Condensing Ideas

I. TRUE or FALSE

Summarizing is a retelling in your own words, a short version of the main ideas, events and details.

• True

• False

A summary is a brief, clear restatement of the most important points of a paragraph or passage.

• True

• False

You should NOT include key details when you are retelling a story.

• Ture

• False

Summarizing can be best described as taking the passage and listing briefly the most important points in your own words.

• True

• False

The terms, "retell" and "summarize" are synonyms of each other. In other words, they mean the same thing.

• True

• False

II. CHOOSE THE BEST ANSWER

When you determine the main idea of a text, significant details and condensing information into a short one or two sentence summary, you are:

• A. predicting

• B. evaluating

• C. summarizing

• D. judging

A teacher might ask a student to retell and/or summarize a story to figure out how well the student the story.

• A. likes

• B. dislikes

• C. understands

• D. remembers

In order to give a good summary of a story, you must make sure you include which of the following:

• A. only the most important details, your own words, what the story is mostly about

• B. as many details as possible, all of the events in the story, in order, the author's words

• C. all of the above

• D. none of the above

Which of the following does summarizing NOT help you do?

• A. Gives you a way to check your understanding.

• B. Makes it harder for you to understand what you are reading.

• C. Helps you remember information.

• D. Helps you clarify relationships among ideas.

In Africa, music is usually performed outdoors. There is spontaneous music making as well as performances by social and music groups at ceremonies and feasts. There is no written music or music notation. African music tradition, like folklore and history, is transmitted orally. Music is a social activity in which almost everyone participates. Clearly, African music has several interesting characteristics.

The best summary of the paragraph is:

• A. In Africa, music is usually performed outdoors.

• B. There is no written music or musical notation.

• C. African music has several interesting characteristics.

• D. In Africa, music making is spontaneous