PMS KPK 2022 Solved Precis

• Fatalistically / Fatalism (Adverb/Noun)
  • Meaning: The belief that events, especially negative ones, are predetermined and unchangeable
  • Contextual Explanation: It describes the resigned view the writer explicitly rejects that suffering is simply humanity's fate.
• Ascertain (Verb)
  • Meaning: To find out or determine with certainty
  • Contextual Explanation: In the passage, the word ‘ascertain’ is used to claim that the causes of unhappiness are knowable, not mysterious.
• Morbid (Adjective)
  • Meaning: Unhealthily gloomy or preoccupied with unpleasant subjects
  • Contextual Explanation: It refers to the miseries caused by pessimistic belief systems.
• Creeds (Noun)
  • Meaning: Systems of belief or doctrine
  • Contextual Explanation: They refer to gloomy ideological or religious systems that foster inner despair.
• Discords (Noun)
  • Meaning: Conflicts or lack of harmony
  • Contextual Explanation: In the passage, ‘discords’ refer to the inner psychological conflicts caused by pessimistic beliefs, which undermine outward prosperity.
• Self-imposed (Adjective)
  • Meaning: Inflicted by oneself rather than by external forces
  • Contextual Explanation: It refers to the suffering humanity brings upon itself, implying it is avoidable.
• Of no avail (Idiom)
  • Meaning: Of no use or benefit
  • Contextual Explanation: It refers to how outward prosperity fails to help someone suffering from inner discord.

In this passage, the author argues that human unhappiness is not an inevitable condition; instead, it arises from specific, correctable causes. Moreover, he challenges those who mistake resigned despair for clear-eyed realism, insisting instead that maintaining hope is a matter of will and energy rather than irrationality.

Main Idea of the Passage

• Human unhappiness as avoidable, not inevitable, and hope requiring effort
  • Human misery and folly are not humanity's inevitable lot but stem from identifiable, remediable causes: inadequate control over nature, mutual hostility, and gloomy beliefs. Though many today seem to prefer despair to hope, mistaking resignation for realism, sustaining hope actually demands intelligence and energy, the latter of which the despairing usually lack.

Supporting Ideas Helping the Main Idea

• Reason and persistence as routes out of self-imposed suffering
  • The writer believes that reason, patience, and persuasive ability can eventually free humanity from its self-imposed suffering, provided humanity does not destroy itself first, a belief that has given him a lasting, if increasingly sober, optimism.
• Rejection of fatalistic resignation
  • He firmly rejects the fatalistic belief that suffering is humanity's natural, unavoidable fate.
• Identifiable, remediable causes of unhappiness
  • The causes of unhappiness are identifiable: inadequate control over nature, human hostility toward one another, and gloomy belief systems that create inner conflict undermining outward prosperity, all of which are avoidable, since means to overcome them are already known.
• Modern unhappiness as a matter of choice
  • In the modern world, communities remain unhappy largely by choice, valuing certain habits and beliefs more than happiness or life itself.
• Despair mistaken for realism
  • Many people today seem to embrace misery, growing angry when offered hope and mistaking passive despair for clear-eyed realism.
• Hope as requiring energy, not just intelligence
  • Sustaining hope requires both intelligence and energy, and those who despair usually lack energy.

Confused About Main and Supporting Ideas?

If you are still struggling to identify the main idea and supporting ideas of a precis passage, please make sure to revise all Precis Writing lectures that I have already delivered. These lectures were designed to build your understanding from the very basics to the advanced techniques required in CSS and PMS examinations.

• What a precis is and why examiners ask it.
• How to read and analyse a precis passage effectively.
• How to identify the main idea of a passage.
• How to distinguish supporting ideas from examples, illustrations, and minor details.
• What a Precis Map is and how to build it before writing.
• How to coordinate the main idea and supporting ideas logically.
• Etc. 

Moreover, please revise the 20 to 30 solved examples shared in the WhatsApp groups during your English Essay and Precis Course. These examples clearly demonstrate the Dos and Don’ts of Precis Writing and show how the concepts discussed in the lectures are applied in actual passages.

Precis 1

The author believes that misery and folly are not man's inevitable lot and that reason, patience, and persuasion can free humanity from self-imposed suffering, leaving him soberly optimistic. He rejects the fatalistic belief that suffering is mankind's natural fate; what makes people unhappy is identifiable: poor control over nature, hostility toward one another, and gloomy beliefs breeding inner conflict, all avoidable, since ways to overcome them exist. Modern communities stay unhappy because they value habits and beliefs above happiness. Many seem to love misery, growing angry when offered hope and mistaking despair for realism. However, to the author, keeping hope alive takes intelligence and energy, the latter of which despairing people usually lack.

• Precis Passage Word Count: 311
• Precis Word Count: 113
• Title: Unhappiness as Avoidable, Not Inevitable

Precis 2

That misery and folly are man's fate is what the author refuses to accept. He holds that reason, endurance, and persuasion can eventually deliver humanity from suffering of its own making, leaving him soberly optimistic. The roots of unhappiness are traceable: limited command over nature, hostility toward each other, and gloomy doctrines breeding inner conflict, all remediable through known means. But communities remain unhappy today largely by choice, clinging to habits and convictions they value above happiness itself. Many even seem to embrace misery, resenting any suggestion of hope. The author, however, believes that sustaining hope demands intelligence and energy alike, and it is usually energy that hopeless people lack.

• Precis Passage Word Count: 311
• Precis Word Count: 110
• Title: The Remediable Roots of Human Unhappiness

Precis 3

Refusing to accept distress and foolishness as man's predetermined fate, the author holds that insight, endurance, and persuasion can, in time, deliver humanity from suffering of its own making, a belief leaving him soberly optimistic. The factors behind unhappiness are readily traceable: an incomplete grasp of the natural world, aggression among men, and pessimistic doctrines breeding inner conflict, each remediable by means already known. Therefore, unhappiness today persists largely by choice, communities clinging to habits and views they value above happiness itself, even embracing agony and resenting any advice of hope. However, hope, according to the author, is sustained by intelligence paired with energy, and it is often energy the despairing lack.

• Precis Passage Word Count: 311
• Precis Word Count: 112
• Title: Hope, Effort, and Avoidable Misery