Paraphrasing Exercises

6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing

1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
2. Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card, pieces of
paper, Post-it, or in an electronic manner. (Your rendition should be shorter,
but it should contain all the essential elements. Some paraphrases may be as
long as the original.)
3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you
envision using this material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or
phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.
4. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version
accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have
borrowed exactly from the source.
6. Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can
credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.

Exercise 1

Paraphase each sentence. There may be more than one way to rewrite each one.
Remenber to change vocabulary, phrases and sentence structure wherever you can.

1. Despite their massive size, elephants are known for being agile.
Although elephants are very huge, they are famous for their swiftness.

2. Because elephants consume up to 500 pounds of food a day, they are

able to strip a forest bare in no time.
Elephants eat up to 500 pounds of food per day, so that they have the ability to
trample a forest in such a short time.

3. Over the centuries, lions have been used in art to represent power and
magnificence.
In the last decade centuries, lions have been used in art to on behalf of authority and
brilliance.

4. Lions are social animals with one dominant male in each pride.
Lions are gregarious animals which have a primary male in each pride.
 5. George Washington Carver was a dedicated teacher, in addition, he
was known as a talented artist, musician, and researcher who made valuable
contributions to his people and his country.
George Washington Carver not only famous as a gifted artist, musician, and
researcher who made worthwhile devotions to his people and his country.

6. Archibald McLeish, known for his poetry, was appointed head of the
library of congress by President Roosevelt in 1939.
Archibald McLeish, famous for his poetry, was assigned to the leader of the library
of congress by president Roosevelt in 1939.

Exercise 2

Read each paragraph and state the main idea in your own words. If you find the
main idea stated directly in the paragraph, be sure to use the paraphrasing
techniques that you practice in exercise one.

1. There is plenty of water on the earth. In fact, there is enough water in

this planet for everyone to have a huge lake. The trouble is that the water is
not always found in the place where is needed. In addition, much of the water
is polluted or salty. Because of these problems, there are many people
without sufficient water.
Actually, it is enough for everyone to have a large lake in on the earth due to large
amount of water. However, there exists two problems that limit the use of water
resource to human. One is the imbalance between supply and demand in different
places. The other is too much pollution and salty in water.
Main idea:

2. New oil supplies need to be found to replace those that have been
used up. There is a constant search for new oil fields. Oil hunters sink their
wells wherever there are signs of oil. Each of these drillings costs thousands
and thousands of dollars, and often there is not enough oil to make it
profitable. Nevertheless, the search for new oil never ends.
If there is any indication of oil the oil hunters will continuously to dig their wells and
use new wells to substitute old ones which run out of oil. Although the costs of these
grilling will spend a lot and usually find no enough oil to earn money, the explore of
new oil never will stop.
Main idea:
 3. Quakers, a religious group known as the Society of Friends, have
always worked for human causes. Before the Civil War in the United States,
they were against slavery and led the movement to help salve escape from
the southern part of the United States and seek freedom in the northern part.
Today, they fight hunger and disease around the globe and still aid people
fleeing tyranny （ 暴 政 专 政 ） and war. Their beliefs are based on the
principles of pacifism（和平主义 反战主义） and simple living.
Quakers, a devotional group famous as the Society of Friends, devote themselves to
human problems all the time and basically believe the tenet of pacifism and simple
living. Before the Civil War in the United States, they fight for slaveries in the south
of US to obtain freedom and flee to the north of America. But now they pay more
attention to solve starvation and disease in the world and lead human against
tyranny and war.
Main idea:

Practice Exercises in Paraphrasing

1. The twenties were the years when drinking was against the law, and the law
was a bad joke because everyone knew of a local bar where liquor could be had.
They were the years when organized crime ruled the cities, and the police
seemed powerless to do anything against it. Classical music was forgotten while
jazz spread throughout the land, and men like Bix Beiderbecke, Louis
Armstrong, and Count Basie became the heroes of the young. The flapper was
born in the twenties, and with her bobbed hair and short skirts, she symbolized,
perhaps more than anyone or anything else, America's break with the past.
From Kathleen Yancey, English 102 Supplemental Guide (1989): 25.
It is known by everyone that a local bar sold alcohol, although there was a
regulation which forbid drinking. It took a long time that police can do nothing
against crimes in this city. As the jazz spread the city, men like Bix Beiderbecke,
Louis Armstrong, and count Basie became the heroes of teenagers, classic music
gradually disappeared from people’s sight. The flapper, surpassed everything in
US and represented a new break, who was born in the twenties and had bobbed
hair and short skirts.

2. Language is the main means of communication between peoples. But so many

different languages have developed that language has often been a barrier
rather than an aid to understanding among peoples. For many years, people
have dreamed of setting up an international universal language which all people
are simple and obvious. If all people spoke the same tongue, cultural and
economic ties might be much closer, and good will increase between countries
(Kispert, 2004).
According to the statement of Kispert (2004), human use language as a major way to
communicate with others. However, with the appearance of diverse languages,
language sometimes is not a simple tool to help people to understand each other, but
an obstacle of communication. For the human, it has been so many years to try to
establish a general language that everyone would speak. There is a possibility that
the benefit among countries would soar and the relationship of culture and
economic would be much tighter if everyone used a same language in the future.