COMMENTING ON A TEXT WITH A SUPPORTING EXAMPLE

I) GENERAL PRESENTATION OF THE TEXT

1- Talk about the text's references: The text is an extract from … / The text is a passage from … / This article was published in the magazine … / This is an article from … and dates from …

2- Talk about the general presentation of the text: The text consists of a paragraph with a header and photos / The style is direct / The style is indirect.

3- Identify the key ideas in the text: List these ideas in their entirety, highlighting what they imply and how they connect to the themes related to the section's topics: The text aims to raise awareness of business relationships / The text is in the form of a monologue / The text is in the form of a dialogue / The text is presented in the form of advice given to readers.

Organize these ideas: Around a coherent plan that will group the ideas into 2 or 3 parts maximum. 

II) INDICATE YOUR TEXT PLAN

Next, make a plan to organize your ideas as follows: The introduction is the privileged part in which you must present the content of the text concerning its key ideas = This text deals with a topical subject on … / This text is about … / In the first part, we will deal with … / In the second part, we will talk about … / In the third part, we will look into … / First, the text refers to … / Second, the text alludes to … / Third, the text wants us to be informed about … / To start with, we can notice … / Then, we can emphasize … / Finally, we will discuss …

III) CONCLUSION 

In conclusion, we can say that … / To finish with … / To finish with the deployment of ideas … / To wrap it all up / To conclude all this / To put an end to all this / To summarize the ideas we have just developed throughout the presentation / Let's stop the ball rolling by saying that … / To finish with the whole presentation / We have just gone through the different stages of the presentation which are … 

IV) QUESTIONS FROM THE JURY FOR AN ORAL PRESENTATION OF THE TEXT)

1- Once finished, make yourself available to the jury and indicate that you are ready to answer their questions: I have finished my presentation and I am open to your questions. 

2- It's hard for me to anticipate the questions you'll have, but you can already practice rephrasing expressions = Can you repeat, please? / I didn't understand very well / If I understand correctly, you are asking me if …, is that right? Providing your answer starting with: I think that … / I believe that … / My idea is that … 

3- When there are no more questions, remember to thank the jury in the following way: Thank you for your time / Thank you for listening / I hope I have been able to provide you with clarity and conciseness in my answers / Have a nice day and stay well.

V) ILLUSTRATION WITH A CONCRETE EXAMPLE

(Article published in the New Penguin Journal by Gustave ELLA-MENYE on May 15, 2025)

Every commercial, industrial or service company has a sales department, which is essential for marketing the goods and/or services offered. This department is made up of a sales manager, sales representatives and sales assistants. First, the sales manager, oversees and coordinates the sales strategy implemented by the company, negotiates customer contracts, ensures customer satisfaction and leads and motivates the sales team. Second, the sales representative prospects and visits a clientele of professionals or individuals in order to sell them their company's products or services. Third, the sales assistant plays a key role in processing orders, preparing quotes, and invoicing. He or she ensures follow-up with customers and their files.

1- Introducing the text: This is an excerpt from … / This is a passage from … / This is an extract from … This is a snippet from an article published in the New Penguin Journal on May 15, 2025, written by Gustave ELLA-MENYE / This is an article from the New Penguin Journal dated May 15, 2025, written by Gustave ELLA-MENYE / The text deals with the issue of … / The passage studied concerns … / The passage under review concerns … / The passage highlights … / The author gives a description of … / The author begins with … and then focuses on … / At the beginning of the text, we can read … / Throughout the text, we can spot … / Towards the end of the text, we notice … 

We will organize our ideas around the following plan: On the one hand, we will talk about … / On the other hand, we will cover … / The first point will focus on … / Then, we will look into … / Then, we will examine.

2- Developing the main ideas: In the first part, we will cover … / The first part will take us to an aspect of the subject which is … / The first part is the one that will make us approach the aspect of / The first part will develop the line in favor of the theme we are addressing / The second part will deal with a theory which is the antithesis of that developed in the first part / In the second part, we will examine an aspect that contradicts the first / The second part will make us have a very different logic from the first / The second part will follow the first by addressing another aspect of the subject / The second part will give us another aspect of the first part / In the second part, the emphasis should be placed on deepening an idea that extends the one presented in the first part / The third part will represent a synthesis of the ideas presented in the first two parts / The third part represents the nuanced position put forward in relation to the subject / In the third part, the emphasis will be on the entanglement that the first two parts inevitably highlight.

3- Drawing a conclusion: The author addressed the topic … / The author gave an overview of the subject / The conclusion is that … / The author's overall aim was to emphasize … / We come to the conclusion that … / The author has powerfully demonstrated the importance of the subject in today's world.

VI) SOME USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

According to the author … / All the same / Anyway = Anyways / At first glance … / At least … / Everything suggests that … / First of all … / Firstly, … / For example … / For instance … / Granted that … / He emphasizes that … / She makes us understand that … / I think that … / I would like to expand on this point / In a nutshell … = In a word … = In short … / In conclusion, we can say that … / In other words … / It has to do with … / It's reminiscent of … = It's remindful of … = It's evocative of … / It should be noted that … / Let's take … into consideration / Nonetheless / On the one hand …, on the other hand … / On the other hand … = Alternatively … = Conversely … = On the flip side … = By way of an alternative = By contrast … = In contrast … = On the contrary = To the contrary … / Opinions differ / Secondly, … / She stands up for what she believes in / That is to say that … / The first part deals with … / The main problem is … / The second part concerns … / The text deals with … / Then, … / This statement is debatable / To draw a parallel between … / To express the opinion that … / To mitigate a statement … / To summarize the text, I'll say that … / We can come to the conclusion that … / We can say that … / We can think that …