TASK DEFINITION: Given a text, write a compressed version of it in a single sentence.
PROBLEM: In the absence of political unification, it was the universities that awakened the national consciousness. Scholars traveling across the country needed a common tongue beyond the elitist Latin to break through the barriers of regional dialects.

SOLUTION: It was the universities that awakened the national consciousness. Scholars traveling across the country needed a common tongue.

PROBLEM: Though the happy day is some months away, Prudie sends best wishes and congratulations to the young couple and tranquil thoughts to both sets of parents.

SOLUTION: Though the happy day is months away, Prudie sends congratulations to the young couple.

PROBLEM: Yiddish is especially versatile in describing those poor souls who inhabit the world of the ineffectual, and each is assigned a distinct place in the gallery of pathetic types: schmo, schmendrik, schnook, schmegegge, schlep, schlub, schmuck, putz, klutz, kvetch, and nudnik.

SOLUTION:
Yiddish is versatile in describing the souls who are in the world of the ineffectual, and each is assigned: schmo, schmendrik, schnook, schmegegge, schlep, schlub, schmuck, putz, klutz, kvetch, and nudnik.