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Title: Précis writing for beginners

Author: Guy Noel Pocock

Release Date: December 6, 2016 [EBook #53680]

Language: English

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[1]

PRÉCIS WRITING
FOR BEGINNERS

BY

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

[2]

[3]

FOREWORD

The object of this little book is to teach précis writing from the very start. It has been found from experience that the average boy who in the Lower Fifth Form starts making précis of Government Blue Books and Collected Correspondence, will flounder about for a whole term without understanding what he is really expected to do.

The following exercises are progressive and the rules of strict précis writing are learnt one by one. The exercises are really very simple parodies of Government Reports, &c., such as a boy will have to deal with in the higher forms and the Army Examinations. They are arranged in groups, e.g. Reports, Correspondence, Trials, Ships’ Logs, and so forth. After working through the series a boy should be perfectly competent to tackle the real thing.

Incidentally, there is no better training than précis writing for concentration of thought and expression.

G. N. P.

Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.
April, 1917.

[4]

EXERCISES

[5]

PRÉCIS WRITING

What Précis Means

A précis 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 précis 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 précis 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.

These exercises are not the real Government Blue[6] Books, reports, trials, &c., that you will have to tackle later on. They are all ‘made up’. But they are exactly like the real thing. The only difference is that they are much easier and shorter—and they are not so dull. And as they are the same sort of thing on a small scale, you should be able to deal with the real ones later on when you meet them.

How to tackle a Précis

All précis, 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.

All depends on this first reading. For if you once get into the way of writing your précis or even making notes ‘as you go along’, you will never grasp the subject as a whole. And the result will be that your précis will lack balance. Either you will write too much about the first half and skimp the rest, or you will write a great deal about the picturesque points that appeal to you, and leave out things that really matter.

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’.

Rule I.—Start your Précis with a title.

This title must not be of the imaginative kind that would suit a story, such as ‘A Misunderstanding’,[7] or ‘The Adventures of a Red Cross Man’. It must be a clear and concise statement of what the précis is about. Thus: “Précis 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”.

Rule II.—Every Précis must be written in the form of REPORTED SPEECH.

This rule is so important that it is impossible to write a précis 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”

Suppose you say to somebody, “I can’t be bothered, as I am busy writing a précis!” you are using a form which is called Direct speech. And suppose the person you were addressing goes away and says to somebody else, “So-and-so said he couldn’t be bothered, as he was busy writing a précis”, he is reporting what you said. In other words, he has turned your ‘direct speech’ into ‘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’.

This is quite straightforward. The difficulty arises when you are dealing with words that imply future time. Without going into the syntax, one may just explain that in Reported speech the ‘future’ must be referred back to the time at which the Direct statement was spoken. Thus: “I will write when I get[8] home”, becomes “He said that he would write when he got home”.

Thus for the purposes of simple précis writing the following rules must be observed:—

(a) Never use the First or Second persons: always the Third.

(b) Never use the Present tense: always the Past.

(c) 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.

(d) Possessive adjectives, my, your, our, must be changed to the Third person.

(e) 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.

[9]

[10]

No. 1.—Exercises in “Reported Speech”

(1.) The following are written in the form of Direct speech. Rewrite them in Reported speech:—

(a) “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.

(b) “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.”

(c) “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.”

[11]

(2.) Report the following speech, beginning thus:—

“On rising to introduce Mr. Elijah Timmins, the mayor elect, the retiring mayor said that.…”

“Gentlemen, I have the honour to bring to your notice Mr. Elijah Timmins, who is to be your mayor for the coming year. Mr. Timmins, gentlemen, has had—not the experience I have had, of course, for my experience has been exceptional. I have had a hard struggle, gentlemen, but by solid work and honest dealing—and you will bear me out when I say that my pork sausages are always of the highest order—I raised myself to the top of the tree. Modesty forbids me to speak of myself, gentlemen; but I have felt that in these times of war and stress it is very important to have at the helm a mayor of real tact and business capacity; and I cannot help thinking that I have been the right man in the right place. With Lord Nelson I may say, ‘Thank God I have done my duty’.

“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.”

[12]

We are now in a position to write précis 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 Précis writing:

Rule III.—All points essential to the subject MUST be put in; while all unessential points, repetitions, &c., should be left out.

(We may modify the second half of this rule later on.)

Remember that it must be written as ‘reported speech’.

[13]

No. 2.—George Oakes

[14]

Notes

The following is also very simple, and may be done in one paragraph of ten or twelve lines.

Make up your mind what the real subject of this paragraph should be; and notice that the colonel is not really of the slightest importance to the story—except that he tells it.

Don’t forget the title, beginning “Précis of …”.

[15]

No. 3.—The Cobra

“Talking of snakes,” said the colonel, pushing back his chair and lighting another cheroot, “reminds me of a curious incident that happened when I was stationed at Ghurrapore, in the early ’eighties. Ghurrapore was an infernal bad place for snakes, and the worst of the lot was the cobra or hooded snake. These cobras, or hooded snakes, turned up everywhere—in your bath, under the verandah, anywhere. Now, one day one of my officers, Lieutenant Simpson, went into the officers’ changing-room to get a pair of tennis shoes. There were a dozen pairs in a wooden box; and not seeing his own on the top he put his hand in to fish out the bottom ones. Now you must know that there had been a regular plague of cobras, or hooded snakes, in the lines, and we were all a bit panicky; so when Simpson suddenly felt something pricking him, and drew out his hand to find two drops of blood on his little finger, he at once concluded it was a cobra, or hooded snake.

“I was sitting in the club at the time drinking some of that excellent 7 star whisky—you remember it, Major? And when I saw young Simpson running across the compound holding his little finger, I at once said to myself, ‘That’s a hooded snake or cobra!’

“I then followed him to the carpenter’s shop; but by the time I got there the thing was done. He had taken a heavy chisel, and cut his little finger right off! I helped him back to the club, sent for the doctor, and gave Simpson a dose of that 7 star whisky—you remember it, Major? I then sent four men to the changing-room armed with sticks. We upset the box and beat those shoes unmercifully—but no cobra[16] or hooded snake! When I felt that the situation was quite safe, I myself examined the box. And there sticking up through the bottom boards were two little nails, sharp and close together! And so young Simpson had cut his finger off for nothing! Infernal bad luck I call it. Infernal bad luck. For anyone—even I myself—would easily have mistaken the ‘bite’ for that of a cobra, or hooded snake.”

[17]

[18]

Notes

The following is a study in contrasts. The rest is really quite subsidiary. Bring out this point by means of contrasting paragraphs.

Condense the descriptions of the characters as much as you can, without leaving out more points than you can help.

[19]

No. 4.—The Two Lieutenants

Extract from the Autobiography of Admiral Sir Hercules Prout, K.C.B.

[21]

[22]

Notes

The following exercise is again a study in contrasts, but in this case there are more than two.

You will have seen from the last exercise that the way to make your précis clear is to arrange all the topics in separate paragraphs.

We may put it in the form of a Rule:

Rule IV.—After you have stated your main subject in the ‘title’, arrange all the different topics in SEPARATE PARAGRAPHS; and whenever you can, make the ‘state of affairs’ clear in your first paragraph.

This rule applies to every précis you write. The best plan is to jot down in pencil Headings for all your paragraphs before you start writing your précis (three in short précis; four, five, or six, in longer précis). The length of each paragraph depends on the importance of the topic.

[23]

No. 5.—The Black Republic

Extract from the reminiscences of Commander Brown, R.N.

[26]

Notes

A short paragraph of explanation is needed. The different lines of investigation fit very easily into different paragraphs.

[27]

No. 6.—The Professor and the Monkeys

Translation of a letter written by Herr Professor Otto von Pumpenstein to the München Philological Society.

Enclosure

Report of certain experiments carried out in the Monkey-house of the Hamburg Zoological Gardens.

The following experiments were made by me by kind permission of the Herr Vorsteher of the Zoological Gardens, with the object of ascertaining whether monkeys actually converse in language. I was drawn to make these experiments by a consideration of the extraordinary similarity between the structure of the mouth and vocal chords in Man and the Anthropoid Apes, and by the amazing correspondence between their brain-charts. I accordingly had a small travelling cage fitted up with table, ink-stand, and so forth, and placed inside the large cage of the chimpanzees, which happened to be next that[28] of the spider monkeys, in such a position that I could enter it without fear of attack.

In this cage I spent my holiday, arriving at the Monkey-house at 10 every morning, and leaving at 6 p.m. My meals I took when the chimpanzees were fed, to avoid arousing jealousy. During the first week I filled five notebooks with the noises made by these animals (spelt phonetically), but without being able to attach any particular thought to any of them. My first success was the result of flashing a mirror in the eyes of the old male chimpanzee. He invariably showed signs of distress, beat the wires of my cage, and said, “Kee—kee—r-r-r-t!” which would seem to mean, “This I can no longer stand!” I tried this experiment on 105 occasions, and always with the same result.

My next success was with regard to the spider monkeys. I discovered that by singing a particular note I could induce these monkeys to imitate me in a very shrill strident tone, but always in perfect pitch. In a few days’ time they could sing up and down the scale, but without any articulation. I next sang them “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles” in a loud voice. They received the first few lines in silence, and were then seized with a wild enthusiasm, gathering handfuls of bran and flinging them into my cage. Since that experiment I have so far been unable to induce them to sing.

I next carried out a series of important experiments with the aid of a gramophone. Observing that an old fierce chimpanzee was kept in a cage by himself, I induced his keeper to deprive him of water for several hours. I then approached a basin of water to the outside of the beast’s cage, placing the gramophone close to his mouth as he hung by one foot[29] from the ceiling. I took a record of his remarks, which appeared to consist of a repetition of the word “G-r-r-ump”. I then carried the record to my original cage and turned it on. My first trials were unsuccessful, but on the fifteenth repetition I observed that an old female chimpanzee pushed her saucer of water in my direction. From this I concluded that the meaning of the old ape’s remark was, “I a drink of water want”. I have made a great number of experiments with the gramophone, and am inclined to believe that the chimpanzee for “nut” is “warra-yak”; “banana” is “kee-e” (very shrill), and so forth.

I shall spend another fortnight in my cage, and I confidently hope for still more startling and far-reaching results. I have attempted to reproduce these noises, or phrases, myself; but so far they have not been received in a friendly spirit.

[30]

[31]

No. 7.—The Island

Report of Captain H. Cardew, R.N., on the condition of the Island of Ingelos.

[33]

[34]

Notes

The following three exercises are short accounts of trials and investigations.

Rule V.—In making a précis of the evidence of various witnesses DO NOT PROCEED BY QUESTION AND ANSWER. It is often convenient to keep the evidence of different witnesses in separate paragraphs, but do not repeat the same points. Just tell the story in your own words, and as far as possible in the order in which events happened.

In making a précis of the Witch Trial be careful to write in modern English.

[35]

No. 8.—A Seventeenth-Century Witch Trial

The fourteenth day of the third month in the year of Grace 1616, His most gracious, learned, and religious Majesty King James I being on throne, was brought to trial at Quarter Sessions one Mistress Banbury, charged with having correspondence with the Prince of Darkness, and of practising the detestable rites of witchcraft, whereby sundry persons suffered grievous harm. Whereof the evidence of witnesses was thus and thus.

Master Mark Rubbleyard duly sworn. May it please your worship, on Wednesday last at high noon I and my servants, having felled certain trees in Bishop’s copse, and having tied them upon a wain, did drive by the cottage of Mistress Banbury. Now the trees being large and the branches thereof stretching athwartwise, they catched upon the fence of Mistress Banbury’s garden. And thereupon, incontinent looked forth Mistress Banbury, and in a loud voice put a curse upon me, upon my horses, and upon my wain. And the curse was of such power that the wain did fall into the ditch ere reaching my farm; moreover, my horses are fallen sick and eat not their oats, and I myself am stricken with a grievous colic.

Mistress Kate Brokedish duly sworn. May it please your worship. Not long since came Mistress Banbury to my house selling simples and charms. And may it please your worship, I did purchase certain snails stewed in milk as a cure for my goodman’s warts. And as I made my purchase she did maliciously cast her eyes upon my son Nicholas, he being two years old. And before the day was out my son[36] Nicholas was smitten with a cough and did spit pins until the evening.

Master Noak, Beadle, duly sworn. May it please your worship. Yesternight three lads of the village passing by the house of Mistress Banbury, she cast an evil eye upon them; and they being affrighted threw sundry stones. Whereupon did Mistress Banbury curse them roundly, debeasting herself with detestable oaths. And incontinent the lads have become crossed-eyed, and do hourly vomit forth needles.

Questioned as to whether she were in league with the Devil, Mistress Banbury answered, Yea; howsoever, not with the Prince of Darkness, but with three demons. On being questioned as to their names, she replied, “Pluck, Catch, and Chitabob.” On being questioned as to which had forced her to do these things, she replied, “Chitabob did this thing.” Then said the judge unto her that was accused: Mistress Banbury, you are accused of the most heinous crime of witchcraft before God and man. Whereof to make an ensample, and to insure right judgement, I hereby give order that your thumbs and your great toes be tied together as it were in the form of a cross, and that you be cast into Tiddler’s Pond. And if the sacred element receive you, and mercifully you shall be drowned, then is your innocence approved. But if the sacred element cast you upon its surface and you swim, then is your guilt proven; your body shall be burnt unto death, and your soul shall enter into torment.

[37]

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Notes

The following exercise will obviously work out at five paragraphs:—In the first tell the ‘state of affairs’; in the others give the evidence of the various witnesses without repeating or overlapping more than is necessary.

Remember that the story must be told in good English, not in the language of the witnesses.

[39]

No. 9.—The Miser

Evidence concerning the death of Mr. Timothy Keek, of No. 215A Tapley Street, Bristol; before Mr. Jules Curtis.

Evidence of 1st witness in answer to questions.

My name is Clara Cloggs. I am a charwoman and charred for Mr. Keek regular. Once a fortnight, Fridays, I done his room out with soap and soda and opened the winders and made the bed. No, he never had no fires. I was charring on the 3rd floor at 11 o’clock Friday, leaving Mr. Keek’s room to the last, as per usual. I knocks at his door with the broom-’andle, which there was no answer. Mrs. ’Uggins from 2nd floor calls up, “He ain’t been down for his walk yet, Mrs. Cloggs!” I tries the door, which it were no good; so I calls to Mrs. ’Uggins, “Mrs. ’Uggins!” I sez, “we better fetch the perlice,” I sez; “and I for one don’t want to be mixed up with no locked doors and suchlike!” I sez. So me and Mrs. ’Uggins fetched the perlice sergeant; and me, I goes ’ome to mind the children’s dinner.

Evidence of 2nd witness.

I am Police Constable Blades, 7X. On Friday, 11.20 a.m. precise, I was on my beat between Tapley Street and the King’s Arms, when I was met by Mrs. Cloggs and Mrs. ’Uggins, which they are both well known to me. They told me of the business in ’and, and me and Mrs. ’Uggins proceeds to the apartment of Mr. Keek, which we reached it at 11.32 a.m. I then knocked smartly on the door with the knuckles of the left ’and. Receiving no reply I continued the process, at the same time sending Mrs. ’Uggins for the poker.[40] I then broke open the door, and discovered the deceased Mr. Keek at the table with his ’ead on his arms, and his arms on a pile of golden sovereigns. Two or three thousand at a rough estimate. I then whistled for assistance, and sent Mrs. ’Uggins for the doctor. This was at 11.53 a.m. precise.

Evidence of 3rd witness.

Mrs. Jane ’Uggins I am. Yes I knew Mr. Keek, five years I knew ’im. Very quiet regular old gentleman he was. Went out the same time every day, and took his meals out. Couldn’t say what his business was—nobody didn’t know. I went with Mrs. Cloggs to fetch the perlice. I ’elped Sergeant Blades open Mr. Keek’s door, and I see him lying on the sovereigns.

Evidence of 4th witness.

I am Doctor Theodore Simpson. I was fetched to No. 215A Tapley Street at noon on Friday. I found the police in possession of Mr. Keek’s room, and Mr. Keek lying across a great pile of gold, as the sergeant told in his evidence. Upon making an examination I found that the deceased had literally died of starvation. He must have been starving himself more or less for years; and for the last few days I should say he had eaten nothing at all.

[41]

[42]

Notes

Remember that you must not proceed by question and answer. Just tell the story shortly in the order in which events took place.

You will see that it is of no importance whatever to know the names of the persons concerned. (If mentioned, they should be enclosed in brackets.) But perhaps it is important to know the ages of the boys, as this affects the story.

[43]

No. 10.—The Boy Scouts

Part of the evidence taken in the Police Court, in the trial of two boys, Albert Home (16) and James Hopkins (16).

Several scouts were then heard as witnesses; and the two lads, having admitted their cruelty, were sentenced to receive six strokes each with the cane.

[45]

[46]

Notes

Remember that the evidence concerning the treatment of children is the subject of the following letter. The personal feelings of the clergyman are of secondary importance.

Rule VI.—Proper Names and Titles must be mentioned when it increases the value of the evidence, or report, or whatever it is, to know WHO IS WRITING OR SPEAKING AND WHOM HE IS ADDRESSING. Otherwise do as you like.

In the following précis it is obviously important to know both.

[47]

No. 11.—Child Labourers in 1836

To the Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Lancaster.

[50]

Notes

In this précis the curator and the Nizam should occupy a very small place. The Museum is the real subject—not the curator.

Arrange the points of interest, and group them in separate paragraphs.

Remember that Euclid was the best-known figure the Museum produced; and treat him accordingly.

[51]

No. 12.—The Museum, 300 B.C.

(The Nizam Ramayana Gosh, from the Ganges Valley, is shown over the Museum at Alexandria by the chief Curator.)

[54]

Notes

The following précis is quite straightforward. Start with Mr. Hunt’s reasons for writing the letter, and then proceed with the events in the order in which they happened, leaving out all unessential talk.

This exercise will afford a good example of the following important rule:

Rule VII.—Never put in any critical or explanatory remarks of your own.

In this précis, for instance, one is tempted to point out that Mr. Hunt was not in a normal state, that on his own showing he was dreadfully depressed and lonely, and that this would affect the value of his evidence. But one must do nothing of the sort. One’s business in this, as in every précis, is to write a concise summary of the story as it stands, and leave all criticism to the reader’s common sense.

[55]

No. 13.—The Warning

Letter to the Secretary of the Psychical Research Society.

[58]

Notes

In the following précis do not proceed by question and answer. Arrange the subjects in definite groups as you think best.

The main point to remember is that you must not criticize this wonderful medley of nonsense. All you have to do is to give a concise idea of the kind of pseudo-science that boys had to learn by heart a hundred and fifty years ago. (The original is largely taken from old school-books.) You must not use a single phrase such as ‘this absurd idea’. Your title should imply that such stuff is very much out-of-date.

[59]

No. 14.—Science as taught in our Great-grandfathers’ School-days

Preceptor. What is Science?

Child. Science is the investigation and proper appreciation of the phenomena of the Universe in which it has pleased the Creator to place us. This investigation is applied to the Elements and to the Immutable Laws which govern them.

Preceptor. How many Elements are there?

Child. Four: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air—the Igneous element, the Aqueous element, the Earthy, and the Aerial elements.

Preceptor. What is Fire?

Child. Fire, or the Igneous element, is the element of destruction. It consists of flame, which devours materials, and imparts a comfortable warmth to man and beast. The sun is the primary source of heat; the interior of the Earth consists of Fire; combustion can be produced artificially by man; and the Lightning is its most terrific manifestation.

Preceptor. What is Lightning?

Child. Lightning is a large bright flame darting through the air to a considerable distance, of momentary duration, and usually accompanied by thunder.

Preceptor. What is Thunder?

Child. Thunder is a loud rattling noise accompanied by Lightning, caused by the sudden clashing or rushing together of several clouds which are filled with sulphurous and nitrous exhalations. Its reverberations fill the hearer with awe, and turn the mind to thoughts of piety and submission.

Preceptor. What is the Earthy element?

Child. The Earthy element is the solid ground upon[60] which we live. It is divided into mountains, hills, valleys, and plains, in a variety pleasing to the eye, and adapted to all sorts and conditions of men.

Preceptor. Of what is the Earthy element composed?

Child. The Earth is composed of rocks, sand, metals, and mud, in which are also to be found the more precious stones, such as the diamond, the jacynth, the topaz, and the chrysoprasus.

Preceptor. When was the Earth created?

Child. The Earth was created by the Divine Will in the year 4004 B.C., the sun, moon, and stars, being created shortly afterwards for the use and benefit of man.

Preceptor. How were the Mountains formed?

Child. For the first few thousand years it would seem that the Earth was subjected to occasional violent catastrophes, both by fire and water. In these catastrophes great mountain chains were sometimes flung up; at other times the waters swept over the tops of the hills, and the shells of sea creatures may be found there to this day.

Preceptor. Have these catastrophes ceased?

Child. They have become less violent in their nature, though the recent Earthquake and Wave at Lisbon and the Eruption of Mount Hecla in Iceland attest their continued activity.

Preceptor. What is the Aerial Element?

Child. It is that elastic fluid with which the Earth is surrounded. It is generally called Air. It partakes of all the motions of the earth.

Preceptor. What is the cause of the Wind?

Child. The cause of the Wind has never been ascertained.

Preceptor. Then are the Winds of no benefit to us?

Child. Yes, the benefits arising from them are[61] innumerable: they dry the damp, they chase vile humours, they bring us the rain in due season, and waft our ships from every corner of the Earth.

Preceptor. What is the Aqueous element?

Child. The Aqueous element is generally called Water. It is the fluid which covers half the surface of the Globe, and it is divided into seas and oceans. It is also manifested in rivers, streams, springs, rain, and mist.

Preceptor. Why is the sea salt?

Child. The saltness of the sea is due to certain saline properties in water when brought together in very large quantities.

Preceptor. Do we derive any advantage from the study of Science and Natural Philosophy?

Child. Yes; for without a competent knowledge of Natural Philosophy we cannot form a true conception of the Purpose of Creation; nor can we adapt our daily lives in accordance with the Law by which all things work together for the benefit and improvement of Mankind.

[62]

Notes

It is very important to be able to make a précis of a number of letters or telegrams.

Rule VIII.—In making a précis of a number of letters DO NOT PROCEED LETTER BY LETTER. Get the gist of the whole story; then pick out the important points and arrange them in the order in which the events happened. Several letters or telegrams may be combined in one paragraph, if they are on the same topic, but the topics must be kept separate.

Rule IX.—Never omit the principal DATES AND TIMES.

[63]

No. 15—The Hut-Tax

Correspondence between the Administrator of British Bongoland, the Commissioner of the M’Gobi District, and the Colonial Secretary.

1. To Mr. Commissioner Philips:—

2. To the Administrator:—

[64]

3. To Mr. Commissioner Philips:—

4. To the Administrator:—

5. To Mr. Commissioner Philips:—

[65]

(For Précis. Paper 2.)

6. (By telegram.)

To the Administrator, British Bongoland:—

7. (By telegram.)

To the Colonial Office:—

[66]

8. (By telegram.)

To Sir Obadiah FitzBlank:—

[67]

[68]

Notes

Remember Rule VIII and Rule IX.

Also, it is often convenient to use a general term instead of names: such as ‘The Naval Authorities’ or ‘The British Government’.

[69]

No. 16.—The Mandarin

Correspondence concerning the bastinadoing of a British subject in the village of Ching-Wang, 30 miles from Shang-Hai.

1. To the British Consul at Shang-Hai:—

2. To His Complacency the Mandarin Lu-Chu:—

[70]

3. (Translation.)

To the British Consul:—

4. To Lieut.-Commander Hanlon of H.M.S. Laverock:—

(Per picket boat.)

5. (By Wireless.)

To Admiral Groves, China Station:—

6. (By Wireless from H.M.S. Thunderer):—

[71]

7. From H.M.S. Laverock (by letter):—

8. To Lieut.-Commander Hanlon (translation):—

9. To the British Consul at Shang-Hai:—

[72]

Notes

Rule X.—ALWAYS KEEP A PROPER BALANCE. That is to say, it often happens that in the original too much space is given to picturesque details, and too little to the more important facts. In your précis this must be put right.

This is obviously the case in the following Life of Isaac Newton.

[73]

No. 17—Isaac Newton

Newton was born in 1643, and was the smallest baby in the world. He went to school when very young, but does not appear to have done any work till one day the top-boy kicked him violently in the stomach for daring to get his sums right. Then Newton began to work, not with any idea of becoming the greatest of mathematicians, but simply because he resented being kicked in the stomach, and determined to get the better of his tormentor. His spare time was spent in making ingenious little contrivances, water-clocks, paper lamps attached to kites with which to frighten the villagers, a ‘wind-mill’ turned by a pet mouse with a string tied to its tail. When he left school he was tried on the farm, but it was no use. Newton was always behind a hedge inventing some new automatic toy, while the pigs wallowed in clover, and the cows trampled down the corn. So he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and there his serious studies began.

His first discoveries were on the subject of light, about which very little was then known. On darkening his room and allowing a circular beam of sunlight to pass through a hole in the shutter, and thence through a triangular glass prism, he found that an oblong patch of light was cast on the screen five times as long as the hole in the shutter. Moreover, it was no longer white, but made up of all the colours of the rainbow—violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red—always ranged in the same order. He soon came to the conclusion that white is not a separate colour, but is made up of all the colours of the ‘spectrum’.

[74]

He next invented the reflecting telescope, forerunner of all the vast instruments by means of which the wonders of the sky have been investigated.

He then turned his great mind to the problem of finding out what light really is, and, though his theory has been given up for a better, it was the best that had been suggested up to that time. He also found out that light travels at the rate of nearly 200,000 miles a second.

Meanwhile the Plague broke out at Cambridge, making it necessary for him to retire into the country. It was in the garden of his country house that the fall of an apple is supposed to have suggested to Newton the theory of gravitation.

Scientists had for a long time been familiar with the fact that the earth is a colossal magnet, drawing everything upon its surface in the direction of its centre; but it was Newton who conceived the idea—and whether it was the falling apple that suggested it or no is unimportant—that the influence extended as far as the moon, and, if this could be established, to the stars throughout space. Was it not possible that the moon, trying to shoot off at a tangent, was continually pulled back by the earth, and so kept ‘falling’ round it? Newton tried experiments, applying laws already discovered, and found that the theory would not work. Undiscouraged he put the whole problem aside till more facts should have been discovered. It was not till 1682 that more accurate measurements of the earth gave Newton fresh data to go upon. Again he applied his theory, and this time he began to see that his problem was ‘coming out’—that the moon would fall just the right distance, 15 feet per minute. As he neared the end of his calculations he became so agitated that he could not go on:[75] a friend had to finish it for him. And it was right. He had established the fact that not only is the moon subject to the law of gravitation, but that the whole universe is slung together in one stupendous system.

It is this grand discovery, and the wonderful invention of the calculus, that establish Newton’s claim to immortal honour. As says the inscription in Westminster Abbey: “The vigour of his mind was almost supernatural”.

[76]

Notes

In this précis the story should be condensed, and told as a continuous narrative, and not in scraps and jottings as in a log.

For the purpose of verifying positions, &c.—especially as the battle was fought at night—it is important to mention names of all ships.

It is also necessary to give the times of the chief events; but one can avoid monotony and scrappiness by using phrases such as “Ten minutes later.…”

[77]

No. 18.—The Battle of the Nile

From the log of the Swiftsure (unofficial):—

End of Project Gutenberg's Précis writing for beginners, by Guy Noel Pocock

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