CHAPTER 2

Precise (Precis) Writing

(Summarising or Briefing) .
The French word precis (.n)/pre1si:/ (~ingul~r);/pre1si:z/ (plural) Ille
8 11
mmary or abstract. The.English word precise (adJ.) /prisms/ means ac ans
expressed. 'Precise' has its •
ongin CUrate1y
in e a in word 'praeci·do' wh.ich means
• • • th L t· cut'.
short.
The synonyms of 'precise' are accurate, correct, definite, distinct e
. ~equivoc ' Xact
. al: ~e11-d~fi~ed, careful'.
explicit, express, nice, pointed, se~ere, stnct,
scrupulous, ceremonious, financial, formal, pnm, punctilious, ngid, starched
stiff,
.
specific (clarity), categori~al.
.
· '
Precis may be defined as "a concise and clear statement embodying in a
connected and readable shape the substance of a longer passage." Precis is the
art of expression of a passage in a shorter period of time so that the exact idea
may be followed by the reader quickly. A precis is the gist or main theme of a
passage exactly in a few words as possible. It should be lucid, succinct, and full
so that anyone on reading it may be able to grasp the main points and general -
effect of the p·assage summarised. Thus, a precis is a condensed well-knit summary
of a fairly long passage. · -
Though_ precis, summary, brief and abstract are used as synonyms and the
procedure to follow is the same for all these, there is slight difference in the
shade of meaning. Abstract is a short account of the chief points of a piece of
writing, a book, speech ei:c. Summary means brief account giving the chief poin~ ·
only. A summary is a condensed versio!! of a passage, report, a chapter, a book,
a lette~, a sp~ech ~tc. Brief means summary of the facts of a case, drawn up for
a harnster; in bnef means in a few words and 'to be brief means to speak
shortly.
Precis differs from a paraphrase. A paraphrase should reproduce not o~ly
thfehsub~tance of a passage, but also all its details and there will be no shorteJ11llalg
o t e size of the pass d t·h •trin

r:::r:~: h ~ge an e paraphrase may be longer than the OI1c-gh

J;;s pre~is must always be much shorter than the original.
a third of the n~t:r ~~ !:e :t~gth Th:an
of a p~ecis, it should not cont~n in:or_e deed
a difficult task for it d r s in the onginal passage. Precis wnting is in tioll,
the ability to distingui::b~ds, among other things, concentration of at:nwerY
language. Precis writing. e we;n th e es~ential and the inessential, and ariI1g
0

for competitive examinati~:u:e ~ for all ~ections of people; stude~ts apP~ a}ists
and advocates as they can ' fficials, ?usmess.people, politicians, 1ndu9t~ue to
shortage of time. · not fi nd time to consider the whole matter
 CO MP OS ITIO N OF SKILLS 253

~ in wri tin g a composition. It is an

Pre cis -w~ ting is als o a ver y ~ood e~ercis
nnderstand ing . It mvolve ana lys is jud gm ent and selection
•se in rea din g and
lity ~o ~ rit~ cle ~rl y and briefly. Pre cis
eX ::at is iro po rt~ t.. It cal ls for_ t~e ~bi
, ~w ck com pre hen sio n, crit ica l ana lys is
~ti ng is an exe rcis e 1n _mental ~1~c1p!me
id exp res sio,n of one 's ide as, cla rity of
. what one rea ds or wn tes , tra ini ng m luc · ,. ·
of ht and eco nom y of wo rds . ·
thoug
re are no r!11 es t~ be fol low ed to pro duc e a good pre cis , bu t one sho uld
The
_
attend to the following po~~~
1) Fir st, rea d rap 1dl ! the pas sag e thr oug h so .as to gat her its gen era l.
' (
se and gra sp the cen tra l ide a. If one rea din g is-n ot suf fici ent to giv e you cle ar
.
ing ofi~ , rea d it ove r aga in, and yet aga in. Th e mo re you rea d it, t~e
:er sta nd
the cle are r wiH be its sub jec t.
Pmore familiar wil l 1t bec om e to you , and
und ers t_a nd the det ails of the pas sag e,
· Fur the r rea din g is now nec ess ary to
sen ten ce by sen ten ce, and wo rd by
as well as its ma in pur pos e. Ta ke it now
decide wh at par ts of the pas sag e are
word. You sho uld now be in a pos itio n to
ely uni mp ort ant and so can be om itte d
essential and wh at par ts are com par ativ
poi nts wh ich you con sid er ess ent ial or
without any loss. At thi s sta ge, not e dow n
not left out any ess ent ial det ail.
important, bu t ma ke sur e tha t you hav e
mb er you hav e to wri te the pre cis
(2) · Att eru ;t to wr ite a rou gh dra ft. Re me
within given num ber of wo rds . Ge ner
ally you hav e to red uce the pas sag e to 1/3
tha n the num ber pre scr ibe d, bu t in no
of the original. Yo u ma y uae few er wo rds
ber of the wo rds of the pas sag e is not
.case may you exc eed the lim it. If the num
wo rds in the pas sag e and div ide it by
given at the end , you cou nt the ~u mb er of
num ber of wo rds in eac h lin e to 5 or
three. While wr itin g a dra ft, you lim it the
e to lim it you r wr itin g to the lim ited
10 and you are sur e .of lin es. Yo u hav
eed -the num ber and pro bab ly be too
numbers. Som etim es the dra ft ma y exc ore you fin d how to exp res s
y hav e to wr ite out sev era l dra fts bef
long. You ma
its set .
the gist of the pas sag e ful ly wit hin the lim
be tak en to see tha t:-
tr\\7hlle pr~ par ing the dra ft, car e sho uld
. (i) no ma jor poi nt is lef t out ;
(ii) · no ine sse nti al det ail is inc
lud ed;
one wo rd sub stit uti on be ma de for the lon g exp res sio ns of exp lan atio n;
(iii)
;
(iv) it sho uld be all in you r ow n word~
con tin uit y of tho ugh t;
(v) it mu st be a con nec ted wh ole wit h
- (vi) it mu st be com ple te and sel
f-c ont ain ed;
(vu") it is onl y the gis t of the pas sag e; .
(viii) the re sho uld be no com me
nts and no cor rec tion of facts;
(ix) the lan gua ge mu st be cle ar,
luc id, sim ple and dir ect ;
·
(x) it sho uld be in nar rat ive form; say ing ' in th e paSt
ech aft er a 've rb of
(xi) it sho uld be in ind ire ct spe
. . . .
ten se and in act ive voice; th
it ~ho uld be wr itte n in the Th ird Per son , eve n if e ong ina l in is
(xii )
of a dialogue; . . f
the Fir st Per son or in the for m . 1Y eve n.I·f the ori gin al nar rat ive
(xii i) it ·
sho uld be in pas t ten se con tin uou s
is in the pre sen t;
 ENGLISH-II

(xiv) it should not contain any repetition;

(xv) it should be i~ a paragraph, if the original passage isin tw
paragi:aphs; 00r~
(xv) the language should not generally contain, slang, coll
expression or foreign phrases; °'l lia
(xvi) there should be no reproduction of the sentences from the~
passage;
(xvii) the opening sentence should be impressive;
(xviii) the order of the ideas contained in given passage should remaiiilt
same;
(xix) it should contain an apt title even if it is not asked in the qlldic.
Revi.sWn and final drafting

and n~;\~~:t! :C~t;~~:::!~

draftcontainsmanym orewordsthan
0
e:1!!essu~~~:t~!~ e;~
' ,
~=J;
the length by correcting the existing

::uld ~like~ ori_ginal piece of writing and not a condensati:ocentrJl i-"'

•wnt.e the title with letters of big size and it should convey th rt ¢,ttP
of tbe passage. The title may be a word or a phrase or eVen a shO
Then writ.e out neatly the fair copy under the selected beading.
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