IELTS Tips: Paraphrasing, Part 1
Today we’re talking about one of the most important skills involved in the IELTS test. This skill is used during the speaking, writing, reading, AND listening sections to varying degrees. Which skill is that, you ask?
It’s changing things up. It’s saying it differently. It’s demonstrating a diversity of vocabulary.
I am, of course, talking about paraphrasing.
Back before the pandemic, when I had a classroom full of IELTS students, paraphrasing was a word that I mentioned at least 20 times a day. I might have sounded like a broken record to my students, but this point really does bear repeating.
In my opinion, paraphrasing is absolutely the most essential skill to master to improve your IELTS score.
What is paraphrasing?
Essentially, paraphrasing is expressing the meaning of a message using different words.
For example, instead of the word famous, you could say well-known, renowned, popular, or prominent.
Each of these words has its own particular meaning, however, so they don’t all work in the same situations.
Famous sounds better for celebrities, companies, or songs, while prominent more often describes politicians, landmarks, or business owners.
We can also paraphrase entire sentences:
“The whole class enjoyed a slice of Karen’s birthday cake” could also be expressed as…
“Karen’s birthday cake was eaten by everyone in the class” or…
“Every student in the class ate a piece of Karen’s cake on her birthday”
Why is paraphrasing important for Speaking and Writing sections?
Paraphrasing is important in the speaking and writing sections because when you paraphrase the words in a question that the examiner asks you, you are showing that you understand their question and can also rephrase it in a different way. This shows a strong grasp of English vocabulary and grammar and it will improve your score.
If the question in your interview or essay was:
“What is the oldest building in your hometown?” you definitely do NOT want to say
“The oldest building in my hometown is the church.” If you do that, you’ve just repeated the same words that the examiner said, and that won’t improve your score.
Instead, you could answer:
“The architecture of the church is quite dated. I think it might be the most ancient place in the city.”
Here you’ve changed old into dated and ancient.
You’ve also paraphrased building into both architecture and place.
This shows a much wider range of vocabulary than simply repeating the same words you heard or read in the question. Notice how the words don’t have to be perfect synonyms to create an effective paraphrase.
Why is paraphrasing important for the Reading and Listening sections?
You might think that paraphrasing is only something you need to worry about when you’re speaking or writing, but that’s not true. Both the reading and listening sections require the use of paraphrasing.
For example, a question might ask you if a newly developed robot is capable of laughter, but the word laughter or laugh may not appear in the text at all. You might search and search for that word, and when you don’t find it, you choose the answer: no.
However, if your paraphrasing knowledge is up to snuff you might see that the robot was described as giggling, chuckling, or cracking up. All of these words mean laughing, so the answer should have been yes.
In the listening section, a similar thing can happen with what you hear and what you see on the page. Your question sheet might say that there is a path between two buildings. However, the recording might not use this word. They could mention an alley, a thoroughfare, or a trail between the buildings instead. Clearly, you need paraphrasing even when you aren’t doing the talking.
Now that we understand what paraphrasing is and why it’s important in the IELTS test, it’s time to learn how to do it ourselves. Unfortunately, I’ve run out of space for this entry, so tune in next week for Part 2 when I’ll show you three different ways to paraphrase effectively and give you some practice sentences to try out.
Until then, good luck in your studies and thanks for reading!
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