How to Summarise a Text in English - Improve English Comprehension

Hi, I'm Ali. Welcome to Oxford Online English. In this lesson, you can learn how to read and summarized a text. Summarizing a text is
a vital skill for your English reading. If you can't make a short, clear summary of the main ideas of a text, then you almost certainly
haven't understood it fully. Understanding what you read an English isn't just about the words. It's about understanding the ideas, how
they're organized, and which ideas are more or less important. Here you'll see some strategies you can use to improve your English
reading, read faster and improve your reading comprehension. Before we begin checkout our website, Oxford Online English.com, do
you want to see a range of video and listening lessons to improve your English, will 100% free. We have that. Do you want to take
online classes with a professional teacher? We can do that to Oxford Online English.com. In this lesson, we'll work with a sample text.
You'll see it in the video, but you can also find it on the full version of this lesson, which is on our website. You can find a link in the
video description. We recommend reading it before you continue watching. Now, let's look at the most important reading strategy you
need to use. To understand and summarize a text, you need to find the main idea. Every coherent text has one central idea which
connects the different parts of the text. You need to know what this is. But every text is different and there isn't one way to find the
main idea. Instead, you need to look at the whole thing. Here are some things you should look at. One, is there a title or headings?
These will often highlight the most important points to what is the first sentence about. Often the first sentence of a text or paragraph
will summarize the main ideas. Three, what does most of the texts talk about? Look at each sentence and paragraph. Is there a single
topic which connects them? Look at our sample text and think about these questions. Pause the video if you need more reading time
and remember that you can also read it on our website. Just follow the link in the video description. So do you think the main idea of
our sample text, as we'll show you three possible summaries, which do you think is the best? What do you think? The best is? Number
three, let's see y. First, you should look at the title. The title tells you that the text will be about Google. But it also mentions that this
language is unusual. You should immediately focus on this word because it shows that this language is different in some way. Also,
unusual could mean many things. What does it mean here? Unusual How? Second what's the first sentence about? Here? It gives
background information. It doesn't help you to find the main idea. That's okay. In this case, the background information is helpful
because most people don't know what goog is. Foot. What does most of the texts talk about? Apart from the first sentence, every
sentence is about the same topic. The fact that Google uses compass directions, north, south, east, west for directions, because there
are no words for left, right, and so on. This answers the question you found in the title. Why is this language unusual? Now, you have a
reason. However, analyzing the text in this way is complex and there are other sub-skills you might need. Let's look at an important
example. To summarize a text, you need to find which ideas are general and which are details or examples. The general ideas will give
you the overall meaning. If you confuse general ideas and details, you might misunderstand the overall meaning, what you're reading.
Unfortunately, there are no clear markers which show you what's general or not. A single sentence Might makes general ideas and
details together. You need to use context and other clues to work out which ideas are general and which are details. Look at five
extracts from our sample text. What do you think? Are these general ideas or details which do you need to understand in order to find
the overall meaning? Sentences 134 are general, 25 are details. One is general because it introduces the topic by giving background 1
information. This is like a topic sentence which tells you what the rest of the text will be about. Too, is a detail. It's more background
information, you don't need it to understand the overall meaning. Three is a general important idea. This sentence highlights the
unusual feature of the group in their language. The rest of the text expands on the idea introduced in this sentence. We said the for is
general. However, it's kind of in the middle. It explains the exact meaning of lacking egocentric directions, which is referred to in
sentence three. Technically, this sentence isn't necessary to understand the main idea. On the other hand, most people, including
educated native English speakers, wouldn't know what egocentric directions are. This sentence explains it, and so it is important for
understanding the whole text. Faith is a detail. It adds an example of how Google speakers talk about position and direction, but it isn't
necessary to understand the main idea of the text. So what do you need to focus on here? First, it's a good idea to skim a text first,
reading fast and trying to understand the overall idea in a simple way. In order to separate general ideas from details, you need some
context until you've read the whole thing. You won't have this. Second look for linking phrases, like, for example, for instance,
specifically or in particular. Linking phrases like these, show you that what follows is an explanation of a more general idea that was
mentioned before. Third, remember that one sentence can contain both general ideas and details mixed together. For example, this
sentence contains both the detail about the word kangaroo and a general point. Now, why not do some more practice? Look at the rest
of our sample text. Which ideas are general? Which ideas are details? Pause the video and try it now if you want. Did you do it? Here's
a shorter version with all examples and details removed. If you can do this, you'll be able to read much faster. Why? Because you only
need to focus on the general idea is to understand the overall meaning. Here, you only need to understand 76 words instead of 250.
This saves you time, which could be helpful if you are under time pressure, like in an IELTS Reading exam. There's another related
skill which can help you to understand a text. Let's look. If you're a non-native speaker reading in English, you'll probably have this
problem often. There are words which he don't understand. Maybe there are several words which you don't know. Don't panic. This
makes things more difficult, but there are strategies you can use. First, look for proper nouns, which starts with a capital letter.
Sometimes we see that students think they don't understand the word, but they don't realize that the word is actually a proper noun,
like a person's name or a place name. Can you find three examples of proper nouns in our text? Pause the video. If you want time to
think about it. You could say glue gun, death, Queensland, Hope Vale, English, or Brisbane. Generally, if a proper noun is important or
not widely understood, it will be explained. For example, goog him, death is obviously important. And it's explained in the first
sentence. If a proper noun isn't explained, you can usually ignore it or try to work out the meaning from the context. For example, look
at the first sentence. Even if you've never heard of Queensland or hope fail, you can work out that they are place names. Next, look for
words that tell you that's an idea is important. You could look for words like important, notable, significant, or essential. For example,
you saw this sentence. The word notable highlights something important about the language. This means you should focus on this
sentence. If you're under time pressure, you should spend extra time on the sentence. Also, look for words which were also used in the
title, or possibly which appeared in the first sentence or paragraph. Remember that writers might use paraphrase. So you might not
find the exact same words. That was a key word from the title used in the text. Do you know where? Pause the video if you want time to
find it. The word unusual appears in this sentence. You heard before that unusual is a keyword in the title. So when you see it, you
should pay extra attention to this sentence. In fact, this sentence gives you one of the key general ideas. Depending on your situation,
you might have different options to deal with unknown words. If you have unlimited time, unlimited patients, and access to a
dictionary, then you can check the meaning of every word. However, this strategy is not possible in most cases. No one really has
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unlimited time, are unlimited patients. Plus, there are often restrictions. If you're taking an exam, you'll have a time limit and you
probably won't be able to use a dictionary. This is why it's important to focus on the general ideas and then find keywords within them.
If there are 50 words you don't know, that's difficult to deal with. However, if you can focus on a smaller number of more important
sentences, there will be fewer unknowing Woods. At this point, you should know how to read and summarize a text in English. We
have a challenge for you. On the full version of this lesson, which is on our website, you'll find a second texts to practice with. If you're
watching on YouTube, you can find the link in the video description. Can you write a summary of the second text? Your summary
should be maximum two sentences are ideally just one. Use the reading techniques you sign this lesson. Post your suggestion in the
comments and read other people's ideas. Thanks for watching. See you next time.

How to Summarise a Text in English - Improve English Comprehension

From Dan Willoughby August 01, 2020

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