When you make notes or summarise a piece of writing you must work out which really important parts are needed.

Read verse 1 of The Pied Piper.

Hamelin Town's in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover city;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side;
A pleasanter spot you never spied;
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the townsfolk suffer so
From vermin, was a pity.

We are going to summarise verse 1 of The Pied Piper by cutting it down from 48 words to a sentence of less than ten words that still makes sense.

We can start by removing some words from each line so that only the most important are left. Start by removing little words such as 'and' and 'in' first.

Hamelin Brunswick,
Hanover city;
river Weser,
the southern side;
A pleasanter spot
But,
five hundred years ago,
townsfolk suffer so
From vermin,

The verse has now been reduced to 22 words.
Let's take out some more words……..

Hamelin
Hanover
river
side;
pleasanter
five hundred years ago,
townsfolk suffer
vermin,

The verse now has only 12 words.
Let's see if we can change it into a sentence of less than ten words……

Five hundred years ago Hamelin suffered from rats.

This sentence summarises verse 1 of The Pied Piper in eight words. It does not matter that we have changed some words and added others. Can you see which?

Now it's your turn. to page two.