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  • 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

  • question is.

  • 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

  • person's meaning.

  • 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

  • sentence or the question was:

  • "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

  • our marks by paraphrasing.

  • 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

  • in handy for you.

  • 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.

  • So, I hope you've enjoyed this video.

  • And until next time, take care.

Hi, there. My name is Emma, and in today's video I'm going to teach you something very

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