Page 297 - DENG201_ENGLISH_II

Unit 22: Precis Writing from Seen and Unseen Passages

Vocational : occupational Notes
Bias : leaning to one side, any special influence
Oration : a formal speech made on a public occasion, especially as part of a ceremony
Points for Precis making
1. Mahatma Gandhi became popular after some movements.
2. These movements forced the Britishers to grant India independence.
3. For Gandhiji, the end justified the means.
4. Therefore, he alongwith his followers never indulged in violence.
5. Gandhiji was a social reformer and after entering the politics he fought for the poor and the
oppressed.
6. He was in favour of total prohibition.
7. His death caused a big void.
Precis
Various movements started by Gandhiji compelled the British to leave India. Gandhiji and his followers
followed the principle of non-violence throughout the freedom struggle. For him, the end justified
the means, and therefore, he never compromised when the splinter groups did not agree on this
method of attaining freedom and broke away from Gandhiji. He was basically a social reformer and,
when he entered politics, did a lot to improve the lot of the oppressed, tried to remove unlouchability
and gave a new educational idea. He regarded drinking the worst evil and campaigned against it.
His death caused a big void in Indian politics. (104 words)
Title
1. Mahatma Gandhi: Champion of the Downtrodden
2. The Mahatma and his Ideals

22.2 Examples for Practice

Make a precis of the following passages and suggest a suitable title for the precis.
Exercise: 1
The university, everywhere in the world, is an important institution for the advancement of the
people. The traditional view of a university which was regarded as a place where students would
carry on their scholarly activities and build themselves as intellectuals, as isolated from rest of the
society, has to be changed to a place where it becomes an institution fully conscious of the changes
taking place in society and making due contribution to this change.
Universities in India have been functioning under several pressures, viz. excessive specialisation,
overcrowding, highly expensive organisation, conflicting political interference. The fast development
that is taking place in society thus makes university life complex. The student now finds himself a
victim of sudden breaking of social ties—family, village and culture. He finds that his studies have no
roots in his own culture and his university education, based on foreign standards, is cracking. The
solution lies in better understanding of the purpose of university education among the teachers and
the taught and in the creation of a sense of community. The students and teachers are supposed to be
mindful of the real purpose of education and reorient it to suit the changed conditions. The university
authorities should, on their part, be careful not to assume that new techniques of teaching are good
simply because they are new. (223 words)
Key-words
Intellectuals : educated and wise people
Isolated : separated
Conscious : aware, knowing

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