Zusammenfassens

Zusammenfassens is a form related to the German verb zusammenfassen, meaning to summarize. In standard German, the act or process of summarizing is usually expressed as das Zusammenfassen (the act of summarizing) or, more commonly, die Zusammenfassung (the summary). The form Zusammenfassens itself is not a common standalone noun; it appears primarily as the genitive singular of das Zusammenfassen: des Zusammenfassens. In ordinary usage, it rarely stands by itself outside of grammatical discussion.

The word is built from the components zusammen- (together, collectively) and fassen (to grasp, to collect). The nominalized infinitive das Zusammenfassen can take various case forms, including des Zusammenfassens in the genitive. This makes Zusammenfassens a grammatically valid, but stylistically unusual, form in most contexts.

Usage and style: In everyday and formal writing, the preferred forms are das Zusammenfassen (the act of summarizing) for the activity and die Zusammenfassung (the summary) for the result. The phrase das Zusammenfassen von Texten or die Zusammenfassung von Quellen is common when describing a task or outcome. The genitive des Zusammenfassens occurs in phrases like die Bedeutung des Zusammenfassens, but it is not typically used as a headline or straightforward noun.

Applications: Summarization is a common task in education, journalism, research, and information management. It encompasses methods such as extracting key sentences or generating concise paraphrases, and it often serves as a preparatory step for analysis, review, or reporting.

See also: Zusammenfassung, Zusammenfassen, Abstract.