Summarizing Summarizing sentences ‘Summarize a sentence by taking out the unnecessary words. Use summary words to take the place af groups of words about the same topic. Keep only the words which tell the iain point ofthe sentence, Use as few words as possible. Example: The tall cowboy put the saddle on is horse, untied him from the fence, waved good- bye and rode off into the sunset ¢ cowboy left. Explanation: You can leave out the werd fali, since that is not an important fact. All of the things that the cowboy did (put saddle on horse, untied him, waved good-bye, and rode off) can be summarized in one word: left. exercise 1 oe = Summarizo those sontonces. Work with another student. 1. After she tured on the oven, Michiko mixed the sugar, flour, eggs, milk, oil, anc ‘vanilla in the new blender, pouted the batter into the buttered pans, and put the cake inthe oven. ‘Summary: 2. As the bus rolled into her hometown, Liz looked around at the familiar streets and shops which she had not seen for two years, Summary: 3, Serge put on his raincoat, picked up his umbrella from the table near the door, tured off the lights, put out the cat, and got ready for his ten-minute walk to the bus stop. Summary: 4. When the Chen family returned from their vacation, they found the back door bro- ken open, the television set missing, and all the food in their freezer gone. Summary: 5, In Natasha’s library you can find mysteries, novels, biographies, travel books, how-to ‘manuals, science fiction thrillers, and reference books, Summary:Summarizing paragraphs A paragraph surnmary should be as short as possible, but it must be a complete sentence The summary of a paragraph is the main idea of the paragraph. Often (but not always), the main idea is found in the topic sentence. ‘Step 2. Read the paragraph all the way through to be sure you undlerstand it. ‘Step 2, Check to see ifthe paragraph contains a topic sentence. + Ifthe paragraph has a topic sentence, does it state the main idea of the paragraph? If so, you can use the topic sentence as the summary, + If the topic sentenee is not a good statement of the main idea, write a summary whieh states the main idea. Stap 2, Take out unnecessary words, Example: Shopping malls have produced a revolution in United States shopping and living habits in just 45 years. Before 1950, there were no malls, but now almost every city or region has at least one. In fact, shopping malls have become a part of daily life. Many people even think of them as social centers. In a way, malls have taken the place af Main Street. Shops and services which were once spread over several city blocks are now in one place at the mall, Busy houselnolders can save time by doing their shop- ping at the mall. And people young and old, with time on their hands, often say, “Let’s go to the mall!” Topke sentence: Shopping malls have produced a sevolution in United States shopping and living habits. You can make this even shorter: Shoppirey malls have changed United States culture. exorcise 2 Summarize each of the following paragraphs. Follow the steps explained above. Use as few words ‘28 possible. Work with another student, Shopping Malls in the United States Although every shopping mall is a bit different in design, shoppers often quickly feel comfortable in a:new mall. That is because malls usually share certain features. You can almost always flnd most of the following: a department store, # pharmacy, a toy store, a baak shop, clothing shops for all ages, shoe shops, a bank, and places to eat, ‘These businesses are all under one roof, Most malls are enclosed, so that shoppers never have to go outdoors once they get to the mall. A few malls sometimes also have doors to shops on the outside of the mall. Every mall is surrounded by a large parking area Summary:ike. In a suburb of Chicago, where many wealthy people live, malls are quite large and beautiful. One of these malls is two stories tall and houses about 50 businesses. These range from small specialty shops to large luxury department stores. The roof of the mall is made of glass and is twice as tall as the shops Inside, Musicians play for the customers in the evenings, and trees and fountains are found in central seating areas. In a poor, rural town in southern Maine, however, a typical mall is plain and rather small, It might have a supermarket, a pizza parlor, a book and gift shop, a laundromat, and a bank. All its shops are found on one level, and the interior of the enclosed mall is plain and undecorated. Recorded music is piped in through speakers Summary: . While shopping malls have changed American life, not all of their effects have been positive. Most of the shops and services found in malls are parts of large corpora- tions. These businesses have taken away customers from smaller shops in the area and forced them to close. That has meant fewer individually owned businesses and less local control over jabs, In addition, malls are harmful to the environment. They have sometime been built on land that is important for the survival of birds and wild animals. Wherever they are built, they cover large areas with bulldings and parking lots— instead of trees ot grass, Thus, they contribute to the general loss of nature. And finally, malls are usually far from any town center, so people must use cars to get there. creased air pollution and heavy traffic on the roads near the mall.