The summary or pr\u00e9cis of a passage has to be expressed in the fewest and clearest words possible. In a summary you should mention only important points and leave out all unnecessary details.<\/p>\n
A summary or pr\u00e9cis is the shortened form of a passage. A good summary should be complete in itself. It should be able to convey the ideas expressed in the original passage so that a reader who does not have enough time to read the original one should have no trouble getting the message.<\/p>\n
A summary should be brief, clear and precise. It should be brief, but it shouldn\u2019t be a number of disjointed simple sentences. A good summary should give ideas, facts or points in the order in which it appears in the original. Note that it is best to write summaries in the same tense as the original.<\/p>\n
The original passage may contain pieces of conversation. When you summarize it, all the sentences given in the direct speech should be changed into indirect. The summary should be in the writer\u2019s own words. As far as possible, avoid using the vocabulary used in the original. Also note that a summary shall not contain points not mentioned in the original.<\/p>\n
Read the given passage thoroughly and try to understand what it means. If you don\u2019t understand the passage after reading it once, read it twice or thrice. Try to find out what the passage is really about. And then provide a title for it.<\/p>\n
Underline important points in the passage. Prepare a sketch or outline summary, containing all the points which you have marked in the passage. Compare the outline with the original passage. If you have left out some points, add them. If the outline contains some unnecessary details, strike them out.<\/p>\n
Prepare your summary with the help of your notes. Don\u2019t refer to the original. Finally, read what you have written. Correct all spelling or grammatical errors if any.<\/p>\n
If the passage is in poetry, express its ideas in prose. Write the pr\u00e9cis in simple language. Avoid lengthy sentences containing many clauses. Don\u2019t use phrases such as \u2018the writer says\u2019, \u2018I think\u2019 or \u2018in my opinion\u2019.<\/p>\n
A useful aid in summarizing is the method of substitution. Study the following examples:<\/p>\n
Write indivisible<\/em> for cannot be divided<\/em> In many cases a phrase or a clause can be replaced by an adjective or adverb. For instance, the sentence \u2018The old woman accepted the gift with a heart full of gratitude\u2019 can be summarized as \u2018The old woman accepted the gift gratefully or thankfully.\u2019<\/p>\n There are no hard and fast rules regarding the length of the precis or summary. Ideally it should be one-third of the length of the given passage.<\/p>\n Read the given passage carefully. Find out what the passage is all about. Try to find a word or a phrase or a short sentence that will sum up the subject matter of the passage. This should be the heading or title. If the given passage is a story, you may choose the name of the protagonist or an incident in the story as the heading. If the given passage is an essay or a paragraph, you may use some apt proverb or quotation as the heading. Begin all the important words in a heading with capital letters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The summary or pr\u00e9cis of a passage has to be expressed in the fewest and clearest words possible. In a summary you should mention only important points and leave out all unnecessary details. What...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[736],"tags":[1909,1908,1907],"class_list":["post-73168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-how-to-write-a-precis","tag-precis-writing","tag-precis-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73168"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73171,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73168\/revisions\/73171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWrite invisible<\/em> for cannot be seen<\/em>
\nWrite people<\/em> for men and women<\/em>
\nWrite extempore<\/em> for speaking without preparation<\/em>
\nWrite simultaneously<\/em> for at the same time<\/em><\/p>\nThe length of a summary<\/h3>\n
How to choose a heading?<\/h3>\n