Writing: Factual Description & Magazine Article — Class 9 MCQs with Answers

Key concepts: Writing: Factual Description & Magazine Article (Class 9 English)

Two 120-150 word tasks worth 5 marks each, and they pull in opposite directions. A factual description informs and keeps the writer invisible; a magazine article argues and is signed. Confusing their registers is what loses marks here.

Factual description — the register

Objective and third person. The form informs, and the writer stays out of it: 'I loved the tall old banyan' breaks the form twice, on the first person and on the word 'loved'.

No figurative language

A factual description avoids similes and metaphors because its purpose is to inform accurately, not to create an impression. Figurative language belongs to the descriptive essay.

Hold one tense

Simple present for a standing fact, and the same tense throughout. Switching between past and present is a named deduction — a description holds one tense.

Passive for a process

Describing how something is made takes the passive: 'The pulp is pressed' keeps the process, not a person, in view.

Order the details

A place is described spatially, from the entrance inwards. A process goes step by step with first, next, then, finally. A lab described ceiling to door to shelves to window has no order the reader can follow.

The opening formula

What it is, where it stands and when it was built — identity, location and date orient the reader immediately: 'The school library occupies the ground floor of the east wing.'

Measurable diction

Prefer what can be counted: 'approximately 12 metres long' beats 'very long'; 'about two hundred passengers waited on Platform 3' beats 'the platform was crowded'. Superlative feeling adds no information.

A heading is required

The description carries a heading naming what is described, and both tasks in this chapter run to 120-150 words for 5 marks.

Article — title and by-line

An article carries a title and, just below it, a by-line. An article expresses one person's view, so authorship matters; the by-line is the mark of a signed opinion.

Article — structure

Introduction, body of developed points, conclusion. One paragraph per main point: ten points in ten sentences loses marks because no point is developed, and depth is what an article is marked on.

The hook, and its trap

Open with a striking fact, question or quote — but connect it to what follows. An opening statistic never mentioned again is a named fault.

Evidence over assertion

'Our school canteen alone discards nearly 300 plastic cups a week' — a number turns an assertion into an argument. Contempt for the reader kills a case.

Argument order

The claim, the evidence, the objection answered, then the appeal. Answering the objection is what turns opinion into argument.

The conclusion

Summarise or ask the reader to do one specific thing. 'So that is all about exam stress' is the flagged weak ending.

Paragraph craft

One idea per paragraph, topic sentence first, and a new idea starts a new paragraph. 'However' signals contrast, not addition.

Word-limit ladder

Notice/Invitation 50 words · Letter to the Editor 120-150 (5 marks) · Factual Description or Article 120-150 (5 marks) · Descriptive/Narrative Essay 200-250 (7 marks). Exceeding the limit costs marks however good the content.