SHS 3 ENGLISH LANGUAGE

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SHS 3 ENG LESSON NOTE 32

Core English for Senior High Schools

Form Three Lesson 32

NOTES

Summary

Topic: Basic Principles of Summary

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

1. to substitute lengthy expressions with shorter sentences.

2. retell the story in your own words without changing the meaning as spelt out in the original passage.
3. identify the key idea that the question requires us to identify.

Read the following short paragraph quickly.

The agile nimble precocious quick brown fox expertly catapulted itself over the lazy ever-sleeping drone fox for sheer fun and jollity no more no less…

What will you say this text is about?

Expected response:

The dog jumped over the fox

When substituting lengthy expressions with shorter sentences, make sure to maintain the main point(s) and avoid irrelevant materials.

Why Students Perform Poorly in Summary

The summary paper has become so dreadful to students that some do not even attempt it at all. Some of those who attempt it score very low marks.
A number of factors can be credited to the poor performance of students in the summary paper. Some of these are as follows:

1. Lack of understanding: summary is simply about comprehension, yet most students do not often understand the passage before they attempt
to answer it. Students should endeavor to understand what the passage well before answering it.
2. Lack of brevity: most students do not present their summary answers as brief and straight to the point.
3. The inability of students to obey instructions: specific instructions are given to guide students in answering the questions. These instructions
must be fully obeyed.
4. Grammatical errors: grammatical errors must be taken very seriously to prevent unnecessary loss of marks.

Principles of Summary

The following principles are worth noting in answering summary questions

1. Read the passage very quickly without bothering to answer the questions under it. This will help to get the general idea of the passage.
2. Study the questions under the passage noting every keyword and making sure you understand them in their context. This will help to do away
with irrelevant materials.
3. Analyze paragraph by paragraph in your second reading, noting the salient points in each of the paragraphs. If one paragraph contains two or
more ideas, the use of transitional devices (like, also, another, furthermore, again…) will help separate the different ideas.
4. Underline the sentence(s) identified as points or possible answers to questions. These points should not be written as final answers because
that would amount to lifting.
5. Respond to the questions by reflecting on the keywords in the questions and write only sentences as indicated in the questions.

Look at a sample passage:

Our land is blessed with many rich mineral resources- gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese, and oil. Mining, therefore, contributes immensely to the national
income. Communities from where these resources are derived should not be adversely affected by their extraction. Unfortunately, that appears to be the lot
of many mining communities in the country which now faces poverty, deprivation, and squalor as a result of the extraction process.

Question

a. In one sentence state what appears to affect mining communities.

Expected response

a. Mining communities are underprivileged.

Note that if you write

 1. underprivileged
2. underprivileged communities

You would be marked wrong because answers a and b are words and phrases respectively and not sentences.

6. Summary is a reductive exercise so lifting whole sentences or relevant points from the passage could be dangerous. Recompose all salient points
lifted from the passage. In other words, write all your final answers in your own words but this should have the same meaning as the points in the
original passage.

7. All answers to questions should be brief and concise. Some details should be avoided when answering a summary question. Details such as
embellishments, exaggerations, figurative expressions, idiomatic expressions adverbs, and adjectives must be avoided in summary writing.

Look at the following examples on your screen:

1. The lady took French leave from work, therefore, she was given her marching orders.

To take French leave means to stay out without permission so it should be avoided when summarizing it.

Question:

1. In one sentence state what the lady did to warrant the sack.

Expected answer:

The lady stayed out of work without permission.

2. The woman who received the best sales girl of the year award after working tirelessly for it has resigned.

Question

b. State the main point in this sentence.

Expected answer:

The woman has given up her job.

8. Unlike comprehension, all information about answers could be obtained from the passage. Therefore, all answers should relate to the information
in the passage.

9. Avoid writing more than one sentence for a point.

For example:

One Saturday morning, Naa Oyoe went to the market to buy some groceries and foodstuffs for the house because her mother had travelled to their
hometown for a funeral. In order not to forget what she had planned to buy she made a list of items that she would need for the house. These included-
milk, milo, gari, laundry soap, oil, plantain, cassava, salted fish, corn dough and cassava dough. Although that was her first time at the market, she was able
to buy everything she needed without any difficulty.

Question

c. In four sentences, one for each, state the items Naa Oyoe bought at the market.

Here, students should make sure that they write only one sentence for a point.

Expected answers:

1. Naa Oyoe bought gari.

2. She bought oil.
3. She bought milo.
4. She bought corn dough.

It is wrong for you to write two items in one sentence.

Look at these wrong examples below:

1. Naa Oyoe bought gari and sugar. X

2. She also bought oil. X

Avoid the use of connectives and conjunctions because they make the sentence lengthier

Summary

In this lesson, we have learnt that:

1. A number of reasons can be attributed to the poor performance of students in the summary paper. Some of these are as follows:
1. Lack of understanding
2. Lack of brevity
3. The inability of students to obey instructions
4. Grammatical errors
2.  Students must follow the basic principles of summary writing in order to score good marks
 CONTENT CONSULTANTS

Author

Grace Nana Aba Dawson-Ahmoah (MA)

Peer Reviewers

Fosu, Modestus (Ph.D.)

William Foli Garr (M.Phil.)

Mabel Nunoofio (M.Phil)

Irene Abaidoo (MA)

Grace Nana Aba Dawson-Ahmoah (MA)

Esther Ayebi-Mienzah (BA)

Last modified: Monday, 16 September 2019, 2:32 PM

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