Tutor profile: Kelly S.

How do I write a summary of an academic text?

A summary is a concise statement of the main idea of a text. A summary should NOT include specific details or your opinion. A summary should be brief (usually around a paragraph) and shorter than the original text. A tip to find the main idea is to identify the thesis statement (in the introduction of an essay and also restated in the conclusion).

What's the difference between simple past and the past perfect?

Form: The simple past is typically formed by adding the -ed suffix to regular verbs (although many common verbs are irregular, such as go, be, have, etc). The past perfect is formed by have + the past participle of the verb. Meaning & use: The simple past is used to give a specific time reference in the past that has already been completed. For example, "I studied abroad in Italy in 2005." We know exactly when this action occurred in the past. The present perfect is used to talk about the past without a specific time reference. For example, "I have studied abroad in Italy." Note this example does not state WHEN I studied in Italy. The present perfect can also be used for actions starting in the past that are continuing into the present. For example, "I have been a teacher for 10 years." This means I started teaching 10 years ago, and I am still a teacher today.

What is the difference between first person and third person narration in literature?

First-person narrative uses the pronoun I (or possibly "we") to tell a story from that narrator's point of view. In other words, the main character (or possibly another character) tells the story from his/her perspective. The reader only knows what is known to the narrator. On the other hand, a story told from third-person point of view is not a character in the story, just a voice telling the story. Instead, the characters are referred to with third-person pronouns (he/she/they). A third-person narrator can be omniscient (knowing everything) or limited (telling the story only from one character's perspective).