Choose the Best Summary

Which best describes a summary?

• a really long detailed piece of writing

• the entire text told in your own words

• a dumb thing that teachers make you write

• the main ideas and important details of a text

A fiction summary is _________.

• telling all details about a story.

• a few words about the most important information in a story.

• putting the story in order.

• the main character.

Which of the below statements best summarizes the passage?

April's parents were dog breeders and their kennels were often filled with a litter of puppies. April helped care for the dogs by bathing them and giving them the best food and water.

April's class had also been learning how to care for animals in their science lessons, so she was thrilled when her teacher announced a field trip to an animal shelter. The shelter manager, Rachel, led the class into the kennel area where dogs and cats sat along opposite walls of the building. April was stunned by what she saw. Some dogs looked like they had been starved before coming to the shelter.

"What happened to these dogs?" April asked.

"These dogs are here because their owners did not care for them properly," Rachel replied. "We try to keep the animals healthy so they can go to good homes. If you know someone who wants to adopt a pet, please tell them about our shelter."

April decided to take action and she printed flyers with information about the shelter. April's parents handed them out to people who bought their puppies. The following day April received permission to post a flyer at her school. That afternoon, April received a phone call at home.

"Hi, April, this is Rachel. I wanted to thank you for creating flyers for the shelter. Our adoptions have already started to increase!"

"You're welcome! I just wanted to help rescue the puppies."

• After a field trip to the animal shelter, April makes flyers to increase animal adoption because she cares about animals.

• April's class takes a field trip to an animal shelter, and April learns how to take care of animals with the rest of her class.

• The local animal shelter manager tells April that animals come to the shelter because their owners do not care for them.

• April's parents have too many dogs to care for, and April works to keep their dogs from being taken to an animal shelter.

Which of the following statements about SUMMARIZING is true?

• The Summary is a thought that is true but is not in the passage.

• The Summary is what the passage is mostly about.

• The Summary is specific, detailed information contained in the passage.

• The Summary is always found in the first sentence of the passage.

When some people think about Texas, they think of cowboys on the open range-herding cattle up a dusty trail. However, Texas has much more than open prairie with large herds of cows. There are the mountains of West Texas, the piney hills of east Texas, and the emerald waters off the coast of Padre Island. Texas also has large coastal harbors with numerous sailboats, powerboats, inland lakes, rivers, swamps of southeast Texas with alligators and other exotic wildlife. The Summary of this passage is:

• There are a lot of cows in Texas.

• There are many different, varied parts of Texas.

• Texas is one of the biggest states in the United States.

• There are alligators in the swampland of southeast Texas.

Tomorrow is Jill's birthday. She is excited because she gets to pick where she will eat dinner. Will it be Mexican food at the Big Enchilada House? Or will it be fried chicken at the Chicken Shack, or a big cheeseburger at Al's Hamburger Palace. She just couldn't decide. Then there was always the Pizza Shop with that great pepperoni pizza. How would she ever decide? Maybe she would just flip a coin. The Summary of this passage is:

• Jill has many restaurants to choose from for her birthday.

• Jill loves Mexican food.

• The Pizza Shop has the best pizza in town.

• Jill will choose a place by flipping a coin.

It started when they got to the bears. Peter felt tired and his stomach hurt. He dragged himself over to see the elephants, which were eating from a stack of hay. Normally, the elephants were his favorite. Without much interest, Peter followed his classmates to the camels, which were busy swatting flies with their tails. Peter knew he should be having fun at the zoo, but he just felt terrible and all he wanted to do was lie down and rest. Even the lions and tigers did not interest him now. The Summary of this passage is:

• Peter's favorite animals were the elephants.

• The camels were swatting flies with their tails.

• It was really hot at the zoo.

• Peter didn't enjoy the zoo because he felt really bad.

Right now Jason was playing right field. He really wanted to play third base. Earlier this year, coach had put him in left field and second base in a game, but never at third base. Once in practice, coach let him play third base, but he kept missing ground balls. When he did stop one, he made a bad throw to first base. Maybe if he kept practicing, Jason would be good enough to play third base. That was his dream. The Summary of this passage is:

• Jason really wanted to play third base.

• Jason was the best player on his team.

• Jason had trouble catching ground balls.

• Jason was too lazy to practice.

For the walls, Jenny thought she would use a bright yellow paint. She would pick a border that had mostly bright red and green colors, and maybe a little bit of blue. She already had found some curtains that were sky blue with streaks of red, blue and yellow that she thought would go great with the walls. And finally, she had picked a carpet that was mostly blue with specks of red and yellow. Jenny couldn't wait till she was done decorating her room. It was really going to look awesome.

The Summary of this passage is:

• Jenny likes bright colors.

• Jenny was going to paint her room.

• Jenny was picking out colors and materials to decorate her room.

• Yellow is a good color to paint your walls.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be held in Brazil. It will be the 20th year of the World Cup. Brazil was chosen in October of 2007 to host the 2014 competition. Earlier in the year, South America had been chosen as the continent for the contest. Brazil was the only country to put in a bid. This is the second time Brazil will host the World Cup. The country hosted it in 1950. It is the first World Cup to be held in South America since 1978, when Argentina hosted. No other South American country has hosted the World Cup more than once.

The summary of this passage is:

• The 20th World Cup will take place in 2014. In 2007, it was decided that the competition would be held in South America. It is the first World Cup in South America since 1978.

• In October 2007, Brazil was chosen to host the 20th World Cup. Brazil has already hosted the World Cup before. 1978 was the last time a South American country hosted the World Cup.

• The 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil. It is the second time Brazil has been chosen to host the World Cup. Brazil is the only South American country to host the World Cup twice.

• Early in 2007, South America was chosen as the continent for the 20th World Cup. Brazil was the only country that put in a bid. Brazil hosted the World Cup before in 1950.