cyTeoh / Paraphrasing / Word Forms & Synonymous Phrases

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Paraphrasing (restating in your own words what someone else has said) is an essential skill for
summarizing. Paraphrasing involves thinking carefully about both what and how something has been said and then
saying it in an alternate way. Two basic techniques can be applied simultaneously to rephrase a statement: changing word
forms or using synonyms and changing clause or phrase structures.
Linus Pauling campaigned for a ban on nuclear testing and won a Nobel
Peace Prize.

Original text

One way to paraphrase this sentence is to change the form of the underlined word; structural changes will also be
required.
Changing word
forms

His campaign for a ban on nuclear testing won him a Nobel Peace Prize.
Because of his campaigning for a ban on nuclear testing, he was awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize.

Finding a
synonymous phrase

Linus Pauling led the movement to attain a ban on nuclear testing and
won the Nobel Peace Prize.
He worked to achieve a ban on nuclear testing and won the Nobel Peace
Prize.

Exercise: ParaphrasingWord Forms and Synonymous Phrases

Rewrite each sentence twice. In a, use the given word form. In b, find a synonymous phrase and rewrite.
In most cases you will have to make structural changes also. The first has been done for you.
1. The dog is descended from a wolf like animal, the tomarctus.
a. a descendant The

the tormarctus
b. The

the dog.

dog is a descendant of a wolflike animal,

tormarctus, a wolflike animal, is the ancestor of

2. There is evidence that trained dogs hunted with primitive man as early as 10,000 B.C.E.
a. evidently ______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

3. Early elite Egyptians, who first kept dogs as pets, even had slaves to attend them.
a. attending ______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
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4. Early Greeks used dogs to track lions in Africa.

a. for tracking ____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

5. Dogs have been employed to serve mankind for centuries.

a. in the employment _______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

6. Elephants evolved from a large prehistoric animal, the mammoth, to be the world's largest land animal.
a. evolving ______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

7. The elephant is known for its superior brain and submissive disposition.
a. superiority /submissiveness _______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

8. In spite of their massive size, elephants are known for being agile.
a. massiveness / agility _____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

9. Elephants have often been sought for food and for their valuable ivory tusks.
a. value ________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

10. Because elephants consume up to 500 pounds of food a day, they are able to strip a forest bare
in no time.
a. consumption ___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
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b. ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

FileName : 241109516.doc
Softcopy :

Last Saved on: 2014-03-26