Lesson 13: Paraphrase and connect ideas
Change form without changing actors, time, certainty, scope, or evaluation.
~55 MINUTES · FLEXIBLE EXPRESSION AND COHESION
Meaning has protected dimensions
The change may reduce some delays. does not mean The change will eliminate delays. A valid paraphrase preserves actor, action, time, certainty, quantity, scope, cause, and evaluation unless change is intentional.
Change one layer at a time
word class: Sales declined sharply. → There was a sharp decline in sales.
clause shape: Because demand fell… → Because of lower demand…
voice: The team approved the plan. → The plan was approved by the team.
lexis: reduce risk → lower the likelihood of failure
Cohesion creates recoverable links
Connectors are only one tool. Use reference (this change, they), substitution (the former, do so), controlled repetition, and lexical chains (decision, choice, option, select). A connector cannot rescue an absent logical relationship.
Controlled practice
- Paraphrase “Costs rose because fuel became more expensive” with a noun phrase.
- Change “The team rejected the proposal” to passive.
- Paraphrase “may improve some outcomes” without changing certainty or scope.
- Find meaning drift: “often” → “always.”
- Replace repetition in: “The proposal was late. The proposal was incomplete.”
- Create lexical chain for problem.
- Choose reference: this, these, it, they for two prior claims.
- Remove one unnecessary connector from a paragraph.
Check controlled answers
- Costs rose because of higher fuel prices.
- The proposal was rejected by the team.
- Could lead to better results in certain cases.
- Always wrongly increases frequency.
- The proposal was late and incomplete.
- Problem, issue, difficulty, obstacle, challenge, fault differ in meaning.
- Reference must agree and identify a recoverable antecedent.
- Any connector whose relation is already clear and becomes mechanical.
Shortcut that works
Underline meaning that must not move: who, what, when, how certain, how many. Paraphrase only after these anchors are visible.
Production lab
Retrieval practice
Your win: one 150-word paragraph rewritten through three form changes with no meaning drift.
Primary source
Use British Council B2 model texts to trace reference, lexical chains, and paragraph progression.