Paraphrase

Paraphrase is the translation of a dialogue or conversation into ordinary prose language. Care should be taken not to confuse it with reported speech which is purely grammatical. Perhaps the main difference between paraphrasing and reporting speech is that we do not stick as closely to the wording of the speaker or author in paraphrasing as we do in reporting speech. That is, in paraphrasing, we attempt to put the ideas of the speaker or writer in our own words. You are given the thought in one form and have to change it into another form. Exclude personal judgment and accurately state the main points of the original, omitting nothing important, and include nothing that is minor. Paraphrase thus gives excellent practice in expression – the thoughts, ideas and emotions are supplied, and all that is necessary is to thoroughly understand and express them in simple prose language.

Here is a sample list of some commonly used words and phrases which may help you to interpret your passage clearly and accurately:

to wonder if (why, when, how, etc)…

To think/ believe, suppose that…

to be sure/ convinced that…

to doubt/ deny that…

to admit/ acknowledge/ assume that…

to reproach smb for…

to allege/ announce/ claim/ state that…

to suggest that smb should do smth

to remind smb of smth

to offer/ refuse to do smth

to persuade smb to do smth

to argue with smb about smth

to forbid smb to do smth

to suspect smb of smth

to insist on smth

Here are some more tips to help you make appropriate paraphrase:

• Avoid verbs like tell, say, ask, answer which are typical of reported speech.

• Paraphrase conversations if they are essential for your précis.

• When paraphrasing a passage consult the section “Aspects of Cohesion” for logical connection of facts or ideas. Make the relationship between the parts of the statement clear to a reader.

- Keep to one tense form, past or present.

3. Summary

A summary and a précis have much in common because a summary also conveys the main idea of a passage, an article, etc. However, there are certain points of difference between them.

• A précis is a close summary of a paragraph in the proportion 1 to 3, while the length of a summary varies depending upon the amount of detail required in it. It may be a single sentence if that is enough to convey the general idea. The normal proportion of a summary, however, is about 1 to 10 of the original.

• Since a summary requires a greater degree of generalization, the writer should use his own words.

• A summary must have an introduction which clearly states the title, the author’s name, the source from which the text is taken and the subject the summary is concerned with.

• The writer of a summary should avoid such phrases as “the author says”, “the article reports” and so on. Instead he should simply say what the author says without noting that he does so.

5. Outlining

• Formal outline

- All headings and subheadings are complete sentences.

- If you use one subheading, you must use at least one more.

1. For every A, there must be a B; for every 1, there must be a 2.

b) You can have more than two subheadings – for example, in this outline there are three subheadings under II.A and four under II.B.

- Formal outlines are normally typed and are best suited for term papers, research projects and other more formal pieces of writing, and they are often submitted along with the writing itself.

• Jot outline. Effective for any type of short- to medium-length paper.

a) Recommended for essay examination questions and other types of tests and writing where time is limited.

b) Can be turned into a formal outline, if desired.

• The writer quickly jots down as many ideas as possible about a subject, whether or not they seem to belong or make sense.

a) Such a jot outline can take as little as five minutes to prepare.

b) Numbers, letters, headings and subheadings are not necessary.

c) After the writer has jotted down everything that comes to mind about a subject, he or she then eliminates “jots” that won’t be used.

d) Writer puts remaining “jots” in the order they will be presented.