Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Cuestiones prácticas
WRITING SUMMARIES
Decide what the most important information is.
List the information in order of importance
Check that the information is correct and write your summary.
Remember:
Use your own words, don´t copy the text.
Use simple English that you know is correct.
Write within the words limit.
Don´t include your personal opinion.
Useful language:
The text is about…
This text deals with…
Model exercise:
One person is killed by tobacco every ten seconds, and 10 million will probably be
killed a year within the next 30 years unless large numbers of smokers are
persuaded to give up, according to a new report from the World Health
Organisation (WHO). The report says that tobacco products are estimated to have
caused around 3 million deaths a year in the early 1990s but the number is
increasing steadily, especially in developing countries and among women. WHO
estimates that there are about 1.1 thousand million smokers in the world, or about
one third of the global population aged 15 or over. At least one in two regular
smokers who begin during adolescence are eventually killed by tobacco, half in
middle age, half in old age.
Among women, the epidemic of smoking related deaths is not yet so advanced as
among men, because women began to smoke in very large numbers only several
decades after smoking became widespread among men. Among men in developed
countries, smoking is estimated to be the cause of 40-50 percent of all cancer
deaths and 90-95 per cent of lung cancer deaths. In Britain, the USA, Canada and
Denmark, where smoking among women became common, deaths from smoking
are rising rapidly, already 20-30 per cent of all female deaths in middle age are
caused by smoking. In countries like Spain, where large numbers of young women
have only recently taken up smoking, deaths from smoking have not yet begun to
rise, but, the report warns, they most certainly will do so.
It is hoped that governments will be shocked by the statistics and, as a result,
more money will be invested in educating the public about the dangers of smoking.
1
ANGELA
Notes:
WHO
1,100,000,000
5% die – 25% in m. age + 25% in old age
3 mil – 10 mil in 30 years
Summary:
The World Health Organisation says that deaths from smoking will rise from three million to
ten million a year during the next three decades because more people, especially women, have
started to smoke.
Teacher´s comments:
-includes the most important information
-uses own words
-within the word limit
-correct English
TERESA
One person in every three smokes, according to a report from the World Health Organisation, and
everybody who smokes dies. The situation is better in Sapin because fewer people smoke.
Teacher´s comments:
-one correct piece of information
But:
-some completely incorrect information
-repeats text
DAVID
The author of this passage is telling us about smoking which is a very bad thing and can even kill
people. In fact, smoking can kill old people and young people, rich and poor, black and white in all
countries of the world both sides of tha Atlantic. We really know smoking is dangerous but we still
do it – why?
Teacher´s comments:
-correct English
But:
-unnecessary words
-too long
-important information missing
-contains personal opinion
2
2.-Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the
words and definitions given here. (1 point; 0.25 each)
3.Complete the second sentence of each pair so that it has the same
meaning as the first one.
TRANSFORMATIONS
Consisten en dos pares de frases relacionadas con el texto. La primera de cada par
sirve de modelo para completar la segunda, la cual debe recoger fielmente el
contenido de la primera. El objetivo básico de la pregunta es comprobar tu
capacidad de manejar estructuras gramaticales básicas. Lo primero que debes
hacer es analizar la estructura dada para averiguar de qué punto gramatical se
trata. Hay determinadas estructuras gramaticales que aparecen con cierta
frecuencia:
Transformaciones de activa a pasiva
Estilo directo e indirecto
Condicionales
Subordinadas adjetivas o de relativo
Subordinadas adverbiales
Estructuras verbales
Una vez completada la frase, revísala para corregir esos errores que sueles
cometer:
Basic Grammar Mistakes
Orden de palabras en la frase: sujeto + verbo + complementos
No olvides poner sujeto en cada oración
Los adjetivos no tienen plural y se colocan delante del sustantivo
Concordancia de los tiempos verbales (auxiliares, tercera persona,…)
3
Tendrás que relatar hechos o experiencias reales o imaginarios, pasados o futuros.
Deberás cuidar la secuenciación de acontecimientos y la coherencia cronológica
empleando conectores temporales adecuados.