The Literacy Approach: Summarising a Book. Stages of the Writing Process and Sentence Starters

 WRITING A SUMMARY OF A BOOK: Stages of the Writing Process

 WRITING A SUMMARY OF A BOOK: SENTENCE STARTERS

Useful sentece starters for the INTRODUCTION

• To begin with . . .
• This essay deals with...
• I am going to write a summary about...

BODY

Retelling the story: Useful language constructions

• First . . .
• Next . . .
• After . . .

 Afterwards . . .
 After that . . .
 When . . .
 Suddenly . . .
 Just then . .
 Soon . . .
 Meanwhile . . .
 Finally . . .
 So
 Later on
 Before long
 Next
 Moments later
 Seconds later
 Much later
 Within minutes
 At that very moment
    At precisely
 Presently
 In a flash
 When this was complete . . .

Words/phrases signifying the passage of time

 Instantly
 Immediately
 Just at that moment
 Before long
 So
 Presently
 Soon
 Later
 Afterwards
 After a while
 Much later
 At last
 Next day
 The next evening
 Eventually
 Towards nightfall
 At dawn
 At dusk
 As the sun set
Simultaneously
 Finally

Words/phrases to change the focus of the story

 Suddenly
 Meanwhile
 Not far away
 Some distance away
 While
 During

CONCLUSION

To conclude,
To sum up,
Finally

OPINION

•  I found it interesting when . . .
•  My favourite part was . . .
•  It was funny when . . .
•  I liked the part when . . .
•  I didn’t enjoy . . .
•  The best part was . . .
•  The worst part was . . .
•  I was surprised that . . .
•  I was pleased that . . .
•  I didn’t expect that . . .
•  It was difficult to . . .