HOW
TO COMMENT UPON A DOCUMENT
|
The document we are going to deal with is an article from Time / Newsweek ... an American magazine. This document is an excerpt from The Times / the Guardian ... a British newspaper
... and written by ... , a British / an American / an Australian / a Canadian author. This document is a dialogue / a conversation between ...
It is entitled "........" and it was published in ...... As usual, there is also a subtitle "..." to explain the main title which is rather unclear. The subtitle is a better clue to the topic : ... This document deals with .../ is about .../ The main topic is ... / The key idea is ... |
The author |
starts |
this passage |
with an example / an anecdote |
The writer |
introduces |
the topic |
with a pun / a joke |
The journalist |
begins |
his article |
with a proverb / a saying |
The reporter |
. |
the editorial |
by ...-ing |
The editorialist |
supports his theory |
with figures and statistics |
The document can be divided into ... parts The document falls into ... parts |
||
The first part, |
from line ... to line ..., |
emphasizes ... |
The second part, |
from paragraph ... to paragraph ... |
underlines ... |
The next part, |
. |
highlights ... |
The last part, |
. |
shows ... |
. |
. |
explains why ... |
. |
. |
helps understand why ... |
. |
. |
accounts for ... |
The writer |
stresses |
an opposition between ... and ... |
. |
develops |
a topical issue / a worn-out theme |
. |
denounces |
the discrepancy / the gap between |
. |
points out that ... |
|
. |
is biassed/biased in favor of ... / against |
|
. |
is unbiassed/unbiased / objective |
The |
story |
takes place in ... (place) in ... (time) |
. |
scene |
unfolds |
. |
action |
. |
. |
events |
happens |
The tone of the article is (rather) optimistic / pessimistic / neutral / detached / humorous / ironical / emphatic. |
Finally, the author concludes by ... (ing) |