Comprehension of a Given Passage and Précis

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, General Hindi (the Commission's text, in Hindi):

• दिये हुए गद्य खण्ड का अवबोध एवं प्रश्नोत्तर।
• संक्षेपण।

In English (the academy's rendering, not the Commission's words): comprehension of a given prose passage and answers to questions on it; précis (summarising a passage).

Topics in detail

गद्य खण्ड का अवबोध (comprehension of a prose passage)

• Reading an unseen Hindi prose passage closely, more than once, before answering
• Finding the central idea (kendriya bhav) and the author's point of view
• Answering factual questions from the passage in complete, correct sentences
• Answering inference questions: what the passage suggests without saying it directly
• Explaining an underlined line or phrase in simple words
• Writing answers in one's own words rather than copying whole sentences
• Giving a suitable title (shirshak) for the passage, short and covering its central idea
• Meaning of difficult words in the passage; finding a synonym or antonym from it
• Keeping each answer to the length the question asks for
• Kinds of passages to practise: essays on society, culture, education, environment, science, rural life, values and public life; literary prose of well-known Hindi writers

संक्षेपण (précis)

• What a précis is: a short, connected restatement of a passage that keeps all its essential ideas
• Reading the passage to find the central idea and the main supporting points
• Leaving out examples, illustrations, repetition, quotations and ornamental language
• Writing in one's own words, in the third person and in indirect speech
• Joining the points into one connected paragraph, not a list
• Keeping to the length the question sets; where none is set, about one-third of the original is the usual convention
• Not adding one's own opinion, comment or new facts
• Giving the précis a title where the question asks for one
• Counting words and revising for spelling and grammar

Language of the answers

• Standard Hindi (manak Hindi) in Devanagari, with correct spelling (vartani)
• Correct agreement of gender, number and verb; correct postpositions
• Clear sentences of moderate length; correct punctuation, including the purna viram
• Neat, legible handwriting: the advertisement allows marks to be deducted for handwriting that is not easily legible

Steps for a précis

1. Read the passage twice and note its subject.
2. Underline the key ideas; strike out examples and repetition.
3. Write a rough draft in your own words.
4. Check that every main idea is there and nothing is added.
5. Cut to length, give a title if asked, and write the fair copy.

Overlaps

• Prelims General Hindi tests अर्थबोध (comprehension) in objective form.
• Summarising clearly also helps in Essay and in the General Studies papers.