Hi, there. My name is Emma, and in today's video I'm going to teach you something very
important for if you're taking any type of test that has a writing component. So, if
you are taking the IELTS, the TOEFL, the CELPIP, even just a university test, it can be any
type of test, but if you're asked to write something like an essay or a paragraph, this
video is for you. Okay? So I'm going to teach you a very important skill that will help
improve your marks when it comes to writing on tests. So, let's get started.
So, I have here an essay question. This question is actually... I've seen it on the IELTS.
You know, you have similar types of questions on the TOEFL, sometimes in university. The
question is this: "Education is the single most important factor in the development of
a country. Do you agree or disagree?" Or maybe: "To what extent do you agree or disagree?"
So, this is an example of a question you might be asked.
Now, a problem a lot of students have is in their answer to this question. They see this,
and they think: "Okay, education is the most important factor in the development of a country,
yes, I agree." So then they... Or: "I disagree", and they start writing. And what do they write?
Usually the very first thing students will write is this:
"I agree that education is the single most important factor in the development of a country because..." So, what is the problem
with this? Is there any problem to start off your essay with something like this, or to
start off your answer? There's a big problem. So I want you to take a moment and think:
"What could be the problem with starting your essay off with this sentence?"
Okay, well, if you noticed, you have here the word: "education, education, is, is, the single most important,
most important factor". If you notice, these are the same. They're the exact same, except
for: "I agree that" and "because". The student, here, has used the exact same wording that
is in the question. So, if you do this on the IELTS-and many students do this, same
with on the TOEFL-you actually will lose marks, and same with in university, because you're
not showing your abilities; you're just copying what somebody else has said or what the essay
So, in this video, I'm going to show you first off... First off, I'm going to tell you: Don't
do this, don't copy. And I'm going to teach you ways in order to improve yourself and
your answer by changing this wording. How can you change your introduction so it's different
than what the question is? Okay? So, let's look at how to make these changes.
Okay, so what we are going to do in order to change the question into a proper answer
that doesn't just copy the question, is we are going to paraphrase. So, the word here
is: "paraphrase". This might be a new word for you. What does it mean to paraphrase something?
Well, when we paraphrase, it means we take a sentence that, you know... We take somebody
else's sentence and we change it into our own words. Okay? So, we change the words of
a sentence, we also change maybe the sentence structure, but we keep all the same meaning.
Okay? So, the meaning from the sentence you copy, it stays the same, same meaning, but
different words and different sentence structure. Okay? So it's in your words, but this other
So, we are going to paraphrase this example of a question into our own words. So, first
we're going to look at how to do that using vocabulary and synonyms. So, we have here
the same question: "Education is the single most important factor in the development of
a country." How can we put this into new words or our own words that keep the same meaning?
Well, we can use synonyms. So, this might be a new word for you, too. A "synonym". "Synonyms"
are words that have the same meaning, but are different words. So, for example: "big"
and "large", they have the same meaning, just like: "huge", "enormous", these are synonyms
of each other; same meaning, but they're different words. So, you need to use different synonyms
so you don't just copy these words. You use synonyms to have words that have the same
meaning, but are different words.
So, let's look at an example. Our first word, here, is: "education".
What's another word we can use instead of...? Instead of "education"? Well, there's different words we can use.
Maybe one could be: "schooling". Okay? So, we could change this word to "schooling".
"Schooling is the single most important factor in the development of a country." What's another
word we can change? Well, maybe "most important". Instead of using the word "most important",
maybe we could use: "most significant" or "most essential". Okay? So: "essential", "significant".
There are many words you can use. But the point here is: Find a word that has the same
meaning, but is a different word.
Okay, here's another word: "factor". Can you think of another word for "factor"? Well,
sometimes "factor", it can be an "aspect" or an "element". Okay? You can even say sometimes:
"a significant role". Okay? Or: "a part". So, there's different words we can use that
have similar meanings. In terms of the word "development", we can change the word "development"
to "advancement", "progression", "evolution". Okay? And in terms of the word "country",
another word for "country" is "nation". Okay?
So, these are all synonyms, and this is what you want to do. When you look at the question,
think about some new words you can use that have the same meaning. This is also important
throughout your essay, because one problem a lot of students have is they keep using
the same word again, and again, and again in every sentence. This does not help you
with your marks. It's better to use different words that have the same meaning. At the same
time, you have to be careful, here, because some students, they find a new word, they
think it's a great word, but there is a little bit of a difference in meaning. So, you need
to be really comfortable with the word you choose, and you need to know what it actually
means so it doesn't sound strange.
Okay, so if we wanted to change this now, instead of saying:
"Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country",
our paraphrase... Our first step
in our paraphrase could be changing these words to:
"Schooling is the single most significant element in the advancement of a nation."
Okay? So that's just one example. So, now, let's
look at another thing you can do in order to paraphrase the question on a test or exam.
Okay, another way we can paraphrase is by changing the structure of the sentence. So,
for example, you might have a verb and, you know, which is an action, and you might change
that into its noun form. So, for example, if your verb is "developing", you might change
that into "development". You might change, similarly, a noun into a verb. Okay? So, for
example, we just said "development" is the noun, it can turn into: "develop" or "developing".
You can also change things into adjectives. So, if, for example, you're talking about
"technology", which is a noun, you can change this into the adjective form which is "technological".
So, changing the form of the word can help you with paraphrasing.
Also changing placement of the words can help you out. So, for example, in our original
"Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country."
So, I've now changed some of the wording, as well as the order. Okay? So,
here: "Education" is at the beginning. In my sentence:
"The most essential element of a nation's development is education."
I've changed the order of the sentence, so now
"education" is at the end, instead of at the beginning. I've also started out with:
"The most essential", as my beginning; whereas here, it was in the middle. You'll also notice
we have, here: "in the development of a country", I've changed this to: "nation's development".
I could also change this to: "country's development", instead of "the development of a country".
So, changing the order of the sentence and changing some of the structures can really
help you in terms of paraphrasing. Now let's learn one other way in which we can improve
Okay, so the last tip I have about paraphrasing a question is using concessions. So, what
is a concession? Well, I want you to look at what the question actually says and my
new answer to it. The question, again, same question as before:
"Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country."
My answer... Okay, so I've changed some words and I've also changed the structure a bit, but there's one other thing I've added.
"Although many would argue that the economy is the most important factor in nation-building,
I think education has a far greater impact." So, what I've done here is I've added a concession.
A concession is where you say what the opposite opinion is, and then you say what your opinion
is. So, you're giving two opinions; you're giving your opinion and also what other people
might think. This is a great thing to do, especially in essays, and this is something
you can do at the beginning of your answer.
So, we use here the key word: "Although". Okay? And you'll notice that this has two
clauses. I don't want to get too technical with grammar on you today, but what I mean
is: If you see, we have the red part: "Although many would argue that the economy is the most
important factor in nation-building," and then we have a second part. So, we have two
parts to this sentence. "...I think education has a far greater impact." So, the first part
of the sentence is in red and it's the "Although" part, and the second part of the sentence
is in purple-okay?-and that's: "I think education has a far greater impact."
And they're separated by a comma. So, a concession has two parts to it. You say what the other people think
first, in this case: "Although many", "many" meaning people, we could also say: "many people".
"Although many would argue that the economy is the most important factor in nation-building,"
okay? So, this is what some people would say. Now I'm going to say what I think.
"I think education has a far greater impact."
So, why is this a good idea? Well, one reason is because when you write a concession, when
you're showing what the opposite opinion of yours is, you're showing that you've thought
about the issue. Okay? You're looking at both sides. You're not just looking at your opinion.
You're looking at both sides, and then you're making a judgment. So this shows that you're
thinking about the question, and you're really giving it some thought. And by representing
both sides, you're really showing critical thinking. So this is a very good idea to do.
Okay, so the three things we've talked about today in terms of paraphrasing the question
is: Changing the words using synonyms, we've talked about changing the sentence structure,
and we've also talked about adding the other perspective using concessions. Okay? So, these
are three things you can do in order to change the question so you're not just copying what
is on your test paper. Again, great thing to do if you're writing a high school essay,
university essay, TOEFL, IELTS, CELPIP, all of these things - this skill will really come
Now, you might be wondering: "Okay, this is great, but I don't know any synonyms. Or I...
You know, I don't know much about this." Well, what you can do is you can come check out
our website at www.engvid.com. There, you can find a lot of other resources, including
improving your vocabulary, we even have a video on how to make concessions, you know,
we have videos on sentence structure, too. So, there's a lot of videos you can check
out and a lot of resources. You can also come visit our website where you will find a quiz,
and by taking that quiz, you can actually practice your paraphrasing skills so you can
see, you know: "Am I doing this right? Is this...? You know, is this the right way to
do this?" and get more practice.