The Process of Paraphrasing

The process of paraphrasing: exercises to build paraphrasing skills.

I often hear “paraphrasing” from native english tutors, but I don’t know how to paraphrasing well until I read this paper that written by Tammy Guy Harshbarger. There is a brief guide of paraphrasing. You can get the full page in https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/235074698.pdf

Use Paraphrasing to Understand a Sentence

“Annoyed because he could not have his way, Rex walked out.”

“Annoyed” is a reduced adverb clause (participial phrase), 

“because he could not have his way” is an adverb clause, 

and “Rex walked out” is an independent clause.

Then rewrite the sentence into three shorter sentences: “Rex was annoyed. Rex could not have his way. Rex walked out.”

Combine the three sentences into one sentence using “because” and “so” to show the cause/effect relationship between the three shorter sentences: “Rex was annoyed because he could not have his way, so he walked out.”

Substitute synonyms for some of the words and rewrite the sentence: “Rex was angry because he wasn’t able to do what he wanted, so he left.”

Now it is easy to understand.

What is paraphrasing

To paraphrase a sentence is to rewrite the sentence using different words, different grammar, and different word order. A paraphrase has the same meaning as the original sentence.

The Process of Paraphrasing

When paraphrasing:

• Don’t copy the original sentence

• Don’t use too many of the original words

• Don’t change the meaning of the original sentence

• Don’t leave out important information

The process of paraphrasing:

• Identify grammar structures and key words

• Change grammar structures

• Change words

• Change word order

Paraphrasing Example:

“Those whose self-esteem is low do not necessarily see themselves as worthless or wicked, but they seldom say good things about themselves.” 

Grammar structures:

• adjective clause: whose self-esteem is low

• verb phrase: do not see themselves as worthless or wicked

• verb phrase: seldom say good things about themselves

Relationships between ideas

• There are people who have low self–esteem.

• They do not necessarily see themselves as worthless or wicked.

• They seldom say good things about themselves.

• Opposition: but

Key words:

• self-esteem

• low

• necessarily

• see

• worthless

• wicked

• but

• seldom

• say

• good

Synonyms of key words:

• self-esteem: self-worth, self-respect

• low: poor, unfavorable, negative, bad

• necessarily: inevitably, automatically, inexorably, certainly, definitely

• see: view, perceive, describe, think of

• worthless: unworthy, useless, no-good, of little/no value, despicable 

• wicked: evil, sinful, bad, immoral, corrupt, dishonorable, unethical, unholy 

• but: however, although, though, even though, while, whereas

• seldom: rarely, hardly ever, infrequently

• say: talk, speak

• good: positive, nice, favorable

Possible paraphrases:

• People with low self-esteem don’t necessarily view themselves as evil or worthless; however, they rarely talk positively about themselves.

• Although they hardly ever speak favorably about themselves, people who have poor self-esteem do not inevitably perceive themselves as useless or bad. 

• People with a low opinion of themselves generally describe themselves in negative terms, even though they don’t think they are really bad.

• People with low self-esteem may or may not think of themselves in strongly negative ways, but they rarely say anything positive about themselves.