Paraphrase IELTS

Are you aiming for a high band score in the IELTS test? Then, practising paraphrasing is one of the important steps that you need to consider doing. Understanding the paraphrase IELTS will help you to solve primarily the writing and speaking section and also it will be useful to ace the listening and reading section.

Learning to paraphrase will help you in writing the sentence with different words but with the same meaning, to showcase your vocabulary, and understanding ability. In the IELTS writing section, paraphrasing is the most used way to write the introduction part. In this article, we’ve given the complete guidance of the different ways to paraphrase IELTS and how it will be beneficial to get the desired score. 

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What is paraphrasing in IELTS? 

Paraphrasing is a change of sentence or paragraph with the different words which conveys the original meaning. In IELTS, paraphrasing is a way widely used in the writing section which helps to demonstrate the range of vocabulary words.

Original sentence: Consumer started to spend more money on online shopping

Paraphrased sentence: Recently, people spent huge amounts of money on online shopping.

Why is it important to paraphrase in IELTS?

• Importance of paraphrasing in IELTS is to write the introduction of the writing task 2 essay.
• Paraphrasing in IELTS will help you to focus on the main theme of the sentence instead of just glancing.
• Paraphrasing will help you to write the sentence easily without stressing out about generating your own ideas.
• Rephrasing will help you to come up with different vocabulary to gain a high band score.
• It will avoid getting plagiarised and being repetitive with words.

Top 4 strategies to paraphrase in IELTS 

There are many ways that you can paraphrase the question or the sentence without lacking in words. The following are the methods that can be used while paraphrasing in the IELTS test.

Synonyms and paraphrasing in IELTS

You can rephrase the questions/sentence by choosing some words and replacing them with some synonyms. By responding with different words which have the same meaning makes you showcase your language ability and range of vocabulary. Let’s have a look at the example of the usage of synonyms and paraphrasing in IELTS.

Example

Original sentence: Some students work while studying. This often results in lacking time for education and constantly feeling under pressure. What do you think are the causes of this?

Paraphrased sentence: Certain students do jobs even while doing their studies. This will lead to a shortage of time spent for studies and drive them into stressful situations.

For your better understanding we’ve mentioned the synonyms below that are used to rephrase the above writing task 1 question.

• Some - certain
• Work - job
• Results in - lead to
• Education - studies
• Lack - shortage
• Pressure - stress

Restructure the sentence

Paraphrasing is not always changing the words, you can rephrase the sentence by changing the order of the words. But, in this case you have to look for the grammar of the sentence and there will be a need of adding or eliminating some words of the sentence. Let’s understand it clearly by looking at the below example.

Example

Original sentence: Some of the methods used in advertising are unethical and unacceptable in today’s society. To what extent do you agree with this view?

Paraphrased sentence: Some of the advertising methods nowadays are unethical and unacceptable.

Active to passive rephrasing

Changing the sentence from active to passive voice is one of the best ways to do the paraphrasing. While changing the sentence from active to passive, you’ll be focusing on the subject that performs the action other than the person performing the action.

Example

Original sentence: People say obesity is caused by fast foods and aerated drinks. (Active)
Paraphrased sentence: Obesity is said to be caused by fast foods and aerated drinks. (Passive)

Change the order of the clauses

A clause is comprised of a group of words which includes a subject and a verb. Look at the question, if it has two clauses in the sentence change the order of the clause. Let’s look at the example below:

Example

Original sentence: People become unhealthy because of the sedentary lifestyle.
Paraphrased sentence: Sedentary lifestyle is one of the reasons that people become unhealthy.

Change the form of grammar

Changing the verbs from a positive to negative form, nouns into verbs are another best way to paraphrase the sentence. Let’s know how to change the noun into a verb and how to change the sentence of the verb.

Example

Noun to verb:

College education (noun) - Educated at college (verb)

Verb - positive to negative form:

They say nothing about the event held yesterday.
They didn’t say anything about yesterday's event.

How to paraphrase in IELTS?

To secure a high band in the IELTS test, you not only need to know the techniques to do the paraphrasing but also know how to paraphrase and the things that need to be avoided. Check the following tips to do the paraphrasing effectively.

• Don’t paraphrase every words
• Learn vocabulary
• Aware of common mistakes
• Paraphrase in native speaker way
• Focus on the sentence formation

Don’t paraphrase every words

Paraphrasing is one of the great techniques to write an introduction in the IELTS writing test or if you’re stuck in generating the ideas. However, you need to be careful while choosing the sentence for rephrasing. For example if the sentence contains the word young people, you never know the exact age that the sentence conveys. If you try to rephrase that word with some synonyms it may convey the wrong meaning.

Learn vocabulary

Vocabulary is one of the important factors that is taken into consideration while marking your IELTS test. Learning new vocabulary words will help you to showcase your English ability and eventually help you to achieve desired IELTS band score. To paraphrase in IELTS, you need to also learn the synonyms and antonyms to construct the sentence that conveys the correct meaning.

 Aware of common mistakes

Paraphrasing is a technique that can be performed well only by taking enough practice sessions. You need to carefully select the keywords while paraphrasing with synonyms as even a word can change the meaning of the entire sentence. Also, while changing the order of the sentence you need to read out loud the paraphrased sentence to understand whether the context of the sentence conveys the same.

Paraphrase in native speaker way

It’s usual that we will write the sentences in our own language. But, after paraphrasing the question, look at the sentence if it conveys the English ability as the native speaker expects from you. If you’re satisfied with the sentence structure, you won't be able to achieve band 9 in the IELTS test. Check the paragraphs and try to change the words with different vocabulary.

Focus on the sentence formation

While paraphrasing we always focus on the keywords instead of the sentence formation. While changing the words with synonyms, don’t forget to read the sentence again whether the sentences are structured in the right way. It’s not always the vocabulary, it’s also the meaning and the sentence structure.

IELTS resources 

Check the following resources to practise each section of the IELTS test and know how to solve them to secure a high band score.

• IELTS reading
• IELTS writing
• IELTS writing task 2
• IELTS listening
• IELTS speaking
• IELTS vocabulary

Conclusion

Paraphrase IELTS is the one important factor that you need to consider practising. I hope this article will help you to paraphrase with the different strategies given here and also utilise the tips to rephrase sentences for IELTS.

FAQ

1. How do you paraphrase in IELTS?

• Use synonyms
• Restructure the sentence
• Active to passive rephrasing
• Change word order
• Change word form
• Change the order of clauses
• Change noun construction to verb

2. What is paraphrase in IELTS speaking?

Paraphrasing is a way to change the sentence or passage with different words without changing the meaning. Paraphrasing is commonly used in IELTS writing to write the introduction part rather than using in IELTS speaking.

3. How can I improve my paraphrasing skills in IELTS?

You can improve your paraphrasing skills in IELTS by practise rephrasing the question of writing task 2, changing the sentence structure, words, active and passive, and clauses.

4. How do you practice paraphrasing?

Writing is the only effective way to practise paraphrasing. You can take the sample questions of the IELTS writing test and then try to paraphrase with different methods and vocabulary.

5. How do you paraphrase in IELTS academic writing?

In IELTS academic writing, you need to write the introduction by paraphrasing the given question. You need to give a brief outline about what the essay is all about and what opinion you’re about to present with.