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PR?CIS WRITING FOR BEGINNERS
GUY N. POCOCK, M.A.
Royal Naval College, Dartmouth Late Head of the History and English Department, Military Side, Cheltenham College
BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED 50 OLD BAILEY LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY
FOREWORD
The object of this little book is to teach pr?cis writing from the very start. It has been found from experience that the average boy who in the Lower Fifth Form starts making pr?cis of Government Blue Books and Collected Correspondence, will flounder about for a whole term without understanding what he is really expected to do.
Incidentally, there is no better training than pr?cis writing for concentration of thought and expression.
G. N. P.
EXERCISES
Page
PR?CIS WRITING
What Pr?cis Means
A pr?cis is the essence of a longer story of any kind. You take your story and 'boil it down', so as to get rid of all the parts that do not really matter; you then collect what is left, and put these points together in a short concise 'summary'. But the result must not be a 'list' of important points, or a series of 'jottings'. It must be the same story told clearly and readably, in a very much condensed form.
For instance, you may have to make a pr?cis of a long pile of letters dealing with some particular subject; or perhaps the account of a trial; or a long report written by one individual. It doesn't matter what the longer 'story' is. What you have to do is to read it through, extract all the parts that matter, and put them down in readable form.
The Object of these Exercises
Now pr?cis writing is unlike free English composition. It is much more exact and scientific; and it must be written according to certain definite rules. It is no use trying to learn all the rules at once; you will learn them one by one, and without trouble, as you work through the following exercises.
How to tackle a Pr?cis
All pr?cis, whether easy or difficult, should be tackled in the same way. First read the whole thing through very carefully without writing any notes or underlining any passages.
When you have read it carefully through, and got the whole story in your mind, run through it quickly a second time marking the passages you mean to use. For the purposes of this book the best plan will be to underline in pencil those passages which will have to be used with little alteration, and to put a wavy line against those which cannot be left out altogether, but must be greatly condensed.
Last, work up all the marked passages into a short continuous 'story'.
This title must not be of the imaginative kind that would suit a story, such as 'A Misunderstanding', or 'The Adventures of a Red Cross Man'. It must be a clear and concise statement of what the pr?cis is about. Thus: "Pr?cis of the correspondence between the British Government and Dr. Wilson, President of the United States, concerning contraband of war". And if dates are given you should add, "between Feb. 18, 1915, and Oct., 1916".
This rule is so important that it is impossible to write a pr?cis till it is thoroughly understood. It will be necessary to explain what is meant by 'reported speech', and to practise a few examples.
"Reported Speech"
Notice what has happened. You are no longer the person speaking, but the person spoken about: therefore 'I' becomes 'he'. Also you are no longer speaking: what you said is now 'in the past'; therefore 'can't' becomes 'could not' and 'am' becomes 'was'.
Thus for the purposes of simple pr?cis writing the following rules must be observed:--
Never use the First or Second persons: always the Third.
Never use the Present tense: always the Past.
Never use the Future tense: always refer it back to the past. Even a verb such as 'must', which usually implies the future, should be changed to 'would have to', or some such phrase.
Possessive adjectives, my, your, our, must be changed to the Third person.
Adverbs and adverbial phrases must be changed in the same way. 'Now' becomes 'then'; 'at the present time' becomes 'at that time'; 'here' becomes 'there', and so on.
Take one more example. You know this familiar quotation: "I will arise and go to my Father, and say unto Him, 'Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son'".
Now suppose you were telling the story of the Prodigal Son to a Japanese gentleman, or somebody who had not heard it before, and you wished to keep pretty close to the original, you might put it in this way: "The prodigal son then determined that he would arise and go to his Father, and confess that he had sinned before Him and against Heaven, and was no more worthy to be called His son".
Compare these two forms, and note all the differences.
No. 1.--Exercises in "Reported Speech"
The following are written in the form of Direct speech. Rewrite them in Reported speech:--
"Sister Anne, sister Anne, do you see anyone coming?" asked the poor wife again.
"I see nothing but a cloud of dust," her sister replied.
"I cannot speak to you here and now; but after the match is over I shall take the first opportunity of telling you exactly what I think of you."
"I don't know whether I shall be able to come. I will if I can, but that must depend on how things turn out. At this moment I cannot say definitely that I will come."
Report the following speech, beginning thus:--
"On rising to introduce Mr. Elijah Timmins, the mayor elect, the retiring mayor said that...."
"Mr. Timmins, gentlemen, is about to step into my shoes; and I only trust he will not undo the good work that I have done."
We are now in a position to write pr?cis in its simplest form. We will try a few very easy examples first, such as "George Oakes" and the "Cobra"; after that the exercises will become more difficult.
Notes
The following is a letter written by an old cottager to the Squire of his Parish. Condense it to half the length, correcting the spelling and grammar. It is very simple, as there is only one 'subject', and therefore only one paragraph. But it will serve to introduce this most important rule of Pr?cis writing:
Remember that it must be written as 'reported speech'.
No. 2.--George Oakes
IVY COTTAGE, BOURTON-ON-THE-WATER.
DEAR SIR,
I ope you are quite well as this leaves me at present which my wife as the swolen glans something bitter but I do not complain it being the Will of God, which my wife do so most monotinous. Dear Sir I ave been out of work Severn weeks come Toosdy and the price of coals is rose something crool which I cannot afford them nohow, and my wife havin the swolen glans and wot not. Dear Sir if you could give me a job of work in the garden or the fowlouse I should take it most grateful bein bread and born in the fowlouse in a manner of speakin sixty years man and boy I ave ad truck with fowls. Dear Sir you ave the oner to know me so long there is no need of Referances, which perraps you might not ave heard my experance in the foulouse which believe me sir I understands all manner of Fowls, poultry and wot not, and my wife as ad truck with ducks but she bein laid aside with the swolen glans she cannot come out which bein the Will of God I do not complain. Dear Sir perraps you would like to give me a trial seein as how I do not live far a way bein strong in the Legs. Dear Sir if you will give me a Trial I will take it most kind.
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