📖 English Language
Topics
The full English Language syllabus, level by level.
The syllabus below shows what can be examined in English Language at each level of the Dreamline STEAM Olympiad. Levels follow school grades, so every student competes within their own age group, and topics are cumulative — a later level assumes everything before it. Read it together with the past papers when you plan revision.
Syllabus by level
What may be examined at each level. Topics are cumulative — later levels assume earlier ones.
Grammar
- Identify nouns, verbs, and adjectives
- Form simple sentences
- Use punctuation marks (., !, ?)
- Capital letters for names and places
Vocabulary
- Everyday words (colors, animals, food, school)
- Opposites (hot–cold, big–small)
- Synonyms (happy–glad, fast–quick)
- Match word to picture
Reading
- Read short story and answer
- simple questions
- Identify the main idea
- Sequence pictures based on a story
- Match sentences to pictures
Spelling
- Simple CVC words (cat, bed, hop)
- Days of the week, numbers, colors
- Classroom objects
- Short spelling bee words (2–4 letters)
Grammar
- Types of sentences (question, statement, command)
- Subject–verb agreement
- Use of past, present, and future tense
- Prepositions of place and time
Vocabulary
- Synonyms and antonyms
- Prefixes and suffixes (un-, re-, -ful, -less)
- Word meanings in context
- Word categories (sports, emotions, places)
Reading
- Paragraph comprehension
- Answer WH- questions (who, what, where, when)
- Match sentence to paragraph
- Find the main idea and supporting details
Spelling
- Irregular plurals (children, mice)
- Common 2- to 3-syllable words
- Simple compound words (sunflower, notebook)
- Grade-level spelling list (e.g., because, favorite, animal)
Grammar
- Simple, compound, and complex sentences
- Use of active and passive voice
- Direct and reported speech
- Correct pronoun usage
Vocabulary
- Idioms and phrasal verbs
- Context-based vocabulary
- Commonly confused words (its/it’s, their/there)
- Matching word to definition
Reading
- Reading for inference
- Identifying cause and effect
- Finding tone and author’s purpose
- Selecting titles or summaries for passages
Spelling
- Homophones and homonyms
- Advanced word families (e.g., -tion, -sion)
- Word endings and spelling patterns
- Proofreading with spelling errors
Grammar
- Use of conditionals (0–3)
- Modal verbs (should, must, might)
- Relative clauses (who, which, that)
- Error correction and sentence improvement
Vocabulary
- Academic vocabulary
- Collocations (make a decision, do homework)
- Word form transformations (happy → happiness)
- Contextual word meaning
Reading
- Analyze argument structure
- Interpret tone and perspective
- Compare ideas in two texts
- Identify bias or fact vs. opinion
Spelling
- Longer and more complex words (environment, opportunity)
- Foreign-origin words (café, ballet)
- Spelling in writing tasks
- Vocabulary spelling quiz
Grammar
- Advanced structures (inversions, parallelism)
- Cohesion: linking words and transitions
- Editing for grammar and clarity
- Avoiding redundancy and ambiguity
Vocabulary
- Formal vs. informal register
- Greek and Latin roots
- Precise word choice in academic writing
- Vocabulary usage in argumentation
Reading
- Summarize long academic or editorial texts
- Analyze rhetorical devices and tone
- Distinguish fact, opinion, and inference
- Read and critique arguments
Spelling
- Technical and academic vocabulary
- Words with silent letters or tricky patterns
- Proofreading complex passages
- Spelling in formal writing and essays
- 1. Grammar
- Advanced syntax: inversion, ellipsis, cleft sentences, and fronting
- Complex sentence structures and subordinate clauses
- Advanced conditional structures, mixed conditionals, and implied conditions
- Subjunctive mood, modal perfects, and nuanced verb forms
- Parallelism, syntactic consistency, and rhetorical sentence construction
- Advanced punctuation: semicolons, colons, dashes, and parentheses
- Grammatical ambiguity, faulty modification, and structural errors
- Editing complex academic passages for grammatical accuracy and style
- 2. Vocabulary
- Advanced academic and discipline-specific vocabulary
- Etymology: Greek and Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes
- Nuances in meaning: connotation, denotation, and semantic precision
- Collocations, idiomatic expressions, and sophisticated phrasal usage
- Register, tone, and vocabulary choices for academic and professional contexts
- Synonyms and antonyms in context, including subtle differences in meaning
- Word formation, derivation, and morphological analysis
- Logical relationships between words: analogy, classification, and semantic fields
- Commonly confused words, false equivalences, and malapropisms
- Vocabulary used in persuasion, debate, and academic argumentation
- 3. Reading and Critical Analysis
- Analyzing complex academic, editorial, and literary nonfiction texts
- Identifying implicit assumptions, underlying claims, and unstated implications
- Evaluating the validity, relevance, and sufficiency of evidence
- Distinguishing facts, opinions, inferences, interpretations, and judgments
- Recognizing logical fallacies and weaknesses in arguments
- Analyzing rhetorical strategies: ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos
- Identifying irony, satire, paradox, allusion, and extended metaphor
- Analyzing tone, attitude, purpose, audience, and authorial perspective
- Comparing viewpoints across multiple texts and synthesizing information
- Drawing conclusions from complex passages and evaluating alternative interpretations
- 4. Spelling and Word Usage
- Advanced spelling of academic, scientific, and technical terminology
- Etymology-based spelling and morphological patterns
- Silent letters, irregular spellings, and uncommon letter combinations
- Homophones, homonyms, and commonly confused academic words
- British and American spelling conventions and consistency
- Hyphenation, compound words, and word-boundary conventions
- Correct spelling of derivatives and words with changing forms
- Proofreading sophisticated passages for spelling and usage errors
- Identifying malapropisms, incorrect word forms, and contextual misuse
- Editing formal essays for spelling, consistency, and lexical precision
- 5. Academic Writing and Composition
- Constructing clear, defensible, and nuanced thesis statements
- Developing coherent arguments supported by evidence
- Writing analytical, argumentative, and evaluative essays
- Synthesizing information from multiple sources
- Integrating quotations, paraphrases, and references appropriately
- Developing cohesive paragraphs through logical progression
- Using transitions to express contrast, concession, causation, and qualification
- Recognizing and avoiding plagiarism through accurate paraphrasing
- Maintaining formal register, objectivity, and an appropriate academic tone
- Revising writing for concision, clarity, coherence, and rhetorical effectiveness
- 6. Rhetoric, Logic, and Language Analysis
- Identifying deductive and inductive reasoning
- Evaluating claims, counterclaims, rebuttals, and concessions
- Detecting logical fallacies, including false dilemmas and hasty generalizations
- Analyzing persuasive techniques and rhetorical patterns
- Recognizing ambiguity, equivocation, and misleading language
- Understanding denotation, connotation, figurative meaning, and implication
- Analyzing rhetorical questions, antithesis, parallelism, and repetition
- Distinguishing correlation from causation in arguments
- Evaluating the credibility and potential bias of sources
- Assessing how language influences interpretation and persuasion
- 7. Literary and Stylistic Analysis
- Analyzing symbolism, imagery, motifs, and allegory
- Interpreting irony, satire, paradox, and ambiguity
- Examining narrative perspective, characterization, and structure
- Analyzing diction, syntax, rhythm, and their effects on meaning
- Understanding allusion and intertextual references
- Evaluating how literary devices establish tone and atmosphere
- Comparing themes and stylistic choices across texts
- Interpreting figurative language in unfamiliar contexts