IELTS Paraphrasing: 4 Proven Tips to Master It

Jenn Author

Summary: It may be a skill you need in writing and speaking -but paraphrasing is a lot like an art form.

Paraphrasing is a crucial skill to master for the IELTS exam. To be honest, it’s a bit of an art form and will serve you well not only in the exam but in any writing that you’ll need to do thereafter.

As you know paraphrasing involves rephrasing a sentence or phrase with different words that convey the same meaning. Paraphrasing is essential for both speaking and writing, but it will also help you in the listening and reading tests. Therefore, if you can paraphrase well, you are more likely to earn a higher score.

Additionally, if you practice paraphrasing it will help you better understand the question. That's why I always tell my students to start their writing test answers by paraphrasing the question. It’s key to achieving a high score!

Consider the following use of paraphrasing.

Original: Paraphrasing is one of the most essential skills to learn prior to sitting for your IELTS exam.
Now it can be paraphrased like this: Understanding paraphrasing is key before taking the IELTS test.

Notice that the second sentence uses synonyms to change vocabulary such as essential for key and before for prior. I also made changes to the grammar: Paraphrasing is one of the most essential skills to Understanding paraphrasing to convey the same message.

There are three main techniques, plus changing to passive voice to paraphrase sentences in the IELTS exam. While it might be preferable to use all three, often you will find only two are necessary.

Of course, with all of these, you must be 100% in your understanding of the original sentence or phrase and the changes you make. So, let’s look closer at these techniques now.

#1 Synonyms

Synonyms are words or phrases that mean the same as another word or phrase. Take for instance, ‘people’ is a synonym for ‘individuals’, and ‘attractive’ is a synonym for ‘pretty’. This technique replaces words with the same meaning to produce a new sentence.

For example:
My bracelet needs repairing.
My bangle requires mending.

With these three out of four words have been replaced with synonyms to create a new sentence with the same meaning as the first. Notice that all the words have not been replaced, but you should try to replace most of them.

This is probably the most common technique that students use and it is effective. But be mindful that you do not make an error in the meaning of the words you replace.

Social media use is on the rise among teenagers.
Social media use is on the rise among young people.

Here you'll see, I changed teenagers to young people to make a point. These are similar words, and teenagers are young people. However, not all young people are teenagers. The term teenagers specifically describe the ages between 13-19 years of age. Young people can also include young adults from 18-30 years old. Therefore, a better word would be adolescents or young people between the ages of 13-19.

A better way to paraphrase this sentence would be like this:
Social media use is on the rise among adolescents.

When you see it like this, you can understand why it is so important to only change words you are 100% sure about. If not, you will probably make small mistakes that will greatly affect your score. And I do not want that for you!

# 2 Changing the Word Order

Changing the word order can also be an effective strategy for paraphrasing a sentence, but it must be done carefully. You should not change the word order without considering how it affects the sentence's grammar.

Changing the word order may require adding or subtracting words or changing the form of words.

Remember that you will be evaluated on your ability to create error-free sentences that use a range of grammar structures in the IELTS exam. It's important to follow the 100% rule and not change the word order unless you are 100% completely confident that it's grammatically accurate.

Luckily, there are two easy ways to change the word order in most IELTS questions.

First, if the original sentence contains more than one clause, you can rearrange the order of the clauses.

Question: The diagram below shows the process by which bricks are manufactured for the building industry.
Paraphrased: The process by which bricks are manufactured for the building industry is shown in the diagram below.

You can add synonyms in combination with word order change to paraphrase a bit more.

Combination: The method by which bricks are produced for the construction industry is shown in the figure below.

Second, if there is an adjective or noun in the question, you can change the word order by transforming the adjective into a relative clause.

Question: Learning to manage your emotions is one of the key aspects of adult life.
Paraphrased: Learning to manage your emotions is a key aspect of adult life.

#3 Changing the Form of the Word

Another effective way to paraphrase is by changing the form of a word. As there are many, many forms of words, including adjectives, adverbs nouns, and verbs…you need to be sure you are using the 100% rule. Do not simply change the form of the word, you must also check that your changes make grammatical sense. To make sure it is an error-free sentence, you may need to change the words around.

Question: The world of work is changing rapidly, and employees cannot depend on having the same job or the same working conditions for life.

Paraphrased by changing word form: The world of work is changing rapidly, and employees cannot depend on the same job or the same work conditions for life.

#4 Bonus Technique: Changing from Active to Passive Voice

In academic writing, we often use the passive voice. Because of this, we can also use it in the IELTS academic writing test. Remember, only verbs with an object can be turned into passive.

Check these examples out:
Example active: The property developers invested $75 million in the development of the shopping center.
Example passive: $75 million was invested in the development of shopping centers.

Example active: People say that global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Example passive: Global warming is said to be caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

Do I need to use all four of these??
Nope. Each of the four techniques can be used alone or combined. I suggest you use synonyms and try to change the grammar (word order and/or word form).

Key tip: only use the technique(s) that you feel 100% comfortable with and can use 100% error-free.

What to do now?

The only way for these paraphrasing techniques to help you on the IELTS exam is to practice using them. See the example questions below and try using the techniques. Try each one and see which works best for you. With enough practice, you can spot patterns in the questions, along with common words and phrases. Being able to do this will make it super simple for you to paraphrase in the IELTS.

Practice example questions for you to paraphrase:

A. Children who are brought up in families that do not have large amounts of money are better prepared to deal with the problems of adult life than children brought up by wealthy parents.
B. International tourism has brought enormous benefits to many places.
C. Most societies have homeless people. Some people think that the best way to help them is to give them money.
D. Distance learning has many benefits, but there are also drawbacks, and not every learner will be suited to this mode of study.

Good luck! Don’t forget to drop a comment or send me an email to let me know how you are doing with paraphrasing!

If you need some help paraphrasing, join me in the Summer Speaking Series! I'll help you use paraphrasing in speaking and show you how it will help your writing. Check it out here.

Categories: : Academic, IELTS, Writing