English resources/Summary writing/One sentence
One-sentence summaries
The whole event in one sentence. You may add a, the, in. You may not add a fact that is not there.
sheets.works/english/summary-writing
How to run this
Hide the one-sentence line. They write theirs. Then show it. Argue. Then cut the same sentence to a headline.
Twelve, filled in
Other sentences are fine if every fact is in the original and the event still stands.
Two weeping nurses somehow saved the tiny premature twin babies before dawn.
One sentence
Nurses saved premature twin babies.
Dropped: Weeping, somehow, tiny, dawn.
Brown flood water, rising within ten minutes, ruined the entire ground floor.
One sentence
Flood water ruined the entire ground floor.
Dropped: Brown, ten minutes.
Furious unions, calling the terms an insult, rejected all final contract offers.
One sentence
Unions rejected the final contract offers.
Dropped: Furious, insult, all.
Overnight parking was allowed on every street until the mayor banned it.
One sentence
The mayor banned overnight street parking.
Dropped: Allowed, every. The ban is the news.
Volunteers, not the council, reopened the railway line that collapsed in March.
One sentence
Volunteers reopened the collapsed railway line.
Dropped: The council, March.
The last giant sundaes were licked by thirty cheering children after the van broke down.
One sentence
Children licked the last giant sundaes.
Dropped: Thirty, cheering, the van.
From Wellfleet in November to a Coney Island afternoon eight months later, turtle Pancake rejoins the Atlantic.
One sentence
Turtle Pancake rejoins the Atlantic.
Dropped: November, Coney Island, eight months. Wellfleet can stay in the five. It does not have to stay in the sentence.
In thirty years at an Ohio children's hospital, one surgeon draws ten thousand cartoons on little bandages.
One sentence
A surgeon draws cartoons on bandages.
Dropped: Thirty years, Ohio, ten thousand, little.
Rex, a wobbly four-month-old kitten who never could walk, gets in the wheelchair Michael Hawley built him from Lego.
One sentence
A wobbly kitten gets a Lego wheelchair.
Dropped: Rex, four-month-old, never could walk, Michael Hawley.
After a prank order of pizzas in Wyoming, one pizzeria owner gives the whole lot to the ER.
One sentence
A pizzeria gives pizzas to the ER.
Dropped: Prank, Wyoming, whole lot, owner.
After a call from an Ohio church, a friendly pygmy goat rode to the county fair in the back seat of a police cruiser.
One sentence
A pygmy goat rode a police cruiser.
Dropped: Ohio, church, friendly, county fair, back seat.
A Seattle dog called Eclipse rode the bus alone to the park, a few stops off, in a red harness, with her own pass on her collar.
One sentence
A Seattle dog rode the bus alone.
Dropped: Eclipse, the park, red harness, the pass.
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