SUMMARY WRITING
Selecting Content Points in Summary
Questions
 A key reading skill is to scan and analyze a text.
 Summary question deals with students ability to identify and
summarize required information:
o similarities and differences
o advantages and disadvantages
o problems and solutions
o causes and effects
o actions and consequences
 What you are asked to do in the questions is called
the RUBRIC.
 Strategies to select content points:
Read the rubric properly and understand what you are
asked to do.
2. Read the text carefully at least twice. In the second reading,
you should read with the summary rubric.
3. Select the content points based on the rubric.
 At this stage, you are free to use note form or to write in
sentences.
 You can use words from the passage or your own words.
1.
 The second stage: to write up the content points in relevant and coherent formal
continuous prose.
 Continuous prose means that it must be written in sentences and at least one
paragraph, clearly punctuated.
 Organizing summary is easier than organizing a piece of composition.
 Your summary may be written in a single paragraph.
 The length of your summary or the recommended number of words you should use
is usually indicated by the rubric.
 Punctuate your summary paragraph correctly.
 Basic rules of punctuation: comma, full stop, capitalization (see coursebook pages
12-18).
 Exercise 1: Punctuation – coursebook page 97.
the moment had arrived all those weeks
preparation had been moving them towards this
day it was a difficult syllabus but the class had had
a good teacher how happy they were about that all
students filed into the examination hall with
butterflies in their stomachs was there anyone who
was not really nervous what would the
comprehension passage be about this year would
it be narrative or discursive would it suit everyone
everyone was silent the papers were given out
they were thinking about what they had been
taught about literal comprehension and inferential
comprehension not to forget of course the
summary question which carried half of the marks
everyone started to read the passage but they
could not believe their eyes it was impossible to
understand there was no punctuation whatsoever.
Photo source:
www.teacherspayteachers.com
 In group, go back to the lists of content points you made in Chapter 12 for each of
the short passages in exercise 4 and 5 (Coursebook page 88).
 For each of these, write the list of the content points into a paragraph.
 Your paragraphs should be headed as follows:
o Café India
o A Frightening Experience
 Relevant material contains information that answers the summary question.
 Relevant means avoiding:
o Material which merely repeats a previously made point.
o Material which gives particular information that merely shows a previously
made point.
o Material which is a topic sentence, or introduction, to the subject being
discussed or described.
 Coherent summaries are easy to follow because the sentences and ideas are
connected and flow together smoothly.
 Coherent summaries use standard English, which means they are free from slang
or jargon.
Lily loves cats and she loves petting them because
they have soft silky fur and she also really loves cats
because they are cute and cuddly and sometimes
they even sit and sleep on her lap and Lily hopes
that someday she will be able to have a pet cat of
her very own.
 My grandma is a good cook she makes amazing pancakes.
 Banana and peanut butter pancakes.
 Will be joining us this evening.
 From Glastonbury, which is two hours from London.
 When we were enjoying the pancakes in the dining room.
 A beautiful city.
 Uncle Jeff came to visit us.
 Phrase: a group of words that may contain a subject OR a verb, but
not both.
Examples:
Banana and peanut butter pancakes.
Will be joining us this evening
 Clause: a group of words that include a subject and a verb.
1. Independent/main clause: a group of words that can stand on its
own as a sentence; it has a subject, a verb and is a complete thought.
Example: he ran.
2. Dependent/subordinate clause: a group of words that also
contains a subject and a verb, but it is not a complete thought.
Example: because I woke up late this morning…
 A complete sentence has (minimally) two parts, a
subject and a verb.
 A sentence must also express a complete thought.
 Such a phrase consisting of a subject and a verb
(with complete meaning) is also called an
independent clause.
 Simple sentence contains one main/independent clause.
 Examples:
 Becky reads a story.
 Becky reads and writes a story.
 Becky and Sandra read a story.
 Becky and Sandra read and write a story.
 Compound sentence contains two or more independent
clauses.
 Each main clause has its own subject and verb and can stand
alone.
 The main clauses are usually joined by by a coordinating
conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so = FANBOYS).
 Examples:
 Becky reads a story, and Sandra writes an article.
 Becky loves reading novels, and Sandra enjoys writing poems,
but Amy hates English literature.
 Complex sentence contains one independent/main clause and
one dependent/subordinate clause.
 The dependent/subordinate clause can not stand on its own.
 The clauses are connected using subordinating conjunctions:
because, when, while, after, before, until, as, since, etc.
 Examples:
 Becky loves reading because it improves her writing skills.
 Sandra was writing a poem when Becky called her.
 While waiting for her car to be repaired, Becky was reading a
novel by Charlotte Bronte.
Relative Pronoun
 A complex sentence can be created using a relative pronoun: who, whom, whose,
which, and that.
 Examples:
 The book that Becky reads is a masterpiece of an English famous author.
 The girl who is reading the book in the corner is my best friend.
Present Participle (Verb-ing)
 A complex sentence can be created using a present participle.
 Examples:
 Reading a story, Becky gets lost in her imagination.
 Smiling, Sandra was thinking of the funniest part of the story.
 A compound-complex sentence has two independent clauses and at least one
dependent clause.
 Examples:
 After the two soccer players lost their game, they joined their other teammates for
lunch, and they went to the movies.
 The man believed in the system, and he knew that justice would prevail after the
murderer was sent to jail.
 https://englishpost.org/types-cohesive-devices/