Class 12 English Lesson 3.1 Summary Writing

Yuvakbharati English Digest Std 12 English Solutions Chapter 3.1 Summary Writing

A Summary is a record in the reader’s own words that gives the main points of a piece such as a newspaper, article, a lecture, a passage, a chapter or even a whole book.

 

ICE BREAKERS

Discuss in pairs and guess the correct alternative for the following.

1. To summarize means ……………….

(a) Put information in chronological order

(b) To recapitulate the main points in selection

(c) To introduce new information

(d) To write one’s opinion about selection

Answer: (b) To recapitulate the main points in selection

 

2. The type of summary that consists of a paragraph to express the main idea is ……………..

(a) Outline

(b) Report

(c) Synopsis

(d) Written summary

Answer: (d) Written summary

 

There are various ways of incorporating other writers’ works into your own writing. They differ according to the closeness of your writing to the source writing. Match the ways of writing in brief given in column (A) with their descriptions in column (B).

Answer:

  1. Summarizing – (e) It includes main ideas into one’s own words.
  2. Paraphrasing – (f) It must be identical to the original and match the document word by word.
  3. Precis writing – (d) It includes taking broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly.
  4. Quoting – (a) It includes not just the main idea but every detail expressed clearly and to the point.
  5. Editing – (b) It includes selection of proper lines from the given text for correction, condensation and organization.
  6. Gist writing – (c) It includes the most essential part or the crux of the matter.

 Std 12 English 3.1 Summary Writing

BRAINSTORMING

(A1) Complete the following as instructed.

Read the passage and write its summary according to the given steps.

Communication is a part of our everyday life. We greet one another, smile or frown, depending on our moods. Animals, too, communicate, much to our surprise. Just like us, interaction among animals can be both verbal and non verbal. Singing is one way in which animals can interact with one another. Male blackbirds often use their melodious songs to catch the attention of the females. These songs are usually rich in notes variation, encoding various kinds of messages. Songs are also used to warn and keep off other blackbirds from their territory, usually a place where they dwell and reproduce. Large mammals in the oceans sing too, according to adventurous sailors. Enormous whales groan and grunt while smaller dolphins and porpoises produce pings, whistles and clicks. These sounds are surprisingly received by other mates as far as several hundred kilometres away.

 

Answer:

Communication: Irreplaceable part of our Life

Not only humans but animals, birds and even fish in the sea communicate through verbal and non verbal means. The sounds are rich in notes, variations, encode various kinds of messages and can travel as far as several kilometres away. These means of communication are used not only to attract the attention of their mates but also to warn and keep off others from their territory.

 Maharashtra State Board Class 12 English Yuvakbharati Solutions Chapter 3.1 Summary Writing

(A2) (i) Cut redundant words:

We’re often inefficient in our language, using more words than necessary. Consider the following phrases. Find five more redundant words.

(a) “Circle around” can become “circle.”

(b) “Write down” can become “write.”

(c) “Added bonus” is simply a “bonus.”

(d) “Get to the point as quickly as possible” is really “get to the point.”

(e) “Close proximity” is “close.”

(f) “During the course of” is “during.”

 

Answer:

(i) return back – return

(ii) turn around – turn

(iii) whispered softly – whispered

(iv) finished completely – finished

(v) plan ahead – plan

 

(ii) Avoid adverbs: Adverbs clutter up your copy. You can usually live without them. Here are some examples.

(a) “That’s usually a good thing to do.”

(b) “That’s fairly good coffee.”

(c) “I totally agree.”

(d) “Actually, I disagree.”

Just delete all those italicized words and rewrite.

Answer:

(a) “That’s a good thing to do.”

(b) “That’s good coffee.”

(c) “I agree.”

(d) “I disagree.”

 

(iii) One word substitution : One word substitutes are words that replace a group of words or a full sentence effectively without creating any ambiguity in the meaning of the sentences.

(a) The life story of man written by himself: autobiography

(b) A sound that cannot be heard: inaudible

(c) A list of books : catalogue

(d) A sentence whose meaning is unclear: ambiguous

 

Find as many examples as you can from the internet and make a list.

Answer:

Very able – proficient

Very boring – tedious

Very confused – baffled

Very dirty -filthy

Very easy – effortless

Very funny – Hilarious

Very glad -overjoyed

Very happy – estatcic

Very interesting -fascinating

Very joyful- exuberant

Very kind – compassionate

Very large -huge

Very mad -demented

Very nasty – obnoxious

Very old – ancient

Very painfull – excurciating

Very quiet -hush

Very rude -Boorish

Very shy -timid

Very tired -exhausted

Very ugly -hedious

Very vicious- malicious

Very wicked – evil

Very xenophobic- Jingoistic

Very young -juvenile

Very zen -meditative

 Yuvakbharati English Digest Class 12 English Solutions Chapter 3.1 Summary Writing

(A3) (i) Use of noun in apposition:

Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side, with one element serving to identify the other in a different way; the two elements are said to be in apposition. Apposition can be used to make the compound sentences short and simple.

Neha is their eldest child and she is very intelligent.

– Neha, their eldest child, is very intelligent. [Here, Neha and their eldest child are the same person.]

 

(ii) Transforming Complex to Simple: By using phrases like ‘too…to’ or using nouns\phrase instead of a clause :

Nagpur is the city where oranges grow.

– Oranges grow in Nagpur.

The old man is so weak that he cannot walk.

– The old man is too weak to walk.

 

Change the following sentences into simple:

(a) Mr Rohit is the member and he is also the director.

Answer: Mr Rohit is the member and also the director.

 

(b) The room is so small that it cannot accommodate many people.

Answer: The room is too small to accommodate many people.

 

(c) You have to prove that you are innocent.

Answer: You have to prove your innocence.

 

(d) He was late so he walked in a great hurry.

Answer: Being late, he walked in a hurry.

 Yuvakbharati English Digest Std 12 English Solutions Chapter 3.1 Summary Writing

(A4) (i) Read any book of your choice and write its summary according to the steps explained in the chapter.

The Swiss Family Robinson – Johann David Wyss

The Swiss Family Robinson is a well- known adventure novel that people of many countries have enjoyed for more than two hundred years. It has also been made into graphic novels and films. The novel, written by the Swiss clergyman Johann David Wyss, is not just an adventure. It aims at teaching young people values like self-reliance, determination, love for your family, co-operation and prudent use of resources. It also has good lessons relevant in natural sciences, good husbandry and even mathematics! Some elements of the novel do stretch reality to a certain extent- but we must consider that it is a work of fiction and not a fact file. Given below is a synopsis- an outline of its basic story.

The father was a Swiss clergyman, who, in the Revolution of 1798, had lost all his fortune, and had determined to emigrate, in order to seek elsewhere the means of supporting his family. He went first to England, with his wife and children, consisting of four sons, between the ages of twelve and five. He there undertook the office of missionary to Otaheite; not that he intended to remain on that uncivilized island, but he wished to proceed from thence to Port Jackson as a free colonist. He invested his little capital in seeds of every description, and some cattle, to take out with him. They had a prosperous voyage till they were near the coast of New Guinea, when they were overtaken by a frightful storm. At this period he commenced his journal, which he afterwards committed to the care of Mr. Horner, to be forwarded to his friends in Switzerland. Some time before, a boat from an English vessel, the _Adventurer_, had visited them, and the father had sent the first part of his journal by Lieut. Bell to the captain, who remained in the vessel. A violent tempest arose, which continued some days, and drove the _Adventurer_ from the coast. The family concluded the ship was lost; but this was not the case

 

(ii) Find some professions that require the skill of summary writing and editing. Write them in your notebook.

Answer:

News reporter

Proof-reader

Content Editor

Film critic

Contents

SECTION ONE (Prose)

1.1 An Astrologer’s Day         R. K. Narayan  

1.2 On Saying “Please”           Alfred George Gardiner

1.3 The Cop and the Anthem             O’Henry

1.4 Big Data-Big Insights

1.5 The New Dress     Virginia Woolf

1.6 Into the Wild        Kiran Purandare

1.7 Why we Travel      Siddarth Pico Raghavan Iyer

1.8 Voyaging Towards Excellence     Achyut Godbole

SECTION TWO (Poetry)

2.1 Song of the Open Road    Walt Whitman

2.2 Indian Weavers                 Sarojini Naidu

2.3 The Inchcape Rock           Robert Southey

2.4 Have you Earned your Tomorrow            Edgar Guest

2.5 Father Returning Home    Dilip Chitre

2.6 Money       William H. Davies

2.7 She Walks in Beauty         George Gordon Byron

2.8 Small Towns and Rivers   Mamang Dai

Figures of Speech (all Poems)

SECTION THREE (Writing Skills)

3.1 Summary Writing

3.2 Do Schools Really Kill Creativity? (Mind-Mapping)

3.3 Note–Making

3.4 Statement of Purpose

3.5 Drafting a Virtual Message

3.6 Group Discussion

SECTION FOUR (Genre-Novel)

4.1 History of Novel

4.2 To Sir, with Love E. R. Braithwaite

4.3 Around the World in Eighty Days           Jules Gabriel Verne

4.4 The Sign of Four   Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle