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- Paraphrasing means expressing someone else's idea in your own words while keeping the meaning.
- Core techniques: use synonyms, change word forms, and change sentence structure.
- Good paraphrasing changes both vocabulary and grammar, not just one word here and there.
- Paraphrasing helps you avoid plagiarism and is essential in academic writing and IELTS.
- Always keep the original meaning accurate — never distort the idea.
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Paraphrasing — restating someone else's idea in your own words — is one of the most valuable skills in academic and professional English. It lets you use sources without copying, demonstrates that you have understood the material, and is directly tested in exams such as IELTS. Effective paraphrasing changes both the vocabulary and the grammar while keeping the original meaning intact. This guide explains the core techniques step by step, shows how to combine them, and helps you avoid the common pitfalls.
What Is Paraphrasing?
To paraphrase is to express the same idea as the original, but in different words and a different structure. It is not the same as summarising (which makes the idea much shorter) or quoting (which copies the exact words). A good paraphrase keeps the full meaning of the original while being genuinely rewritten in your own language.
Technique 1: Synonyms
The most basic technique is replacing words with synonyms — words of similar meaning.
Original: Many students find exams stressful.
Paraphrase: A large number of learners consider tests anxiety-inducing.
Choose synonyms carefully: they must fit the context and keep the meaning. Do not swap key technical terms that have no real synonym — it is fine to keep words like photosynthesis or inflation.
Technique 2: Changing Word Forms
Change the grammatical form of words — turn a noun into a verb, an adjective into a noun, and so on.
Word-Form Shifts
| Original form | Changed form |
|---|---|
| the growth of cities (noun) | cities are growing (verb) |
| a successful plan (adjective) | the success of the plan (noun) |
| to analyse data (verb) | the analysis of data (noun) |
Technique 3: Changing Structure
Rearrange the sentence: change active to passive, reorder clauses, or split or combine sentences.
Original: The government introduced the policy in 2020.
Active → passive: The policy was introduced by the government in 2020.
Reordered: In 2020, the government introduced the policy.
Combining the Techniques
The strongest paraphrases combine all three techniques at once — synonyms, word forms and structure — so the result is clearly your own.
Original: Pollution from cars is a major cause of poor air quality in cities.
Paraphrase: In urban areas, vehicle emissions significantly contribute to the deterioration of air quality.
Paraphrasing and Plagiarism
Paraphrasing is a key tool for avoiding plagiarism, but only when done properly. Changing one or two words while keeping the original sentence structure is still considered plagiarism. A genuine paraphrase changes both vocabulary and grammar substantially. Even when you paraphrase, you must still cite the source in academic writing, because the idea belongs to the original author.
Common Mistakes
The most common error is "patchwriting" — changing only a few words and leaving the structure intact, which counts as plagiarism. A second is choosing synonyms that do not fit the context or that subtly change the meaning. A third is distorting the original idea so the paraphrase is no longer accurate. A fourth is forgetting to cite the source. Combine all three techniques and always check your version against the original for accuracy.
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