What will be the tense of Precis when the given paragraph is in present/future tense?

PS: Normally it is considered as a rule of precis to write it in the past tense except universal truths. BUT in "JWT Precis Writing", the precis of those excerpts which are in present tense, are written in present tense.

Rules for Good Precis Writing

1. Decide Theme of the Passage: The main theme of the passage should be find out through careful reading and then main points and ordinary points are find out for giving importance. These things are essential for brief and clear presentation of precis.

2. No Reproduction of Important Sentences: The sentences of original passage cannot be used for precis-writing. Precis-writing is an art of remodeling of sentences without affecting main theme of the original passage.

3. Have Brevity and Clarity: Brevity is the soul of precis-writing. But, at the same time, clarity should not be given up. Mere deletion or addition of few words of original passage cannot be a precis-writing. Moreover, brevity should not create any ambiguous in the minds of the reader.

4. Reflects the Intelligence of the Precis-writer: The style of language and words used in the precis-writing indicate the intelligence of the precis writer. In other words, the precis-writing preserved the spirit of the original passage with different words and sentences.

5. Use Own Language: The precis-writer should use his/her own language for precis-writing. The writer should not retain any significant phrases or technical terms of the original passage. It means that the writer should use his/her own sentences for precis-writing.



6. Avoid Direct Speech and Use Indirect Speech: The precis-writing is presented in third person point of view. The text of the original passage i» presented in direct speech. Now, it is the duty of the precis-writer that he/she should present in indirect speech.

7. Inclusion of Statistical Information: If statistical information are included in the original passage, they can be used in the precis-writing for maintaining quality. If statistical information are excluded, it affects very purpose of precis-writing and convey different meaning.

8. Observe Proportion: Original passage is divided into many parts. Each part is dealt with according to importance but not according to length. In this way, objectives of precis-writing are achieved.

9. No Comments but Conclusion: The precis-writer need not give any comments over the original passage but should give conclusion. It means that the precis-writer need not evaluate the mind of the author but interpret the original passage in a meaningful way.

10. One third of Original Passage: It is the general practice that the length of precis-writing should be one third of original passage. If so, reader can get full information and do his/her job very effectively.

Precis is always written in the third person: If the author has used the autobiographical form of narration or description, you should change the form. You should begin your precis with ‘The author says…’ Secondly, you should avoid the use of direct speech in your precis. The use of indirect speech will make it more compact. Be careful of all the rules of indirect speech if the original passage is in direct speech.

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“What we need in this country today is more courage and more belief in the things that we have.”- Thomas J. Watson

Kshif Bhai thank you for such a detailed reply but the answer to my questions is still missing. My question is about the tense of the precis.

No need to change the tense of the precis. See the following example;

"But the facts are starkly neutral: the government of Pakistan did its level best to keep the dispute in the local courts, while the IPPs took it to the international arbitrator as per their power purchase agreements. In the local courts, the government failed to secure a decisive outcome, but managed to get enough stay orders to drag the proceedings out."

Solution:


Pakistan left no stone unturned in dealing the matter domestically which bought her more time unlike the opposing party who sought the international arbitration.


The original paragraph was in past tense and by making the 1/3rd of it, we cannot use present/future tenses. can we? Go through detailed discussion on precis writing on the following link. Should help you more.

Link: http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compu...s-writing.html

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“What we need in this country today is more courage and more belief in the things that we have.”- Thomas J. Watson

Thank you. I got it.