CSS Special 2023 Solved Precis

• Fanciful (Adjective): Imaginative, unrealistic
  • Contextual Explanation: Used to describe absurd ad scenarios
• Repulsive (Adjective): Causing intense distaste or disgust
  • Contextual Explanation: Unrealistic ads often feel funny yet repulsive.
• Mundane (Adjective): Ordinary, dull
  • Contextual Explanation: Reality is mundane, unlike the ads’ fantasy world.
• Meddlesome (Adjective): Interfering, nosy
  • Contextual Explanation: A neighbour's meddling sparks a wife’s panic in one ad.
• Plunge (Verb): To invest heavily or suddenly
  • Contextual Explanation: Advertisers keep pouring money into such content.
• Heartening (Adjective): Encouraging
  • Contextual Explanation: Viewer numbers are heartening for advertisers.
• Finicky (Adjective): Fussy or hard to please
  • Contextual Explanation: A husband in one ad is portrayed as finicky.

This passage is a critical analysis of modern television commercials: the author takes a clear stance, criticizing television commercials for being unrealistic and arguing that they are ultimately ineffective at promoting products. He goes on to suggest that such commercials fail to promote products because viewers either find them laughable or watch them unwillingly, not because the commercials are genuinely compelling.

In other words, the purpose of the passage is to challenge the effectiveness of highly funded, unrealistic television commercials. And the author's main point is to debunk the myth that high viewership numbers automatically translate to successful advertising campaigns.

Main Idea of the Passage

• Television commercials are a waste of money because their unrealistic, idealized content fails to effectively promote products as viewers find them either laughable or repulsive and watch them only out of convenience.

Supporting Ideas Helping the Main Idea

• Advertisers create commercials with idealized people in unreal situations, despite viewer complaints.
• They portray absurd scenarios like footballers scoring after drinks, or marriages threatened by trivial issues.
• The portrayal of male-female relationships in these ads is often far-fetched and unrealistic.
• Advertisers and manufacturers mistake high viewership numbers as a sign of success.
• In reality, viewers often watch these commercials to laugh at them or simply because they are unable to change the channel.

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

Despite public discontent, television commercials continue to showcase idealized characters in unlikely scenarios. The sharp contrast between these fantastical portrayals and everyday life makes them appear both ridiculous and repellent. Indeed, these expensive advertisements are a poor investment as they do not effectively promote products. Their reported high viewership is misleading; people watch them primarily for amusement or simply because they cannot change the channel in time.

• Original Words in the Passage: 259
• Precis Word Count: 67
• Title: The Lack of Realism in Modern Advertising

Precis 2

Television advertisements continue to present exaggerated characters and situations, creating portrayals far removed from daily experience. These depictions, often of domestic and social life, appear humorous yet unconvincing. And despite their limited influence on consumer behaviour, agencies keep producing them because audience statistics reassure manufacturers. In fact, people usually watch such promotions only to mock them or because they cannot avoid them.

• Original Words in the Passage: 259
• Precis Word Count: 62
• Title: Persistence of Ineffective Advertising

Precis 3

Television commercials remain unrealistic, depicting imaginary people in irrational situations, amusing or repelling viewers. They exaggerate relationships and trivial issues, presenting versions of life far removed from reality. However, despite their failure to promote products, advertisers persist because manufacturers are encouraged by large viewer counts. In truth, audiences mostly watch these commercials for laughter or because they cannot avoid them.

• Original Words in the Passage: 259
• Precis Word Count: 60
• Title: The Unrealism of TV Commercials

Precis 4

Modern commercials depict distorted situations that entertain rather than persuade. To elaborate, they misrepresent social relations and fail to promote products effectively. Yet producers continue funding them, encouraged by audience figures. In practice, viewers rarely take them seriously, watching either for amusement or due to a lack of choice.

• Original Words in the Passage: 259
• Precis Word Count: 49
• Title: The Illusion of TV Advertising