Five paraphrasing techniques
| Technique | Example |
|---|---|
| Synonyms | spend more money on → invest more heavily in |
| Word form | people are living longer → life expectancy is increasing |
| Active ↔ passive | the government should fund → should be funded by the state |
| Nominalisation | prices rose sharply → there was a sharp rise in prices |
| Clause order | Although X, Y → Y, even though X |
Where to use paraphrasing
- Task 2 introductions: rewrite the question in your own words, then add your thesis.
- Task 1 overviews: describe the chart’s title without copying it.
- Reading and Listening: answers are usually paraphrased versions of the question, so practising makes them easier to spot.
Common mistakes
Swapping every word for a rare synonym makes sentences unnatural and can change the meaning. Combine two techniques at most, keep key topic words that have no real synonym (for example “university” or “the internet”), and check the result still means exactly the same thing. For a full essay plan, try the essay ideas generator.