The skill of expressing the same meaning with different words or structures is called paraphrase. It is fundamental to expanding your range of English expressions and is necessary for high school and university entrance exams and Eiken Pre-Grade 2 and above.
Basic Rules
Four approaches to paraphrasing:
① Replace words with synonyms: big → large, important → significant, happy → glad → pleased
② Write from the opposite perspective: “easy” → It is easy. / It is not difficult. / It is not hard.
③ Passive voice ↔ active voice: Tom wrote this. = This was written by Tom.
④ Rewrite equal comparisons, comparatives, and superlatives: A is taller than B. = B is shorter than A. = B is not as tall as A.
The important thing is to have several expressions with “the same meaning but different forms.” Even if the content is the same, writing sounds childish if it always uses the same pattern. Adding variety makes your English more natural.
Original: I like cats more than dogs.
Rewrite ① I like cats better than dogs.
Rewrite ② I prefer cats to dogs.（prefer A to B）
Rewrite ③ I don't like dogs as much as cats.
Original: This book is very interesting.
Rewrite ① This book is really fascinating.
Rewrite ② I find this book interesting.
Rewrite ③ This book is far from boring.（It is not boring at all）
Points to Remember
① Synonym list:
- big = large = huge
- small = little = tiny
- good = nice = wonderful = great
- bad = poor = terrible = awful
- important = significant = essential
- happy = glad = pleased = delighted
② Variations for “I like 〜”:
- I like 〜.
- I love 〜.
- I enjoy 〜.
- I am fond of 〜.
- I am interested in 〜.
- My favorite 〜 is …
③ Opposite perspective: “difficult” → difficult / not easy. “good at” → good at / not bad at. Using affirmative expressions with a negative word increases your range.
④ In English composition, avoid repeating the same expression. Instead of continuing with “I think 〜. I think 〜. I think 〜.,” vary it with “I believe 〜. In my opinion, 〜.”
- Four paraphrasing methods: synonyms / opposite perspective / active ↔ passive / comparison rewrites
- Build a stock of synonyms (big/large/huge)
- Variations for “like”: like / love / enjoy / prefer
- Avoid repeating the same expressions
- The meaning is the same, but the form is different
Practice
- Write “I like cats better than dogs” in three ways.
- Write “This book is very interesting” in another way (do not use interesting).
- Rewrite the following sentence in the passive voice: Many people read this book.