 |
| How to Success Paraphrasing in IELTS Test |
The ability to rephrase is a crucial IELTS skill. For a high score on the IELTS, it is essential to practice paraphrasing. This page contains tips on how to maximize your score by paraphrasing. You must develop the ability to recognize paraphrases in IELTS listening and reading. For the IELTS speaking and writing exams, you must be able to paraphrase using your own words. Students who are proficient in paraphrasing will perform better on all sections of the IELTS exam.
Table of Contents
What is Paraphrasing?
Paraphrasing is changing a statement or passage into different sentence or passage but keeping the same meaning as original one.Simply put, paraphrasing is expressing the same meaning as the original text but using different words (i.e. in your own words).
When you read a book, article, or watch a movie and tell your friends about it, you are paraphrasing. You are paraphrasing when you tell a friend or coworker about a conversation you had with your boss. You aren't verbatim summarizing the initial exchange. By using your own words, you are conveying the conversation's main idea to them.
Why Paraphrasing is Important in IELTS Test ?
The primary purpose of paraphrasing is to avoid plagiarism. Thus, it prevents you from losing points on the IELTS Exam by preventing you from repeating the same words.
In order to emphasize particular details, it is sometimes necessary to repeat certain information in the introduction or in other paragraphs. Now, you should avoid using the same words repeatedly to emphasize the details. So, what you can do is take this information and reword it, i.e., paraphrase it. However, ensure that the meaning of the information you wish to communicate remains the same as the original.
Are you aware that the IELTS examines a candidate's ability to paraphrase in various ways? As an illustration, let's consider the IELTS Academic Reading.
The provided reading passages are written using a particular sentence structure. The questions structured below the passage are rephrased versions of the passage's information. Here, your ability to recognize two things with the same meaning, i.e., your skill at paraphrasing, is assessed.
How to Paraphrase in IELTS Test?
These are the three primary techniques for sentence paraphrasing in the IELTS exam. Although using all three is ideal, there are times when it is only practical to use two. Now that we have a thorough understanding of each method, let's examine the passive.
1. Using Synonyms
Synonyms are different words that have the same meaning. For instance, "humans" and "people" are synonyms for each other, as are "attractive" and "beautiful." This technique simply creates a new sentence by swapping out words that have the same meaning.
Read also : IELTS Vocabulary and Useful List Synonyms
Example :
- My car needs petrol.
- My car requires gasoline.
You can see that I changed the sentence's meaning whacaile keeping the same structure by switching out three of the four words. You'll know I didn't change every word; however, you should aim to do so.
This is the most widely employed strategy among students and has its advantages and limitations. The most common problem in student paraphrasing is using a word that sounds similar but has a different meaning. Using a word with similar meaning will bring down your grade. Let's examine some poor paraphrasing examples to see what I mean by using similar purposes instead of the same ones.
2. Change the Word Order
We can also effectively paraphrase a sentence by switching around the words within it, but this requires extra care. You should consider the grammatical implications of switching around the words before doing so. Changing the order of the words may necessitate adding, removing, or altering some of the existing words.
Next, if you aren't positive that the grammar is correct, don't change it. Keep in mind that the IELTS examines not only your ability to use different grammatical structures, but also your ability to produce sentences that are free of errors.
If you want a high score on the IELTS, you don't have to change every word. Some words, such as "levels of pollution," "industry," and "air," have stayed the same, as demonstrated by the aforementioned example. This requires you to pick and choose which words to change and which to leave unchanged.
If you try to paraphrase too much, you might: make errors that will lower your score and change the meaning of your sentences to avoid veering off topic
Luckily, most IELTS questions can have their word order altered in one of two simple ways.
- You can easily change the order of the clauses, if the original sentence has more than one clause.
Question: As languages such as Spanish, Chinese and English become more widely used, there is a fear that that many minority languages may die out.
Paraphrased by changing word order: There is concern that as languages like Spanish, Chinese, and English become more popular, many minority languages may become extinct.
- If the question contains an adjective or a noun, you may also choose to change the wording. Simply converting the adjective into a relative clause accomplishes this.
Question: Learning to manage money is one of the key aspects to adult life.
Paraphrased using a relative clause: Learning to manage money is one of the aspects to adult life that is key.
3. Change the Form of the Word
This could be by changing the sentence from passive to active or vice versa, or changing the order of the clauses. Words come in a wide variety of forms, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. We can effectively paraphrase by changing a word's form. Once more, make sure your changes make grammatical sense in addition to changing the word's form. To make the sentence error-free, you might need to alter the surrounding words. Let’s have a look.
Question: Longer life spans and improvements in the health of older people suggest that people over the age of sixty-five can continue to live full and active lives.
Paraphrased by changing word form: Longer life spans and improvements in the health of older people are suggesting that people over the age of sixty-five can continue living full and active lives.
4. Change from Active to Passive
If you want to change a sentence from active voice to passive voice, think carefully about who or what is doing the action that the verb describes, and then make that agent the subject of a by the phrase. Make the thing being done the subject of the sentence and change the verb to a form of be + past participle. Using a clear by the... phrase is not required.
Example active sentence: The property developers invested $20 million in the development of the shopping centre.
Example passive sentence: $20 million was invested in the development of shopping centres.
The four methods can be used individually or in combination. I encourage my students to alter the grammar (word order and/or word form) and utilize synonyms. Remember to only use methods with which you are completely comfortable and for which you are certain your work is error-free.
These methods of paraphrasing will only aid you on the IELTS exam if you practice them. Find some examples of writing prompts and try to rephrase them using these techniques. You can use the methods separately before combining them. Try each one to determine which one works best. If you practice enough, you will begin to recognize patterns in the questions, and it will be simple to alter common words and phrases.