2 WRITING

IF u r told to reduce the passage to a third of its length,count the number of words in the passage and by three.Dont exceed.
it is not likely thay ur first attempt will b a complete sucess .The will probably b too long.Infact u may hav to write several drafts before u find how to express the gist of the passage fully within the limits set.A gud deal of pacience and revision is required.It is a gud plan to write the first draft widout having the actual words of the original passages before ones eyes.

b) IMPORTANT POINTS
1 the precis shud b in ur own words.It must not b a patchwork made up of phrases ans sentencesquoted frm the original.

2 the precis must b a connected whole.it may b divided into sections or paragraphs,according to changes in the subject matter,but these must not appear as seperate notes,but b joined together in such a way as to read continuously.

3 The precis must b complete and self-contained,that is it must convey its message fully and clearly widout requiring any refreence to the original to complete its meaning.

4 It is only the gist,main purport,or general meaning of the passage which u hav to express.there is no room in a precis for colloquial expressions,circumlocutions,periphrasis or rhetorical flourishes.All redundancies of expression must b rigorously pruned.if faithful reproduction of the main theme is the fitst essential of a precis,conciseness is the second.
5 The precis must b in simple,direct grammatical and idiomatic English.

c) THE ART OF COMPRESSION

You are not bound to follow the original order of thought to the passage to b summarised,if u can express its meaning more clearly and concisely by transposing any of its parts.
In,condensing,aim rather at remodelling,than at mere ommission.We may omit mere repetitions,illustrations and examples.But we change figures of speech into literal expressions,compress wordy sentences,and alter phrases to words.

Take a few examples,

His courage in battle might without wxaggerarion be called lion-like.
He was very brave in battle.

THe account the witness gave of the incident moved everyone that heard it to laugher.
The witness"s story was absurd.

There came to his recollections.
He remembered.

The acted in a manner that rendered them liable to prosecution.
They acted illegally.

He got up and made a speech on the spur of the moment.
He spoke off-handed.

John fell into the river and, before help could reach him,he sank.
john was drowned in the river.

The England of our own days is so strong and the Spain of our own days is so feeble,that it is not possible,widout some reflection and care,to comprehend the full extent of the peril which England had frm the power and ambtion of Spain in the 16th century.
We cant nowadays fully realise what a menace Spain was to England in the 16th century.

d) INDIRECT SPEECH

a precis must b written in indirect speech,after a "verb of saying"in the past tense.For example:
"Whether we look at the intrinsic value of our literature,or at the particular situation of the country,we shall see the strongest reason to think that of all foreign tongues the English is that which would be the most useful to our native subjects."
Macualay

LORD MACUALAY said that England's noble literature and the universality of her language made English the foreign language most useful for India.

The change frm direct to indirect calls for calls for attention to the following points,

1 correct sequence of tenses after the "verb of saying'' IN THE PAST TENSE.
2 clear differentiation of the various persons mentioned in the passage.Care must b taken with pronouns he,she and they.To avoid confusion proper names shud b used occasionally.
3 correct use of adverbs and other words indicating time.
4 Proper choice of "verbs of sayings",to indicate questions,comments,warnings,threats or exhortations.

Great care must b taken to avoid lapsing into direct speech.
Some passages however best b summarised in direct speech,rely on ur judjment.

(#3) REVISION

Revise the final draft,
Take care of its length,
Compare it with the original to see that u hav not omitted any important point,
Correct mistakesin spelling and punctuation,grammar and idiom.

Then write out the fair copy neatly,prefixing the title you have chosen.