Chapter III: The Essay

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Chapter III The Essay

• Lecture 2 Summary Writing

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The Essay Summary Writing

• Writing a summary
• Why?
• How?
• Class work

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Writing a summary why?

• Practice in writing summaries will benefit you in
  important ways as a student and as a writer

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Writing a summary why?

• It will give you practice in close, attentive
  reading, and train you to do justice to what you
  read (rather than reading into a work only what
  is familiar to you).

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Writing a summary why?

• It will strengthen your sense of structure in
  writing how a writer organizes material,
  develops his or her points, and moves from one
  point to another.

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Writing a summary why?

• It will develop your sense of what is important
  in a written work, enabling you to distinguish
  between key points, the material backing them up,
  specific examples and illustrations, and mere
  asides.

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Writing a summary how?
Fire! Fire ! !
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Writing a summary how?
Summary
in your own words
Express the central idea
Method

Condensation
Paraphrase
v
topic idea topic sentence
developing sentences expressions
ways to express
v
Skills
v
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Writing a summary how?
Summary
in your own words
Express the central idea
Method

Condensation
Paraphrase
v
topic idea topic sentence
developing sentences expressions
ways to express
v
Skills
v
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Condensation

• The dining table is covered with a white cloth.
  The maid has laid the table in the usual way and
  has put the right number of knives, forks, spoons
  and glasses for each person. There is also pepper
  and salt, oil and vinegar and mustard??. On the
  left of each person is a table-napkin and a plate
  with a roll on it. In front of the host there is
  a carving knife and fork.

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Condensation

• A shorter summary
• The table was laid for dinner.

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Condensation
tableware
condiment

1. The dining table is covered with a white cloth.
   The maid has laid the table in the usual way and
   has put the right number of knives, forks, spoons
   and glasses for each person. There is also pepper
   and salt, oil and vinegar and mustard. On the
   left of each person is a table-napkin and a plate
   with a roll on it. In front of the host there is
   a carving knife and fork.

1
2
3
other things
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Condensation

• A shorter summary
• The table was laid for dinner.
• A longer summary
• The table was laid for dinner with enough
  tableware for each person and condiment and other
  things needed.

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Condensation

• 2. Points of information (1) The ship met a
  storm.
• (2) The radar
  went wrong.
• (3) The ship
  struck a reef.
• (4) The ship
  sank.

v
v
v
(4)

• The shortest telegram

(3) (4)

• The longer telegram

• The longest telegram

(2), (3) (4)
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Condensation

• 3. The housewife reported that the new detergent
  cleaned well, that it had a pleasant smell and
  that it was sold in a charming pink box.

less important detail
central idea
unimportant detail
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Condensation

• 4. The new jet plane was painted scarlet, with a
  silver device on each wing and its name in gold
  on the fuselage. On its first flight it broke the
  world air speed record.

2
1
3
unimportant detail
less important detail
central idea
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Paraphrase

• What is paraphrase?
• A restatement of a text or passage in another
  form or other words, often to clarify meaning.
• How to paraphrase a sentence?
• Using other words (e.g. synonyms)
• Adopting another structure

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Paraphrase

1. He had a good command of English.
2. He is not content with his present salary.
3. She has an appreciation of modern art.
4. Prevention is better than cure.

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Paraphrase

• He had a good command of English.
• 2. He is not content with his present salary.

He was very good at English. He knew English well.
He is not satisfied with his present salary.
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Paraphrase
3. She has an appreciation of modern art. 4.
Prevention is better than cure.
She has a good understanding of modern art.
It is better to prevent it from happening than
try to put it right afterwards.
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Paraphrase
5. The teacher said, Dont be late again,
Bob. 6. Although it rained heavily they went
swimming. 7. I had much difficulty in reading
this book. 8. Nobody went short of coal that
winter.
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Paraphrase
5. The teacher said, Dont be late again, Bob.
The teacher told Bob not to be late again.
6. Although it rained heavily they went swimming.
They went to swim despite the heavy rain.
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Paraphrase
7. I had much difficulty in reading this book.
I found this book very difficult to read.
8. Nobody went short of coal that winter.
No one lacked coal that winter.
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Paraphrase
9. Tom goes in for sports. 10. I cannot put up
with his laziness any longer! 11. Work hard or
you will fail the final exam. 12. We wouldnt
have succeeded without their help.
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Paraphrase
9. Tom goes in for sports.
Tom likes sports.
10. I cannot put up with his laziness any longer!
I can no longer tolerate his laziness!
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Paraphrase
11. Work hard or you will fail the final exam.
If you dont work hard, you will fail the final
exam.
12. We wouldnt have succeeded without their help.
If they hadnt helped us, we wouldnt have
succeeded.
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Paraphrase
13. Your eyes were bigger than your stomach. 14.
We all expected you for the party last night. 15.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but conquest
of fear. 16. I was thinking of making a fresh
start the next term and working hard. I was
serious about it.
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Paraphrase
13. Your eyes were bigger than your stomach.
You ate less than you had expected.
14. We all waited for you last night because we
thought you would come to the party.
We all expected you for the party last night.
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Paraphrase
15. Courage is not the absence of fear, but
conquest of fear.
Courage doesnt mean that there is nothing for
one to fear but that one can act in spite of fear.
16. I was thinking of making a fresh start the
next term and working hard. I was serious about
it.
I plan to work hard next term and I mean it.
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Class work write a one-sentence summary
1. The little girl sat on the floor surrounded by
a toy telephone, a rattle, a big plastic ball and
a large number of highly colored building bricks.
The little girl sat on the floor surrounded by
toys.
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Class work write a one-sentence summary
2. The book contained information about such
subjects as how a radio works, the development of
radar and the splitting of the atom.
The book contained information about modern
science.
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Class work write a one-sentence summary
3. In the evenings he developed and printed his
own films or amused himself with his
stamp-collection or the radio he was making.
In the evenings, he engaged in his hobbies.
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Class work write a one-sentence summary
4. A railway train cannot run until the track has
been laid. Ships need ports and quays. Lorries
and cars need roadways. Aero planes need
aerodromes with concrete runways. But a
helicopter is free to go almost anywhere without
anything built on the ground.
Helicopters, unlike other forms of transport, do
not need ground installations to operate.
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Class work write a one-sentence summary
5. The man had plenty of things to occupy him
that morning. He had overslept. The hotel had
forgotten to call him and now he was late for an
important business appointment. He dressed
quickly, shaved hurriedly, grabbed his briefcase
and hurried off down the hotel corridor.
The man was in a great hurry that morning.
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Homework

• Read??pp45-48(???????)
• Fill in the blank pp169-170
• Summary writing pp188-190 (due next week)
• Next time, dont forget to take your outline on
  E-mail and some paper with you.

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Tips

• Have a clear purpose in mind before you start
  reading and note taking. Decide what and how much
  detail is needed.
• Reread the passage until you understand it
  thoroughly.
• Jot down the main points.
• Set aside the original, and rewrite the text in
  your own words.
• Always check your version with the original.
  Ensure that your paraphrase represents the
  author's meaning without distortion.