PARAPHRASING SKILLS
PARAPHRASING SKILL 1: USING SYNONYMS 6.
In this exercise you will learn one paraphrasing skill: using
synonyms to rewrite sentences. Here is an example.
More than half of the women who attended the one-day
meeting were in business with their spouses.
Some of the words are underlined. Use a dictionary or
thesaurus to find synonyms for these words and phrases. Now
rewrite this sentence with these new words and phrases.
Here is one possible answer.
The majority of the women who went to the one-day
conference were in business with their husbands.
Paraphrase Writing Questions
1. Approximately 30,000 students may be assisted by the
proposed “free lunch” program.
2. With the development of flash memory cards, the market for
portable music players jumped sharply.
3. Although the coach’s strategy was a little dangerous, the team
was successful.
4. Therefore, the effect was an increase in student examination
results.
5. In addition, a strong typhoon is expected to batter the coast
over the next few days.
The expenditure needed to combat climate change will require
changes to the federal government’s budget.
7. The engineer must judge how much dynamite to use according
to the volume of material to be removed from the tunnel.
8. Two of the students were expelled for violating the school’s
“no fighting” policy.
PARAPHRASING SKILL 2: CHANGING THE
SENTENCE FROM ACTIVE VOICE TO PASSIVE
In this lesson, you will rewrite sentences by changing them
into the passive form.
Most sentences are written in active form. So, if you can
rewrite sentences in a passive form you will learn a good
paraphrasing skill.
What is a Passive Sentence?
Look at these two sentences.
The cat ate the fish.
The fish was eaten by the cat.
The first sentence is active. The second sentence is passive.
 PARAPHRASING SKILLS

Here are five grammar rules for writing passive sentences. 6. John and George have been filling the on-line orders.
7. Jim had been tutoring the twins for six months before he
1. The result of an action is most important in a passive decided to go to Tibet.
sentence. So, the action is at the beginning of the 8. The green team will finish the new truck design by next
sentence. week.
“Thousands of people were killed (result) by the 9. In 2011, the columnist is going to be writing a book
tsunami.” about Albert Einstein.
10. Next month, John will write a story about European
2. The main verb is in the participle form. hockey players.
“The car was stolen by a teenager.” 11. My son will have earned enough high school credits by
next semester.
3. Add the verb “be” to the sentence. Change the “be” verb 12. The French professors used to teach students in the East
so that it matches the new subject (the result). Put the Building.
verb in the right tense. 13. My teachers would always assign spring break
“The cake was eaten by the boys.” homework.
14. We all knew the team would finish the project on time.
4. Some verbs cannot be used in passive form. For 15. I thought Jennifer was going to make the travel
example: arrive, come, cry, die, go, sleep and walk. arrangements.

5. Passive sentence usually have “by” when describing

who did the action. Here is an example. “The glass vase PARAPHRASING SKILL 3: NOMINALIZATION
was made by the woman from Japan.” (CHANGING NOUNS TO VERBS)

In doing Nominalization, some verbs are changed into nouns.

Paraphrase Writing There are many reasons to write like this. Generally, it is a
report style that makes the writing seem more objective.
1. My mother washes the floor every Saturday. To paraphrase well, you have to know this writing style. And,
2. The policewoman is delivering the food to an you have to be able to change the nouns back into verbs. Here
orphanage. are two examples.
3. That tall man in the corner mailed our package.
4. The professor was helping a student when the bell 1. Long and wordy: You have to give us your decision by
sounded. tomorrow.
5. Millions of tourists have visited the Eiffel Tower. Better: You have to decide by tomorrow.
 PARAPHRASING SKILLS

2. Long and wordy: Researchers conducted an PARAPHRASING SKILL 4: COMBINING TWO

investigation into the problem. SENTENCES WITH CONJUNCTIONS
Better: Researchers investigated the problem.
Before starting, there are two grammar phrases you need to
The first sentences use a verb that was changed into a noun know for this lesson:
(i.e. nominalization). These sentence are long. We can  coordinating conjunctions
paraphrase the sentence by making it shorter. In the second  subordinate conjunctions
sentences. The noun was changed to verbs.
This is one of the benefits of learning this paraphrasing skill. Sentence Combining 1: Coordinating Conjunctions
Your sentences will be shorter but they will have the same Coordinating conjunctions are small words that join two
idea as the original sentence. sentences without changing the sentences very much. These
conjunctions go in between two sentences; they usually don’t
Paraphrase Writing Questions go at the beginning or end of a sentence.
There are seven conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
1. This essay gives an analysis of the problem of climate This group of conjunctions is sometimes called FANBOYS.
change and describes a potential solution. Each FANBOYS word has a different purpose.
2. The Korean President did not give an explanation for the
pardon of his business friend. For tells us the
They love music, for it is exhilarating.
3. Our class debate concerned the issue of nuclear reason.
weapons.
And means in My father likes to drink coffee and read
4. We performed a review of the company’s annual
addition. the newspaper.
reports.
5. The school club of actors did a performance of Romeo John doesn’t do his homework nor does
Nor is negative.
and Juliet on the second of June. he want to study.
6. There is a need for further study of this Master’s But and yet show Sally is good at diving but she prefers
program. contrast. soccer.
7. It is necessary for political candidates to give a good
performance during a TV debate. Or gives another
I need a break or I will go nuts.
8. There is a need in our city for an assessment of the reason or choice.
recycling system. So tells us the My student’s family doesn’t have much
9. It is my hope that students will use this material. result. money so he dropped out of school.
10. The police conducted an investigation of the robbery.

Here is an example.
 The students went to school. They did not want to go
to school.
 The students went to school but they did not want to.
Sentence Combining 2: Subordinate Conjunctions
Subordinate conjunctions words join two clauses. They are
similar to the coordinating conjunctions but there are two
differences.
1. Subordinate conjunctions can go at the front of the
sentence or in the middle.
2. You have to change some words in one of the sentences.
There are lots of words which can be used to join sentences
with subordination. Here are some of these words.
 after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even
though
 for, if, if only, rather than, since, that, though, unless,
until,
 when, where, whereas, wherever, whether, which,
while
Here is an example of how two sentences can be combined
with a subordination word.
The computer was making a loud noise. The computer was
broken.
1. The computer was making a loud noise because it was
broken.
2. Because the computer was broken, it was making a
loud noise.
PARAPHRASING SKILLS
PARAPHRASING SKILL 5: PARAPHRASING BY
COMBINING SENTENCES
Now you will combine sentences by using two kinds of
clauses: relative clauses and appositives.
Sentence Combining 3: Relative Clause
Relative clauses provide extra information about something.
In this lesson, we use relative clauses to talk about nouns. So
in this lesson, a relative clauses acts like an adjective.
These relative clauses begin with three relative pronouns:
“which, that or who.” Here are three examples.
 Motorcycle racing is a dangerous sport. It is enjoyed
by many young people.
Motorcycle racing is a dangerous sport which is enjoyed by
many young people.
 The cat loved the mouse. The mouse looked tasty.
The cat loved the mouse that looked tasty.
 Alfred Einstein was a famous scientist. He won a
Noble prize for his work in theoretical physics.
Alfred Einstein was a famous scientist who won a Noble prize
for his work in theoretical physics.

Sentence Combining 4: Appositives
An appositive is a noun that describes another noun.
Appositives can be a single word or many words (a phrase).
An appositive looks like a relative clause but there are no
words like ‘which, who or that’ at the beginning of the clause.
Here are three examples; the appositives are in red.
The appositive can go at the front of the sentence. Like this:
 A skilled but wild hockey player, Jack, skated to the
referee and punched him in the nose.
An appositive can go in the middle of the sentence, usually
with lots of commas. Like this:
 Jack, a skilled but wild hockey player, skated to the
referee and punched him in the nose.
Or an appositive can go at the end of the sentence. Like this:
 The fans cheered Jack, a skilled but wild hockey player,
who skated to the referee and punched him in the nose.
PARAPHRASING SKILLS
PARAPHRASING SKILL 6: PARAPHRASING BY
USING DEFINITIONS
In this lesson, you will paraphrase sentences by removing
words and replacing them with their definitions. Here is an
example.
 The judge’s verdict surprised everyone in the courtroom.
 The judge’s final decision surprised everyone in the
courtroom.
This is an easy example. We put the definition in the sentence
and no other changes were needed.
The Writing Details
Sometimes, you have to change the sentence to make the
definition work properly. Watch out for prepositions, for
instance. Here is an example.
1. Parents opposed to after-school programs should not have
to pay for these services if their children do not attend those
classes.
2. Parents against after-school programs should not have to
pay for these services if their children do not attend those
classes.
In the first sentence, the key words are ‘opposed to.’ In the
second sentence, we replaced the key words with ‘against.’
Notice that we don’t need the preposition ‘to’ in the second
sentence. That is an example of the details you need to watch
out for when paraphrasing with meanings.