How to Write a speech, memo and summary

A memo is intended to inform a group of people about a specific issue, such as an event, policy, or
resource, and encourages them to take action. The word “memorandum” means something that should
be remembered or kept in mind. [1] Here’s a guide to writing readable, effective memos.

Part One of Four:

Writing the Memo’s HeadingEdit

Type “MEMORANDUM” at the top of the page. State that this document is a memorandum at the
outset. Label the page “MEMORANDUM” 1.5 inches from the top of the page. Put the word in bold on
the first line. You can either center it on this line or left-align it. You might also choose to make the font
larger for this word.[2]Double space between this line and the next line of the heading.

Address the recipient appropriately. A memo is a formal business communication, and you should
address the reader formally as well. Use a full name and title of the person to whom you are sending the
memo.[3]If you are sending a memo to the entire staff, you might write: “TO: All Employees.”

Add additional recipients in the CC line. The “CC” line indicates who will receive a “Courtesy Copy” of the
memo. This is not the person to whom the memo is directed. Rather, this is someone who may need to
stay informed about policies or issues that you’re addressing in the memo.

Write your name in the “From” line. The heading needs to include who is writing and sending the memo.
Your full name and job title go in this line.

Include the date. Write the complete date, spelling out the month and including the date and year. For
example, write: “DATE: January 5, 2015” or “DATE: 5 January 2015.”

Choose a specific phrase for the subject line. The subject line gives the reader an idea of what the memo
is about. Be specific but concise.[4]For example, instead of writing, “Ants,” for the subject, be more
specific by writing, “Ant Problem in the Office.”
Format the heading properly.The heading should be at the top of the page, aligned to the left-hand side
of the page. Capitalize the words “TO:”, “FROM:”, “DATE:”, and “SUBJECT:”.A sample heading would
look like:

TO: Name and job title of the recipient

FROM: Your name and job title

DATE: Complete date when the memo was written

SUBJECT: (or RE:) What the memo is about (highlighted in some way)When constructing the heading, be
sure to double space between sections and align the text.You may choose to add a line below the
heading that goes all the way across the page. This will separate the heading from the body of the
memo.

[ ZIMSEC Writing a report

Perhaps the most important form of communication within

businesses and at the workplace is the report. They are

found everywhere no matter what profession you will choose

be it in the Sciences, Arts or Commercials field you will most

likely have to file some form of report or another. Even a

humble security guard is required to write regular reports, so

are the police, army personnel, the self-employed, scientists,

judges, lawyers, politicians and everyone else including even

Tobacco farmers.

To prepare you for this, the English Language syllabus

requires you to learn the proper format of a report. In

Section B of English Paper 1 you might be presented with a

question that will test you on your understanding of the

report format.

Format of a report
To: [The full name or professional title of the recipient] for

example: To: The General Manager.

From: [ Your full name or title] for example: From: The

Finance Manager.

Date: [ Date on which the report was written] for example: 18

April 2014

Title: [A brief and descriptive title for the report] for example:

Quarterly Financial Report.

In the first paragraph state the Who, what,where and when.

For example, “As is required by company policy and as the

finance manager I hereby present the quarterly financial

report for the quarter ended 31 March 2014.”

In the other paragraphs use the points given in the question

and expand them using your knowledge and diligently

present them in chronological or some other logical order.

The points might be in the form of a graph or chart. In such

cases do not merely repeat the information shown on the

graph for example we had a Sales figure of $38 000 over the

course of the quarter. Be insightful and analytic for example:

We had sales of $38 000 in the quarter which is a decrease

from the previous sales of $45 000 in the same quarter last

year. This might be a result of a fall in demand of pencil

skirts which were are most popular product last summer. We

hope to find alternative fashionable items to fill the void in

the coming quarter.

In the last paragraph give a general remark or make a

recommendation based on the topic. For example:

Generally the quarter was not as bad as we had feared

although there is definitely some room for improvement next

time around.

[Signature at the end] Reports should always be signed to

prove that there are from whoever they say they are from.

Tips for writing a report

Always state the purpose of the report in the first

paragraph and your authority for compiling such a

report.

You might also want to provide the general aim of the

report.

Pieces of information( as given in the question) must

include/be followed by reasonable and plausible

explanations, comments, suggestions, situations and

conditions depending on the nature of the question.

References to related correspondence/previous reports

where appropriate must be made. For example: Based on

my visit to your farm I have compiled this report on what

I observed and my suggestions on what you should do

to solve the highlighted problems.

Sequential discourse markers would be useful as they

make it easier for you to state ideas and for those

reading to follow the report. For example words like:

Firstly, secondly and finally. Go to English Notes Home to

find a more detailed list of discourse markers.

Whenever appropriate try to predict the future based on

your understanding of current data. For example: We

expect food production to continue to increase at Tola

farm as demand is still healthy and the macroeconomic

environment has improved.

Make suggestions wherever appropriate. For example: I

would strongly recommend more timely purchase of

necessary inputs so as to avoid such problems in future.

Give an proper conclusion e.g. The report clearly shows

that food production at Tola farm is on an upward

: ZIMSEC O Level English Language Notes: How to write a summary

Summary writing forms an integral part of the English paper 2 examination.

It contributes a hefty 20% towards your final English Language grade which is pretty substantial.

That makes it as important as the Guided English composition found in Section B of Paper 1 of the
English Language Examination.

It is a wonder therefore how most students (and a lot of teachers out there) tend to ignore the summary
writing skill.

The Paper 2 examination is all about comprehension (understanding) and the summary question reflects
that.

If you work on your summary writing skills there is no reason why you shouldn’t get the entire 20 marks
in the examination. I used to get all the marks on my summaries as a matter of routine

Steps to writing a good summary.

Required skills and materials

You will need to be fairly proficient with you English Language skills including reading and writing.

Especially important are the following skills and topics: discourse markers, conjunctions, spelling and
punctuation.

You will need to bring a ruler and a pencil into the examination.

The steps

1. Read and understand the summary question a couple of times so as to make sure you are not missing
anything important.

2. Pay attention to the instructions in the question (The English Language Examination is all about
instructions).

3. Pay close attention to the summary boundary i.e. the portion of the passage from which you are
supposed to draw the material you will use to write your summary. For example a question might ask
you to include only material from paragraph 9 to the end of paragraph 13. Take care to only include
material from within the summary boundary. Including additional material even if it fits the criteria (see
below) will not help you much as it will not be credited.

4. Determine the criteria that you are going to use to determine the material you are going to use. For
example if you are asked to summarise the writer’s thoughts and actions after a certain event make sure
you only include the material from after the event.

5. Using your ruler and pencil underline the phrases that meet the criteria in the passage.

6. In most questions you should be able to come up with about 15-25 phrases( points) that meet the
criteria.

7. Once you are done underlining the phrases extract these phrases and list them in the order in which
they appear in the passage.

8. Link the phrases using discourse markers, punctuation and conjunctions. You might have to rewrite
some of the tenses so that they fit into the summary. Punctuation marks such as the comma might be
very useful when combining words and ideas that are related. For example:

He woke up, turned his head, screamed and then started crying as he realised help was not coming. This
is more economical than say:

The narrator woke up after. He turned his head gingerly and felt a pain in his neck. He screamed for help
and started crying hysterically as he realised help was not coming.

Write your summary. Take care to incorporate the words, if any, that you were asked to start with. For
example a question might ask you to begin your summary with the words:

When the narrator fell off his horse and landed in a ravine …. .
It is always advisable to take a peek at the words you are supposed to begin your summary with as your
style, tone and tense should match that of these words.

Revise your summary and correct the mistakes you would have inevitably made when writing your first
draft.

Write an estimate of the number of works you might have used in square brackets

[] after the end of your summary. To make an estimate count the number of words in the fist line and
multiply by the number of lines in your summary. As a general rule of thumb (with most English
Language summary questions requiring you to write a summary of 150-160 words in length) a summary
length of 140 words and below means you have omitted important details and a summary length of 170
means you have included irrelevant material. In inequality terms your summary should be 145 ≥x ≤ 165
where x is the length of your summary in words.

NB Most points/phrases can be used verbatim as they are in the passage but some might need a little
tweaking and rewriting.

To access more topics go to the English Language Notes pag

SPEECH WRITING

ZIMSEC English Language Speech writing

As part of your Ordinary Level English

Examination you might be asked to write a

speech. Speech questions are found in

Paper 1 Section B where they are part of a

range of possible questions that may be

set by the examiners. Its a list that

includes formal letters, newspaper/

magazine articles, personal letters and

reports. The question is as likely to ask

you to write a speech as it would any of

these guided essay formats and it is

always best to be prepared to tackle any

format instead of only focusing your exam

preparation on only a select few formats-a

practice some students call “spotting.”

I say this because speeches are perhaps

one of the most neglected guided

composition formats and while there is

always a good chance the exam question

you will face will ask you to write

something else, there is still a chance of

the examiners asking you to write a

speech and the result will be nothing short

of disastrous if you were not fully

prepared for this.

Writing Speeches

When you are asked to write speeches you

should bear the following things in mind:

Speeches differ slightly with the other

guided essays that you will be asked to

write. Speeches are made to inform,

share, support/persuade your audience

on the topic set out in the examination

question.

You should write in a conversational

style i.e. you should write the same

way you speak. Imagine yourself in

front of the given audience. Usually the

question itself sets out the audience

you are supposed to be facing for

example a graduation speech would

have you facing your fellow graduating

students in perhaps the school hall/

during assembly imagine what you

would say to them.

Start and end with opening quotes

either double quotations ” ” or single ‘

‘quotations can be used at the

beginning and last paragraph of the

speech. It is always good practice to

use these alternatively if they are

nested. For example let us say you

chose the double quotes to open your

speech and somewhere in the speech

you decide to include a relevant

quotation by some famous author, it is

good practice to use the single quotes

to set out the exact words of that

author in the speech instead of using

the double quotes again. The converse

would be true if you had begun by

using single quotes.

Start by greeting your audience. The

degree of formality and tone of the

speech depends on your relationship

with the audience and the topic of the

speech. For example you could either

start by saying,” Good morning to you

my fellow students…” or “Good

morning ladies and gentlemen…”

Depending on the situation the greeting

may be followed by a self introduction

even if you have already been

introduced and the audience knows

you. This maybe in the form of an

allusion to your standing on the matter

at hand for example “As your head girl

…”

You might want to remind your student

of the occasion. This can be done

subtly for example,” I cannot believe

this is our graduation day, it only

seems only like yesterday when we

started out as little tiny form ones.”

You should always state the purpose

of your speech. The intend clause

should fall naturally into place of your

speech. This can be done by making

sure that it matches the style of your

entire speech. The purpose of the

speech is usually given out in the

question itself and even when it is not

given you can always surmise from the

points given in the speech. You could

say for example,” As we march out into

the wide and cruel world, I stand here

as your sage, to impart words of

parting wisdom.”

Speeches are written in the way that

they are spoken which means a lot of

the verbs are in the “-ing” format for

example ” speaking” instead of “spoke”

which would be more likely in say a

narrative compositions. Also sentences

may not follow the traditional structure,

see tips below for more on this.

In informal speeches you can also

make use of speech fillers like “Eerr…”

and “Ummm..” although this should be

done very sparingly.

It is considered bad form however to

make use of fillers like “you know”,”so”

where so is supposed to be a

superlative for example “He was so

short.”

Good speeches make use of rhetorical

questions.

Elaborate the points given in the essay

question adding relevant material of

your own based on your experience.

End your speech by thanking the

audience for their patience and

attentiveness.

Another popular way to end a speech

is to use a quote or a call to action.

For example you could say,” Julius

Ceaser said,’ I came, I saw, I

conquered.’ I hope you too came to

this school, saw enlightenment and will

now go into the world and conquer it.”

or you could say “Go out into the world

and prosper!”

More tips

You can (this is a polite way of saying

you must) also use discourse markers.

There are three types of discourse

markers and all these are indispensable

when writing your speech. Go to

English Notes Home for more on

discourse markers.

While it is not required the best

speeches often make use of poetic

devices in order to captivate the hearts

of their audience and if you are up to it

you would do well to use the following

techniques:

-Mock heroic writing

-Make sure that each sentence

has roughly the same amount of

syllables in each sentence (line).

-Make use of rhyming words to

create a “rhythmic feel” to your

speech. Do not sacrifice

meaning just so you can get the

rhyme that you want, the

examiners will not be impressed.

-Repeat ideas and thoughts for

emphasis, for good example see

Martin Luther King Junior’s I

have a dream speech.

-You can also change the

traditional sentence structure to

suit your needs so long as you

do not violate the rules of

grammar. For example instead

of the more traditional structure

statement,” This man I am

speaking of is a tall and

handsome.” You can instead

say,” Tall and handsome is the

man I speak of.” Both

statements contain the exact

same number of words but the

second line sounds more poetic.

-Think of the paragraphs as

more of stanzas instead.

-Make use of rhetorical

questions to force the audience

to think more deeply on the

subject at hand.

As with all English topics you will

need to practice more extensively in

order to become uu