Summarizing Worksheets - 15 Worksheets Library - Free Printable

Let’s go through each statement one by one and decide if it’s TRUE or FALSE based on what a summary should be.

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1. A summary is a brief description of text or situation that communicates the main concept and important events.
✔ This is correct. A summary gives the big ideas and key points — not every detail, just the most important ones.
→ TRUE

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2. A summary should be in the form of a paragraph.
✘ Not always. Sometimes summaries are bullet points, especially for notes or quick reviews. But in school writing, we often write them as paragraphs. However, the rule isn’t strict — so this is misleading.
Actually, many teachers accept both, but technically, a summary *can* be a paragraph — but doesn’t *have* to be. Since the statement says “should be,” implying it’s required, that’s not accurate.
→ FALSE

*(Wait — let me double-check: In elementary/middle school, they usually teach to write summaries as short paragraphs. But strictly speaking, format can vary. The worksheet likely expects “paragraph” as standard. Hmm… Let’s think again.)*

Actually, looking at common curriculum standards (like Common Core), summaries are typically written in complete sentences and organized into a coherent paragraph. So for school purposes, this is probably intended to be TRUE.

But wait — statement #5 says a summary “can often be accomplished in one sentence.” That contradicts #2 if #2 says it MUST be a paragraph.

So if #5 is true (which it is — sometimes you can summarize in one sentence), then #2 can’t be absolutely true.

Therefore, since a summary doesn’t HAVE to be a paragraph (it can be one sentence or bullets), saying it “should be” in the form of a paragraph is too rigid.

→ Still going with FALSE

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3. A summary should be written in past tense.
✘ No. Tense depends on the original text. If the story is in present tense, your summary can be too. Usually, we use present tense when summarizing stories (“The boy goes to the store...”) unless it’s historical or clearly past. There’s no rule that says summaries must be in past tense.
→ FALSE

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4. A summary begins with an introductory sentence that includes the title and author of the text, as well as its main point.
✔ Yes! Especially in school assignments, we’re taught to start with something like:
“In the book ___ by ___, the main idea is ___.”
This helps orient the reader. While not ALL summaries do this (like news headlines), for academic/worksheet purposes, this is expected.
→ TRUE

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5. A summary only identifies the main point of a text, and can often be accomplished in one sentence.
✔ Absolutely. Think of a movie review headline: “A hero saves the world from aliens.” That’s a one-sentence summary. Summaries don’t need to be long — they capture the core idea.
→ TRUE

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6. A summary should be written in your own words.
✔ YES! Plagiarism is bad. You rephrase the