Writing: Notice and Report
What this section asks
Two short formats with strict conventions. A notice is a displayed announcement; a report is a newspaper-style account of an event. Each is marked on format first, then content, then language.
Notice
- Top: name of the school or institution. Then the word NOTICE, a short heading, the date, the body, and a signature with name and designation (e.g. "Rohan Das, Class X B, Secretary").
- Body in 40–50 words, impersonal, present or future tense: "All students are informed that…"
- Compress the five Ws: what, when, where, who may take part, whom to contact.
- No salutation, no "Yours faithfully" - a notice is pinned up, not posted.
Report
- Headline as a short phrase, not a full sentence with a full stop: "Inter-house quiz held".
- Then a byline ("By a Staff Reporter" or your name) and a place-and-date line.
- Body in past tense, third person, chronological: lead sentence gives what/when/where/who/outcome, then details, then a closing quote or result.
- Use passive where the doer is unknown: "The fire was brought under control."
Worked example
Question: Write a notice (about 50 words) about a wristwatch lost in school.
Model: Heading "LOST - A STEEL WRISTWATCH". Body: "A steel wristwatch with a black strap was lost in the school playground on 12 August during the games period. Whoever finds it is requested to hand it over to the undersigned in Class X B." Signature: "Rohan Das, Class X B".
Reasoning: heading + what + where + when + request + signature comes to about 45 words, inside the limit. Omitting the date or the designation is what usually loses format marks.
Traps that cost marks
- Writing the notice as a letter, with "Dear students".
- Forgetting the date or the signature designation.
- A report written in the first person ("I saw smoke").
- A headline that is a full sentence with a full stop.
- Shifting tense halfway through a report.