SAMPLE PRECIS—GOOD AND BAD

Here is a reading passage followed by four student precis. Three of them are
incorrect, inadequate, unsatisfactory. One of them is satisfactory. Read the
passage and each of the precis and decide which of the rules were broken, and
why the satisfactory version meets all the requirements of a successful precis.

The great artists of the past, despite the love lavished on them by the scholars
and esthetes, are becoming more and more remote and un- familiar. They are not
replaced by others because we are moving into a world of non-art. One has only
to compare the world of the long sea voyage, sunsets, leisure, complete works of
so-and-so, with the still mildly esthetic world of the train and then with the
completely incurious existence of the air passenger with his few reassuring
leaflets issued by the company, his meals wrapped up in cellophane in a
cardboard box, his copy of Time in case the sleeping pill doesn't work. This
unseeing, un-reading traveler is a symbol of the new public. Poetry for this
civilization may well cease to exist, for no one except a few professors will possess
the necessary ear to follow its subtleties. Reading aloud is almost extinct and the
poet who wrestles with his subtle tone-effects secures his victories for himself
alone. The hopeless are the irresponsible, the irresponsible are the lazy. We must
accustom ourselves to a reading public which is both too slothful and too restless
to read until a sense of values is restored to it. (205 words)

Précis: 1

The great artists of the past are not being replaced because these days we don't
need them. Nobody has time any more for taking long sea voyages, looking at
sunsets, or reading everything somebody wrote. We're too busy flying in all
directions. Speed is our motto. We're hurrying too fast to take time to read. (55
words)

Précis: 2

In our day there are no great artists and writers as there were in olden days when
artists had rich patrons to support them. The public isn't interested in looking at
paintings or reading books any more. People are too busy flying around in all
directions to care about art anymore. So painters and poets are going out of
business. (61 words).

Précis: 3

The great artists of the past are becoming remote and unfamiliar and are not
being replaced by others because we are moving into a world of non-art. One has
only to compare the mildly esthetic days when people traveled by train and had
time to read with modem days of airplane travel. Nowadays there is only time to
read a few leaflets and skim through Time before you are at your destination.
Poetry, for in- stance, may well cease to exist because only a few professors live
quietly enough to have the necessary ear for hearing what a poet writes. The
reading public is too lazy and too nervous to care. (111words)

Précis: 4

Great artists of the past are not being replaced by comparable modem artists. Our
world of non-art is symbolized by the difference between lei- surely travel in the
past and the rapid, nervous travel of today. The poet finds no large audience to
appreciate the fine points of his work. Reading is not the discriminating art it once
was, nor will it be again until a sense of values is restored to an irresponsible, lazy
reading public. (77words)

As you read, could you put your finger on the rules that were broken in these
precis?

1. Though this precis was short enough, it missed the main point and emphasized
unimportant details.

2. This precis is also short enough, but the writer injected his own ideas and
comments into his'writing. 3. This precis commits two errors. It is too long—over
half as long as the original material. It also lifts sentences from the original. A
precis must be written in one's own words.
4. This version is the right length, gets the main point, and summarizes the
author's ideas in different words. It is a successful precis.