PRECIS WRITING

Ansa Ahsan
Read the passage carefully and try to
understand it. In practice sessions you
may consult a dictionary for the meanings
of unfamiliar words and idioms, but in an
examination you can only resort to
deduction.
A second reading in necessary, and a
third is often advisable for a deeper
understanding of the material.

Steps to Follow
Summarize the passage in the form of
headings or points. This enables you to
draw out the main ideas of the passage
and omit the less important details and
merely illustrative material.
Read the passage again, as some of
the details may be required to enable you
to form complete sentences.

Steps to Follow
Turn over or put aside the book or
sheet which contains the passage.
Then write the précis, basing it on the
points you have already extracted. The
précis must be in complete sentences
which follow one another in logical
sequences, and as far as possible in your
own words. Do not look at the passage as
you write your précis.

Steps to Follow
A précis is usually written in reported
speech, and therefore in the third person.
Unless required, do not use the first
pronoun “I” and “we”.
When you have completed the précis, and
not before, study the passage again for
the purpose of correcting any factual
errors.

Steps to Follow
Sir Winston Churchill, in his book The
Gathering Storm, claimed the Second
World War was far more tragic and much
more far-reaching in its consequences
than the First World War. He provides
several reasons to support his
contention….

Sample Passage
Although there was a great deal of
slaughter in the First World War, most of
the people who lost their lives were
combatants: the soldiers, sailors and
airmen who fought each other. There was
also a great deal of financial waste. But
western civilization was not badly
affected….

Sample Passage
And the countries which have participated
in the war remained to a large extent
intact, and did not lose their separate
identities. Both sides had generally
observed the traditional laws of warfare.
The countries which had won and those
which had lost remained civilized states….

Sample Passage
And the countries which have participated
in the war remained to a large extent
intact, and did not lose their separate
identities. Both sides had generally
observed the traditional laws of warfare.
The countries which had won and those
which had lost remained civilized
states…..

Sample Passage
The peace treaty which was signed was
based on the principles of civilized
behavior: its main fault lay in the
enormous reparations which the losers
were required to pay, and which could not
in practice enforced. The League of
Nations was formed in due course to try
to maintain international peace and
prevent another conflagration….

Sample Passage
In the Second World War, on the other
hand, all rules of civilized behavior were
cast aside. The crimes committed by the
regime of Adolph Hitler exceeded in the
wickedness and scale anything that had
ever happened in history. For example,
millions of people were thrown into
concentration camps to die of starvation,
disease or execution in the gas chambers….

Sample Passage
Beside these cruelties, the massacres of
Genghis khan seem almost petty. The
Germans started the bombardment of open
cities from the air when the allied defenses
were still weak, and the allies later
retaliated on a scale twenty times as treat.
The climax to this horrible practice was the
complete destruction of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki by atomic bombs…

Sample Passage
The end of this most destructive war in
history brought neither the restoration of
civilized life nor lasting peace. Instead,
the world was faced with greater problem
than ever.

Sample Passage
Churchill: Second World War exceeded First in
tragedy.

First World War

i. People killed were combatants.

ii. Western civilization and warring countries remained
intact.
iii. Laws of /warfare observed.
iv. Peace treaty based on civilized principles.
v. League of Nations formed to maintain peace.

SUMMARY OF THE PASSAGE IN

HEADINGS
Second World War

i. Rules of civilized behavior ignored.

ii. Crimes of Hitler’s regime greatest in history.
iii. Bombing of open cities climaxed by atomic
bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
iv. Greater problems followed at the end of the
war.

SUMMARY OF THE PASSAGE IN

HEADINGS
Notice that a number of repetitions found in
the passage have been eliminated in the
above summary. As the author was trying to
prove that the Second World War was much
worse than the First.
Certain details regarding the First World War
which do not support his contention have
been omitted. Illustrative material, too, such
as the mention of Genghis Khan’s
massacres, has been ignored.

IMPORTANT POINTS
Sir Winston Churchill contended that the
Second World War exceeded the First in
tragedy. In the First World War the killing
was confined to combatants. Western
civilization and the warring nations
remained intact at the end of the war, in
which the laws of warfare were
respected…

PRECIS BASED ON THE ABOVE HEADINGS

A peace treaty based on civilized
principles was signed and the League of
Nations was formed to prevent another
war. During the Second World War the
rules of civilized behavior were ignored;
unprecedented crimes were committed by
Hitler’s regime…

PRECIS BASED ON THE ABOVE

HEADINGS
The horrible bombing of open cities was
climaxed by the atomic bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The end of the
war brought, not lasting peace, but far
greater problems…

PRECIS BASED ON THE ABOVE

HEADINGS
THE END