paraphrasing paragraph exercises with answers pdf

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Paraphrasing and Summarizing Exercises with Answers

Paraphrasing and Summarizing are two skills that are highly useful for writers. With these two techniques, writers can get help creating their content and providing it to their readers in an easy-to-peruse way.

However, if you happen to be new to the field of writing, you could be a little unaware and untrained in both these skills. But don’t worry. Everyone starts out as a beginner.

In this post, we’re going to be looking at some  paraphrasing and summarizing  exercises along with their answers and explanations. By following along, you’ll get a good idea about how you can use these techniques in your own capacity.

Let’s begin!

What is Paraphrasing and Summarizing?

Before we get to the exercises, let’s digress a little and understand what paraphrasing and summarization actually are.

Let’s start with paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing  is the process in which a particular piece of content is reworded and rephrased in such a way that it looks different from its original version but it has the same meaning and context.

A simple example of paraphrasing would be to change “John likes his cat” to “John adores his feline pet”. Paraphrasing can be as slight as merely changing some words in the text, or it can be as drastic as fully changing the tone, structure, order, and words of the content.

On the other hand,  Summarizing  is the process in which a piece of content is shrunk and shortened to about one-tenth of its original size. In this shortened version, the main idea and concept of the content is provided.

Summarization is usually used by authors and writers when they want to give a brief outline of a book or article to their readers.

Now that we’ve looked at the definitions of both, let’s move ahead to look at some exercises.

Paraphrasing Exercises (with Answers)

The main purpose of providing these exercises along with their answers is to help you understand what these techniques look like when they are implemented. Since we have explained their core definition above, you can try and work along the exercises to improve your skills a little as well.

Related:  Difference Between Paraphrasing And Rephrasing

Paraphrasing Exercise # 1:

Here is a sample paragraph that we will be paraphrasing as an exercise. We’ll write the paragraph alone first, and then provide the answer after a brief explanation.

Sample Paragraph:

"John could not find the butter in his fridge. He went to buy some from the store. On coming back, he saw his cat sitting on the floor, smacking its lips. There was some yellow stuff smeared all around its face. Thus, John solved the mystery of the missing butter."

So, as we mentioned earlier, paraphrasing can be done simply and sparingly, or it can be done drastically.

One of the primary and basic ways of paraphrasing is to simply change some words in the provided content with their synonyms. This is, we reiterate, a very basic level of paraphrasing, and it is often very easy to see through it.

So, for this first exercise, we are going to be doing only that level of paraphrasing as a way to illustrate how it looks like.

Here is what the above paragraph looks like when paraphrased:

Paraphrased Paragraph:

"John could not locate the butter in the refrigerator. He went to purchase some from the shop. On coming back, he observed his cat sitting on the ground, licking its lips. There was some yellow material smeared all around its face. Hence, John solved the mystery of the missing butter."

While we are on this discussion, it will also be salubrious to understand that when changing words with their synonyms for the purpose of paraphrasing, you have to be careful that you pick those that don’t mess up the context and intent of the lines.

Paraphrasing Exercise # 2:

Moving on, let’s look at another paraphrasing exercise. Here is the paragraph that we will be using for this one:

"John’s cat got lost in the forest. He went looking for it in the night time. He heard some movement in one of the bushes. He put his hand in and felt the fur. He pulled the thing out, thinking it to be his cat. After coming home, he realized it was an angry raccoon."

We mentioned in the last exercise that the basic level of paraphrasing is to change some of the words in the given text with their synonyms. And we also mentioned how that sort of paraphrasing can be easily detected.

So, for writers who want to paraphrase something in such a way that it does not resemble its original form a lot, there’s a step further that they can go, and that is to change the sentence structures + phrases.

Essentially, by changing the phrases used in the content as well as the arrangement of the sentences, the overall look of the paraphrased piece looks very different. If someone wants to go even ahead of that, they can shuffle the sentence  order  as well.

Considering this type of ‘extensive’ paraphrasing, here is the answer to the paragraph given above:

"John’s cat went missing in the forest. He went to search for it when it was dark. He discerned some movement in the hedge. After putting his hand inside it, he felt some fur. Thinking that it was his cat, he pulled the animal out. It was only after coming home that he realized that it was a frustrated raccoon."

Read more: How And Why to Paraphrase Your Content?

Summarizing Exercises (with Answers)

Now that we have looked at the paraphrasing exercises, let’s move on to look at some for summarizing.

Just as we’ve looked at two types of paraphrasing above, we’ll also look at two different types of summarizing.

Actually, it’ll be better if we explain those two types before getting to the exercises.

Basically, there are  two types of summaries . One of them is called  extractive  and the other is called  abstractive .

In extractive summarization, the summary of a piece of content is generated merely by taking out some sentences from it and joining them together. This is usually the type of summaries that you get from automated tools.

When extractive summaries are created, there is no effort to understand the actual meaning and context of the text. Rather, the purpose is only to take some lines from it and join them together in such a way that they make sense.

On the other hand, abstractive summaries are those that are written using a completely new and different set of words, phrases and sentences than the content (that is being summarized). As opposed to extractive summarization, abstractive summarization involves understanding the meaning and context of the text, and then creating a completely new summary that features all those concepts and ideas.

Summarizing Exercise # 1 (Extractive)

In order to demonstrate and explain extractive summarization, we’re going to first write a paragraph here and then provide its summary afterwards:

Sample paragraph:

"John’s car broke down. He stopped by the road side and screamed at people to stop and help him. But no one stopped for him. He continued howling and howling for hours. People kept driving by. After getting tired, he picked up a sheet and wrapped it around himself. Then, he started spinning on his spot. He grew dizzy. He kept spinning and spinning until he fell asleep."

Now, since we have to use the “extractive” summarization technique here, we’ll create the summary using the lines and sentences used in the content itself.

"John’s car broke down. But no one stopped for him. Then, he started spinning on the spot. He kept spinning and spinning until he fell asleep."

Summarizing Exercise # 2 (Abstractive)

For this exercise, we will use the same para that we did above. However, the technique used for the summarization will be different.

Since we will be using the abstractive technique here, the summary will be created using different words and phrases as the original.

"John’s vehicle went phut. But, no one stopped their car to help him. After he was tired, he made himself dizzy by spinning and then went to sleep."

So, that’s about it.

If you were a little confused about paraphrasing and summarization techniques, hopefully you’re a little more confident about them now.

These skills can come in handy for writers in a lot of different situations. If you don’t have the hang of them already, you should try and get it as quick as you can.

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Exercise : Intermediate-level Paraphrase Exercises

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Paraphrase Exercise

• Please read the following passages carefully and paraphrase it. “In the United States, about six out of ten students in graduate schools are women. The same is true of today’s young adults who already have a degree beyond college. As a result, the Census Bureau expects that more women than men will hold professions such as doctors, lawyers and professors.” (Women Edge Past Men in Getting Doctorates, Voice of America, learningenglish.com)
• “The Human Relations Commission (HRC) was established by the City of West Lafayette to protect the rights of our citizens and to ensure that West Lafayette remains a fair and inclusive community.” (What is the Human Relations Commission?, City of West Lafayette Indiana, westlafayette.in.gov)
• “The years after World War One were an important turning point in the making of the American nation. The country turned away from the problems of Europe. Now it would deal with problems of its own.” (American History Series: The United States Turns Inward After World War One, Voice of America, learning English.voa.com)

Summary Exercise

Please read the following passage carefully and write a summary for them.

• “Business is the most popular subject for international students in the United States. At last count, 21% of foreign students at American colleges and universities were studying business and management.” (Business English Speakers Can Still be Divided by a Common Language, Voice of America, learningenglish.voanews.com)
• “There were more victories for supporters of the Tea Party movement. This movement centers on cutting taxes and government spending. It brings together conservatives and libertarians -- strong believers in individual liberty.” (More Wins for TEA Party Activists, but Will They Win in November?, Voice of America, learningenglish.voanews.com)
• “In the years after World War I, new technologies changed America. Technology made it possible for millions of people to improve their lives. It also brought great changes in American society.” (Movies Become Big Business in the 1920s, Voice of America, learningenglish.voanews.com)

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Paraphrasing Worksheets

Language arts categories, free weekly worksheets, worksheets by email, what is paraphrasing.

People love to discuss something new every day. They gossip television shows, heard stories, news with the other persons. This talk further proceeds in the curiosity of what, how, and why the incident occurred? It happened between friends, family, and colleagues to refresh their minds. Whatever theme the discussion has included storyline, events, main characters, crucial points, considerations, etc. The author uses his or her own words or informal writing (under rules and regulations). All of such a structure of writing something or explaining something will be in your own words. During all of this process, you convey someone's message or express someone's ideas. Don't forget to maintain your ideas and source meaning while paraphrasing. You will use the main idea at the time of specific needs in your own words. How can you paraphrase a source? Give two or three times to read the original paragraph until and unless you understand it. After a thorough understanding, start writing the main idea by using your own words. Avoid generating the order of emphasis and ideas. Go through all unknown words. Observe each word that makes a clear sense of your writing. Check the tone of each paragraph, and it must be intuitive with a correct flow of understanding. Change as per the requirement, such as appropriate tone, meaning variation, and words or phrases related to the original words.

When you paraphrase, you restate an author’s words in your own words without changing the meaning of the passage or including any of your own thoughts or ideas about it. When you paraphrase something, you only relay the main idea, not the entire passage.

Paraphrasing from Sources

Read each passage. On a separate page, paraphrase each passage. Try not to look back at the original while you are paraphrasing.

: The passage below is from The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed. Read the passage. Then paraphrase what you have read.

Where Is It?

Highlight the portion of the text that you would like to focus on. Then paraphrase the ideas on the notecard below.

In Your Own Words

Paraphrase each passage.

Paraphrasing Practice

Read the passage. Highlight what you think is most important. Then paraphrase the highlighted information below.

Paraphrasing and Synonyms

One strategy for paraphrasing is to use synonyms. Rewrite each sentence below, replacing each underlined word or phrase with a synonymous word or phrase.

What are the author’s main supporting points?

Use Synonyms

Rewrite each sentence below, replacing each underlined word with a synonym.

The Manifesto

The passage below is taken from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Paraphrase the passage.

50 million people in the U.S. eat fast food daily, which equates to about one in every seven people. It’s not surprising, then, the fast food restaurants have a combined revenue in the U.S. of $110 billion dollars every year.

What does the main character(s) decide to do about their problem?

Paraphrasing for Research

When You Do It!

When you paraphrase, you convey the main ideas of a passage in your own words. A paraphrase should contain all the most important information in a brief format. Use the organizer below to identify what you want to make sure that you include when you paraphrase the passage. Write your paraphrase below.