PARAPHRASING

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PARAPHRASING
thinking
reading
rewriting
understanding
Developed by Professor Jean Van Meter
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(All of the following sentences were taken from
The Washington Post)
By current scientific reckoning, our planet is
4.54 billion years old, give or take a few
million years.
What?

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By current scientific reckoning, our planet is
4.54 billion years old, give or take a few
million years.
What?
What about it?
4
By current scientific reckoning, our planet is
4.54 billion years old, give or take a few
million years
What?
What about it?
Who says?
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By current scientific reckoning, our planet is
4.54 billion years old, give or take a few
million years
What?
What about it?
Who says?
Sample Scientists say the earth is about 4 1/2
billion years old.
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When it comes to momentous events in U.S.
history, the War of 1812 ranks low in the minds
of many - a forgettable hiccup in history.
What?
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When it comes to momentous events in U.S.
history, the War of 1812 ranks low in the minds
of many - a forgettable hiccup in history.
What?
What about it?
8
When it comes to momentous events in U.S.
history, the War of 1812 ranks low in the minds
of many - a forgettable hiccup in history.
What?
What about it?
Sample The War of 1812 is not a very memorable
part of U.S. history.
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Within six years, Marie Curies findings had
wowed her dissertation committee, won her and her
husband, Pierre, the 1903 Nobel prize in physics,
and put Marie on course for a solo Nobel prize in
chemistry in 1911.
What? (not who)
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Within six years, Marie Curies findings had
wowed her dissertation committee, won her and her
husband, Pierre, the 1903 Nobel prize in physics,
and put Marie on course for a solo Nobel prize in
chemistry in 1911.
What? (not who)
Did what? (3 things)
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Within six years, Marie Curies findings had
wowed her dissertation committee, won her and her
husband, Pierre, the 1903 Nobel prize in physics,
and put Marie on course for a solo Nobel prize in
chemistry in 1911.
What? (not who)
Did what? (3 things)
12
Within six years, Marie Curies findings had
wowed her dissertation committee, won her and her
husband, Pierre, the 1903 Nobel prize in physics,
and put Marie on course for a solo Nobel prize in
chemistry in 1911.
What? (not who)
Did what? (3 things)
13
Within six years, Marie Curies findings had
wowed her dissertation committee, won her and her
husband, Pierre, the 1903 Nobel prize in physics,
and put Marie on course for a solo Nobel prize in
chemistry in 1911.
What? (not who)
Did what? (3 things)
Sample Marie Curies discoveries over just a few
years amazed her professors helped her and her
husband Pierre win the 1903 Nobel prize
in physics, and led her to win the 1911 Nobel
prize in chemistry.
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Until about a decade ago, doctors knew so little
about the sense of smell that patients who
complained that they could no longer smell things
- a condition known as anosmia - were brushed
aside.
Who?
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Until about a decade ago, doctors knew so little
about the sense of smell that patients who
complained that they could no longer smell things
- a condition known as anosmia - were brushed
aside.
Who?
What happened to them?
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Until about a decade ago, doctors knew so little
about the sense of smell that patients who
complained that they could no longer smell things
- a condition known as anosmia - were brushed
aside.
Who?
What happened to them?
Why?
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Until about a decade ago, doctors knew so little
about the sense of smell that patients who
complained that they could no longer smell things
- a condition known as anosmia - were brushed
aside.
Who?
What happened to them?
Why?
When?
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Until about a decade ago, doctors knew so little
about the sense of smell that patients who
complained that they could no longer smell things
- a condition known as anosmia - were brushed
aside.
Who?
What happened to them?

Why?
When?
Sample Until the late 1980s, doctors ignored
patients with anosmia -an inability to smell
things -because they didnt know much about
the sense of smell.
Whose nose is it?
Backstreet Boys - Brians nose
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Movie studios, record companies and video game
producers are aggressively marketing violent
entertainment products to children even as they
label the material inappropriate for young
audiences, a year long Federal Trade Commission
investigation had found.
Who? - 3 groups
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Movie studios, record companies and video game
producers are aggressively marketing violent
entertainment products to children even as they
label the material inappropriate for young
audiences, a year long Federal Trade Commission
investigation had found.
Who? - 3 groups
Are doing what?
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Movie studios, record companies and video game
producers are aggressively marketing violent
entertainment products to children even as they
label the material inappropriate for young
audiences, a year long Federal Trade Commission
investigation had found.
Who? - 3 groups
Are doing what?
Who says?
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Movie studios, record companies and video game
producers are aggressively marketing violent
entertainment products to children even as they
label the material inappropriate for young
audiences, a year long Federal Trade Commission
investigation had found.
Who? - 3 groups
Are doing what?
Who says?
Sample The Federal Trade Commission discovered
that the entertainment companies are trying hard
to get children to buy their violent
products even though they say those products are
not for children.
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The most important factor in long-term
accumulation of wealth is the act of saving
itself.
What?
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The most important factor in long-term
accumulation of wealth is the act of saving
itself.
What?
What about it?
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The most important factor in long-term
accumulation of wealth is the act of saving
itself.
What?
What about it?
Sample The best way to get rich over a long
period of time is to save.
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Practice paraphrasing the following
1. Initially college financial aid was meant to
assist the deserving poor, but now aid
programs have been expanded to help the middle
class as costs soared beyond many families
reach.
Sample At first, financial aid for college
was to go to the poor, but now the cost of
college has increased so much that many middle
class families also need financial aid.
2. Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems,
looks at modern genetics, robotics, and the
ability to build molecule-size machines
and sees technology exploding beyond our ability
to control it.
Sample Bill Joy, who helped start Sun
Microsystems, believes modern technology is
quickly growing out of control.