Rewriting a point concisely means keeping its core meaning and removing the detail around it. The result is a shorter sentence that a reader understands without the passage.
This lesson is part of rumusan decisions with competing evidence. It supports the earlier lesson on combining points in complete sentences.
What is the core of a point?
The core is the subject, the main action and the result. Everything else, such as place, time, example and description, is detail that you keep only if the question asks for it.
Find the core by asking: if I could say this point in one breath, what would I say?
Three-step trim method
- Underline the subject and the main verb.
- Underline the result or the reason attached to them.
- Rewrite using only the underlined parts, then read the sentence without the passage.
Follow the steps on an original sentence: “Pada setiap pagi Isnin di sekolah kami di pinggir bandar, pengetua dengan penuh semangat mengingatkan semua murid supaya menjaga kebersihan kelas masing-masing.”
| Step | Result |
|---|---|
| Subject and verb | Pengetua mengingatkan murid |
| Result attached | supaya menjaga kebersihan kelas |
| Rewrite | Pengetua mengingatkan murid supaya menjaga kebersihan kelas. |
The time, place and manner were all detail. The rewritten sentence is about one third of the original and keeps the point.
A second example with a check
Original: “Kajian yang dijalankan oleh sekumpulan penyelidik selama dua tahun menunjukkan bahawa penggunaan telefon pada waktu malam mengurangkan kualiti tidur remaja.”
Trimmed: “Penggunaan telefon pada waktu malam mengurangkan kualiti tidur remaja.”
Meaning check: does the trimmed sentence still say who is affected, what causes it and what the result is? Yes: remaja, telefon malam, kualiti tidur berkurang. What was removed is the source of the claim, which the question did not ask for.
The mistake that costs marks
There are two opposite slips. One is cutting a word that carries the point, for example deleting “mengurangkan”, which leaves “telefon waktu malam kualiti tidur remaja”. The other is keeping the whole sentence because every word seems important.
Test after each cut by reading the sentence aloud. If it no longer says who did what and with what result, you cut too far.
Check yourself
Trim this sentence: “Dalam usaha untuk mengurangkan kesesakan lalu lintas yang teruk pada waktu pagi, pihak majlis bandar raya itu telah memperkenalkan perkhidmatan bas percuma.”
Answer
A possible trimmed version: “Majlis bandar raya memperkenalkan bas percuma untuk mengurangkan kesesakan lalu lintas.”
The core is the actor (majlis), the action (memperkenalkan bas percuma) and the purpose (mengurangkan kesesakan). The time of day and the word “teruk” were detail. If the question asked for langkah, this single sentence is enough.
What to study next
When you can trim well, check your finished work as a whole. Continue with auditing a rumusan for omitted focus, and try the section practice.
To have a teacher trim your sentences with you, see online one-to-one Bahasa Melayu tuition.