English for Speakers of Other Languages

20. Summarize, Draw Conclusions & Make Generalizations

Level: Intermediate

Supporting Materials

How to Teach

How to Assess


Corresponding State Language Forms

Compound sentences with and or but

Comparative adjectives with past tense verbs in simple sentences.

Imperative mode: Express command (Take me home. Stay there.)

Collective nouns name, as a unit, the members of a group (heard, class, jury, congregation)

Evaluate simple direct exchange of limited information on familiar and routine matters using simple verbs.

Auxiliary verbs that indicate futurity: will and shall.

At the end of this language function, students will be able to...

  • Draw conclusions about a topic or event
  • Summarize events
  • Hypothesize and speculate
  • Make generalizations regarding a topic or event

Sample Language Patterns:

Draw conclusions about a topic or event:
  • The ___ is/are ___ (adjectives) and/but ...
  • The ___ are not/is not ___ (adjectives)
  • The story is ___.
  • Each…
  • Every…
  • The ___ was/is ___ (adjective) or (-er than) ___ because…
  • The ___ (-est/ most/least) ___ is/are/was/were ___ because…
  • Although, the ___ was…
  • I prefer…
  • Both ___ and …
  • Neither ___ nor …
  • Either …or
  • Not only ___, but …
  • Not only ___, but also…
Adjectives that point out particular objects:
  • That hat…
  • Those neighbors of..
  • This house…
  • These flowers…
Make generalizations about a topic or summarize events:
  • The main points are ___, ___, and ___
  • The ___ is about…
  • The ___ takes/took place…
  • There is/are/was/were (a/an) ___…
  • My/in evaluation of the facts…
  • First the…, second the…third the…
  • Then,
  • Finally,
  • What I’m getting from the ___ is ___.
  • Each ___ is related to ___.
  • According to ___
  • In my opinion the ___ was ___.
  • A summary of ___ could…
  • My argument against ___ could be ___.
  • The ___ was/were referring to…
  • Two ___.
  • Ten ___. (Numbers – how many determined by grade level appropriateness)
  • The fifth ___.
  • The twelfth ___. (Rank Numbers – how many determined by grade level appropriateness)
Hypothesize and speculate:
Auxiliary verbs that indicate futurity: will and shall
  • There will be a day when people will get along.
  • Will you need a…?
  • You will probably need a ___.
  • Shall I take…
  • Shall we…
  • We shall never experience such a ___ again.
  • Maybe they…
Collective nouns name, as a unit. (The members of a group)
  • Herd
  • Class
  • Jury
  • Congregation