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4 views4 pagesTips for Rephrasing English Sentences
1. Learn idiomatic phrases by categories such as changing adjectives with opposite meanings, using quantifiers like "some" and "any", and distinguishing between "rather" and "prefer".
2. Practice rewriting sentences using different grammatical structures such as the present perfect, passive voice, conditionals, and changing from direct to indirect speech.
3. Follow these steps and tips to improve your ability to rewrite sentences in English meaningfully.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
4 views4 pagesTips for Rephrasing English Sentences
1. Learn idiomatic phrases by categories such as changing adjectives with opposite meanings, using quantifiers like "some" and "any", and distinguishing between "rather" and "prefer".
2. Practice rewriting sentences using different grammatical structures such as the present perfect, passive voice, conditionals, and changing from direct to indirect speech.
3. Follow these steps and tips to improve your ability to rewrite sentences in English meaningfully.
Translated by
ScribdTranslationsCopyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
REPHRASING
What does this mean in practice?
It means that you have to learn set structures. Yes, many set structures.
This also means that you should NOT start doing these exercises until you
to have some practice with the basic structures and associated vocabulary. That is,
It is necessary to do exercises by categories of grammatical structures (that
we will see later) BEFORE starting to rewrite sentences. If you don't do it
so, you will probably get discouraged.
Let's see an example of structure made with 'rather' and 'prefer'.
I would rather have a beer.
I would prefer to have a beer.
What do you need to know to differentiate between 'rather' and 'prefer'?
The verb that follows 'would rather' is WITHOUT 'to'. And, the verb that follows 'prefer' goes
WITH 'to'.
Although it is difficult to perform this type of exercise, if you follow these tips, you surely
What will you improve and you will be able to answer these questions without much difficulty.
Tips for rewriting
sentences in English that
they mean the same
Learn phrases by categories.
The most common categories are usually:
Change adjectives of opposite meaning
Change adverbs of opposite meaning
Some
(Would) rather- prefer
Present Perfect vs. Past Tense
Neither-nor-either-or-so-both
Change one comparative for another that says the same.
Change a modal verb for one with a similar meaning.
Change from active to passive voice and vice versa.
Change a conditional.
Change relative clauses.
Change sentences from direct style to indirect style (reported speech)
Change 'connectors'.
A) Change adjectives to their opposite meanings.
For example:
He is dead.
He isn't alive.
B) Change adverbs of opposite meanings
Remember that an adverb is a word that qualifies a verb.
For example:
She runs fast (The adverb is 'fast') --> it is saying how she runs.
For example:
The hotel is not near my house.
The hotel is far from my house.
Some- Any- Much- Many- Few- Little- Too-
Enough
In English, these words are called 'quantifiers' because they
they indicate [Link] have a list of quantifiers.
For example:
There aren't many people in the room.
room
There are few people in the room.
Not many is the same as few.
D) (Would) rather - Prefer
Example:
I prefer studying English to studying German.
place of German.
I like studying English rather than studying German. I like studying more.
English to German
Note the structure with 'prefer' uses 'to' for comparison and the structure with
rather uses 'than'
E) Present Perfect vs. Past Tense
Example:
They've been married for 5 years.
They married 5 years ago.
F) Neither-nor-either-or-so-both
Example:
She doesn't like either pears or apples.
apples
She neither likes pears nor apples.
apples.
G) Change one comparative for another that says the same
same.
Example:
John is taller than Peter.
Peter isn't as tall as John. John is not as tall as Peter.
H) Change a 'modal verb' for one of
similar meaning.
Example:
Shall we have a coffee?
Would you like to have a coffee?
I) Convert from active to passive voice and vice versa.
Example:
The police caught the thief.
The thief was caught by the police.
J) Change a conditional.
Example:
I didn't go to the cinema because I was late.
afternoon.
If I hadn't been late, I would have gone to the cinema.
If I had arrived late, I would have gone to the cinema.
K) Change 'relative clauses'.
Example:
There’s the man. His house was burnt.
burnt.
There is the man whose house was burnt.
she was burned.
L) Change sentences from direct style to indirect style
(reported speech)
Example:
Mary said: I won't go to the party.
Mary said that she wouldn't go to the party.
M) Change 'connectors'.
Example:
Although we were hungry, we didn't eat.
we ate.
In spite of being hungry we didn't eat.
we ate.