Practical Approach to Summary Writing

1. Practical to Approach Summary Writing.

There are two approaches to summary writing: the précis and the question-answer type. For the sake of WAEC, we will look at the rules guiding the second one.

Rules of Summary

1. Read the passage twice or three times and make sure you understand it before attempting the questions.
2. Answers to summary questions must be as short as possible. You will be penalized for wordiness.
3. You must write your answers in your own words; lifting attracts zero.
4. Avoid the inclusion of extraneous materials in your answers.
5. Your answers must be written in sentences and numbered. Answers in phrases will attract penalty.
6. Ensure your answers are error-free. Grammatical errors will also be penalized.
7. Avoid ambiguous expressions in your answers. Be as clear as possible.

EVALUATION

Read the passage on page 212 to 214 and answer the summary questions on page 215 of Effective English book 1.

READING ASSIGNMENT

Page 111 – 112 of Countdown English (Revised Edition)

2. Vocabulary Development: Advertising
3. Explanation
4. Relevant words

Advertisement – texts, pictures and illustrations or music used in creating awareness about a product or service.

Target – the group of people that an advert is aimed at. It may be children, men, students etc.

Advertising – is the process of creating awareness on a product or service.

Publicity – any material that is written or spoken about a product or service.

Market – those who may buy the product

Branding – is the activity of giving a particular name and image to a product/goods or services.

EVALUATION

1. A public announcement of a product or service is called ______(billboard, newsletter, advertisement)
2. ______ is the person/group that consumes the product. ( advertiser, agent, end-user)
3. The activity that is related to buying and selling of goods and services on TV or Radio is ____( commercials, announcements, news casting)
4. _____ is a company which helps produces advertise their products. ( consumer, advertising agency, public relation unit)
5. A reduction in the price of something is _____ ( gift, dash, discount)

READING ASSIGNMENT

Page 183 – 184 of Countdown English ( Revised Edition)

3. Structure: Adjunct: Explanation, Categories, Examples.

This is a type of adverb which modifies the verb by altering its meaning. An adverb answers the questions how, when, where, to what extent, hoofter etc. the action in a sentence has been performed.

1. The teacher taught us well. (how?)
2. The programmer ended happily. (how?)
3. The lesson will commence now. ( when?)
4. I will see you later.(when?)
5. He sometimes forgets his own name. (how often?)

Adjuncts are classified with the following categories:

Name                     Questions                    Examples

Manner                  How?                          Well, quickly, slowly, fast

Time                      When?                         Now, again, lately, soon, yesterday.

Place                      where?                         There, near, outside, somewhere

Degree                   To what extent?          Scarcely, quite, hardly, very

Frequency             How often                   often, usually, normally

Direction               ____                            forward, away, eastward

EVALUATION

Write six sentences each containing a category of adjunct given above and underline the adjuncts.

READING ASSIGNMENT

Page 250 of Countdown English Language (Revised Edition)

4. Narrative Essay

Contents: Explanation, Features and Outline of a Topic.

A narrative essay is a written account of an imaginary or real event in the past. This involves detailed explanation and orderly arrangement of the storyline or incidents.

Basic Features

1. The title is boldly written in capital letters ( preferably)
2. The past tense is used in expression.
3. There should be vivid description of events.
4. The events should be orderly/ chronologically arranged and properly linked together.
5. The paragraph should be well developed and embellished with figurative language, proverbs etc. to make it interesting

Outline: My Most Interesting Journey

• The preparation for the journey, and why.
• When the journey started ( morning, afternoon)
• Describe how you felt and who or what you saw.
• Explain the interesting part of it using figures of speech
• State how long it lasted and when you arrived.
• Conclusion: lessons learnt (if any)

EVALUATION

Mention the key features of a narrative you write the essay as an assignment.

READING ASSIGNMENT

Page 6 of Countdown English (Revised Edition)

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

Choose the word that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the italized words and that will, at the same time correctly fill the gap in the sentence.

1. One of the two armed robbers was daring (a) Morose (b) reckless (c) rational (d) secretive    (e) timid

2. You must conform with the school rules, for if you ____ you will make discipline impossible. (a) deny                        (b) avoid         (c) follow    (d) deviate    (e) denigrate

3.  Many people in developing countries are  indigent ; but in the countries that are more highly developed technologically, there are more ……….people. (a)indigenous (b) poor

(c) effluent   (d) affluent   (e)  industrialized.

4.  The player was reprimanded by his coach. (a) raised (b) promoted (c)  praised (d) bullied

5. Everyone was convinced of his innocence

THEORY

1. Write five examples of a  noun clause

Write three examples for each of the following : Adverbial and Adjectival Clauses.