Definition: Explaining What You Mean

Summary Quiz for “Dude, Do You Know What You Just Said?”

Question 18.13

1. Read “Dude, Do You Know What You Just Said?” and summarize the selection below. Be sure to put the summary in your own words and to avoid using the sentence structure of the reading selection. Remember that your summary should restate the author’s main idea (or thesis) and that it should include only the author’s most important supporting ideas. When you have completed your summary, “submit” your work.

Here is an example summary of this reading selection:

In “Dude, Do You Know What You Just Said?” Mike Crissey reports on the research of Scott Kiesling, a linguist at the University of Pittsburgh who studies the language in everyday use. He explains that the meaning of the word dude has changed from “scarecrow,” its original meaning, to a term used by teens and young adults to bridge the social space between friend and acquaintance. Because dude is a term of casual association, it is sometimes used by young women as well as young men, but it is rarely used with parents, teachers, or employers.

Your summary will differ from this one in the way it is written, but it should include roughly the same information.