Category English Language

What is a précis?

A précis, in general terms, is a shortened form of a passage. It should be clear, compact and logical, and it should not reduce the beauty of the original passage. It is a condensed version that conveys the thoughts in the original passage. The dictionary defines it as a “concise summary”. A précis keeps all the important ideas of the original passage. It is a kind of shorthand for the passage.

How does it help you?

Practice in précis writing helps you to improve your skills in reading. It helps you to write to the point. It helps you to write only what is necessary and it helps you to choose the right words and phrases.

Where do we come across précis writing?

• Newspaper headlines – Safety Meeting Ends in Accident
• Tag lines of articles and lessons – The True Story of a Real Fake
• Opening paragraph of a newspaper story, lecture or notes – Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
• Advertisements – Just do it

Steps to follow

1. Read the whole passage carefully. Read it twice – once to understand what the passage is about. The second time, separate the major points from the minor ones. What can be left out?
2. Recognize the author’s tone and viewpoint. Is he saying “yes”? Is he saying “no”?
3. Re-read the passage if necessary for clear comprehension (understanding) of ideas.
4. Write in direct, assertive language. You are not arguing your points or explaining them. You are just stating them. Use statement (declarative sentences). Don’t refer to the author (“Tagore said that…”), just state directly what the author said.
5. Underline key phrases, make notes in the margin.
6. Observe the emphasis (what does the author feel strongly about?) used by the author.
7. Understand the importance of ideas that the author develops with the use of supporting facts and examples.
8. Do not use the specific examples, figures of speech or quotations cited by the author in your précis.
9. When you are selecting ideas from a passage, ask yourself the following question: If this idea were omitted, would the basic meaning of the passage be changed?

What should I remember?

The goal is to communicate to the reader (and yourself) the main thesis and the major points in the most succinct form.

• Be alert to what is being said in the passage.
• Keep the author’s viewpoint in mind. Respect what he says in the passage.
• Learn to distinguish between major and minor points.
• Learn to emphasise what is important and leave out the fluff.

How exactly do I write the précis?

1. Try to limit your précis to no more than 1/3 the length of the original passage.
2. Use clear, factual expressions, do not attempt to copy the style of the original source.
3. Do not copy a single sentence from the article! You may use the author’s key words and phrases only when they are technical. Understand exactly what the author means, and there is really no better way than to write it in your own words.
4. Do not introduce ideas of your own. Do not criticize or change the author’s ideas. This is not your writing. You are just condensing the passage for the reader.

The final checklist:

1. Is it a correct summary of the key points?
2. Is it comprehensive, touching on all the key points?
3. Is it efficient, saying a lot in a brief way?
4. Is the presentation clear to the reader?
5. Is the writing – grammar, spelling, etc, correct?

How to go about it

Look at a simple example of précis writing

Today there are 6000 million people in the world. Fifty years ago only about 2000 million people lived in it. If Earth’s population were evenly distributed over its land surface, there would be about 1000 persons to the square mile. But Earth has vast areas of forest, mountains and desert which are almost totally uninhabited. On the other hand, it has great cities each with millions of people living in a few square miles. To feed the fast-growing population of our earth, scientists and planners have to discover new ways to produce more. One possible way is to bring more land under cultivation. This can be done only in places where there is a lot of land not used for agricultural purposes. In many places this is no longer possible as all the arable land is already cultivated. A second way is to make use of new types of seeds to produce more. Already a number of new strains of paddy and wheat have been developed in different parts of the world. India is one of the countries where a lot of useful work has been done in the field of agriculture research. (193 words)

Step 1: underline key words or ideas

Step 2: write notes

• Increase in world population in last fifty years
• Population feeding solutions
• What has been done

Step 3: Use your own words to express these key ideas more concisely and to develop a paragraph (of one-third of the length) which conveys the original message accurately and is clear, concise and coherent.

The Précis

World Population and Food Production

During the last fifty years, the world population has increased from 2000 to 6000 million. It is unevenly distributed with millions of people living in a few big cities. Scientists in India and abroad are, therefore, busy with agriculture research to find out new methods of increasing food production to feed them all and they have already developed many new strains of paddy and wheat. (65 words)

 

Picture Credit : Google

On 29 April of this year, the Indian Army tweeted pictures of large footprints in the snow of the upper reaches of the Himalayas. This started of the old debate. Are there Yetis – the abominable snowmen in the Himalayan ranges? There has been no evidence of Yetis roaming in the mountains. The footprints photographed so far have been proved to be those of large bears. But we humans like stories of fantasy. We loved reading about the Yeti rescuing and protecting Tintin. And we all believe that one day these creatures of our minds will turn out to be real.

What are these “legendary creatures that we hope to see one day?

The Abominable Snowmen

It is a man-like beast that has been mentioned in Buddhist stories. The Lepchas (a Himalayan tribe) recognised a supernatural “Glacier Being” as one of their hunting gods and the ruler of all the forests’ creatures. Yeti is a recent version of this goal. The word comes from a Sherpa word, “yeh-the” meaning “small, man-like animal” or meti meaning “bear.” The sherpas depicted it as a man-like figure that left large tracks of its feet in the snow. They probably wanted the creature to be scary because they wanted to protect the children from wandering into the unknown areas around. It is something like the “Poochandi” that parents talk of it get children to obey.

Why is the snowman “Abominable”? There is an interesting story behind it. In 1921, a reporter interviewed explorers returning from the British Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition. The mountaineers said they had probably belonged to Metoh-Kangmi. Kangmi translates to “Snowman” and Metoh to “Man-Bear”. The writer interpreted the word “metoh” as “filthy.” He thought it would not be right to call the snowman “filthy” so changed it to “abominable” in his report. The name stuck.

Bigfoot

Bigfoot is a creature that was originally called Sasquatch. This is imagined to be a large, shaggy primate. It is supposed to walk upright like a man. Yeti belongs to Asia, Bigfoot is thought to be native to North America, specifically to be Pacific Northwest. Tales of ape-like wild men roaming in the region were told by tribal communities. “Sasquatch” is derived from sesquac, a Halkomelem word meaning “wild man”. The name “Bigfoot” is a 20th century word for the creature.

Who coined the word “Bigfoot”? Again a reporter. In 1958, a man noticed large, unidentifiable footprints near his bulldozer in Bluff Creek, California. He made a cast of the prints and showed it around. A reporter of a local newspaper wrote a story about this. People read the story and began referring to the unknown owner of the massive tracks as “Big Foot.” The writer of the article spelled it “Bigfoot,” and the name stuck. “Bigfoot” became part of the English dictionary.

Leshy

Leshy is a mythical European creature that is said to wander across the woods looking for young women to kidnap. Leshy is thought of as a forest spirit that looks very much like a human being, with pale white skin and bright green eyes. How do you distinguish it from others you know with pale skin and green eyes? You can because Leshy has no eyebrows, eyelashes and right ear.

Aswang

In the Philippines, the “abominable” creature is called Aswang. It is portrayed as a cross between a werewolf and a vampire. The word “Aswang” comes from the Sanskrit “asura,” meaning “demon.”

Yowie

Yowie is Australian’s answer to the Sasquatch. Of all the bigfoot-like cryptids (imaginary creatures), the Yowie is at the top for aggression. In the tales about it, it is described as a demon that tears off the head of small creatures like a dog or kangaroo. Yes, they do attack humans as well. Be armed when you wander in the outbacks of Australia, in the warning against the Yowie.

Mapinguari

Brazil in south America is the home of Mapinguari. It is a sloth-like humanoid. Some reports say the Mapinguari has a large mouth in the middle of its stomach. That’s weird, right? And this creature is supposed to inhabit the Amazon forests.

Chupacabra

Chupacabra Spanish for “goat-sucker” – is a gargoyle. It is wolf-like in appearance. But go to Puerto Rico, people will tell you it walks on two feet. Its Mexican avatar is supposed to suck the blood of goats. But the Puerto Rican chupacabra relishes all the yard animals.

 

Picture Credit : Google

From the dictionary

First, let’s go through the Macmillan dictionary.

[1]. fledged: (of a young bird) having wing feathers that are large enough for flight; able to fly. As in “a recently fledged bird.”

[2] flightless: a bird that cannot fly even though it has wings.

[3] great: “Great” has its own meaning in bird vocabulary. It is used in the names of birds or animals that are Larger than related, birds or animals. As in the “Great horned owl.”

[4] gregarious: gregarious animals or birds Live in groups

[5] Lesser: it is used in the names of some animals, birds, or plants to show that they are a smaller type. As in the “lesser egret.”

[6]migratory: a migratory bird or animal is one that migrates – moves to another place for warmth, food and,

shelter during certain months.

[7] webbed: if a bird or animal has webbed feet, it has skin between its toes to help it to swim well. Or web-footed: with toes that are joined by a piece of skin. As in the “web-footed-frog .”

[8] common: it is used in the names of birds and animals when there are more of them than related birds and animals.

Now let’s see how birds are often described.

young, wild, migratory, sea, white, smaller, aquatic, rare, black, native, mate, tropical, exotic, stuffed., larger, insectivorous, older, immature, tiny, flightless, predatory, blue, coloured, domestic, marine, caged, game, canary, winged, nesting, migrant, adult, sub-adult, coloured, nocturnal., brown, yellow, captive, humming, giant, happy, hungry, shore, sick

The flight of birds

Writer Liam O Flynn lists these steps for describing the flight of bids. He tells you how each bird has its unique method of flying and therefore needs a different set of words to describe it. “If you need to describe the flight of birds, it is best to divide them into separate categories of motion. For example, an eagle has a different flight pattern to a swallow.” He says there are over 58,000 words to help you, with your descriptive and divides birds into 7 different types based, on their movement.

Eagle: He was gliding through the air. He was soaring far above vs. He was sailing through the air.
Blackbird: He raced away from me. His wings were whirring at a furious rate. His wings were a flurry of motion.
Swallow: He was cutting through the air. He was flitting through the air’. He was skimming through the air.                                            Peregrine falcon: He swooped down on his victim. He plunged towards the ground. He dive-bombed his prey from a great height.                Kestrel:He was hanging in the air. He was hovering in the air. (Gerard Manley Hopkins named him the windhover). He was loitering the air and scanning the ground below.
Vulture: He was circling in the car. He was drifting in the car. He was climbing the thermals and going out of sight.
Seagull: He was lazing in the car. He was swimming through the car. He was cruising through the air.

A narrator’s thoughts

The seaside provides us with multi-sensory nourishment. But first you have to get past the seagulls. Such inelegant birds who haven’t had their train of thought broken by these pirates of the sky? You are just about to describe the smells from the far away villas when what was that? Was that actually the sound of squawking and quarrelling on this most blissful of mornings?

Then they ghost into view. They use the sun to hide their approach, but the noise they make is unmistakable. First one, then two, then a whole multitude of the troublemakers. They are after the breakfast roll you dutch tighter in your hand and you are up against it as these are a determined enemy. They sail and glide towards you, first, using the sun as a shield, and approaching in silent mode for the attack. The first one that you can make out properly is googling you with his cannibal’s eye, searching for your weaknesses. When he has established that you are [a victim], he makes his move. Tucking his wines in to himself, he swoops towards you like an avenging angel of death.

As you are bracing yourself his attack, the rest of the mob have circled in behind you and one of them has peaked at your hand trying to dislodge the roll.. Instinct has made you swipe at him and the blow lands on his soft body, scattering the rest and, throwing feathers into the car. He screams at you now, beating his wings furiously a few feet above your head. Pirate one has used this distraction to dive bomb your head and you feel the sharp end of one of his claws on your scalp. You now have an angry horde of seagulls flapping, whirling, swooping and plunging above your head. You are leaping up and down, with a large bacon, and sausage roll in your hand, and screaming vile curses at some birds. You put the roll inside your shirt. It is becoming a symbol of your resolve.

They increase the ferocity of their attack. They scream and circle, screech and plummet, all the while with wings a-flurry probing for weakness. Their beaks are sharp, their claws rip at you. They come at you from every angle, jabbing at your head and with their wings beating the air. They arrow down towards you in an unending wave of brazen attacks. You concede defeat. You sink to your knees and reach for the roll. You can smell the delicious waft of mustard and ketchup inside it as you throw it violently into the air. It never reaches the ground because these vampires of the beach are attacking it in a frenzy of barbarian proportions.

 

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The book Eragon was written by a 15-year-old. As you read the book, you can make out it has been written by a young person. The plot is not original. As someone said, “The story is a cross between Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.” But the author, young Christopher Paolini pulls off a beautiful paragraph of advice for all of us. The language is direct, and the words are well-chosen. This is what he says: “First, let no one rule your mind or body. Take special care that your thoughts remain unfettered… Give men your ear, but not your heart. Show respect for those in power, but don’t follow them blindly. Judge with logic and reason, but comment not. Consider none your superior whatever their rank or station in life. Treat all fairly, or they will seek revenge. Be careful with your money. Hold fast to your beliefs and others will listen.” Wouldn’t you like to structure your sentences like this? With practice, you can. Here are some tried-and-tested steps to improve how you write in English.

Expand your vocabulary

Do not believe those who say they can write whatever they want with just 800 words. To express yourself clearly, you need a wide, active vocabulary. You may know a lot of words, but can you use them well to make your thoughts clear? Can you use them correctly?

For example: “If you are waiting for the demise in house prices, you may have to wait a long time.” Did you find the mistake in word usage? It is “decline”, not “demise.”

Learn new words not as just words, but in a context. In other words, read books to learn them.

Tip: When you learn a new word, try to learn all the forms of that word and the prepositions that are usually used with it, once you have understood what it means, use it in a sentence of your own.

Watch out for homophones

There are words that can trip you by sounding the same. For example, “We went site-seeing and had a great time.” You see what I mean? You went sight-seeing if you enjoyed yourself doing it. The word “site” is used when you want to talk of a place of happening. “The site of the accident was cordoned off by the police.” Check the word you have used if there is one that sounds the same, like “bear” and “bare”, “pour” and “pore.”

Tip: As you read, make a visual note of what the word looks like. Ask yourself: Which word should I use here? “There”, “their”, or “they’re”?

Read, read, read

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life,” said W. Somerset Maugham, in Books and You. Reading constantly is the most important tool for getting familiar with the way English is written. When you read often, you memorise the phrases, some unique ways of arranging words and sentences. Reading good prose helps you correct your mistakes. Are you starting to read outside school books? Start with simple ones, may be meant for 9-10-year-olds. Read stories that interest you. Browse in bookstores as often as you can and buy books. Make reading a part of daily routine. There is another way to read now. A new genre called “text stories” has emerged in which you read a story through text messages. How exciting! You can read them on the go!

Try bookriot.com, bookbub.com, yourstoryclub.com

Do you prefer to “listen to” than read stories? Then look for audiobooks that stores have now. Look for them online. Or download them into your mobile. Some of these apps allow you to control the speed at which the story is narrated.  Listen to them at your own pace!

Tip: Read each text several times to make sure you understand how to use new words and expression in the text.

Develop a style of your own

Once you are familiar with the writing styles of classical authors, develop a style of your own. For example, you write using only the active voice, consciously avoiding the passive voice. If you are writing to the local authority complaining about street lights, focus on business English.

Improve your grammar and punctuation

Grammatical mistakes you make may distort the meaning. For example, if you mix up the tenses, the reader wonders whether the event has taken place or not. Use the appropriate tense and remember to use punctuation correctly. Avoid using whole lot exclamation marks. Avoid smileys.

Tip: Proofread carefully. Your reader will take it as carelessness if you make mistakes in grammar and usage.

Keep practicing

Writing is a lonely art. You have to sit at your computer and bang at the keys, coordinating your thoughts and the speed of keying in. so the only way to improve is to write, write daily and whenever you can. Key in your thoughts on a small diary or into your mobile phone. Develop it later. Be prepared to edit, add words, re-write when you find a new way of expressing the thought. But write! Practice makes perfect!

Get feedback

When you have finished writing something – letter, note, passage, short story – put it on your Facebook or blog page. See how readers respond to it. There is this Facebook group called “Learn English with Jack” with a chat feature. The app Hello Talk has a correction feature that should help. Or go to Grammarly that will help you correct your prose. Another app you can use is Linguee. It has a website as well. Here you will get real-life examples of words and phrases written/spoken by native English speakers.

Read it to people who care, ask for honest suggestions. Constantly be on the alert to improve your writing. Correct your mistakes at once. Soon you will discard these.

Copy down attractive sayings

Copy down, or file away on your PC attractive sayings, phrases and sentences, I do this constantly. I read these often so it becomes a model when I write. I keep a paper on the side of my computer in which I put down errors that I need to avoid. For example, the phrase, “according to me” is under the “Do Not Use” column. There is no such expression.

 

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How is a meaningful word formed? For example, how did a chair get its name [from Middle English, before that from Old French chaiere (or chaire which means ‘bishop’s throne,” and chaise meaning ‘chair’), which is from the Latin cathedra ‘seat’, in turn from Greek kathedra]. Yet, why did the Greeks call it “kathedra”? We do not know. In other words, we my know the origin of the word, but cannot find out the origin of the root word.

There are indeed words whose origin is very clear to us. These words were inspired by people. People who stood out did something, and often, these actions came to be known after their names.

“Eponymous” is the adjective to describe all the words derived from people. The word “eponymous” comes from the Greek adjective eponymous, which is itself from onyma, meaning “name.” Many eponyms are names of products, inventions or scientific discoveries coined after the person most closely associated with it. Example: macadam, guillotine, pasteurization. Other eponyms come from characters in fiction, mythology, pr geographical locations. Example: Rambo, hermaphrodite, marathon. Scientific terms have been created to honour a famous person or a friend. Think “watt” and “ohm”. What is interesting about eponyms is that they are words that came out of a deliberate naming process. These words did not evolve over a period of time.

Interesting eponyms

Here is a small list of eponyms: each has an interesting person behind its history!

1. Bowdlerize: “remove offensive words or passages from a written work before publishing it.” From Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825) who published an edition of Shakespeare that left out such things as the porter scene in Macbeth. After this bowdlerization, women who had been disallowed to read the plays by their parents/husbands, were now free to read them.
2. Boycott: “refuse to do business with someone.” From Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897), the Irish land agent. Boycott refused to conform to land reforms supported by the Irish Land League. The League then prevented Boycott from using stores, postal service and other places in the area. Today, boycotting is an important tool in campaigns against unjust rules and social conditions.
3. Cardigan: “style of swaeter that opens at the front.” From James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan. He was one of the commanders in the field on the day of the fatal Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War. He wore a knitted waistcoat to keep warm during military campaigns.
4. Lynch: “Lynching” once meant any kind of on-the-spot punishment without trial, through flogging. Today it means to beat someone in a mob frenzy without a trial. From William Lynch, the author of “Lynch’s Law.” The “law” was an agreement with the Virginia General Assembly in 1782 that allowed Lynch to capture and punish criminals in Pittsylvania County without trial. The country had no official courts.
5. Machiavellian: “characterized by expediency, self-interest, and deceit.” From Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) who wrote The Prince (1531), a book on political theory. In it, Machiavelli argues that the most effective for men and governments to achieve and maintain power is to act smartly without worrying about moral considerations.
6. Mirandize: “to read the legal rights to a suspect arrested on a criminal charge.” From Ernesto A. Miranda (1941-1976), a labourer whose conviction on kidnapping and armed robbery was overturned because arresting officers had failed to inform him of his legal rights.
7. Oscar: “statuette awarded for excellence in film acting, directing, etc., giving annually since, 1928 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.” The name “Oscar” was first applied to the statuette in 1936. The story: Margaret Herrick, the Academy’s librarian, took a look at the first statuette and said: “He reminds me of my Uncle Oscar!” her uncle was Oscar Pierce, wheat farmer and fruit grower, and the statuette was named Oscar.
8. Wellingtons: “waterproof boots of rubber or sometimes leather reaching to below the knee and worn in wet or muddy conditions.” Named for Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), who had many things named after him. These included a style of coat, hat, and trousers as well as varieties of apple and pine trees.

 

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