CSS 1998 Solved Precis

• Accursed (adjective): Detestable or under a curse; deeply ill-fated
  • Contextual Explanation: The author describes lying as an accursed vice, emphasizing that it is a hateful and morally condemned habit.
• Obstinacy (noun): The quality of being stubborn or refusing to change one's mind
  • Contextual Explanation: Alongside lying, obstinacy is listed as one of the two major faults that should be strictly corrected in children from a young age.
• Knack (noun): A tendency or a special skill for doing something, often gained through practice
  • Contextual Explanation: Once the tongue gets the knack of lying, it becomes a natural, automatic habit that is incredibly difficult to break.
• Brazen (adjective): Bold and without shame
  • Contextual Explanation: A brazen lie is one told with complete confidence and no sign of guilt or embarrassment.

The passage is about the moral, social, and psychological dangers of lying. It emphasizes that falsehood is a deeply destructive vice that corrupts human communication, character formation, and social trust, especially when it develops from childhood. Moreover, the purpose of the passage is to condemn lying as a fundamental moral evil, to warn against its early cultivation in children, and to show that falsehood destroys trust, clarity, and human relationships more severely than silence or ignorance.

Main Idea of the Passage

• Lying is a dangerous moral vice that damages human communication, grows stronger if unchecked from childhood, and creates social confusion and mistrust, unlike truth or even silence.

Supporting Ideas Helping the Main Idea

• Human relationships depend on speech, and lying corrupts this essential bond.
• Falsehood deserves severe moral condemnation due to its gravity.
• Lying should be corrected early in children because it strengthens with habit.
• Once lying becomes habitual, it enslaves even otherwise virtuous individuals.
• Truth is singular and definite whereas falsehood is limitless and confusing.
• Moral philosophers associate good with certainty and evil with boundlessness.
• Trust is preferable, even in animals or in silence, than in deceptive human speech.
• False speech damages human relations more than a lack of communication.

Confused About Main and Supporting Ideas?

Kindly make sure to revise all five lectures on Precis Writing that I have already delivered. In these sessions, we discussed in detail:

• What a precis is and its purpose.
• What the main idea means and how to extract it effectively.
• What supporting ideas are and how to identify them.
• How to coordinate the main and supporting ideas while writing a concise, coherent precis.

Additionally, go through the 20 examples I shared in the WhatsApp groups. These examples highlight the Dos and Don’ts of Precis Writing, and revising them will help you avoid common mistakes and refine your technique.

Precis 1

Lying was condemned as a grave moral fault that weakened human relationships founded on speech. Since communication sustained social bonds, falsehood destroyed trust and clarity. Therefore, opposition to lying had to begin in childhood because repeated deception hardened into a habit. As a result, even virtuous individuals could become controlled by falsehood. Furthermore, truth remained fixed and certain while falsehood took countless forms and caused confusion. And philosophical reasoning linked goodness to certainty and evil to uncertainty. Hence, deceptive speech proved more harmful to human relations than silence or lack of understanding.

• Original Words in the Passage: 322
• Precis Word Count: 92
• Title: Lying as a Corrupting Moral Habit

Precis 2

Lying is portrayed as a grave moral vice that corrodes human communication. Because social relationships rely on speech, falsehood erodes trust and mutual understanding. Hence, it demands early correction as repeated deception grows stronger over time. Gradually, even virtuous people may become captive to it. Moreover, truth remains limited and clear while falsehood is boundless and confusing. Accordingly, philosophical thought associates goodness with certainty and evil with uncertainty. Therefore, deceptive speech damages human relationships more deeply than silence or an unfamiliar language.

• Original Words in the Passage: 322
• Precis Word Count: 82
• Title: The Harmful Nature of Lying

Precis 3

Lying was depicted as a destructive moral failing that undermined human communication. As social relations depended on speech, falsehood shattered trust. Thus, lying required early resistance as habitual deception grew stronger over time. Consequently, even virtuous individuals could fall under its control. Moreover, truth was singular and certain whereas falsehood was limitless and confusing. Therefore, deceptive speech harmed human relationships more severely than silence alone.

• Original Words in the Passage: 322
• Precis Word Count: 65
• Title: Why Lying Undermines Human Relations

Precis 4

Lying was represented as corrupting human relations built on speech. Because falsehood shattered trust, it demanded early resistance before it became a habit. Consequently, even virtuous individuals could be enslaved by deception. Moreover, truth stayed certain while falsehood remained limitless and confusing. Therefore, deceptive speech damaged human understanding more than silence.

• Original Words in the Passage: 322
• Precis Word Count: 51
• Title: The Destructive Power of Falsehood