The summary is a brief account of the chief points of a passage.
There is a great difference between the summary and the precis or the substance. The precis or substance is the central idea of a passage.
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Summary Writing Tips
- Read the passage carefully to understand its meaning clearly.
- Read again and underline the main points of the passage.
- Write down the main facts in logical order.
- Do not introduce any new ideas or comments in the summary.
- The length of the summary should be about half of the passage.
Do’s and Don’ts of Summary Writing
DOs of Summary Writing
- Read the passage carefully; more than once if needed.
- Make a note of the important points.
- Make at least two drafts—a rough one and a fair one.
- The rough draft has the essence of the original passage.
- The fair draft is a good summary of the main points from the rough draft.
DON’Ts of Summary Writing
- Express your own opinion.
- Use a question in the Summary.
- Use abbreviations or contractions.
Summary Writing Format
PASSAGE: When we survey our lives and efforts, we soon observe that almost the whole of our actions and desires are bound up with the existence of other human beings. We notice that the whole of nature resembles that of social animals. We eat food that others have produced, wear clothes that others have made, and live in houses that others have built. The greater part of our knowledge and beliefs has been passed on to us by other people through the medium of a language that others have created. Without language and mental capacities, we would have been poor indeed comparable to higher animals.
We have therefore to admit that we owe our principal knowledge over the least to the fact of living in human society. The individual if left alone from birth would remain primitive and beast-like in his thoughts and feelings to a degree that we can hardly imagine. The individual is what he is and has the significance that he has not much in virtue of individuality, but rather as a member of a great human community, which directs his material and spiritual existence from the cradle to the grave. (193 words)
Rough Draft
- Humans are social animals.
- They depend on each other for necessities and social needs.
- Humans use language to communicate with each other and further their mental development.
- Humans are superior to animals as they live in societies that guide their material and spiritual existence.
TITLE: Man and society
Summary: Human beings have their actions and desires bound up with society as they are social animals. They depend on each other for food and clothes and share their knowledge and beliefs, and use language created by others to communicate, which helps in their mental development. They are superior to beasts because they live in human society. An individual left alone since birth would grow utterly beast-like. Human society guides man’s material and spiritual existence. (76 words)
Summary Writing Examples
Summary Writing Example #1
Perseverance is the very hinge of all virtues. On looking over the world, the cause of nine-tenths of the lamentable failures which occur in much of their history lies not in the want of talents, but in the manner of using them, in flying from object to object, in starting away at each little disgust, and thus applying the force which might conquer anyone difficulty to a series of difficulties so large that no human race can conquer them.
The smallest brook on earth by continuing to run has hollowed out for itself a considerable valley to flow in. Commend me, therefore, to the virtue of severance. Without it, all the rest are little better than fairy gold which glitters in your purse, but taken to the market proves to be state or cinders. (134 Words)
Title: The Importance of Perseverance / Perseverance: The Hinge of Virtues
Perseverance is the key to success, and severance is the virtue of severance. Without it, all the rest are a little better than fairy gold. (25 Words)
or,
Perseverance is the key to all virtues and is the cause of many failures in history. It is the act of flying from object to object, starting away at each little disgust, and applying the force which might conquer anyone’s difficulty to a series of difficulties so large that no human race can conquer them. Without it, all the rest are little better than fairy gold which glitters in your purse, but when taken to the market proves to be state or cinders. (83 Words)
Summary Writing Example #2
A poor woman once came to the Buddha and begged him to revive her dead child. The holy man was touched by the woman’s great sorrow. Then he asked him to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where death had never entered. The sad mother started looking for mustard seeds from door to door. One said, our little child died last year. Another said I lost my father. The evening came.
He returned to Lord Buddha with a heavy heart and told him about the results of his search. Then the Buddha gently told him not to think of his own suffering, for suffering and death are common to all.
Title: The Buddha and the Grieving Mother / The Universal Experience of Suffering and Death
Summary: A poor woman came to the Buddha and begged him to revive her dead child. He asked her to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where death had never entered. The mother searched for mustard seeds from door to door and returned to Lord Buddha with a heavy heart. The Buddha gently reminded her that suffering and death are common to all. (65 Words)
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