SUBSTANCE WRITING

 SUBSTANCE WRITING

Substance-writing indicates a condensed reproduction of the original passage. Substance is the rewriting in the writer's own words of an original text of a short, concise and precise description containing only its key points or important ideas.

Step by step guide to Substance Writing 

Your substance should be approximately one third of the original text. It should be around 50-60 words in case of poetry.

Substance should be written in a single paragraph. 

1. Read the given text carefully for several times. 

2. Don’t get confused if any word or phrase is not completely understandable.  Try to make out the sense.

3. A substance is ultimately the  representation of the author's view, thoughts, feelings and so on. Therefore, it should be in third person.

4. Underline the related portions (important sentences/ phrases/ words/ ideas) with your pencil.

5. Just before writing the final substance, you can write a rough draft of the substance on the left side of the script.

6. Leave out the examples. Take only the ideas If the examples reflect those ideas.

7. Omit ornamental phrases, figures of speech, superfluous or unnecessary details, illustrations, repetitions. Try to transform those into simple and straightforward ones.

8. Ignore explanatory sentences or phrases.

9. Leave out the direct speeches. If these are absolutely necessary,  transform these into indirect ones.

10. All the main ideas or points of the original passage must be included.

11. The substance should be clear as well as abstract.

12. Be coherent, and maintain the logical chain of the ideas.

13. Take caution while you are writing sentences about the grammatical errors.

14. Try to write your answer as much as possible in your own language.

15. Don’t take your personal opinion or criticism into consideration. 

16. Write down your final answer clearly on the right page of the script.

EXAMPLE:

Give the substance of the following passage:
1. One day Gautam Buddha saw in the street an old man bent with age and another day he saw a dead body. He asked his servant about these. The servant told him that everybody would grow old and die one day. Buddha became very sad to know this. For an hour he would sit and think what was the reason why the world was full of sadness. What is the use of human life, where there is death. After a time he became discontented with his life of pleasure in the royal palace. When he was twenty nine years. he decided to go out of the house. One stilly night, Gautam left his royal palace, while everybody was asleep. He wondered into the forest. He decided to stay there and seek the truth about human life.

Answer: Buddha turned sad and wondered why the world was filled with sadness, observing the crippling old age and death. He was discontented to know that the death is the reward of life. To know the truth about human life Buddha at the age of twenty left home and went into the forest.

2. It is very difficult to get rid of bad habits. So, one should be very careful that one does not form bad habits during the early years of life. idleness is one of such bad habits. Every boy and girl should be diligent. They should avoid idleness like poison. Some of them love to remain in bed long after daybreak and get out of bed most unwillingly. Even after that they waste time over trifles and spend as little time as they can in reading. As a result, they cannot learn much as they should. What is worse, they become so accustomed to such a bad habit that they cannot shake it off- even with their greatest efforts. This bad habit then holds them hard in its coils like a large snake.

Answer: Bad habits are really difficult to get rid of.  It must therefore be prevented at an early age of life. This needs hard work. Idleness is such kind of poisonous bad habit, and it should be avoided. Waking up too late can be a sign of that kind of idleness. Idle boys and girls like to wasting time in fruitless deeds but do not get participate in useful activities like reading etc. Which interrupts the learning process. If bad habits become a part of one’s life, that person cannot remove it, even if he or she wishes to do it so.