Riassumere in inglese significa condensare un testo conservando solo le idee principali, riformulandole con parole proprie e in modo chiaro per chi legge.
What is a summary?
A summary is a shorter version of a longer text that keeps only the most important ideas and leaves out details, examples and personal opinions. When you write a summary in English, you are not copying sentences from the original: you are rewriting the content using your own words, with simpler syntax and a neutral tone. Imagine your classmate has missed the last lesson and you have ten lines to tell her what the chapter of the history book was about: that is exactly the spirit of a summary. The length usually varies between one third and one quarter of the original text, depending on the teacher's instructions. A good summary must be understandable on its own, even by someone who has never read the source text. For this reason, it must be accurate, balanced and free from your personal comments such as "I think" or "in my opinion".
Reading and understanding the text
Before writing a single word, you must read the original text at least twice, because no good summary can come from a superficial reading. The first reading is global: you simply try to grasp the general topic, the type of text (narrative, descriptive, argumentative) and the author's purpose. The second reading is analytical: pencil in hand, you underline key words, circle connectors like "however", "therefore", "in conclusion", and mark the topic sentence of each paragraph. For example, if you read an article about climate change, in the second reading you might underline expressions such as "rising temperatures", "greenhouse gases" and "renewable energy", which clearly carry the main message. You should also check the meaning of difficult words in a dictionary, because misunderstanding even one term can completely change the sense of your summary. Only when you are sure you have understood every paragraph can you move on to the next step.
Identifying main ideas paragraph by paragraph
The core technique for a successful summary is to work paragraph by paragraph, because each paragraph in a well-written text usually develops one main idea. For every paragraph, write a single short sentence in your notebook that captures its content, ignoring secondary information, repetitions and examples. Imagine a paragraph that describes Shakespeare's life in London, his marriage, his children and his work at the Globe Theatre: your sentence could simply be "Shakespeare lived and worked as a playwright in London". Follow these steps in order:
- Number the paragraphs of the original text in the margin.
- For each paragraph, find the topic sentence or the main idea.
- Reformulate that idea in one short sentence in your own English words.
- Write all your mini-sentences in a list, in the same order as the original.
- Check that no essential idea has been left out and that no secondary detail has sneaked in.
Joining the sentences into a coherent text
Once you have your list of short sentences, you must transform it into a fluent paragraph, because a summary is not a bullet-point list but a real text. To do this, you link the sentences using appropriate connectors that show the logical relationship between ideas: "first", "then", "moreover", "however", "as a result", "finally". You can also combine two short sentences into a longer one using relative pronouns or subordinate clauses, as long as the result remains clear. For example, the two sentences "The protagonist moves to London. He starts working in a factory." can become "The protagonist moves to London, where he starts working in a factory." Pay attention to verb tenses: when summarizing a story you normally use the present simple ("Romeo meets Juliet and falls in love with her"), while for an article reporting past events you keep the past tense. Always use the third person, even if the original text is written in the first person, because a summary is an objective report.
Revising and checking your summary
The final step, too often forgotten, is the revision, which can make the difference between a mediocre and an excellent summary. Read your text aloud and ask yourself three questions: is it shorter than the original? Does it contain all the main ideas? Is it written entirely in your own words? Then check grammar carefully, paying attention to subject-verb agreement, articles, prepositions and spelling, because in English even small mistakes can change the meaning. Make sure you have not added personal opinions, judgements or information that was not in the original text, since a summary must remain faithful and neutral. Finally, count the words: if the teacher asked for about 80 words and you have written 150, you need to cut further by removing adjectives, examples and repetitions. A well-revised summary always looks lighter, cleaner and more professional than the first draft.
Ricorda
The key points to keep in mind when writing a summary in English are the following:
- Read the text at least twice before writing anything.
- Work paragraph by paragraph, writing one short sentence for each.
- Use your own words and a neutral, objective tone in the third person.
- Link the sentences with appropriate connectors to obtain a fluent text.
- Always revise to check length, content, grammar and faithfulness to the original.
Now open your notebook and try this short exercise: take the following mini-text and write a summary of no more than 25 words. "Anna is a fifteen-year-old girl who lives in Milan with her parents and her younger brother Marco. Every morning she wakes up at seven, has breakfast with toast and orange juice, and then walks to school with her best friend Giulia. She loves history and English, but she finds mathematics quite difficult, especially geometry. In the afternoon she does her homework and, twice a week, she goes to volleyball training at the local gym." When you have finished, count the words, underline the connectors you used and check that you have written everything in the third person and in your own words.