Rules of Making a Precis

A well-written précis should be a serviceable substitute for the original work. The goal of a précis is to preserve the core essence of the work in a manner that is both clear and concise. While writing a précis, the writer should follow the rules of making a precis to make it an effective piece of work.

Rules of Making a Precis

Read Carefully

First read the passage twice or thrice carefully to summarize it. This will enable you to understand the main theme of the passage.

Underlining

Underline and mark the important ideas and essential points from the original text.

Outline

With the help of underlined ideas, draw the outline of your précis.

Omission

Omit all the unnecessary information or the long phrases which could be replaced by one word. All the adjectives and the adverbs can also be omitted to make a good précis.

Don’t Omit

While making a précis, the writer should never omit the important points and ideas which are essential to be described.

Size

Keep the fact in your mind that the length of the précis should be the one-third of the original passage.

Indirect Speech

A précis should be written in indirect speech. If there is a direct speech in the passage, it should be changed into indirect speech.

Tense and Person

It should be written in the third person and past tense. In the case of universal truth, the present tense should be used.           

Own Words

A précis should be written in your own words, and the writer should abstain from borrowing words from the original passage.

Précis of a Dialogue

The précis of dialogue or conversation should always be expressed in the form of narrative.

Objective Approach

A précis writer should adopt an objective approach. He should not add his personal ideas to a précis. Put all the important points and ideas in a logical order.

One Paragraph

There could be two or more paragraphs in the original text. While making the précis, try to write all the ideas in one paragraph.

Rough Draft

After omitting all the unnecessary ideas, the writer should prepare a rough draft to finalize it.

Final Draft

Having read the rough draft and pointed out some mistakes which may be found in the rough draft, the writer can prepare the final draft.

In order to accomplish this goal, it helps to follow a six step process:

Things not to be used while writing a PRECIS

1. Examples in the passage
2. Stories
3. Proverbs
4. Quotations
5. Idioms
6. Repetition of similar sentences or ideas
7. Long phrases
8. Complex sentences having long clauses
9. Direct speech