Paraphrasing and Summarising Exercise

A. Paraphrasing

1. In this short excerpt from David Crystal’s English as a Global Language, take note of the way that power relationships rather than the number of speakers influenced Latin language use.

“Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they subjugated. They were simply more powerful.” 

Our Paraphrase:

According to Crystal (1997), Latin was the official (global, transnational) language throughout the Roman Empire as the Romans were superior in their status rather than their strength in numbers.

2. As you paraphrase the following paragraph, present the “expected” general features of the nuclear reactors from Declan Butler’s “Nuclear power’s new dawn,” taken from Nature, 20 May, 2004 (Vol. 429, p. 238).

“These new reactors would all operate at high temperatures, improving their efficiency. And they would include simplified safety features that do not rely on sophisticated backup systems or experienced operators — all are, in principle, ‘meltdown proof’ and can cool themselves down in the event of an accident with minimal, if any, human intervention. . . . Experts agree that reactors will need to be a lot cheaper to run. And to sway a nuclear‐ averse public, the next generation of reactors will need to produce much less radioactive waste at terrorist‐proof facilities.”

Our Paraphrase:

Butler (2004) states that the new, improved reactors will function under high temperature to increase its productivity. Automated safety features can also prevent the occurrence of a meltdown should there be an absence of a professional. However, experts believe that the next generation of reactors have to be cost efficient, and safety measures such as reducing the amount of radioactive pollutants must be taken so that reactors will be accepted by the disapproving public.

B. Summarising

1. Title: Social problems in a diverse society

“In any one nation, there are both very wealthy and very poor individuals and families. When sociologists conduct research on these disparities, they frequently analyse secondary data that originally were collected by the World Bank and the United Nations. These data focus on quality‐of‐life indicators such as wealth; income; life expectancy; health; sanitation; the treatment of women; and education for high‐ income, middle‐income and low income nations.”

Source: Kendall, D. (2004). Social problems in a diverse society (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. 

Our Summary:

Sociologists frequently work on statistics gathered by World Bank and United Nations to study the economic inequality between citizens in a country (Kendall, 2004).

2. Title: English as a global language

“Why a language becomes a global language has little to do with the number of people who speak it. It is much more to do with who those speakers are. Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they subjugated. They were simply more powerful. And later, when Roman military power declined, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of education, thanks to a different sort of power – the ecclesiastical power of Roman Catholicism.”

Source: Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. 

Our Summary:

A language becomes widely adopted when it is used and propagated by powerful and influential speakers. It has nothing to do with the amount of people conversing in that language (Crystal, 1997).

C. Reporting

Reporting Word Choice:

• believe
• claim
• comment
• discuss
• mention
• note
• observe
• remark
• say
• state
• suggest
• write
• allege

1. Look at the example summary sentences you saw earlier on page 5 & 6 and report the information.

Lester (1976) asserts that students should only make a limited amount of notes in direct quotation in order to help minimize the amount of quotes used.

Done by:

Tan Chuye

Sun Yucheng

Liu Weiting

My English Language Learning Journey

English has always been my Achilles’ heel as it is a subject I can never do well in. This is largely due to the fact that I have never really enjoyed attending English lesson in primary school and thus I have never listened to what my teacher has to say about the language. This has inevitably led to my poor grasp of English, and I find it a pity because I am starting to appreciate the art of mastering this subject so as to fluently express my ideas and thoughts.

I remember back in primary school, grammar practices used to be a series of guess and check. Doing my English homework was a breeze as compared to Mathematics and Science homework because I have never really understood what I was doing. As I proceed to secondary school, the lack of vocabulary skills has made writing narrative essays a nightmare for me. I do not read books anymore after Primary 4, and thus, I have zero clues as to how to write an impressive story. I thought expository essays would be so much better as it requires factual knowledge, but I have never been so wrong. My mediocre skills in expressing myself coupled with many grammar mistakes made my essays really hard to read for my teacher. As I advanced in to tertiary education, this lack of skills to properly express myself made it difficult to do well in school. Even though I knew I understood the concept and I have the necessary content, I can never write a proper essay in FASS, as my English will always be my downfall.

I admire those people with a flair for English. They have the ability to skilfully pen down their thoughts and make English look like an art. I really regret not putting in effort to learn this language and I really hope that with hard work and determination, I will be able to be like these people one day.

(328 words)