Precis Writing 1u4p65

Précis Writing Tips with Example Précis Writing: Writing a précis means making an intelligent summary of a long age. To write a précis one should have a clear understanding of the age: only then one is able to include all the essential points, tips and tricks of essay examples in the précis. Some general considerations: 1. Learn to shorten your words, text of written work, useful writing tips, essential thoughts, ideas or fact. 2. It is generally accepted that a précis should be a third of the age given. If the original age has 300 words, the précis should not be more than 110 words in length. 3. A précis should be in the language of the précis-writer. The original age is not to be reduced in length by just removing unimportant or unnecessary sentences and by reproducing the rest as the précis. It should be a brief gist or summary of the age expressed in the writer’s own words. 4. A précis should be full i.e. it should contain all the essential thoughts, ideas or fact in the original age. It should not contain repetitions or observations that are not relevant to the main theme of the original. 5. A précis is always written in Reported Speech. The age given may be a speech made by a person in Direct Speech, but the précis is to be in Reported Speech or the Third Person or in the Past tense. Techniques of Précis – Writing There three kinds of work to be done in producing a clear and successful precis. They are (1) Reading (2) Writing and (3) Revision. 1. Reading Read the age carefully If one reading is not enough to give you a general idea of its meaning, then read it second time. As you read, find out the subject or the theme of the age and what is said about the subject. It will be a good thing if you find out the lead or the topic sentence. The lead sentence will help you to see the subject clearly. It will also help you to think of a title. Now comes the process of selection. The writer of the précis writing ages has to decide what facts or ideas in the age are essential and what are of secondary or no importance. Taking the main ideas of the ages as your point of reference, it should not be too difficult to write out the important points in the original in a corner of your writing work sheet. 2. Writing You should first prepare a draft of the précis, keeping in mind, the need to reduce the original to one-third its length. The main thoughts expressed in the age, the ideas it contains, the opinions presented and the conclusion arrived at should figure in the rough draft. Unimportant things like the names of people and places and dates should not figure in it. It may so happen that your first draft is too long or that it sounds rather jerky. Shorten it if necessary and write out a careful second draft. Sometimes you may need to work out three or even four drafts, but with reasonable care and concentration, you should normally succeed in producing good précis writing by the second draft. 3. Revision When you have made your second (or final) draft, carefully revise it before writing out the fair copy. Look for any mistakes or slips in grammar or spelling and correct them. Don’t forget to give your précis a title. Write a précis of the following age to one-third of its length and also give a suitable titleToday there are 3000 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 550 persons to the square mile. But Earth has vast areas of forest, mountains and desert which are almost totally inhabited. 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 not under cultivation. This can be done only in places where there is lot of land not used for productive purposes. In many places there is no longer possible 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 f the world. India is one of the countries where a lot of useful work has been done in the field of agriculture research. Title: World Population and Food Production Précis: During the last fifty years, the world population has increased from 2000 to 3000 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 increased food production to feed them all and they have already developed many new strains of paddy and wheat.

Tips for Answering Comprehension Tests Reading comprehension implies understanding the meaning of a given article or a short age. Comprehension tests are meant for testing the understanding level and power of the students. Students are required to read carefully and answer the questions. Students need to have a complete understanding of the age before attempting to answer the questions. Never Use Outside Knowledge When provided with a test age, read it carefully at least twice. When you are ready to answer the questions, do not use outside knowledge in selecting or formulating your answer. Always answer only from what is in the age. Any answer that cannot be ed with information written or implied in the age should be eliminated. Read Instructions Carefully Students should always be extra careful when reading the instructions. You may miss or even misunderstand important points. For example, if you are asked for antonyms or synonyms for a particular word that is in the age, then consider the context first. Sometimes, an answer may seem familiar because it is the correct response to a different question. In addition, if you are instructed to mark your answers in a particular fashion, failure to do so may cost you credit for a correct answer. Make Strategic Guesses Make a habit of reading the choices that are provided to you before answering the questions to be sure you aren't fooled by nearly correct choices. If you are unsure of the answer, eliminate any answers that you are certain are incorrect, and then select your answer from the remaining choices.If time permits, try to answer all the questions, and then later on eliminate the ones you aren’t sure of. Read the Questions First Whenever you are given a age to read followed by several questions to be answered, always read the questions first. By doing this, you are well aware of what to look for in the age when you read. This helps you focus your attention on important words and phrases,

allowing you to skim, rather than having to read every word. Also, you can mark the age lightly when you see one of those , making it easy to find when you're ready to your answer. If you first read the age and then go on to read the questions, it often becomes necessary to search through the age repeatedly. Review Answer Sheets After you are finished with the questions, review your paper at least twice to check for recording errors. This will help you correct your answers or reframe your sentences, if necessary. Reviewing is important in cases of multiple choice questions to be sure you don't skip questions or record your answers in the wrong space. You should always review and go back to the sections where you had doubts.