Paraphrasing is one of the most important features of the Secondary English paper. Though many do not realise it, you are actually expected to paraphrase for almost 70% of the paper.
Does that seem surprising?
I will explain why I mentioned that. I have listed the ways you will be using paraphrasing in your Secondary English paper.
When do you use it?
For your summary.
For your comprehension when you need to answer in your own words.
For yourSecondary English composition when you will need to paraphrase the question. You need to do this to understand the question.
What is paraphrasing and how do you do it?
Paraphrasing is one of the key components in all of your Secondary English papers. It means that you will have to interpret correctly.
Paraphrasing requires careful attention to the text and the analysis of its contents. There are different forms of passages set for the comprehension paper.
Some are purely technical in content with statistics crowding every paragraph. Whilst others tend to be narrative in content, dwelling purely on adjective phrases for elaboration.
Whatever the content, different forms of writing require different forms of understanding.
With the technical sort of passage, there is a careful highlighting of technical features, data and actual instances. The features tend to display an assortment of details, dealing in technical jargon which are purely explanatory.
The student has to analyse this in order that it appears and manage to peruse it in that same order when translating it into one’s own words. Since explanatory notes are more important, the details have to be taken into account.
With the narrative passage, the content is purely subjective, dealing with adjectives and creative expressions. There is more fluidity in terms of self-expression.
The words tend to project the author’s own feelings and perceptions as they alter or affect the student’s opinions. The events are time-based with a particular moral intent or message that it deals with.
The flow of ideas is captured in metaphors that are extended including ironies and statements which explain the author’s own logic and turn of mind. Perception of these thoughts and interpretation of the intentions are of great importance.
Narrative writing also includes several layers of incidents followed by opinions. There could also be direct speech involved with character portrayal. In most cases, this does not exist but when it does, a careful understanding of the rhetoric and the difference in the presentation of the characters as well as their function is of primary importance.
Paraphrasing basically means editing. Interpreting the words according to the meaning in the context is crucial.
Editing does not simply mean the cutting down of points or material from theSecondary English passage but it means gathering only what is necessary and pruning it down to size.
Changing the words to one’s own or paraphrasing is done at this step. The words must follow a certain order, retain the author’s meaning and be paraphrased at the same time.
Different Ways of Paraphrasing
1) Paraphrase according to the sequence of words in paragraph
2) Paraphrase according to intention in theSecondary English passage
There is more than one way of paraphrasing. The final result should be that the information imparted is within the word count and that nothing appears to have been ‘lifted’ from the original text.
This is not simply the mere elimination of words from the passage. It means conciseness and accuracy. The final phrase should succinctly convey the meaning from the original text without any alteration of the original meaning.
Comparing different sets of ideas in the passage
The sets of ideas are sometimes presented concurrently or in step order. Ideas could be lying side by side or they could be presented in a cascading order. The perusal of the order in these ideas or facts are necessary.
The interpretation of the author’s concern is of great essence as this will tell the student which point is more important in theSecondary English paper. For example, if two sets of people are depicted, the author could be trying to highlight that one set has more favourable qualities for certain reasons.
In another case, when ideas are presented in a cascading order, there could be an emphasis on advantageous and disadvantageous points. Again, there has to be a separation made by the student as the author may not say exactly which are those in the case of a technical sort of passage.
These are the first steps to take in order to paraphrase clearly and objectively during theSecondary English paper. I will write more blogs on how to paraphrase effectively but if you are able to understand the importance of paraphrasing, you will be more successful in your summary and comprehension answers from now on. Good luck!