More tips for summary writing

1. A summary begins with an introductory sentence that states the article's title and author.

2. A summary must contain the main thesis or standpoint of the text, restated in your own words. (To do this, first find the thesis statement in the original text.)

3. A summary is written in your own words. It contains few or no quotes.

4. A summary is always shorter than the original text, often about 1/3 as long as the original. It is the ultimate fat-free writing. An article or paper may be summarized in a few sentences or a couple of paragraphs. A book may be summarized in an article or a short paper. A very large book may be summarized in a smaller book.

5. A summary should contain all the major points of the original text, and should ignore most of the fine details, examples, illustrations or explanations.

6. The backbone of any summary is formed by crucial details (key names, dates, events, words and numbers). A summary must never rely on vague generalities.

7. If you quote anything from the original text, even an unusual word or a catchy phrase, you need to put whatever you quote in quotation marks ("...").

8. A summary must contain only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any of your own opinions, interpretations, deductions or comments into a summary.

9. A summary, like any other writing, has to have a specific audience and purpose, and you must carefully write it to serve that audience and fulfill that specific purpose.

(After Christine Bauer-Ramazani)

 

Section 2. Grammar workout

Incomplete noun clauses

Noun clauses are the third type of subordinate clause. They begin with noun-clause markers. Noun clauses that are formed from statements begin with the noun-clause marker that. Noun clauses formed from yes/no questions begin with the noun-clause markers whether or if. Those formed from information questions begin with wh- words: what, where, when, and so on.

Examples:

Dr. Hopkins' office is in this building, (statement).

I'm sure that Dr. Hopkins' office is in this building.

Is Dr. Hopkins' office on this floor? (yes/no question).

I don't know if (whether) Dr. Hopkins' office is on this floor.

Where is Dr. Hopkins' office? (information question).

Please tell me where Dr. Hopkins' office is.

Notice that the word order in direct questions is not the same as it is in noun clauses. The noun clause follows statement word order (subject + verb), not question word order (auxiliary + subject + main verb). Often one of the distractors for noun-clause items will incorrectly follow question word order.

Examples:

I don't know what is her name, (incorrect use of question word order). I don't know what her name is, (correct word order)

She called him to ask what time did his party start, (incorrect use of question word order). She called him to ask what time his party started, (correct word order).

Noun clauses function exactly as nouns do: as subjects, as direct objects, or after the verb to be.

Examples:

When the meeting will be held has not been decided, (noun clause as subject).

The weather announcer said that there will be thunderstorms, (noun clause as direct object).

This is what you need, (noun clause after to be).

Notice that when the noun clause is the subject of a sentence the verb in the main clause does not have a noun or pronoun subject.

In structure items, the noun-clause marker, along with any other part of the noun clause –subject, verb, and so on – may be missing from the stem, or the whole noun clause may be missing.

Identify and correct errors involving noun clauses:

One basic question psycholinguists have tried to answer is (children acquire language/how do children acquire language/that children acquire language/how children acquire language).

(Language policy in the European Union is/If language policy in the European Union is/When language policy in the European Union is/That language policy in the European Union is) both ineffective and hypocritical, doesn’t help to promote ideas of linguistic equality and multilingualism in Europe.

(Why has English become a lingua franca/Why English has become a lingua franca/If English has become a lingua franca/By what causes has English become a lingua franca) is obvious and clear.

The traditionally superior position of French in Europe explains (what the French cannot accept in the decline/that the French cannot accept the decline/how the French cannot accept the decline/whether the French cannot accept the decline) of their own linguistic power.

(There is the politically-correct ideologies/It is the politically-correct ideologies/What are the politically-correct ideologies/The politically-correct ideologies) of some sociolinguists, (constantly fuel opposition against/that constantly fuel opposition against/what if constantly fuel opposition against/because they constantly fuel opposition against) the idea of English as a European lingua franca.