer.

The formula sheet

Every formula in this chapter, in one place — screenshot it before your exam.

16 marks (Section B = Grammar 7 + Creative Writing 16 = 23)
Creative Writing totalmarks
Up to 50 words - 3 marks - Format 1 / Content 1 / Expression 1
Classified advertisement3 marks
Up to 50 words - 3 marks - Format 1 / Content 1 / Expression 1
Poster3 marks
120-150 words - 5 marks - Format 1 / Content 2 / Expression 2
Speech5 marks
120-150 words - 5 marks - Format 1 / Content 2 / Expression 2
Debate5 marks
Format 4 + Content 6 + Expression 6 = 16
Mark type totals
3 = Format 1 + Content 1 + Expression 1
Advertisement marks3 marks
Up to 50 words
Word limitwords
Box + classification heading in capitals + contact line
Format checklist
'2 BHK flat, 950 sq. ft., Kothrud, Pune.' not 'It is a two-bedroom flat which is situated in Kothrud and it has an area of about 950 square feet.'
Telegraphic style
SITUATION VACANT - SITUATION WANTED - TO LET - FOR SALE - VEHICLES - LOST AND FOUND - MATRIMONIAL - EDUCATIONAL
Headings you will need
Who to contact, and how
Never omit
3 = Format 1 + Content 1 + Expression 1
Poster marks3 marks
Up to 50 words
Word limitwords
Box + bold title in capitals + issuing authority at the bottom
Format checklist
What / When / Where / Who is organising / How to contact
Content checklist (event)
"One cloth bag today, a cleaner Rohtak tomorrow"
Slogan
Phrases and labelled lines, never continuous sentences
Register
5 = Format 1 + Content 2 + Expression 2
Speech marks5 marks
120-150 words
Word limitwords
Respected Principal, respected teachers and my dear friends,
Salutation
I am ___ of Class XI-__, and today I want to speak about ___.
Self-introduction
Thank you.
Close
Hook -> 2-3 points, each with one example -> call to action -> thanks
Body shape
5 = Format 1 + Content 2 + Expression 2
Debate marks5 marks
120-150 words
Word limitwords
Respected Chairperson, honourable judges, my worthy opponents and dear friends,
Salutation
I stand firmly for/against the motion that ___.
Declaring the side
My opponents say X. That is true, but ___.
The rebuttal move
A speech persuades an audience; a debate answers an opponent.
Speech vs debate in one line

Test yourself

Tap an answer to check it instantly — you'll see why it's right, and what to revise if it isn't.

0 correct · 0/12 answered
Q1

Across all four Creative Writing tasks in the Class 11 English Core paper, how many marks in total are Format marks?

Q2

A classified advertisement is 46 words long, contains every necessary detail and is written in clean telegraphic phrases, but it has no box around it and no classification heading. Which mark is lost first?

Q3

Which of these is written in correct classified-advertisement style?

Q4

A poster announcing a blood donation camp has a box, a bold title, a slogan in quotation marks and the name of the organising NSS unit, but never states the date, the time or the venue. Which mark is lost?

Q5

Which three elements together secure the single Format mark in a speech?

Q6

You are writing a debate for the board exam. Which opening address is correct?

Q7

What single feature makes a piece of writing a debate rather than a speech?

Q8

A debate contains the line: Some people say phones are useful, but I do not agree. Which mark does this sentence damage most?

Q9

Which set of word limits is correct for the four Class 11 Creative Writing tasks?

Q10

A family wants to sell its four-year-old scooter through the classified columns. Under which heading should the advertisement be placed?

Q11

A speech is 140 words long, has three developed points with examples and clean grammar, but it begins straight with the topic and ends without any closing. What is the most it can realistically score?

Q12

Why does answering the poster question with a neat, relevant, 48-word paragraph still cost marks?

NCERT solutions & previous-year questions

Step-by-step model answers — tap a question to reveal the full solution.

NCERT questions 6

1 Practice task 1: You are the Principal of Saraswati Vidya Mandir. Draft a classified advertisement in not more than 50 words for the TO LET column of a Pune daily, offering a two-bedroom flat in Kothrud on rent.Classified advertisement - TO LET

A note before you start. Writing Skills is examined by CBSE but it is not a chapter in Hornbill or Snapshots, so there are no NCERT end-of-chapter questions to solve for this topic. The six tasks below are CBSE-pattern practice questions with full model answers, one for each form and two extra to give you the range of classified headings and poster types the paper uses.

(Box the whole advertisement.)
TO LET
Available from 1 November: 2 BHK first-floor flat, 950 sq. ft., Kothrud, Pune. Modular kitchen, covered parking, 24-hour water, lift, near Mhatre Bridge. Suitable for a small family or working women. Rent Rs 18,000 p.m. plus maintenance; two months' deposit. No brokers. Contact: Sunil Deshmukh, 98XXXXXX21.

Word count: 48, including the heading and the contact line.

Why it scores. Format: boxed, with TO LET in capitals at the top and a full contact line at the foot. Content: availability date, configuration, area, locality, four amenities, a landmark, who it suits, the rent, the deposit terms, and a restriction. A reader can decide whether to phone without asking a single follow-up question. Expression: not one full sentence with a subject and verb doing polite work; every phrase carries information, and the whole thing is comfortably inside 50 words.

2 Practice task 2: You have lost your wristwatch on the way to school. Draft a classified advertisement in not more than 50 words for the LOST AND FOUND column of a local newspaper.Classified advertisement - LOST AND FOUND

(Box the whole advertisement.)
LOST AND FOUND
Lost on 12 August between Vasant Vihar market and DAV Public School, a black digital wristwatch with a broken strap pin, engraved A.K. on the back. Sentimental value. Suitable reward, no questions asked. Finder please contact Arjun Kapoor, Class XI-C, DAV Public School, or ring 99XXXXXX07.

Word count: 49, including the heading.

What a lost-and-found advertisement must carry. Four things, and students routinely drop the last two. When it was lost, where it was lost, an identifying mark that a genuine finder would know and a false claimant would not, and how to reach you. The engraved initials do real work here: they let you verify a claim. The offer of a reward with no questions asked is the standard courtesy of the column and costs five words.

Common error. Writing I have lost my watch. Please return it. and stopping. That is inside the word limit, and it will still score at most 1 of the 3 marks: with no box and no heading the Format mark goes, with no date, no place and no identifying mark the Content mark goes, and only Expression can survive.

3 Practice task 3: As the Secretary of the NSS Unit of your school, design a poster in not more than 50 words for a voluntary blood donation camp being held in the school auditorium.Poster - event announcement

(Box the whole poster. Centre every line. Largest capitals for the title.)
DONATE BLOOD. DONATE LIFE.
"One hour of yours. A lifetime for someone."
VOLUNTARY BLOOD DONATION CAMP
Date: Friday, 20 November 2026
Time: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Venue: School Auditorium
Donors above 18 only. Carry a photo ID.
Register at the NSS desk by Wednesday.
NSS Unit, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bhubaneswar

Word count: 49.

Run the checklist. Box: yes. Bold title in the largest capitals: yes. Slogan in quotation marks: yes, and it is short enough to be read at a glance. What: the camp, named on its own line. When: date and time, on labelled lines. Where: venue. Who may come: the eligibility condition, which on a blood camp poster is genuine content, not decoration. What to do next: register by a stated day. Issuing authority: the NSS Unit and the school, at the foot.

Note the shape. Nine short centred lines, no line longer than eight words, and no sentence that runs across two lines. That is what an examiner means by poster expression.

One small discipline worth copying. If you name a weekday, make it match the date. 20 November 2026 really is a Friday. An examiner will not check, but a wrong pairing is the kind of carelessness that shows up elsewhere in your paper too.

4 Practice task 4: Your Residents' Welfare Association wants to discourage the bursting of firecrackers this Diwali. Design a poster in not more than 50 words.Poster - awareness and appeal

(Box the whole poster. Centre every line.)
A GREEN DIWALI IS STILL DIWALI
"Light a diya, not a fuse."
NO CRACKERS THIS DIWALI
Our air is already hard to breathe. Spare the asthmatic, the newborn, the street dog.
Diya-Lighting
Sunday, 8 November 2026 | 6 p.m. | Central Park
Bring your family.
Residents' Welfare Association, Sector 12, Faridabad

Word count: 49.

How an appeal poster differs from an announcement poster. An announcement poster is mostly schedule. An appeal poster has to give a reason, and the reason has to be short, two lines at the very most. Here it is two short sentences, and the second names three specific sufferers, the asthmatic, the newborn and the street dog. That is far stronger than a general statement that pollution is bad, and it is shorter.

The title carries the argument. A green Diwali is still Diwali answers the objection the reader is already making, before they have made it. That is a trick worth borrowing for any awareness poster on a festival, a tradition or a habit people enjoy: concede the pleasure, then redirect it.

Content mark check. The cause, the reason, the requested action, an alternative activity with a date, time and place, and a named issuing body. All five present in 49 words. Note also that 8 November 2026 is a Sunday, and it is the day Diwali actually falls that year, so the alternative event is offered for the evening people would otherwise spend bursting crackers.

5 Practice task 5: Write a speech in 120-150 words to be delivered in the morning assembly of your school on the need to save water.Speech - morning assembly

Respected Principal, respected teachers and my dear friends,
I am Meera Nair of Class XI-A, and I want to speak this morning about a tap.
Last summer my colony got water for forty minutes a day. My grandmother filled buckets at five in the morning. In the same weeks, I watched our corridor tap run while three of us washed our hands one after another, and nobody turned it off.
That is the whole problem. Water feels free until the day it is not.
We cannot bring rain. We can close a tap in four seconds. We can report the leaking pipe near the canteen instead of walking past it. We can carry a bottle from home and refill it.
Small habits are not a small answer. They are the only one we control.
Thank you.

Word count: 136, inside the 120-150 band.

Why this earns the content marks. It does not open with a definition of water or a claim about how many litres are wasted. It opens with one small remembered scene, and the scene contains the argument: scarcity at home, waste at school, the same person watching both. Three specific actions follow, all of which a student in that assembly can do today. The speech never once tells the government what to do, because the government is not in the room.

Format check. Salutation, self-introduction with class and occasion, closing thanks. All three legs present, so the Format mark is safe before a single idea has been judged.

6 Practice task 6: Write a debate in 120-150 words for or against the motion: This house believes that board examinations should be abolished.Debate - against the motion

Respected Chairperson, honourable judges, my worthy opponents and dear friends,
I am Kabir Sheikh of Class XI-B, and I speak against the motion that board examinations should be abolished.
My opponents call the board exam a source of stress. It is. But stress is not the same as harm, and removing the thermometer does not cure the fever. The stress comes from how we prepare, not from the fact that someone marks us.
Consider who the board actually protects. A student in a small town in Bihar and a student in a South Delhi school sit the same paper, marked by an examiner who has never met either. That is the one moment in their school life when the family's money buys nothing.
Reform the exam. Do not abolish the only level ground we have.
Thank you.

Word count: 137, inside the 120-150 band.

Watch the rebuttal work. It does three things. It states the opponent's strongest point fairly. It concedes it outright with two words, It is, which costs nothing and buys enormous credibility. Then it separates stress from harm and offers an image, the thermometer and the fever, that the judges will remember. Conceding is not weakness in a debate; refusing to concede anything is what makes an answer sound like a slogan.

Format check. Four groups named in the salutation, identity given, motion quoted back in full with the side declared, and a closing. The Format mark is secured in the first two lines.

Previous-year board questions 4

Q1 You are Vaishali Sharma of 14, Nehru Nagar, Indore. You wish to sell your scooter. Draft a classified advertisement in not more than 50 words for the Vehicles column of a local daily. (3 marks) CBSE 2025-26 pattern

About these four questions. Class 11 is examined by the school, not by the board, so there is no CBSE previous-year Class 11 paper to quote from. Each question below is written to the exact 2025-26 syllabus specification for its task, which is what a school paper setter works from as well.

(Box the whole advertisement.)
VEHICLES FOR SALE
Honda Activa, 2019 model, single owner, 18,000 km, showroom-serviced, new battery and tyres, insurance valid till March 2027, papers clear. Price Rs 42,000, negotiable. Genuine buyers only; no dealers. Inspect any evening after 5 p.m. Contact: Vaishali Sharma, 14 Nehru Nagar, Indore. Ph: 94XXXXXX36.

Word count: 47, within the 50-word limit.

Marking note. Format 1: boxed, VEHICLES FOR SALE in capitals, full contact line. Content 1: model, year, ownership history, kilometres, servicing, replaced parts, insurance validity, paperwork status, price, negotiability, terms, viewing time, name, address, phone. Expression 1: telegraphic throughout, numerals for every figure, and no sentence longer than a phrase.

Where candidates lose the content mark. They write the model and the price and stop. A buyer of a second-hand vehicle wants three things you may not think to include: how many owners, whether the insurance is current, and whether the papers are clear. Those three details are worth more than any adjective.

Q2 As Cultural Secretary of Sunrise Public School, Nagpur, design a poster in not more than 50 words announcing the staging of the school play. (3 marks) CBSE 2025-26 pattern

(Box the whole poster. Centre every line. Largest capitals for the title.)
CURTAIN UP!
THE POST OFFICE
by Rabindranath Tagore
"Come for the story. Stay for the silence at the end."
Date: Saturday, 12 December 2026 | Time: 5:30 p.m.
Venue: School Auditorium
Tickets Rs 50 at the school office. Proceeds to the school library fund.
Cultural Society, Sunrise Public School, Nagpur

Word count: 49, within the 50-word limit.

Marking note. Format 1: box, bold title, slogan in quotation marks, issuing authority at the foot. Content 1: what is being staged and by whom it was written, date, time, venue, ticket price, where to buy, and what the money is for. Expression 1: eight short centred lines, no continuous prose, and a slogan that promises an experience instead of merely repeating the title.

Naming the play. The Post Office is Rabindranath Tagore's 1912 play, written in Bengali as Dak Ghar. If you name a real play on a poster, name its author correctly too: a wrong attribution is a content error, and it is the one detail on the poster an examiner is most likely to know.

The detail worth stealing. Proceeds to the school library fund is six words that turn a ticket price into a reason to buy. Poster content marks reward a benefit, not just an announcement.

Q3 You are Ishita Menon, Head Girl of Green Valley School, Kochi. Write a speech in 120-150 words to be delivered in the morning assembly on the theme: The library is the emptiest room in this school. (5 marks) CBSE 2025-26 pattern

Respected Principal, respected teachers and my dear friends,
I am Ishita Menon, your Head Girl. This morning I want to talk about the emptiest room in this school: our library.
It has four thousand books. On most days it has three students, and two of them are there for the fan.
I know why. Our timetable gives it one period a week, and that period is usually swallowed by a test. Reading has become the thing we will do after the exam, and the exam never ends.
But a book is not extra work. It is the one place where nobody is marking you.
So here is my request. Take one book this week. Not a guide, not a summary. Read ten pages a night. If the library gives us one hour, let us give it one book.
Thank you.

Word count: 140, inside the 120-150 band.

Marking note. Format 1: salutation, self-introduction with role and occasion, closing thanks. Content 2: a problem stated with a concrete image, an honest diagnosis of the cause that does not blame the audience, a reframing of what reading is for, and a request small enough to be obeyed. Expression 2: varied sentence length, one deliberate joke that is also an observation, and a closing line built on a balanced pair.

What earns the second content mark. Most answers on this theme list the benefits of reading. This one explains why students already know the benefits and still do not read, and then removes the obstacle. Diagnosis, not exhortation, is the difference between one content mark and two.

On the one number in it. Four thousand books is a figure a Head Girl could actually check in her own library, which is why it is safe. That is the test to apply: use a number you could verify by walking down a corridor, never a national statistic you half-remember.

Q4 Your school is holding an inter-house debate on the motion: This house believes that AI tools should be allowed in school assignments. Write a debate in 120-150 words for or against the motion. (5 marks) CBSE 2025-26 pattern

Respected Chairperson, honourable judges, my worthy opponents and dear friends,
I am Zoya Ansari of Class XI-C, and I speak for the motion that AI tools should be allowed in school assignments.
My opponents will say this is cheating. That word depends entirely on what we are testing. If the assignment asks a student to think, a tool that drafts the answer defeats it. If the assignment asks a student to research, a tool that finds and organises material is a library, not a lie.
Every generation has had this argument. The calculator did not end arithmetic; it moved the exam from grinding to reasoning.
Ban the tool and we do not remove it. We push it under the desk, where nobody can teach anyone to use it honestly.
Allow it. Then teach it. Then test what it cannot do.
Thank you.

Word count: 142, inside the 120-150 band.

Marking note. Format 1: the four-group salutation, identity, the motion quoted back with the side declared, and a closing. Content 2: the rebuttal arrives first and does not dodge the word cheating, it takes it apart by distinguishing two kinds of assignment; then a historical parallel; then a practical argument about what a ban actually achieves. Expression 2: short declaratives, a three-part ending, and a courteous register throughout.

The move to copy. When your opponent's argument rests on a loaded word, define the word instead of denying it. That word depends entirely on what we are testing is a full rebuttal in nine words, and it opens the space for everything that follows.

Stuck? Ask about this chapter. Type your question in your own words — it searches straight through Writing: Advertisements, Posters, Speech and Debate for the answer. The Ask AI button (bottom-right) stays scoped to this chapter while you're here, too.

Part of Priodemy for School

Interactive CBSE lessons, Class 8–12 — free with every school on Priodemy EduSuite. Explore more chapters and labs on the Priodemy for School hub.

Ask AI