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Everyday English 2
Everyday English 2

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4.1 Structure

When you present information, you need a structure to help both yourself and your listeners. You need a structure in order to plan and organise what you are going to say. Your listeners need a structure so that they can follow and understand you.

A structure can look like this:

  • Introduction
  • Main points
  • Conclusion.

Activity 15 Summarising a talk

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Listen to the short audio below, in which someone reports back on a presentation that they attended, and answer the questions below.

You may want to pause the audio while you write down answers to the questions and/or listen to it more than once.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: track_24.mp3
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1. What does the speaker say as her introduction?

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2. What are her main points?

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3. How does she conclude the piece?

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Discussion

  1. The speaker was asked to attend the presentation by the manager. It took place on Wednesday in the staff restaurant. It was about plans to introduce a new computer system.

  2. The main points were as follows.

    • The reason they need a new system: the current one is out of date and cannot keep up with the workload.

    • A demonstration of three new systems will be given next month. Each one is different and will mean changes in the way they work.

    • People from each department will be invited to the demonstrations.

  3. The computer changes are going to happen. The staff need to decide who they would like to send to the demonstrations.