English X - Chapter No.23 - Questions-Answers and Text Book Exercise

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MAKING A SUMMARY
Questions-Answers and Text Book Exercise

Questions and Answers

Q.1: Why do people make use of summaries?
Ana. A person has to read a lot these days. Only by wide reading can a person keep up with the latest developments in his own field of work and in the world at large. Since there is too much to read, people make use of summaries.

Q.2: What is a good summary?
Ans. A good summary must have all the important points in a precise form. It brings out the theme of the matter. A summary is usually one-third the length of the original passage.

Q.3: What is Generalization?
Ans. Generalization means a general word or phrase for a long list of words. This is the most important skill to make a precis. For example, oranges bananas, apples, grapes, pears, peaches all can come under a general fruit.

Q.4: What are the skills for writing a summary?
Ans. There are five skills for making a summary. They include:

1. Generalization: This means that one must be able to give one general word or phrase for a long list of words, i.e "Oranges, bananas, apples, grapes, into "fruit".
2. Inclusion of main points: A more important skill is the ability to select facts which concern the main ideas in the passage, and reject details having little or no importance.
3. One word substitution: i.e "that which cannot be seen" can be compressed into "invisible", and "that which cannot be avoided"; can be reduced to "inevitable".
4. Use of indirect speech:Quotations or direct speech must be xhanged into indirect speech.
5. Avoiding details and personal opinions:Ln a precis not to state personal opinions of authors.

Q.5 What is the significance of Precise-Writing?
Ans. The significance of Precise-writing is very clear. A person having any job needs to read a lot. Only by wide reading a person can keep up with the latest developments in his own field of work and in the world at large. But since there is too much to read, summaries or precis are the easiest way to get information at length in shortest possible time by average reading.

A. Give One General Word or Phrase For the following:

1. Football, Cricket, Hockey, Volley ball – Games/Sports
2. Tables, Chairs, Sofas, Cupboards – Furniture
3. Snakes, Crocodiles, Lizards – Reptiles
4. Lions, Bears, Tigers – Beasts
5. Sheep, Goats, Horses, Camels, Donkeys – Cattle

B. Delete the sentence from the following sets of three sentences which does not concern the other two:-

Set 1: The car was black in colour. The car had worn-out tyres. So it could not climb on steep hills.
Ans. The car had worn-out tyres. So it could not climb on steep hills.

Set 2: The car was black in colour: The car had worn-out tyres. So it could not be seen in the dark.
Ans. The car was black in colour: So it could not be seen in the dark.

Set 3: The students did not prepare for the test. They came without uniforms. So they could not answer questions properly.
Ans. The students did not prepare for the test. So they could not answer questions properly.

Set 4: The students did not prepare for the test. They came without uniforms. So the chowkidar could not make out who they were.
Ans. They came without uniforms. So the chowkidar could not make out who they were.

Set 5: He had a tooth-ache. His big toe was also injured. So he went to the dentist.
Ans. He had a tooth-ache. So he went to the dentist.

C. Compress the following phrases into one word:-

1. That which cannot be done – Impossible
2. That which cannot be eaten – Inedible
3. That which cannot be described – Indescribable
4. That which cannot be conquered – Invincible
5. That which cannot be read – Illegible

D. Change the following from direct into indirect speech:

1. “She is lonely”, they say.
Indirect: They say that she is lonely.

2. “Could it be mended”? they asked.
Indirect: They asked if it could have been mended.

3. “Open the suit case”, he said to him.
Indirect: He ordered him to open the suit-case.

4. I am unwell”, he says
Indirect: He tells that he is unwell.

5. “I was lying”, he confessed.
Indirect: He confessed that he had been lying.

E. Rewrite the sentence (a) by completing the sentence (b):

1. (a) Parliamentary democracy is the worst form of government.
(b) The speaker said that
Ans. The speaker said that Parliamentary democracy is the worst form of government.

2. (a) Ghalib is the greatest Urdu poet.
(b) The critic thought that
The critic thought that Ghalib is the greatest Urdu poet.

3. (a) The girls of Ruritania are the most beautiful in the whole world.
(b) In his opinion, the
In his opinion, the The girls of Ruritania are the most beautiful in the whole world.

4. (a) It is high time that the present system of education be changed.
(b) The author felt that
The author felt that It is high time that the present system of education be changed.

5. (a) Alexander the Great was the greatest general ever known.
(b) The writer considered that
The writer considered that Alexander the Great was the greatest general ever known.