Precis Writing
← Precis writing aims at squeezing the meaning of text or paragraph into the fewest words. ← Precis must have its own unity and coherence.
← The object of precis writing is to give short cut but accurate account of what the original writer has said without changing or add anything to it. ← The original sense of the passage must not be distorted by omission or addition or by leaving out the essential information.
✓ While making precis of a given passage, one should aim at extracting its main points, expressing them clearly and as briefly as possible.
✓ The aim of precis is to be concise, but it must not result in abrupt transitions of thoughts, inadequate expressions or jerky broken sentences.
✓ Precis writing must be written in good literary form.
Qualities Essential to Precis Writing
Compactness
← All the ideas reproduced from the original document should form a compact whole. ← The words and sentences should convey a sense of unity with each other.
Conciseness
← Brevity is the essence of a good precis.
← It can be achieved by omitting unessential information , by avoiding repetition and by omitting ornamental phrases.
← Brevity should not be achieved at the stake of clarity. ← Essential ideas should be given clearly but briefly .
← There should be economy of words but not of ideas.
Clarity
← Precis should have clarity of expression.
← Avoid circumlocutions
← It should be intelligible to even those readers who have not gone through the original document.
Coherence
← All sentences and ideas should follow one after the other in an unbreakable chain. ← There should be reasonable and natural order of development. ← Precis should not look like a collection of disjointed sentences, but a well connected whole.
Steps to Effective Precis Writing
← Let the reader read the passage carefully in order to grasp its general...
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