Vocabulary of SUMMARIES
- Vocabulary for academic summaries
- Exercises on reporting verbs
- Coherence and cohesion
- Linking devices
- Exercises on cohesion, coherence and linking devices
Vocabulary for academic summaries
Academic summaries use special vocabulary. While writing a summary, the summary writer faces the necessity to express different functions like commenting on the points discussed by the author of the original article, comparing and contrasting ideas, providing evidence for some points and many others.
Study the list of reporting verbs and expressions that you, as a summary author, can use for different functions.
- To c omment on the original text in general:
| The author | comments / indicates / notes / remarks / shows / states / observes / stresses / emphasizes / reports that... |
| The author | draws attention to... / points out that... |
- To deal with the topic of the original text:
| The author | addresses the issue of / explains the principles of / focuses on the controversy of / describes the problem of / discusses the question of / investigates the argument that / examines the subject of / explores the topic of |
| The article | deals with / is concerned with / is a detailed account of / offers a detailed and practical introduction to / reflects the opinion about / expresses the authors thoughts concerning / is written forabout |
- To deal with the thesis statement of the original text:
| The author / the article | explains / argues for / criticizes / compares / contrasts / describes / identifies / assesses / demonstrates / outlines / supports / encourages / characterizes / lists / cites |
| The author/ the article | provides evidence for illustrates his (the) point with / by (+ gerund) offers a solution to warns against... |
- To deal with the authors recommendations:
| The author / the article | advises / advocates / argues for / suggests / urges / recommends / proposes that |
- To deal with the authors claims
| The author / the article | alleges / argues / asserts / claims / concludes / contends / holds / hypothesizes / implies / infers / insinuates / postulates / reasons / speculates / maintains / surmises |
- To deal with the authors opinion:
| The author / the article | accepts / takes / adopts the view that... assumes / presumes that... considers / finds / takes the problem to be... defines / sees / views / regards the problem as... looks on the problem as... puts forward the suggestion |
- If the authors agrees with something:
| The author / the article | admits the inconsistency/ acknowledges the limitations/ recognizes the importance agrees with / shares the view that... agrees / concedes / concurs that... |
- If the authors disagrees with something:
| The author / the article | challenges / criticizes / discounts / disputes / questions / doubts / refutes / rejects / rebuffs the view that... disagrees with the view that... disapproves of... |
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- To provide logical transition from one authors idea to another:
| The author | begins by explaining how... then focuses on in the next paragraph of the article encourages the reader to through a series of steps gives the reader the idea of |
- To conclude the summary:
| The author concludes the article with By way of conclusion, the author provides To conclude / In conclusion the author says / shows To sum up, the author points out that In spite of the arguments in favour of , the author concludes the article saying that |
Exercises on reporting verbs
Exercise 1. Fill in the gaps with missing vowels and find out what words and expressions can go with the given reporting verbs. Use a good monolingual dictionary if necessary.
| to provide | an __ nsw __ r; an __ xpl __ n __ t __ __ n; an __ v __ d __ nc __; | an __ x __ mpl __; a f __ c __ s, | |
| to offer | an __ xpl __ n __ t __ __ n; __ dv __ c __; h__ lp; | __ ss __ st __ nc __; s __ pp __ rt | |
| to make | an __ ss __ rt __ __ n; an __ tt __ mpt, a c__ mm __ nt; a cl __ __ m; a d __ st __ nct __ __ n; an __ ff __ rt; | an __ bs __ rv __ t __ __ n; a p __ __ nt; a r __ c __ mm __ nd __ t __ __ n; a r __ f __ r __ nc __; a st __ t __ m __ nt | |
| to express | __ ppr __ h __ ns __ __ n d __ __ bt; b __ l __ __ f, c__ nc __ rn; f __ __ r; h__ p __; | an __ d __ __; __ nt __ r __ st; an __ p __ n __ __ n; s __ pp __ rt; a v __ __ w | |
| to take | an __ ppr __ __ ch; an __ ff __ rt | the p __ s __ t __ __ n a v __ __ w; | |
| to hold | a b __ l __ __ f; h __ p __; | a v __ __ w; the p __ s __ t __ __ n | |
| to adopt | an _ ppr __ __ ch; an __ tt __ t __ d __ | a p__ l __ c __; a v __ __ w; | |
| to present | an __ rg __ m __ nt; a c __ s __; d __ t __; an __ v __ d __ nc __; | __ nf __ rm __ t __ __ n; a pr__ bl __ m; a r __ s __ lt; a v __ __ w; | |
| to arrive at | a c __ ncl __ s __ __ n; a d __ c __ s __ __ n; | a s __ l __ t __ __ n; a c __ mpr __ m __ s__; | |
| to come to | a d __ c __ s __ o__; a c __ ncl __ s __ __ n; | an __ gr __ __ m __ nt | |
| to put forward | an __ d __ __; a s __ gg __ st __ __n; | a pr__ p __ s__ l | |
| to place | __ mph __ s __ s (on); __ mp __ rt __ nc __ (on); | v __ l __ __ (on); | |
| to reach | the p __ __ nt; the l __ v __ l; the st __ g __; | a c __ mpr __ m __ s __; a c __ncl __ s __ __ n; a d __ c __ s __ __ n; |
