How to Make an Oral Commentary

HOW TO MAKE AN ORAL COMMENTARY

General remarks

After summing up a text, you will be expected to comment on it either by launching into it directly or by answering the examiner's questions. Try to prepare a broad outline of this commentary in advance by jotting down a few guidelines.

If you launch directly into the commentary do not forget to make a transition after the summary. Ex.: "That is what the text is about. Now I should like to point out a few important things concerning what the author says..."

Commenting on a text is a difficult and risky task as you are given no clues as to what you might say, unless the examiner asks you questions. But even these questions may be very general.

Ex.: "So, what do you think of this article?" So you must avoid such pitfalls as paraphrasing the text you have just summed up, rambling on in a desultory fashion, launching into abstract or irrelevant considerations.

The text then becomes a starting point for you to speak and think more freely.

Suggestions for making comments

You can make a critical assessment of the text by analysing the author's attitude: is it fair or unfair, optimistic or pessimistic, conservative or liberal, superficial or well-grounded, derogatory or enthusiastic, etc.?

Then you can say if you agree with his ideas or not and why, giving precise personal reasons. Give specific examples from the text to back up your reactions.

You can relate what is said to a general context, to the past - making a historical survey to explain the current situation, or to the present - making a comparison with similar situations elsewhere.

Ex.: "What the author describes here is interesting, and I would like to explain how and why such a thing came about / compare this situation with the past, or another country."

You can also analyse and assess the headline, and the picture if there is one.

You can define a controversal issue which is just hinted at superficially in the text, and discuss it, weighing the pros and cons.

You can imagine the probable causes of the problem described in the text, or its possible consequences, or the remedies that can be envisaged, etc.

You may also expand on a point of culture appearing in the text. You can relate the text to a question or an event you happen to be particularly well informed about, to something you have read on a similar subject, to personal experience derived from a trip or a job, etc.

Ex.: "I find this text particularly meaningful because I happened to visit that place last year and I saw..."

You can point out a stereotype and criticize it.

Further advice

In any case, try to express personal views, which you should always support with precise arguments and concrete examples.

The primary purpose of a commentary is to show that you can express a well-founded, well-defined, personal reaction to a text, that you can think critically and methodically, that you are knowledgeable about current events and the English-speaking world and that you can speak English fluently.

broad outline = plan général guideline = ligne directrice

clue = indicationpittall = piège

to ramble on = parler au hasarddesultory = décousu

irrelevant = hors sujetassessment = jugement

well-grounded = bien-fondéderogatory = critique

to back up = appuyerto assess = émettre un jugement sur

to hint at = suggérerweigh the pros and cons = peser le pour et contre

to expand on = developerwell-founded = bien fondé

knowledgeable = au courant