 Assalamu alaikum viewers, welcome to virtual university. One of the things you have to learn in studying English is how to express yourself in more than one ways and this is best done by practice in paraphrasing. In today's lesson, you shall learn how to paraphrase, a paraphrase is the expression of the meaning of a passage in a different way. Paraphrasing is a writing skill, mind you a writing skill in which an idea or ideas or information which is written you rewrite it in another way but without changing the meaning. It is in other words writing the given information in different words that is you rephrase the words without changing its original meaning. And paraphrasing is often used in place of directly quoting what a writer has said. It is a skill, I am repeating this again and again it is a skill and it is used to rewrite short selections series of sentences or paragraphs and a paraphrase is usually as long as the original text and why because you have to communicate its full meaning, the full meaning of the passage and a paraphrase we find is usually as long as the original text. Now we will look at some techniques that can help you in writing a paraphrase. The first thing is that your paraphrase it may contain some words from the original passage but try to use synonyms wherever possible that is the first thing. The second is that you change the direct quotations to indirect quotations that is you write in reported speech and the third thing is that you have to keep in mind is that you change active sentences to passive sentences and vice versa. Now when you are required to write a paraphrase you should step number one read the passage carefully a number of times till you understand it fully. Your first reading as always shall be a quick read, your second reading could be slower and concentrate what the points are in the text. The second step is after your reading that you look up words that you do not understand right you look them up in a dictionary try to find synonyms for them just underline the words that you do not know look them up in the dictionary some dictionaries have synonyms some do not. So if you are a good student you should have a thesaurus with you a thesaurus will give you synonyms and antonym sometimes antonym as well. So step number one read the passage carefully a number of times till you understand it fully number two look up words that you do not understand look them up in the dictionary and try to find synonyms for them. Step number three jot down the main points of the passage right step number three is that you jot down the main points of the passage and step number four you make an outline with the help of the points you have jotting. You have the points and then you make a rough outline. Now we shall look at a passage I shall read it out for you and you shall see how a paraphrase of this given passage can be written it is the season of football so this passage is about football it is said that when in 1998 Brazil lost the world cup to France the Brazilians was so disheartened that one had the impression that a big national disaster had taken place and the country itself had died they say that many did die of sadness defeat in championship matches has often caused heart attacks and the despair of the public is usually so great that many take their own lives such is the passion of football fan now that was a very simple passage now you have to make an outline and when you make an outline before you make an outline just find out what the main idea is and then the main supporting ideas are points and the third is the primary and secondary supporting ideas the detail now you have read that paragraph on football you write the paraphrase using your own words without omitting any essential idea and the step six the last step is that you polish what you've written by polish I mean you go over what you've written see if your connectors sentence connectors are right see if there are any ideas that you have missed out and that is polishing what you've written now shall we make up an outline of that passage now that passage was about Brazil losing the world cup in 1998 that was idea number a that was the first big idea the second big idea or the main idea is that possible defeat causes strong reaction and the third major idea is that football fans are very emotional so this is the kind of outline that we looked at when we were looking at essay writing right major point Brazil lost the world cup and then you've got two supporting ideas the first is that the entire country became sad the second is that there were some deaths as a result of the losing the world cup point number two is possible defeat causes strong reaction and this is generally here it's not talking about Brazil itself it's just talking about how championship matches defeat in championship matches what is the reaction of the public and the reaction is that there are heart attacks and some even commit suicide so point number two be is possible defeat causes strong reaction and that is again divided subdivided into two points heart attacks and suicide and the third major point is that football fans are very emotional that's the third major point now you've got your outline and you can write a paraphrase based on that outline now a paraphrase with that outline would be something like what you can see on your screen and it is in 1998 Brazil lost the world cup to France the entire country was overcome with sadness some people even died defeat in championship matches causes strong reaction among fans from heart attacks to even suicide football fans are very emotional about the game now if you noticed that you have said the same thing what was said in the original passage without changing the meaning you have expressed it in another form in another way and that is what a paraphrase is about you rewrite something that is given you and you say it in your own words without changing the meaning and you may use different words right now let us look at another example this is a longer passage and here because in the last passage if you notice there weren't any difficult or big words that you might not have come across in this passage we do have a number of words which some of you might not have come across the passage is there for you to read and I shall read it for you as well and notice some of the words that you find are difficult the best approach to students cooperation is the organization of thrift societies the principle of thrift is as important from the cooperative as it is from the education educational point of view thrift gives a basic foundation to character and it is easy to form this habit in one's early life in the process of the formation of this habit the young student will have to exercise rigorous self-discipline which will not only have a great effect on his own spiritual life but will react on his family and through the family on society as a whole now in that passage there are a number of words which you might not have come across words like thrift words like rigorous now think of another word for thrift for thrift you can have the word saving you can have the word economy and rigorous there are synonyms for rigorous but you have to be careful when you are choosing synonyms choose the one that suits the meaning that would fit into the sentence rigorous could mean firm it could mean demanding it could mean strict now if you know the meaning of these words that was step number one the next step is that you write an outline the first line outline that you saw was in the form that you learnt while writing an essay now this type of outline that you will see now is what they say a sentence outline you could have something like how students can best cooperate thrift society three fold value of thrift foundation of character formation of habits exercise of strict discipline and the result or effect of thrift it is deeper influence spiritually and financially right that is another way of writing an outline and if you string those words together keeping in mind the sentence connectors you can form a very interesting paraphrase let us look at another paragraph again in this paragraph and this paragraph is taken from Albert Einstein this is a quotation from one of his books very interesting paragraph there are a number of words that you are that you may not be familiar with the passage is each of us is here for a brief so John for what purpose he knows not though he sometimes feel sometimes thinks he feels it but from the point of view of daily life without going deeper we exist for our fellow men in the first place for those on whom one depends and next for all those unknown to us personally with whose destinies we are bound up by the tie of sympathy a hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depends on the labours of other men living and dead and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and I am still receiving a philosophical passage but very interesting if you read it carefully you will not have any problem in understanding what Einstein is saying over there now which words did you find difficult the words are so John destiny exert measure and you should look up the different meanings for the word so John it means to stay to rest so a stopover even a visit and for destiny you have the words like lives fate fortunes for exert you have words like effort apply and for measure you have words like amount portion share share now that was the first step the first step is read the passage carefully step number two look up synonyms for difficult words words that you do not know the meaning of and the third step is that you write a brief outline and the fourth step would be after having written the outline you write in write the passage in complete sentences having written it you go over it and polish it look at all the bits that are missing or what something you feel like adding and at the end read what you've written and see if it is conveying what was said in the original text now in this passage from Albert Einstein the outline would be something life our life is brief the purpose of our life is unknown but simply felt our first relation our first relation is with those with whom we are intimate then it is with those we are allied with sympathy and then he goes on to say he talks about his own life and he says that the dependence of his life on the labor of the living and the dead and he feels that it is his duty to give and take right to give and take and that is what the whole passage is about you may string that string those words those phrases into complete sentences and you will find that you have said exactly what Einstein said but not in his words but in your own words to be able to write to express meaning in your own words is a skill which you will learn only through practice let us look at another passage in this passage you follow the steps that were given to you earlier the passage is Kaleem Umar the journalist has studied Japanese business customs and habits he says that the Japanese prefer to work collectively as members of group rather than individually this he says is one of the main reasons for Japan's economic success now read it carefully there were not many difficult words if you think there are any difficult words just underline them just put them and write them down and try to write an outline in sentence form there are two main ideas one is that Kaleem Umar reports that Japanese work in groups not as individual and the second point of that passage it was a short passage the second point is that this is the reason for their economic success just two points in that passage number one that Japanese prefer to work in groups rather than individually number one number two that this is the reason for their economic success and look at the paraphrase that is given you which has been written on the two major points the paraphrase is Kaleem Umar the journalist says that the Japanese like to work together in groups and not singly he believes that this feature is one of the most important factors responsible for Japanese economic success now did you notice that the paraphrase is very close to the original text it is it has been rewritten in different words but the meaning is the same that is the crux of the matter when you paraphrase you do not change the meaning you say the same thing in your own words right now shall we shall look at a poem this is an example of a verse a piece of poetry that has been paraphrased a very famous very famous lines lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime and departing leave behind us footprints on the sands of time footprints that perhaps another sailing over life's solemn mean a forlorn and shipwrecked brother seeing shall take heart again maybe you need a second read read it again and I'm sure you've got the general gist the first step is look up the difficult word the difficult words over there are sublime solemn mean forlorn right now the first thing that you should do is substitute other words for sublime sublime you've got words like lofty exalted eminent grand noble right forlorn forlorn means abandoned deserted friendless and solemn solemn means serious sober grave and the word main MAIN main now main if you've got a good dictionary with you you will know that main has many meanings over here it means the open sea this is an obsolete use of the term now why I have chosen this for you is just to give you practice you must read different kinds of writing so that you learn to express yourself in different ways lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime and departing leave behind us footprints on the sand sands of time footprints that perhaps another sailing over life's solemn mean a forlorn and shipwrecked brother seeing shall take heart again now you know the meanings of the difficult words the central idea in the above in these lines is that the lives of all great men remind us of certain duties right that was the central idea now the third thing that you have to do is that you remove the inversions because in poetry things are usually written in an inverted way and rewrite the sentences in the same order now if you can do that you will find that your outline would be something like we may make our lives great while living how do we do it departing we may leave behind us footprints on the sands of time there may be footprints which may be seen by a shipwrecked brother and may help him to take heart again now if you were to write a paraphrase based on that outline it would be something like what you see what you can see on your screen the lives of all great men remind us that we may also live noble sublime lives now you've got the word we may live instead of make and instead of the word sublime you use the word noble the lives of all great men remind us that we also may live noble noble lives and that when we die and you use the word die for the word departing the poet has used the word departing meaning that when we die and depart from this world we may leave records of our actions now the word footprint the poet over here is speaking metaphorically is using a metaphor to denote to show that our actions are like footprints on the sand and he says that we may leave when we die that is when we depart from this world when we die we may leave records of our actions which are footprints in this world sands of time you can use substitute the word world for the phrase sands of time like the marks of footsteps left by travelers on the sands of the seashore these records these footprints and you can use another word for footprints and that is record earlier on we use the word action for footprints now we've used the word record these record may be noticed by some unfortunate person remember what word was used in the in the poem the poem use the word a shipwrecked brother that is the poet s way of saying someone like us someone who is unfortunate right to be shipwrecked he doesn't actually mean somebody who is fallen off the ship what he means is that somebody who suffered a lot these record may be noticed by someone by some unfortunate person who has no one to guide him the poet uses the word forlorn and you have substituted the word one who has no one to guide him and may encourage him the poet uses the word the words to take heart now that that phrase means to encourage take heart what we say in Urdu poslakar in Punjabi we say poslakar and may encourage him in his distress or sorrow now I shall read the paraphrase for you again and you notice that the paraphrase of the poem says exactly what the poet has said but in different word and the paraphrase is like this the lives of all great men remind us that we may that we also may live noble lives and that when we die we may leave records of our actions in this world like the marks of footsteps left by travelers on the sands of the seashore these record may be noticed by some unfortunate person who has no one to guide him and encourage him in his distress or sorrow now that was the first draft if you were to polish this you would you there is always room to polish what you've written if you were to polish the paraphrase it could be something like the lives of all great men inspire us so that we also may live noble lives and that when we die we may leave behind us records of our noble deeds like the marks of footprints left by a traveler on the sands of the seashore these records may by chance be read by some unfortunate person who having made a wreck of his life is in the grip of despair and this may give him fresh encouragement in his loneliness and misery to make a new start in life now if you notice that the polishing part gives the passage a smoothness the idea remains the same right now shall we look at another now this is a news item notice what is is given in the passage and if you were to paraphrase this news item what is it that you would concentrate on the news item is and it's from Karachi APP Associated Press of Pakistan rescue workers located the body of a new Karachi teenager on the beach at Clifton one day after a sandbar where he was walking with his friends washed out in the rising tide police sources said the body of Muhammad Irfan 15 was recovered on the beach on Sunday morning the body was found two and a half miles away from the area where he fell about 6.15 p.m. Saturday afternoon the boy and his friend Ali Zaman were walking on the sandbar with other teens when the sand washed out from under them said the victim's mother Zainab Khatun passes by pulled Ali Zaman to safety witnesses said now if you look at that passage a lot of information is given there but there is some information which you may easily leave out without changing the meaning of the passage not a difficult passage very simple this is journalistic writing the kind of news that one reads every day in the newspaper notice it is not a philosophical passage like the one from Einstein or like the poetry bit that you had this is ordinary English but again you can leave out certain information without making any changes in the meaning let us look at the paraphrase you can see the whole thing in two sentences on Sunday the body of a young man who was drowned while walking on a sandbar washed away by the tide was discovered at Clifton Beach on Saturday afternoon his friend who was with him at the time of the accident had been rescued by passers by now notice you've got two sentences and you have conveyed the meaning of the passage right now you have some more examples of paraphrase look at the first quotation and that is from a quotation from Walt Whitman the American poet very interesting it is one sentence in which he says the narrowest hinge on my hand puts to scorn all machinery the narrowest hinge on my hand puts to scorn all machinery you've got two words over there which you might find difficult the word hinge right hinge and the other one is scorn what is he saying the poet is saying that the smallest joint in the bones of my hand is far wonderful it's a far more wonderful thing than any machinery you can say it in your own word the poet is saying that the smallest joint of the bones of my hand are a far more marvelous thing than any machinery made by man right now here is another example the main argument in favor of keeping the death penalty for murder is that it will frighten men out of the desire to commit the crime in other words it will act as a preventive right two sentences you've got the main idea the idea is that hanging people for murder does not solve things it has not stopped people from committing murder so that is the main idea now you say it in other words in your own words and you can say something like the main argument for retaining capital punishment for murder is that it will act as a deterrent right number three sample number three this is a quotation from Benjamin Franklin there are no gains without pain then help hands for I have no land or if I have they are smartly taxed there are no gains without pain then help hands for I have no land or if I have they are smartly taxed what is he saying in very few words he's saying a lot of things there are no gains without pains he is saying that you can't earn anything without work without labor nothing can be gained nothing can be earned nothing can be got if you want to use very simple English nothing can be got without working for it that if you were to write stylishly good English you would say nothing can be earned without labor simple English nothing can be got without work without working for it so set to work then he says then help hands for I have no land or if I have they are smartly taxed so you would say so set to work my hands he addresses his hands he addresses his hands and says to them so set to work my hands for what land I have is heavily taxed right sample number four no man is so void of understanding as to prefer war before peace for in the latter children bury their fathers in the former fathers bury their children now in that passage you have to be very clear what latter stands for and what former stands for former stands for peace and latter latter stands for peace and former stands for war and you can rewrite this in simple English by saying no man would be so stupid as to prefer war over peace for in peace the young bury the old which is normal while in war the the old bury the young would I fighting in war now in this paraphrase exactly the same meaning has been conveyed but in different way let us look at a few more samples and these are the following two are samples which were seen in a hospital a notice in a hospital the notice said applicants are requested to state the reasons for any exceptional treatment they require now this could be paraphrased into very simple English by writing applicants should state why they need special treatment there is another notice this is again taken from a notice it says all drivers and visitors to the hospital are strictly forbidden to park in or on the verge of the road attention is drawn to the fact that a public car park is available in Millet Street now that was a very roundabout way of saying something you can say it in simple English that no parking on this road use the park in Millet Street right now there is another sample and you will find this very funny this is the type of notice that officials usually write it says civil personal will halt here and report their presence at the guard room they will on no account proceed further till vetted and granted clearance by the security officer on duty offenders are warned that any failure to observe these regulations will result in detention and prosecution now you can say this or write this in simple English that all civilians will report at the guard room for permission to enter I mean it is it sounds very very rude offenders will be prosecuted right here is another example and here this is taken from a circular a school circular these are the kind of notices that the government sends to schools in cases where the school day is terminated earlier than the normal time owing to the necessity to get pupils home before the onset of monsoon rains a careful note of the relevant circumstances must be made and transmitted to the education officer at the earliest possible opportunity again a very roundabout way of saying something which could be said in a more direct manner said in simple words you can paraphrase this and say that in case the school day is shortened owing to monsoon rains the education office must be informed immediately that is one way or you could re say it in another way something like the education officer or the education office must be informed as soon as possible if monsoon rains make it necessary to end school earlier than usual right now in today's lesson you looked at different samples of paraphrase you looked at different samples you looked at some single sentences you looked at short prose passages you looked at a poem and a news item and you looked at notices car car parking notices notices in hospitals and you were given plenty of practice you've seen all these and you've noticed how you can rewrite rephrase what is written in your own word now you have to remember that paraphrasing takes time it cannot be done history number one number two in a paraphrase on no account must you introduce anything which is not in the original however much you may wish or want to do that what you can do in an essay in essay writing you can do that but not in a paraphrase number three remember that you don't have to change every word that is in the original some words simply cannot be suitably replaced and number four remember that a paraphrase is neither an expansion nor a summary right and in today's lesson you learned how to express yourself in a different way paraphrasing is a very useful writing scale and it goes a long way in helping develop your writing ability Allah Hafiz see you next time.