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Grade 9 · English Language Arts · Unit 2 of 11

Summarizing Texts

Find the main ideas and put them in your own words.

What your child practises

Practises summarizing: grouping related ideas, separating important from less important information, paraphrasing and keeping the author's message.

Nunavut Curriculum approved guide: NWT English Language Arts (2011), Comprehension · summarizing key ideas while keeping the author's message

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which belongs in a summary of a news story about a flood?

    • every quote word for word
    • what happened, where, and the main effects
    • the reporter's lunch
  2. Question 2

    Which is a less important detail to leave out of a summary?

    • the colour of a minor character's coat
    • the main conflict
    • the solution
  3. Question 3

    A good summary of a text includes…

    • your opinion of the author
    • every detail
    • the main ideas in your own words
  4. Question 4

    Which sentence is the best summary of this passage? “Honeybees dance to tell the hive where flowers are. A longer wiggle means a farther flower. The angle shows the direction.”

    • Honeybees are insects.
    • Flowers grow in many places.
    • Honeybees use dance to share the location of food.
  5. Question 5

    A summary of a science article should keep which kind of information?

    • the title font
    • the key findings and why they matter
    • all the numbers in the tables
  6. Question 6

    Which sentence is a summary, not a detail?

    • The story shows how a community works together after a storm.
    • Mr. Lee wore a red scarf.
    • The storm began at 6 p.m.