The ability to paraphrase—to express an idea using different words—is a valuable skill. Paraphrasing shows that you understand what you have read or heard. In addition, it shows that you can use a range of vocabulary and grammatical structures and helps you to avoid plagiarizing. However, when you paraphrase, it is not necessary to change every single word in the sentence.
How can we paraphrase this sentence?
- The workers were capable of doing the job quickly because they had been carefully trained.
Change Individual Words—Use Synonyms
Search the sentence for content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc) that you can replace with words of similar meaning. Use words you are already familiar with; using a thesaurus for synonyms can result in awkward sentences.
- The employees were able to complete the task in no time because they had been carefully trained.
Change Word Order
See if you can rearrange the order within the sentence without changing the meaning, For example, change the position of adverbs, phrases, or clauses, if possible.
- Because they had been trained carefully, the employees were able to complete the task in no time.
Change Grammatical Forms
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