1. Preserve the claim before changing its wording
Paraphrasing expresses an idea in a different form while preserving its essential meaning. The task is not to replace every word with a synonym. A successful rewrite retains who or what the statement concerns, its action or relationship, time reference, quantity, degree of certainty and any condition or exception. Changing any of those features can make a fluent sentence inaccurate.
Begin by writing a short meaning checklist. For “Some commuters may switch to cycling if safer routes are provided”, the checklist is: some commuters, possible change rather than certainty, cycling as the new mode, and a condition involving safer routes. “All travellers will cycle when roads improve” loses the limited group, changes possibility into certainty and weakens the specific safety condition. It is not a faithful paraphrase, even though several words sound related.
You do not need to disguise necessary topic words. A technical label, a place name or an ordinary word with no accurate substitute can remain. Concentrate on sentence structure, word class and information order where those changes genuinely help. A clear rewrite with a few repeated words is better than an unfamiliar synonym that changes the claim or sounds unnatural in context.
2. Audit the parts most easily distorted
| Original feature | Safe handling | Typical distortion |
|---|---|---|
| Some residents | A limited group remains limited | Changing some to all or most |
| May reduce costs | Retain possibility | Changing may to will |
| Rose from 20 to 30 | Keep direction and endpoints | Calling this a 10% rise |
| Before the renovation | Keep the earlier time reference | Turning it into an ongoing situation |
| Associated with | Preserve an association | Replacing it with caused by |
| Unless funding is available | Preserve the condition | Dropping the exception entirely |
Changing active to passive can preserve meaning when the participants keep their roles: “The council repaired the bridge” becomes “The bridge was repaired by the council”. Omitting by the council removes information, so it is only appropriate when the task allows that detail to be left out. A noun-verb shift can also work: “Demand increased” becomes “There was an increase in demand”. Check the resulting grammar rather than treating the shift as a fixed template.
Paraphrase and summary are related but different activities. A summary deliberately selects and compresses. A paraphrase exercise may require all the important information to remain. Before evaluating a rewrite, establish which task you are doing. The exercises below ask for faithful meaning, so a shortened sentence that loses a condition is not accepted merely because it sounds neat.
3. Compare a faithful rewrite with an overstatement
Keep population, measure, time and uncertainty
Original: “Between 2018 and 2023, the proportion of local journeys made by bicycle rose from 12% to 18%, although the survey did not explain why.”
Faithful rewrite: “Cycling accounted for 18% of local journeys in 2023, up from 12% in 2018; the survey gave no explanation for this change.”
The rewrite changes the order and uses accounted for, but preserves both years, both shares, the local-journey population and the absence of an explanation. It does not claim that the number of cyclists increased, because a share of journeys does not identify a headcount.
Unfaithful rewrite: “Safer roads caused 6% more residents to become cyclists.” This version invents a cause, substitutes residents for journeys and mishandles the percentage difference. The original change is six percentage points, equivalent to a 50% relative increase in the share. Neither calculation tells us why the change occurred or how many individual people cycled.
4. Try twelve focused decisions
Work through all twelve items before opening the explanations. Write your choice or revision and a short reason in a notebook. A correct guess is worth revisiting: the aim is to recognise the relationship in a new sentence, not remember the order of answers.
- Which preserves certainty? Original: “The scheme may reduce waste.” A: “The scheme will reduce waste.” B: “The scheme could reduce waste.”
- Which preserves scope? Original: “Some students prefer recorded lessons.” A: “Recorded lessons are preferred by some students.” B: “Students prefer recorded lessons.”
- Rewrite actively without losing the agent: “The bridge was inspected by two engineers.”
- Rewrite with a noun: “Demand increased sharply.”
- Original: “The service is free for children under twelve.” Does “All children can use the service free of charge” preserve it?
- Original: “Attendance fell from 80 to 60.” Is “Attendance fell by 20%” faithful?
- Original: “Longer study hours were associated with higher scores.” Can associated with become caused?
- Preserve the condition: “The trip will go ahead unless the weather becomes dangerous.”
- Original: “The library closes at six on weekdays.” Is “The library closes at six every day” faithful?
- Original: “The bus is cheaper than the train.” Is “The train is more expensive than the bus” faithful?
- Original: “The new policy reduced waiting time but did not change fees.” Repair: “The new policy improved the service.”
- Original: “Visitors must book before arriving.” Is “Visitors can book when they arrive” a suitable paraphrase?
5. Check the reasoning, not just the answer
1. Read the answer and explanation
B. Could, like may here, expresses possibility. Will turns the uncertain outcome into a prediction presented more firmly. A faithful rewrite should retain the original level of commitment unless new evidence justifies changing it.
2. Read the answer and explanation
A. The passive keeps the limited quantifier some. B removes that limit and reads as a broad statement about students generally. Sentence restructuring must not silently broaden the population.
3. Read the answer and explanation
“Two engineers inspected the bridge.” The engineers remain the people performing the action and the bridge remains its object. “Engineers inspected a bridge” would lose both the exact number and the identified bridge.
4. Read the answer and explanation
“There was a sharp increase in demand.” Increased becomes increase, and sharply becomes the adjective sharp. The past time and direction remain. “Demand was high” would describe a level rather than an increase.
5. Read the answer and explanation
No. The rewrite drops the under-twelve eligibility limit. “Children younger than twelve can use the service free of charge” preserves the stated condition without extending it to every child.
6. Read the answer and explanation
No. The difference is twenty, but twenty divided by the starting eighty is 25%. “Attendance decreased by twenty, from eighty to sixty” is faithful. Keep the measured unit if the surrounding data provide one.
7. Read the answer and explanation
No. Association describes a relationship without establishing cause. “Higher scores were linked with longer study hours” preserves that limit. Causal wording requires evidence beyond the statement supplied.
8. Read the answer and explanation
“The trip will go ahead if the weather does not become dangerous.” This retains the exception. “The trip will go ahead despite dangerous weather” reverses the practical meaning and would communicate a very different decision.
9. Read the answer and explanation
No. Weekdays excludes a claim about weekend opening hours. “On weekdays, the library shuts at six” retains the schedule’s scope. Do not add days that the source does not cover.
10. Read the answer and explanation
Yes, in the ordinary fare comparison intended here. The order reverses while the price relationship stays the same. A careful report could specify bus fare and train fare to make the compared measure explicit.
11. Read the answer and explanation
“The new policy shortened waiting times while leaving fees unchanged.” Improved is a broad evaluation and loses the unchanged-fee detail. The revision states the observed effect and the preserved exception without adding an overall judgement.
12. Read the answer and explanation
No. Must becomes can, changing obligation to permission, and before becomes when, changing the timing. “Visitors are required to make a booking in advance of their arrival” keeps both constraints.
6. Run a reverse-meaning check
Choose a factual sentence from your own writing and list its constraints before rewriting it. Cover the original, read only your new version and reconstruct what a reader would believe. Compare that reconstruction with your checklist. This catches fluent overstatements that a word-by-word comparison can miss.
For a second attempt, change only one feature of form, such as information order or active/passive structure. Keep the meaning stable, then consider whether another change improves clarity. Do not force a synonym for every noun. If you cannot explain why the new expression fits the same context, keep the accurate original wording or consult a reliable dictionary. Meaning preservation is the success criterion; visible difference is only a means.
All examples, learner cases and exercises are original teaching material. General language guidance here is not an official test paper, a prediction of a future test or an examiner assessment. Alternative answers are noted where the task permits them.