Precis: Sample Paragraphs for Practice
Make Precis and give suitable Title.
1] Trees give shade for the benefit of others,
and while they themselves stand in the sun and endure the scorching heat, they
produce the fruit of which others profit. The character of good men is like
that of trees. What is the use of this perishable body if no use is made of it
for the benefit of mankind? Sandalwood, the more it is rubbed, the more scent
does it yield. Sugarcane, the more it is peeled and cut up into pieces, the
more juice does it produce. The men who are noble at heart do not lose their
qualities even in losing their lives. What matters whether men praise them or
not? What difference does it make whether they die at this moment or whether
lives are prolonged? Happen what may, those who tread in the right path will
not set foot in any other. Life itself is unprofitable to a man who does not
live for others. To live for the mere sake of living one’s life is to live the
life of dog and crows. Those who lay down their lives for the sake of others
will assuredly dwell forever in a world of bliss.
Precis
Good men live for others
The character of good men is like that of
trees. They live for others and do not lose their qualities even in losing
their lives. They always follow the right path. Praise is immaterial to them.
To live for one’s own sake is to lead the life of beasts. Only those who lay
down their lives for others will live for ever in a world of bliss.
2] It is physically impossible for a
well-educated, intellectual, or brave man to make money the chief object of his
thoughts just as it is for him to make his dinner the principal object of them.
All healthy people like their dinners, but their dinner is not the main object
of their lives. So all healthy minded people like making money ought to like it
and enjoy the sensation of winning it; it is something better than money.
A good soldier, for instance, mainly wishes to
do his fighting well. He is glad of his pay—very properly so and justly
grumbles when you keep him ten years without it—till, his main mission of life
is to win battles, not to be paid for winning them. So of clergymen. The
clergyman's object is essentially baptize and preach not to be paid for
preaching. So of doctors. They like fees no doubt—ought to like them; yet if
they are brave and well-educated the entire object to their lives is not fees.
They on the whole, desire to cure the sick; and if they are good doctors and
the choice were fairly to them, would rather cure their patient and lose their
fee than kill him and get it. And so with all the other brave and rightly
trained men: their work is first, their fee second—very important always; but
still second.
Precis
Money-making is a common attraction in life.
But it cannot be the principal aim of well educated, cultured and brave man. A
brave soldier prizes honour and victory more than his pay. A good clergyman is
more interested in the moral welfare of his people than his returns. A doctor
(good) values the care of his patient far more than his fees. Thus with all the
well-educated, intellectual persons, their work is first, money next.
3] Home is the young, who known "nothing
of the world and who would be forlorn and sad, if thrown upon it. It is
providential, shelter of the weak and inexperienced, who have to learn as yet
to cope with the temptations which lies outside of it. It is the place of
training of those who are not only ignorant, but have no yet learnt how to
learn, and who have to be taught by careful individual trail, how to set about
profiting by the lessons of teacher. And it is the school of elementary
studies—not of advances, for such studies alone can make master minds.
Moreover, it is the shrine of our best affections, the bosom of our fondest
recollections, at spell upon our after life, a stay for world weary mind and
soul; wherever we are, till the end comes. Such are attributes or offices of
home, and like to these, in one or other sense or measure, are the attributes
and offices of a college in a university.
Precis
Home shelters the young who are weak and
inexperienced and unable to face the temptations in life. It is a centre of
their elementary education and a nursery of sweet affections and pleasant
memories. Its magic lasts forever. A weary mind turns to it for rest. Such is
the function of a home and in some measure of the
4] Teaching is the noblest of professions. A
teacher has a scared duty to perform. It is he on whom rests the responsibility
of moulding the character of young children. Apart from developing their
intellect, he can inculcate in them qualities of good citizenship, remaining
neat and clean, talking decently and sitting properly. These virtues are not
easy to be imbibed. Only he who himself leads a life of simplicity, purity and
rigid discipline can successfully cultivate these habits in his pupils.
Besides a teacher always remain young. He may
grow old in age, but not in spite. Perpetual contact with budding youths keeps
him happy and cheerful. There are moments when domestic worries weigh heavily on
his mind, but the delightful company of innocent children makes him overcome
his transient moods of despair.
Precis
Teaching is the noblest profession. A teacher
himself leading a simple, pure and disciplined life can mould the character of
the young children and make them neat and good mannered citizens. Besides he
remains every young forgetting his own domestic worries in the constant company
of the young.
5] English education and English language have
done immense goods to India, inspite of their glaring drawbacks. The notions of
democracy and self-government are the born of English education. Those who
fought and died for mother India's freedom were nursed in the cradle of English
thought and culture. The West has made contribution to the East. The history of
Europe has fired the hearts of our leaders. Our struggle for freedom has been
inspired by the struggles for freedom in England, America and France. If our
leaders were ignorant of English and if they had not studied this language, how
could they have been inspired by these heroic struggles for freedom in other
lands? English, therefore, did us great good in the past and if properly
studied will do immense good in future.
English is spoken throughout the world. For
international contact our comrherce and trade, for the development of our
practical ideas, for the scientific studies, English-is indispensable
"English is very rich in literature," our own literature has been
made richer by this foreign language. It will really be a fatal day if we altogether
forget Shakespeare, Milton, Keats and Shaw.
Precis
Notwithstanding its various defects English
education has done great good to India. The ideas of democracy and
self-government are its gifts. Nursed on English education the Indian leaders
were inspired by the Western thought, culture and freedom struggles. They
fought for and won their motherland's freedom. Being spoken thought-out the
world English is necessary for international contact, trade, commerce and
science. English is rich in literature; its master mind cannot be neglected.
6] When we survey our lives and efforts we
soon observe that almost the whole of our actions and desires are bound up with
the existence of other human beings. We notice that whole nature resembles that
of the social animals. We eat food that others have produced, wear clothes that
others have made, live in houses that others have built. The greater part of
our knowledge and beliefs has been passed on to us by other people though the
medium of a language which others have created. Without language and mental
capacities, we would have been poor indeed comparable to higher animals.
We have, therefore, to admit that we owe our
principal knowledge over the least to the fact of living in human society. The
individual if left alone from birth would remain primitive and beast like in
his thoughts and feelings to a degree that we can hardly imagine. The
individual is what he is and has the significance that he has, not much in
virtue of the individuality, but rather as a member of a great human community,
which directs his material and spiritual existence from the cradle to grave.
Precis
Being social animals, human beings have their
actions and desires bound up with society. In matter of food, clothes,
knowledge and belief they are interdependent. They use language created by
others. Without language their mental power would not grow. They are superior
to beast, because they live in human society. An individual life left alone
from birth would grow utterly beast like. So human society and not
individuality guides man's material and spiritual existence.
One of the pleasantest things in the world is
going on a journey but I like to go by myself. I can enjoy society in a room,
but out of doors, nature is company enough for me. I am then never less alone
than when alone. I cannot see the wit of walking and talking at the same time.
When I am in the country, I wish to vegetate like the country. I am not for
criticizing hedgerows and black cattle. I go out of town in order to forget the
town and all that is in it. There are those who for this purpose go to watering
places, and carry the metropolis with them. I like solitude when I do not give
myself up to it, for the sake of solitude, nor do I ask for a friend in my
retreat. The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect livery to think, feel, and
do just as one pleases we go on a journey chiefly to be free of all
inconveniences, to leave ourselves behind. It is because I want a little
breathing space to music on different matters, that I absent myself from the
town for a while without feeling at a loss. The moment I am left to myself,
instead of a friend to exchange the same stale topics over again, let me have a
trace with this sort of impertinence. Give me the clear blue sky over my head
and the green turf beneath my feet, a winging road before me and a three hour’s
march to dinner and then to thinking
