Precis Writing: Worked Examples

In one line

Four passages of the length MU sets, each worked in full: the marked points, the model precis, the word count, the title, and the mistake most candidates make on that particular passage.

How to use this chapter

Cover the model. Read the passage twice. Write down the central idea in one sentence. Mark the essential points. Count the passage, divide by three, and write your precis to that number. Then compare. The comparison is where the learning is, and reading the models without attempting the passage teaches nothing.

Passage one: the lawyer and general reading

The passage. 165 words. Target: about 55, and anything from 50 to 60 is safe.

It is often said that the law is a jealous mistress and that a young man or woman entering it must give up every other interest. There is a certain amount of truth in the saying, for the study of law demands a steady attention which few other subjects require, and the practice of it demands more. But the saying is also mischievous, because it suggests that a lawyer ought to know nothing but law. Nothing could be further from the truth. A lawyer deals with the whole of human life, with families and factories and shipping and medicine and the quarrels of neighbours, and a mind that has been narrowed to statutes and reports is a poor instrument for the purpose. The greatest advocates have almost always been wide readers. They have found in literature and in history the knowledge of human motive which no textbook of law contains, and it is this knowledge, rather than the memory of rules, which persuades a court.

Step one, the central idea in one sentence. The saying that law allows no other interest is half true, and misleading, because a lawyer needs wide reading to understand people.

Step two, the essential points.

1. The saying: law is a jealous mistress, demanding the abandonment of other interests.
2. It is partly true, because study and practice demand unusual attention.
3. It is misleading, because it suggests a lawyer needs nothing but law.
4. Law deals with the whole of life, so a narrow mind is a poor instrument.
5. Great advocates have read widely.
6. Literature and history give knowledge of human motive, which persuades a court more than remembered rules.

Step three, what is cut. The list "families and factories and shipping and medicine and the quarrels of neighbours" is an illustration of point 4 and goes, replaced by "all human life". "Nothing could be further from the truth" is emphasis and goes. "A young man or woman" becomes nothing, because the sentence can be recast impersonally.

The model precis.

Title: Why a Lawyer Must Read Widely

The saying that law is a jealous mistress is partly true, since its study and practice demand unusual attention, but wrong in suggesting a lawyer need know nothing else. Law concerns all human life, and a mind confined to statutes serves it badly. Great advocates read widely, gaining an understanding of motive that persuades courts more than remembered rules.

(59 words)