Paraphrasing the introduction in IELTS Essays, Writing task 2

Exercises on Paraphrasing the task question.

Updated: Oct 20th 2021

In the last paraphrasing exercise here we looked at paraphrasing a part of a body paragraph. Here is a useful blog post on How to paraphrase in IELTS writing.

Paraphrasing is an important skill to practice in IELTS and is necessary for the writing tasks. If you can paraphrase well it shows that you have a wide range of vocabulary and this goes toward getting a high band score in Lexical resource.

Key points about paraphrasing

In the introduction of your essay the first thing you should do is paraphrase the topic question by using synonyms or changing the word-formation. If you just copy the original question you will lose points.

A good technique is to change the form of the words by using: a verb, gerund, adjective or noun. Look at the examples below.

People increasingly access the news online these days rather than buying newspapers and magazines to find out what is going on in the world.

There is an increase in people accessing the news online these days rather than buying newspapers and magazines to find out what is going on in the world.

I have changed two words above from Adverb+ verb in sentence 1, to noun phrase + gerund and re-ordered the sentence slightly. Using this technique you need to be confident with your grammar if you decide to change the word-formation.

You have to be careful when using synonyms though, click here to see a lesson about learning new words and the dangers of synonyms.

Let’s Practice Paraphrasing

This task is a problem-solution essay. Choose words from the list and try paraphrasing it. You do not need to paraphrase the instruction words. Check my answer when you have finished.

ielts paraphrasing

Practice it first before checking my answer.

My answer. (two variations)

a) People residing in large urban areas have to deal with a lot of issues in their day to day lives.

b) There are a number of issues that people living in cities have to cope with in their everyday lives.

Notes:

I did not use the word ‘citizens ‘as it doesn’t fit well, the word ‘people’ is hard to paraphrase so I kept it.

Some words cannot be used here such as ‘ suburbs’ or ‘towns’ there is a difference in meaning to ‘cities’. Also the word ‘huge’ doesn’t feel right here so I didn’t use it.

Remember that not every word has to be paraphrased, there is no black and white answer to paraphrasing, it depends on your vocabulary and how you can use synonyms correctly. Make sure the meaning stays the same or you will lose marks.

Let’s try another one

paraphrasing ielts

Try it yourself before checking my answer.

My answer. (two variations)

a) The Internet, which is a huge source of knowledge, has created opportunities for people worldwide to study.

b) The worldwide web is a massive source of information and has given people all over the world the ability to study.

Notes:

Some words do not go well here such as ‘ folks’ which is too informal and ‘humankind’ which does not sound right in this situation.

The words ‘data’ and ‘know-how’ just do not match well here and could change the meaning slightly.

Again, I have kept the word ‘people’ as this is hard to paraphrase.

Any questions? , comment below.

IELTS paraphrasing practice

Exercises on Paraphrasing the task question.

Key points about paraphrasing

Let’s Practice Paraphrasing

a) People residing in large urban areas have to deal with a lot of issues in their day to day lives.

b) There are a number of issues that people living in cities have to cope with in their everyday lives.

Let’s try another one

a) The Internet, which is a huge source of knowledge, has created opportunities for people worldwide to study.

b) The worldwide web is a massive source of information and has given people all over the world the ability to study.

Do you need help with your writing? Take a look at the Writing Correction Service here.