A national language, spoken and written, can greatly benefit the theatre in Pakistan. The acceptance of a common language by the country will, therefore, be a great day for the theatre.
Now take the following passage:
‘We are told by some ancient authors that Socrates was instructed in eloquence by a woman. I have indeed very often looked upon that art as the most proper for the female sex, and I think the universities would do well to consider whether they should not fill the rhetoric chairs with she- professors. It has been said in the praise of some men that they could talk whole hours together upon anything, but it must be owned to the honour of the other sex, that there are many among them who can talk whole hours together upon nothing.
Here the first sentence may be completely ignored as it merely serves to introduce the main idea of the paragraph. The student should not think that, because Socrates was a great philosopher, the name of Socrates must be brought into the précis. Again, the suggestion that she professors should fill the chairs of rhetoric in universities need not be brought into, the précis, as it is merely an illustration.
The main idea of the paragraph to talk about. There is also a comparison between men and women in this connection. Accordingly, we can shorten the passage given above in the following manner.
The author regards eloquence in speech-making as an art which belongs chiefly to women. They have a greater capacity than men for talking. They can talk for hours together even when they have nothing to talk about.
Note: As the original passage makes use of the pronoun “I”, we have to change it to the third person, so we should write: “The author...