📖LearnModule 13 · Lesson 29 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, first halfUnit 6 · Lire la pensée des autres
Résumer une pensée complexe
Module 13 of the free French course (CEFR C2, first half), lesson 29 of 30: Summarizing an argument is not shortening it. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 29.
The words
French
English
Say it
garder les virages
to keep the turns
gahr-day lay vee-RAHZH
laisser tomber les exemples
to drop the examples
leh-say toh(n)-bay lay zeg-ZAH(n)PL
en trois phrases
in three sentences
ah(n) trwah FRAHZ
la résolution
the resolution
lah ray-zoh-lew-SYOH(n)
résumer fidèlement
to summarize faithfully
ray-zew-may fee-dehl-MAH(n)
raccourcir
to shorten
rah-koor-SEER
la discipline
the discipline
lah dee-see-PLEEN
passer à côté de l'essentiel
to miss the point
pah-say ah koh-tay duh leh-sah(n)-SYEL
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
Summarizing an argument is not shortening it. Keep the turns and drop the examples: the shape is the meaning, and a summary with no or in it has usually lost the point.
Et aussi · And also
One useful discipline: write the summary in three sentences — the position, the objection, the resolution — before you allow yourself a fourth.
Attention · Watch out
Summarize by keeping the turns and dropping the examples. A summary with no or in it has usually lost the point. Three sentences first: position, objection, resolution.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with garder les virages.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 29 in Module 13 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.