Units 1 & 2 Writing worksheet

Writing a summary
GOAL: write a summary of an article for a student website.
Include: linking words; main and supporting points; expressions for presenting
points in summaries. Use your own words.

1 Review the title and key words of a text from Life Unit 1, page 15. What ideas
and details from the text do you remember?

earn economy growing happiness

Measuring health
health improving measure money
and happiness
old result stress survey

2 Read the article from Life Unit 1, page 15. Compare your ideas from Exercise 1
with the information in the text.
A
The small country of Bhutan in the Himalayan mountains is over one thousand years
old. In the past it was a poor country and not many people visited it. But nowadays, it is
becoming more and more popular with tourists. Medicine and health is improving and
its economy is growing. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the king of Bhutan until 2006,
talked about his country’s ‘Gross National Happiness’. In other words, he thought
happiness is the way to measure the country’s development.

B
But how do you measure happiness? 1 Perhaps health is the best way because a
famous doctor once said, ‘Happy people generally don’t get sick.’ It’s also easy to
measure how many people feel ill or unhealthy in a country. For example, one survey
says Iceland is the ‘healthiest country in the world’ because men and women live a long
time there, the air is very clean and there are more doctors available per person than
anywhere else in the world.

C
However, there was another survey of the happiest countries in the world and Iceland
was not near the top. The questions on this survey included: How much do you earn?
How healthy are you? How safe do you feel? 2 After visiting 155 different countries, the
researchers decided that Denmark feels happier than other countries.

D3
So does happiness equal money and good health? Not according to the artist Erik
Krikortz. He feels that there are other ways of measuring happiness. Krikortz has a
website and visitors click on different happy or sad faces to comment on how well they
sleep, their family and friends, their level of stress, their inspiration and their physical
activity. When you finish, his website adds the results for each area and it gives you a
final result for your happiness.

© 2019 Cengage Learning Inc Life Pre-intermediate 1

E
In his home city of Stockholm, Krikortz also shows the results of his survey as different
coloured lights on the side of a large building in the city. 4 For example, red means the
people of Stockholm are very happy, green is OK and purple means many people are
sad. ‘A lot of people look at the building every day and see how “we” are,’ Krikortz says.
The coloured lights are also useful if you feel like visiting the city. For example, if the
lights are red, you know the locals are feeling happy!

© 2019 Cengage Learning Inc Life Pre-intermediate 2

Writing skill writing a summary

A summary is much shorter than the original text. The summary includes:

• the main idea – the most important point of the text.

• supporting points – important points throughout the text that support the main idea

A summary should not include lots of detail. Writers often include smaller details and
examples in their text, but you do not need to include these in your summary.

3 Look at the two underlined sentences in paragraphs A and B from the text in
Exercise 2. Which sentence contains the main idea?

4 Find the sentences numbered 1–4 from the text in Exercise 2. Which two are
supporting points (SP) and which two are details and examples (DE)?

1 ____
2 ____
3 ____
4 ____

Writing mechanics using your own words

Key words and phrases in a text can help you understand the main idea. In summaries,
you can include key words and phrases from the original text. However, you must use
them in your own sentences. Avoid copying whole sentences from the original text.

The questions on this survey included: How much do you earn? How healthy are you? How
safe do you feel?
The survey asked about having money, being healthy and feeling safe.

5 Read four supporting points from the text in Exercise 2 and identify key words
and phrases. Then rewrite the sentences.

1 Perhaps health is the best way because a famous doctor once said, ‘Happy people
generally don’t get sick.’
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................

2 However, there was another survey of the happiest countries in the world and
Iceland was not near the top.
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................

© 2019 Cengage Learning Inc Life Pre-intermediate 3

3 So does happiness equal money and good health?
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................

4 He feels that there are other ways of measuring happiness. Krikortz has a website
and visitors click on different happy or sad faces to comment on how well they sleep,
their family and friends, their level of stress, their inspiration and their physical
activity.
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................

6 Now read a summary of Measuring health and happiness from a student website.
Compare your sentences from Exercise 5 to those in the summary.

The text is about measuring happiness. The writer says that there are several ways to
measure happiness, but they may give different results.
The writer gives the example of health. He states that happy people are often healthy people
and their health is not difficult to measure. For example, Iceland, which came top in a survey
about health because people there live for a long time. He gives us the example of Iceland
was not high in another survey about happiness, so money and good health don't guarantee
happiness; other things are important too.
The author finishes with an example from Sweden. A Swedish artist measures happiness with
his website. He asks questions about sleep, family and friends, stress, feelings and exercise.
The results show on a building, and different coloured lights tell you if the people are feeling
happy or sad.

Writing mechanics linking ideas

Summaries need to show connections between ideas clearly and quickly. Use
conjunctions to give:

more information.
Happy people are often healthy people and it is not difficult to measure.

different ideas.
... there are several ways to measure happiness, but their health may give different results.
However, Iceland was not high in another survey about happiness, ...

reasons.
... Iceland, which came top in a survey about health because people there live for a long time.

results.
... Iceland was not high in another survey about happiness, so money and good health don't
guarantee happiness ...

alternatives.

© 2019 Cengage Learning Inc Life Pre-intermediate 4

... different coloured lights tell you if the people are feeling happy or sad.
7 Choose the correct option.

1 People are happy but / or they are sad. It is difficult to be both at the same time.
2 They are very healthy because / or they eat good food and exercise every day.
3 Scientists want to measure happiness. So / However, it is difficult to do this.
4 You don’t sleep well and you don’t exercise, but / so you feel tired and unhealthy.

WRITE

8 Read the title and two paragraphs from the text in Life Unit 2, page 27.
Underline the main idea. Circle key words and phrases.

Bolivian wrestlers

In El Alto in Bolivia, an audience is sitting around a huge wrestling ring. The spectators
are getting impatient and so they start to scream: ‘Bring them on! Bring them on!’
Suddenly, an announcer speaks into the microphone: ‘Ladies and Gentlemen. It’s time
for Yolanda and Claudina!’ The crowd shouts and applauds with excitement.

...

Wrestling in Bolivia is incredibly popular and after a hard day’s work many people love
watching this mixture of sport, drama and entertainment. Usually, the wrestling
matches are between men wearing masks and special costumes. But in El Alto, where
it’s especially popular, you can also see women wrestling.

9 Read the rest of Bolivian wrestlers on page 27. Use note form and key words and
phrases to complete the plan for a summary.

Summary plan
Main idea
............................................................................................................................................................

Supporting points
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................

© 2019 Cengage Learning Inc Life Pre-intermediate 5

10 Look at the Key language box. Which expressions does the writer use in the
summary in Exercise 6?

Key language expressions for presenting points in summaries

Introduction
The text describes / is about ...

Main points
The writer states / says that ...
The author tells us / thinks that ...

Supporting points
The author compares / gives (us) the example of ...

Conclusion
The author finishes with / concludes that ...

11 Write a summary of Bolivian wrestlers for a student website, using about 70

words. Use your plan, conjunctions and expressions from the Key language box.

12 Read your partner’s work and tick (✓) the checklist.

Has your partner ...

 ... included the main and supporting points?
 ... summarised the text in his or her own words?
 ... used conjunctions correctly?
 ... used suitable expressions for presenting points in summaries?

© 2019 Cengage Learning Inc Life Pre-intermediate 6