1.

Learn Paraphrase in Writing

Do you want to improve your essay writing skills?
If yes, learn to paraphrase. It is a skill that will upgrade your writing
abilities.
Here is a six-lesson course. This self-study course can help you write
better sentences, paragraphs and essays. I promise.
Who should take this course? There are ESL (English as a second
language) students with intermediate to advanced English
comprehension who:
• Need better writing skills
• Plan to take a TOEFL or IELTS test
• Want to increase English writing abilities quickly
• Dream of studying in a western university

2. Learn Writing Skills

This course teaches six kinds of paraphrase writing skills. Each skill
is taught in a separate lesson posted.
Here are the six skills.
Lesson 1: Synonyms.
Use words and phrases with similar meaning.
Lesson 2: Voice.
Change the sentence from active voice to passive.
Lesson 3: Nominalization.
Change nouns to verbs.
Lesson 4: Conjunctions.
Combine two sentences with conjunctions.
Lesson 5: Clauses.
Join two sentences with relative clauses and
appositives.
Lesson 6: Definitions.
Replace a word with its meaning.
 3. What is Paraphrase in Writing?
Paraphrasing is a reading and writing skill. Read a sentence or
paragraph and then write the same ideas using your words.
Paraphrasing is not copying. Good paraphrasing shows you
understand other people’s ideas and can write them in a way that makes
sense to you.

4. Paraphrasing Helps Essay Writing

Paraphrasing helps build writing skills in many areas. In this course,
the English lessons will help you to:
• Improve vocabulary power
• Learn different sentence patterns
• Expand knowledge of expressions
• Develop your own writing style
Paraphrase writing is an important reading and writing skill for
students in almost every English-speaking country. It’s hard to write a
good high school or university essay without paraphrasing skills.
Believe me, I know.

5. Research and Results

I believe paraphrasing is a great writing skill. Other people agree.
Here’s an example.
A paraphrasing test was done by the University of Kansas in the
United States. Researchers found that students improved reading
comprehension after learning paraphrasing skills.
Before learning how to paraphrase, students were given a reading
comprehension test. Their test score was 48 percent. After learning how
to paraphrase, the reading score went up to 84 percent. That’s a big
increase.
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.
 Lesson 1: Paraphrase with Synonyms

What to do: Find a synonym for the words/phrases that are underlined. Re-write each
sentence using these new words or phrases. For example:

More than half of the women who attended the one-day meeting were in
business with their spouses.

Possible answer:

The majority of the women who went to the one-day meeting were in
business with their husbands.

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.

Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010 1 Paraphrasing 1: Synonyms

 Lesson 1: Paraphrase with Synonyms

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.

6. 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.

Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010 2 Paraphrasing 1: Synonyms

 Lesson 1: Paraphrase with Synonyms

Possible answers.

1. Approximately 30,000 students may be assisted by the proposed “free lunch” program.

About 30,000 students may be helped by the planned “free lunch” program.

2. With the development of flash memory cards, the market for portable music players
jumped sharply.

With the invention of flash memory cards, the demand for portable music players in-
creased significantly.

3. Although the coach’s strategy was a little dangerous, the team was successful.

Even though the coach’s plan was risky, the team was successful.

4. Therefore, the effect was an increase in student examination results.

Consequently, the result was an increase in student test scores.

5. In addition, a strong typhoon is expected to batter the coast over the next few days.

Furthermore, a strong hurricane is expected to hit the coast over the next few days.

6. The expenditure needed to combat climate change will require changes to the federal
government’s budget.

The money needed to fight climate change will require changes to the federal govern-
ment’s financial plans.

7. The engineer must judge how much dynamite to use according to the volume of material
to be removed from the tunnel.

The engineer must decide how much dynamite to use depending on the amount of mate-
rial to be removed from the tunnel.

8. Two of the students were expelled for violating the school’s “no fighting” policy.

Two students were kicked out of school for breaking the school’s “no fighting” rule.

Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010 3 Paraphrasing 1: Synonyms

Here are 5 grammar rules for writing passive sentences.
1) The result of an action is the most important in a passive
sentence.
So, the action is at the beginning of the sentence. Here is an
example. “Thousands of people were killed by the tsunami.”
2) The main verb is in the participle form. Look at this sentence.
“The car was stolen by a teenager.”
3) Add the verb “be” to the sentence. Change the “be” verb so that
it matches the new subject (the result). Put the verb in the right
tense. Here is an example of a past tense sentence. “The
cake was eaten by the boys.”
4) Some verbs cannot be used in passive form. For example: arrive,
come, cry, die, go, sleep and walk.
5) A passive sentence usually has “by” when describing who did
the action. Here is an example. “The glass vase was made by the
woman from Japan.”
 Lesson 2: Paraphrase by Changing Active to Passive

What to do: Here are 15 sentences. They are written in the active form. Rewrite the
sentences into the passive form. For example.

A tornado destroyed the house.

Change to: The house was destroyed by a tornado.

The doctor had treated hundreds of patients before he received his medical
license.

Change to: Hundreds of patients had been treated by the doctor before he
received his medical license.

1. My mother washes the floor every Saturday.

2. The policewoman is delivering the food to an orphanage.

3. That tall man in the corner mailed our package.

4. The professor was helping a student when the bell sounded.

5. Millions of tourists have visited the Eiffel Tower.

6. John and George have been filling the on-line orders.

7. Jim had been tutoring the twins for six months before he decided to go to Tibet.

Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010 1 Paraphrasing 2: Active and Passive

 Lesson 2: Paraphrase by Changing Active to Passive

8. The green team will finish the new truck design by next week.

9. In 2011, the columnist is going to be writing a book about Albert Einstein.

10. Next month, John will write a story about European hockey players.

11. My son will have earned enough high school credits by next semester.

12. The French professors used to teach students in the East Building.

13. My teachers would always assign spring break homework.

14. We all knew the team would finish the project on time.

15. I thought Jennifer was going to make the travel arrangements.

Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010 2 Paraphrasing 2: Active and Passive

 Lesson 2: Paraphrase by Changing Active to Passive

Possible answers.

1. The floor is washed by my mother every Saturday.

2. The food is being delivered to the orphanage by the policewoman.

3. Our package was mailed by that tall man in the corner.

4. A student was being helped by the professor when the bell sounded.

5. The Eiffel Tower has been visited by millions of tourists.

6. The on-line orders have been filled by John and George.

7. The twins had been tutored for six months by Jim before he decided to go to Tibet.

8. The new truck design will be finished by the green team by next week.

9. A book about Albert Einstein is going to be written by the columnist in 2011.

10. A story about European hockey players will be written by John next month.

11. Enough high school credits will have been earned by my son by next semester.

12. Students used to be taught by the French professors in the East Building.

13. Spring break homework would always be assigned by my teachers.

14. We all knew the project would be finished on time by the team.

15. I thought the travel arrangements were going to be made by Jennifer.

Copyright © Rob Whyte 2010 3 Paraphrasing 2: Active and Passive

 NOMINALISATION
• This means some verbs are changed into nouns. There are many
reasons to write like this. Generally, it is a report style that makes the
writing seem more objective.
• To paraphrase well, you have to know this writing style. And, you
have to be able to change the nouns back into verbs. This skill is
useful for paraphrasing.
Here is an example.
Long and wordy: You have to give us your decision by tomorrow.
Better: You have to decide by tomorrow.
• The first sentence uses a verb that was changed into a noun (i.e.
nominalization). These sentences are long. We can paraphrase the
sentence by making it shorter. You can see that in the second
sentence; here I changed the noun to a verb.
• This is one of the benefits of learning this paraphrasing skill. Your
sentences will be shorter but they will say the same thing as the
original sentence.
 Lesson 3: Paraphrase by Changing Nouns to Verbs

Purpose: Some sentences use a noun that is a verb. Some people write like this be-
cause they want to make long sentences. Sometimes this is a good style, especially for
university essays.

To paraphrase well, it is a good idea to know how to change these sentences. This will
help you write clear sentences with fewer words.

What to do: Rewrite these sentences. Change the noun into a verb. Here are two
examples.

Long and wordy: You have to give us your decision by tomorrow.

Better: You have to decide by tomorrow.

Long and wordy: Researchers conducted an investigation into the problem.

Better: Researchers investigated the problem.

Now you try.

1. This essay gives an analysis of the problem of climate change and describes a
potential solution.

2. The Korean President did not give an explanation for the pardon of his business
friend.

3. Our class debate concerned the issue of nuclear weapons.

4. We performed a review of the company’s annual reports.

Copyright Rob Whyte 2010 1 Paraphrasing 3: Change Nouns to Verbs

 Lesson 3: Paraphrase by Changing Nouns to Verbs

5. The school club of actors did a performance of Romeo and Juliet on the second of
June.

6. There is a need for further study of this Master’s program.

7. It is necessary for political candidates to give a good performance during a TV de-

bate.

8. There is a need in our city for an assessment of the recycling system.

9. It is my hope that students will use this material.

10. The police conducted an investigation of the robbery.

Copyright Rob Whyte 2010 2 Paraphrasing 3: Change Nouns to Verbs

 Lesson 3: Suggested Answers

1. This essay analyzes climate change and describes a potential solution.

2. The Korean President did not explain the pardon of his business friend.

3. Our class debated the issue of nuclear weapons.

4. We reviewed the company’s annual reports.

5. The school’s acting club performed Romeo and Juliet on June 2nd.

6. This Master’s program should be studied. (There is a need to study this Master’s
program.)

7. Political candidates need to perform well during a TV debate.

8. Our city needs to assess the recycling system.

9. I hope my students will use this material.

10. The police investigated the robbery.

Copyright Rob Whyte 2010 3 Paraphrasing 3: Change Nouns to Verbs