Precis Writing (Leverage.

edu)

 Sidrah

 Updated on

 Jun 16, 2023

7 minute read
83.4K views

If you were to describe what happens in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ in 15-20

lines, how would you say it? To describe such a lengthy play of 2000+
sentences, you would specifically talk about the main events or highlights
and wrap it up. That’s exactly what Precis writing is. Precis writing is among
the common and essential literature writing skills that are applicable in
multiple areas and are an important topic for Bank exams, Government
Exams, MBA entrance exams, and also in class 8th and 9th syllabus. Let’s
understand what precis writing is, its examples with solutions, tips and
practice worksheets for you to brush up your writing skills.

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THIS BLOG INCLUDES:

1. What is Precis Writing?

2. Qualities of a Good Precis
3. Uses of Precis Writing
4. How to Write a Precis?
1. Understand the Text/Narrative
2. Highlight and Divide the Text
3. Create a Mind Map
4. Writing your Precis
5. Review your Precis
6. Precis Writing Format
7. Essential Rules for a Good Precis Writing
8. Sample of Precis Writing
1. Precis
9. Points to Avoid for Precis Writing
10. FAQs

What is Precis Writing?

Precis Writing is a summary. It is an exercise of compression. A precis writing
is a gist of any passage in as few words as possible. A precis should mention
all important details of the original paragraph so that anyone who is reading
it is able to understand the idea of the original passage.

Taking the above example forward, to describe the essential highlights and
events that take place in The Merchant of Venice, you will not add your own
thoughts and maintain the tone and expressions of the characters. You will
also avoid mentioning events that aren’t essential. This is how precis writing
works. You express or rewrite a paragraph or any piece of writing and make
it as concise as possible without having to change the crux of the subject
matter.

In precis writing, you must be carefully objective and maintain the theme of
the passage without excluding the important points. Comprehend the
passage carefully to conclude about what is important in an article or a story.
You might take a while to read it the first time, but as you keep reading it,
the later times might just be an easy skim over the pages. Precis writing
requires a very strong understanding of the story/ text to convey the same
message in a miniature form.

The word Precis comes from the Latin ‘praecisus’ and the old French
‘précis’ which means abrupt, abridged, cut off, or shortened. The
word Precis is pronounced with a silent ‘s’ (Pray-see).

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Qualities of a Good Precis

What are the parameters to judge precis writing? The following are some
attributes that describe a good precis.

 Accurate and Precise

 Clear and coherent
 Well connected
 Original
 A suitable title

Uses of Precis Writing

People often want to go through the highlights of books, movies, meetings,
an article, reports, news, etc. This is when precis writing works to deliver the
main points to the audience without making any modifications in the
proportion, tone, or theme of the content. Precis writing plays an essential
role in the following areas:

 Precis writing can be used to describe a chapter so that students get

the gist of the basics.
 Precis writing is also used in companies for job descriptions, meeting
highlights, etc.
 The use of precis writing is also seen in movies to describe the main
events or plot of the film.
 Precis writing is also used in scientific reports and research to give the
gist of its content.

How to Write a Precis?

Owing to the repeatedly mentioned importance of keeping a precis short,
writing a precis requires you to carefully understand the points that will
provide the necessary highlights of the content. It might sound easy, but
comprehending a text and keeping its theme intact requires strong skills and
a lot of brainstorming. Here are the steps that can easily help you compose a
clear precis.

Understand the Text/Narrative

Courtesy:
Primo GIF

The main and the most crucial point is to read the text multiple times. It is
possible that you might have missed some point or not have understood it.
Reading it persistently can take you through some overlooked points and
explain certain points in a better manner. After perusing the text a few
times, you will easily connect through the points and also form
a mental outline of the content.

Highlight and Divide the Text

Courtesy: Tenor

Divide the text into smaller parts and make sure you use a highlighter to
highlight the main details for further reference. Create an order of the texts
so that you line up each event and do not muddle up the points.

Create a Mind Map

 Courtesy: Whimsical

Before constructing your precis, have a rough outline or a map with all the
points you think are necessary. Read it and compare it to the text. You might
want to add/omit certain points to make it more clear. Make sure your
outline follows the order of the text.

Writing your Precis

Courtesy:
Giphy

Start constructing your precis and make sure you compress the text by using
shorter sentences and cutting out redundancy. Make sure you keep a word
count of your precis. It should be 1/4th of the main text. The four main points
to remember while constructing your precis are:
  Add a suitable title for your precis which is in line with the content.
 It should be written in the third person.
 The text should be in an indirect form.
 Use appropriate past tense.

Review your Precis

Courtesy:
Giphy

Reread your precis multiple times and check for errors or grammatical
mistakes. Compare it with the original text and check if both the
compositions exhibit the same themes and convey the exact message. In the
end, add the number of words used in your precis in a bracket.

Precis Writing Format

There are different ways of writing a format and hence different formats. But
the most important aspects needed to include in a precis are common
throughout all. Let’s check this general format that’s mentioned below.

Title of the Precis

Introduction of the Text (One-Sentence)
Overview of Main Arguments of the Passage
Brief Statement Concluding the Precis
Essential Rules for a Good Precis Writing
After understanding how to write a precis, let’s look at a few tips that can
help you ace your precis.

 Keep the text terse and up to the point.

 Use shorter words. For example, use ‘because’ instead of ‘owing to’,
use ‘although’ instead of ‘in spite of the fact that, etc.
 Make sure your text is lucid to understand. Avoid using jargon and
complex sentences.
 Retain the core of the text.
 Your text should be a miniature reflection of the original text and
should state the correct facts and figures.

Sample of Precis Writing

Here is an example of precis writing with a solution:

Passage
The basic core of evolution – survival, and reproduction- has been proven
over and over through our various behavioural patterns. Let’s retrograde and
explore what are some exciting concepts that have been performed by
humans before us and how did it occur.

Almost every organism has the tendency to react to certain stimuli for
survival. This reaction to each and every situation has an evolutionary basis
of adaptation. The study of human emotions dates back to the 19th century
and psychologists have discovered many reasons for every emotion, yet
these are just theories. The arousal of emotions and their assumed
structures is said to occur due to repeated encounters with a situation
followed by the adaptation of the encounter. Human emotions have been
linked to adaptively regulate emotion-gathering mechanisms. The emotion of
fear which is associated with ancient parts of the brain has presumably
evolved among our pre-mammal ancestors while the emotion of a mother’s
love called the ‘filial emotion’ has seen to evolve among early mammals.
Various emotions work as manipulative strategies that favour survival.
Feigning emotions by an accused person may help him be saved from the
punishment. An exaggerated display of anger is also associated with
manipulating or threatening someone.

Despite there being several emotions for various events, ironically the most
interesting emotion is the emotion of disgust. Disgust is aroused when the
body senses a danger to the immunity or the physiology of the human. The
disgusted memory is associated with alerting the brain of a potentially
dangerous substance. A few studies have shown that the encoding triggered
in adaptive memory for problems is stronger than any other behaviour. This
makes us instantly have a disgusted expression at the sight of something
that makes us uncomfortable or uneasy. These expressions are also closely
linked to self-protective communication.

Precis
Title: Human Evolution and Emotions

The emotions that humans express and react to stimuli in the environment
have an evolutionary basis. Emotions are assumed to be a result of repeated
encounters with a certain event.
According to evolution, emotions like fear, love, feigning, anger, and disgust
are results of consistent reactions in particular situations. Some expressions
are often built up or adapted as a form of self-protection.

Points to Avoid for Precis Writing

Precis writing can be complicated since you need to cut down all points that
aren’t important. While keeping the tips in mind, avoid making the following
mistakes while writing a precis.

 Do not elaborate a lot on a single point.

 Do not use your own interpretation, criticism, or assumption about the
text.
 Do not copy sentences from the original text or use abbreviations.
 Do not break the flow of events and keep the text well connected.

FAQs
What are the 4 types of precis?
The types of precis are:
Precis of continuous matter,
Precis of speech,
Precis of correspondence and
Precis of telegraphese.

What is the main point of writing a precis?

The main point of writing a precis is to read the passage carefully to
summarise it.

What is called precis?

Precis Writing is a summary. It is an exercise of compression. A precis writing
is a gist of any passage in as few words as possible. A precis should mention
all important details of the original paragraph so that anyone who is reading
it is able to understand the idea of the original passage.

Hope you are now well prepared to prepare a well-composed precis. Make
sure you keep practicing which will help you learn new skills and help you
become confident while writing. If you wish to learn creative writing, reach
out to our experts at Leverage Edu who will find the best course that can
equip you with the knowledge and skills. Sign up for a free session. You can
call our Leverage Edu experts on 1800 572 000 to find out how the
application process can be fast-tracked and streamlined!