How to Summarise a Text in English - Improve English Comprehension

Summary

This educational video from Oxford Online English teaches viewers how to effectively read and summarize texts in English. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the main idea and distinguishing between general ideas and details. The video provides strategies such as looking for titles, headings, and first sentences, as well as using context clues to identify key points. It also addresses common challenges non-native speakers face with unknown words and offers tips to overcome them. Viewers are encouraged to practice these techniques with a sample text provided on the website, with the goal of improving reading speed and comprehension.

Takeaways

• 📚 Summarizing a text is crucial for English reading comprehension; it indicates a full understanding of the main ideas.
• 🧠 Reading in English is not just about recognizing words but also about grasping the ideas, their organization, and their relative importance.
• 🚀 Visit Oxford Online English's website for a range of free video and listening lessons, as well as the option to take online classes with a professional teacher.
• 🔍 To find the main idea of a text, consider the title, headings, first sentences, and the dominant topic that connects the sentences and paragraphs.
• 📝 Practice identifying the main idea by analyzing a sample text provided in the lesson, which can be found on the website and in the video description.
• 🔑 The title of a text often provides a clue to its main idea, especially if it contains a keyword that is also highlighted within the text.
• 📉 To summarize effectively, differentiate between general ideas and details or examples; general ideas convey the overall meaning.
• 🔍 Look for sentences that introduce topics, highlight unusual features, or explain concepts that are central to understanding the text.
• 👀 Use context and linking phrases like 'for example' or 'specifically' to help distinguish between general ideas and supporting details.
• 💡 Skimming the text first can give you the overall idea and help you separate general ideas from details when reading the entire text.
• 🕵️‍♂️ When encountering unknown words, focus on proper nouns and key words that signal importance, and use the context to infer meaning.
• 📈 Practice identifying general ideas and details in a text to improve reading speed and comprehension, especially useful under time constraints like exams.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the lesson provided by Oxford Online English?

The main focus of the lesson is to teach learners how to read and summarise a text effectively in English.

Why is summarising a text considered a vital skill for English reading?

Summarising a text is vital because it helps determine if you have fully understood the main ideas of a text, which goes beyond just understanding individual words.

What are the strategies mentioned in the script to improve English reading and comprehension?

The strategies include finding the main idea of a text, understanding the organization of ideas, and distinguishing between general ideas and details.

How can one find the main idea of a text according to the lesson?

To find the main idea, one should look at the title or headings, the first sentence of the text or paragraph, and identify a single topic that connects the sentences and paragraphs.

What is the importance of the title in understanding the main idea of a text?

The title is important as it often highlights the most important points and sets the context for what the text will be about.

Why is it suggested to read the sample text before continuing to watch the lesson?

Reading the sample text beforehand allows learners to actively engage with the material, giving them a chance to practice finding the main idea and summarising before receiving guidance.

What are the three possible summaries presented for the sample text, and which one is considered the best?

The three possible summaries are not detailed in the script, but the best one is identified as number three, which likely captures the main idea effectively.

How can understanding general ideas versus details help in summarising a text?

Understanding general ideas versus details helps in summarising a text by allowing the reader to focus on the overall meaning rather than getting lost in specific examples or minor points.

What is the significance of looking for linking phrases when trying to separate general ideas from details?

Linking phrases such as 'for example', 'for instance', 'specifically', or 'in particular' indicate that what follows is an explanation or example of a more general idea mentioned earlier, helping to distinguish between the two.

How can skimming a text help in understanding the overall idea?

Skimming a text allows the reader to quickly grasp the overall idea without getting bogged down in details, which is useful for understanding the general flow and main points of the text.

What is the advice given for dealing with unknown words while reading in English as a non-native speaker?

The advice includes looking for proper nouns, focusing on words that indicate importance, and using context clues to understand the meaning of unknown words.

What is the challenge presented to the learners at the end of the lesson?

The challenge is to write a summary of a second text using the reading techniques learned in the lesson, with the summary being a maximum of two sentences or ideally just one.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Mastering Text Summarization

Oli introduces the lesson on how to read and summarize a text, emphasizing the importance of understanding the main ideas and organization of a text in English. The lesson offers strategies to improve reading speed and comprehension. It also promotes the Oxford Online English website for free video and listening lessons and online classes with professional teachers. A sample text is introduced for practice, and viewers are encouraged to read it before continuing the lesson.

05:01

🔍 Identifying the Central Idea

The lesson focuses on finding the main idea of a text, which is crucial for understanding and summarizing it. Oli suggests looking for titles, headings, and the first sentence to identify the central idea. He also recommends examining the content to find a single topic that connects all parts of the text. The sample text about Guugu Yimithirr is used to illustrate this process, highlighting the language's unique use of compass directions instead of egocentric terms like 'left' and 'right'.

10:02

📝 Differentiating General Ideas and Details

Oli explains the importance of distinguishing between general ideas and specific details in a text to grasp its overall meaning. He provides examples from the sample text and explains how to use context and linking phrases to identify general ideas. The lesson also covers how to skim a text for a quick understanding and suggests focusing on general ideas to read faster, which is particularly useful in time-pressured situations like exams.

🤔 Strategies for Unknown Words

The final part of the lesson addresses the common issue of encountering unknown words while reading in English. Oli advises looking for proper nouns and words indicating importance to help understand the context. He also suggests focusing on key sentences and general ideas rather than getting bogged down by every unknown word. The lesson concludes with a challenge for viewers to practice summarizing a second text found on the Oxford Online English website and to share their summaries in the comments section.

Keywords

💡Summarising

Summarising refers to the process of condensing a longer piece of text into a shorter form while retaining the main points. In the context of the video, summarising is highlighted as a vital skill for English reading comprehension. The video emphasizes that if one cannot create a clear summary, they likely have not fully understood the text. An example from the script is the exercise where viewers are asked to identify the main idea of a sample text and create a summary.

💡Main Idea

The main idea is the central concept or theme of a text that connects its different parts. The script explains that understanding and summarising a text requires identifying this central idea. The video provides strategies to find the main idea, such as looking at the title, first sentence, and recurring topics. A specific example is the analysis of the sample text about Guugu Yimithirr, where the main idea revolves around the language's unique use of compass directions.

💡Coherent Text

A coherent text is one where the parts are logically connected and contribute to a unified whole. The script mentions that every coherent text has a central idea, which is essential for understanding and summarising it. The concept is used to stress the importance of finding this central idea to grasp the text's meaning.

💡Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is the ability to understand and interpret written material. The video script discusses strategies to improve reading comprehension, such as finding the main idea and distinguishing between general ideas and details. It is central to the video's theme as it aims to teach viewers how to better understand and summarise texts in English.

💡Title

In the context of the video, the title of a text is highlighted as a potential clue to the main idea. It often indicates the central topic and can hint at what makes the subject matter unusual or noteworthy. For instance, the script uses the title of the sample text to guide viewers towards understanding why the Guugu Yimithirr language is considered unusual.

💡First Sentence

The first sentence of a text or paragraph is often used to introduce the main idea or set the stage for what follows. The script advises viewers to pay attention to the first sentence when trying to identify the main idea of a text. In the sample text, while the first sentence provides background, it does not directly contribute to finding the main idea.

💡General Ideas

General ideas are the overarching concepts or points that convey the overall meaning of a text. The script teaches viewers to differentiate between general ideas and details, as focusing on general ideas helps in summarising and understanding the text's main message. For example, the sentence highlighting the unusual feature of the Guugu Yimithirr language is a general idea that contributes to the text's main point.

💡Details

Details are specific pieces of information that support or elaborate on general ideas. The video script instructs viewers to identify details to avoid confusing them with general ideas, which is crucial for accurate summarisation. Details can include examples or additional information that may not be essential for understanding the main idea but enrich the text.

💡Linking Phrases

Linking phrases are words or phrases that connect ideas within a text and indicate relationships between them. The script suggests looking for phrases like 'for example' and 'specifically' to identify details that explain or illustrate general ideas. These phrases help in distinguishing between general ideas and supporting details.

💡Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are specific names for people, places, or things and are always capitalized. The video script advises viewers to recognize proper nouns as they might not need to be understood to grasp the main idea. Examples from the script include 'Guugu Yimithirr', 'Queensland', and 'Hopevale', which are names of a language and places, respectively.

💡Key Words

Key words are important terms within a text that help convey the main ideas or themes. The script encourages viewers to focus on key words, especially those that appear in the title or are used in the first sentence, to understand the general ideas. The word 'unusual' from the title is a key word that is also found in the text, signaling its importance to the main idea.

Highlights

Summarising a text is essential for English reading comprehension.

Understanding in English involves grasping ideas, their organisation, and importance.

Strategies are provided to improve English reading speed and comprehension.

Oxford Online English offers free video and listening lessons, as well as online classes with professional teachers.

The lesson features a sample text to practice reading and summarising skills.

The main idea of a text is central and connects its different parts.

Finding the main idea requires examining the title, headings, first sentence, and overall topic.

The title and first sentence of the sample text introduce the unusual nature of Guugu Yimithirr language.

The text explains that Guugu Yimithirr uses compass directions instead of 'left' and 'right'.

To summarise, distinguish between general ideas and details or examples.

General ideas provide the overall meaning, while details support them.

Linking phrases such as 'for example' indicate that what follows is an explanation of a general idea.

Skimming the text first helps to understand the overall idea before separating general ideas from details.

Focusing on general ideas can significantly reduce the number of words needed to understand the main point.

Dealing with unknown words involves identifying proper nouns and understanding their context.

Key words that indicate importance, such as 'notable' or 'significant', should be given extra attention.

The lesson challenges viewers to summarise a second text using the techniques learned.

The full version of the lesson on the website includes a second text for practice.

Transcripts

Hi, I’m Oli.

Welcome to Oxford Online English!

In this lesson, you can learn how to read and summarise a text.

Summarising a text is a vital skill for your English reading.

If you can’t make a short, clear summary of the main ideas of a text, then you almost

certainly haven’t understood it fully.

Understanding what you read in English isn’t just about the words; it’s about understanding

the ideas, how they’re organised, and which ideas are more or less important.

Here, you’ll see some strategies you can use to improve your English reading, read

faster, and improve your reading comprehension.

Before we begin, check out our website: Oxford Online English dot com.

Do you want to see a range of video and listening lessons to improve your English, all 100%

free?

We have that!

Do you want to take online classes with a professional teacher?

We can do that, too!

Oxford Online English dot com.

In this lesson, we’ll work with a sample text.

You’ll see it in the video, but you can also find it on the full version of this lesson,

which is on our website.

You can find a link in the video description.

We recommend reading it before you continue watching.

Now, let’s look at the most important reading strategy you need to use.

To understand and summarise a text, you need to find the main idea.

Every coherent text has one central idea, which connects the different parts of the

text.

You need to know what this is.

But, every text is different, and there isn’t one way to find the main idea.

Instead, you need to look at the whole thing.

Here are some things you should look at:

One: is there a title or headings?

These will often highlight the most important points.

Two: what is the first sentence about?

Often, the first sentence of a text or paragraph will summarise the main ideas.

Three: what does most of the text talk about?

Look at each sentence and paragraph.

Is there a single topic which connects them?

Look at our sample text and think about these questions.

Pause the video if you need more reading time, and remember that you can also read it on

our website—just follow the link in the video description.

So, what do you think the main idea of our sample text is?

We’ll show you three possible summaries.

Which do you think is best?

What do you think?

The best is number three.

Let’s see why.

First, you should look at the title.

The title tells you that the text will be about Guugu Yimithirr, but it also mentions

that this language is ‘unusual’.

You should immediately focus on this word, because it shows that this language is different

in some way.

Also, ‘unusual’ could mean many things.

What does it mean here?

Unusual how?

Second, what’s the first sentence about?

Here, it gives background information.

It doesn’t help you to find the main idea.

That’s OK—in this case, the background information is helpful, because most people

don’t know what Guugu Yimithirr is.

Third, what does most of the text talk about?

Apart from the first sentence, every sentence is about the same topic: the fact that Guugu

Yimithirr uses compass directions—north, south, east, west—for all directions, because

there are no words for ‘left’, ‘right’, and so on.

This answers the question you found in the title: why is this language unusual?

Now you have a reason.

However, analysing the text in this way is complex, and there are other sub-skills you

might need.

Let’s look at an important example.

To summarise a text, you need to find which ideas are general, and which are details or

examples.

The general ideas will give you the overall meaning.

If you confuse general ideas and details, you might misunderstand the overall meaning

what you’re reading.

Unfortunately, there are no clear markers which show you what’s general or not.

A single sentence might mix general ideas and details together.

You need to use context and other clues to work out which ideas are general and which

are details.

Look at five extracts from our sample text.

What do you think?

Are these general ideas, or details?

Which do you need to understand in order to find the overall meaning?

Sentences one, three and four are general.

Two and five are details.

One is general because it introduces the topic by giving background information.

This is like a topic sentence, which tells you what the rest of the text will be about.

Two is a detail.

It’s more background information; you don’t need it to understand the overall meaning.

Three is a general, important idea.

This sentence highlights the unusual feature of the Guugu Yimithirr language.

The rest of the text expands on the idea introduced in this sentence.

We said that four is general; however, it’s kind of in the middle.

It explains the exact meaning of ‘lacking egocentric directions’ which is referred

to in sentence three.

Technically, this sentence isn’t necessary to understand the main idea.

On the other hand, most people—including educated native English speakers—wouldn’t

know what ‘egocentric directions’ are.

This sentence explains it, and so it *is* important for understanding the whole text.

Five is a detail.

It adds an example of how Guugu Yimithirr speakers talk about position and direction,

but it isn’t necessary to understand the main idea.

So, what do you need to focus on here?

First, it’s a good idea to skim a text first, reading fast and trying to understand the

overall idea in a simple way.

In order to separate general ideas from details, you need some context.

Until you’ve read the whole thing, you won’t have this.

Second, look for linking phrases like ‘for example’, ‘for instance’, ‘specifically’

or ‘in particular.’

Linking phrases like these show you that what follows is an explanation of a more general

idea that was mentioned before.

Third, remember that one sentence can contain both general ideas and details mixed together.

For example, this sentence contains both a detail—about the word ‘kangaroo’—and

a general point.

Now, why not do some more practice?

Look at the rest of our sample text.

Which ideas are general?

Which ideas are details?

Pause the video and try it now, if you want.

Did you do it?

Here’s a shorter version, with all examples and details removed.

If you can do this, you’ll be able to read much faster.

Why?

Because you only need to focus on the general ideas to understand the overall meaning.

Here, you only need to understand 76 words, instead of 230.

This saves you time, which could be helpful if you are under time pressure, like in an

IELTS reading exam.

There’s another related, skill which can help you to understand a text.

Let’s look!

If you’re a non-native speaker reading in English, you’ll probably have this problem

often: there are words which you don’t understand.

Maybe there are several words which you don’t know.

Don’t panic!

This makes things more difficult, but there are strategies you can use.

First, look for proper nouns, which start with a capital letter.

Sometimes, we see that students think they don’t understand a word, but they don’t

realise that the ‘word’ is actually a proper noun, like a person’s name, or a

place name.

Can you find three examples of proper nouns in our text?

Pause the video if you want time to think about it.

You could say ‘Guugu Yimithirr’, ‘Queensland’, ‘Hopevale’, ‘English’ or ‘Brisbane’.

Generally, if a proper noun is important or not widely-understood, it will be explained.

For example, ‘Guugu Yimithirr’ is obviously important, and it’s explained in the first

sentence.

If a proper noun isn’t explained, you can usually ignore it, or try to work out the

meaning from the context.

For example, look at the first sentence.

Even if you’ve never heard of Queensland or Hopevale, you can work out that they’re

place names.

Next, look for words that tell you that an idea is important.

You could look for words like ‘important’, ‘notable’, ‘significant’ or ‘essential’.

For example, you saw this sentence.

The word ‘notable’ highlights something important about the language.

This means you should focus on this sentence.

If you’re under time pressure, you should spend extra time on this sentence.

Also, look for words which were also used in the title, or possibly which appeared in

the first sentence or paragraph.

Remember that writers might use paraphrase, so you might not find the exact same words.

There was a key word from the title used in the text.

Do you know where?

Pause the video if you want time to find it!

The word ‘unusual’ appears in this sentence.

You heard before that ‘unusual’ is a key word in the title.

So, when you see it, you should pay extra attention to this sentence.

In fact, this sentence gives you one of the key general ideas.

Depending on your situation, you might have different options to deal with unknown words.

If you have unlimited time, unlimited patience and access to a dictionary, then you can check

the meaning of every word.

However, this strategy is not possible in most cases.

No one really has unlimited time or unlimited patience.

Plus, there are often restrictions; if you’re taking an exam, you’ll have a time limit

and you probably won’t be able to use a dictionary.

This is why it’s important to focus on the general ideas, and then find key words within

them.

If there are 50 words you don’t know, that’s difficult to deal with.

However, if you can focus on a smaller number of more important sentences, there will be

fewer unknown words.

At this point, you should know how to read and summarise a text in English.

We have a challenge for you!

On the full version of this lesson, which is on our website, you’ll find a second

text to practise with.

If you’re watching on YouTube, you can find a link in the video description.

Can you write a summary of the second text?

Your summary should be maximum two sentences, or ideally just one.

Use the reading techniques you saw in this lesson.

Post your suggestion in the comments, and read other people’s ideas.

Thanks for watching!

See you next time!