Examples of Paraphrasing

Examples of Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing involves taking a set of facts or opinions and rewording them. When paraphrasing, it is important to keep the original meaning and to present it in a new form. Basically, you are simply writing something in your own words that expresses the original idea.    

Paraphrasing Blocks of Text

Paraphrasing can be done with individual sentences or entire paragraphs. There are several examples of paraphrasing listed below for both long and short blocks of text. 

Paraphrasing Sentences

Here are some sentences that have been paraphrased: 

• Original: Her life spanned years of incredible change for women.
• Paraphrase: Mary lived through an era of liberating reform for women. 

• Original: Giraffes like Acacia leaves and hay and they can consume 75 pounds of food a day.
• Paraphrase: A giraffe can eat up to 75 pounds of Acacia leaves and hay everyday. 

• Original: Any trip to Italy should include a visit to Tuscany to sample their exquisite wines.
• Paraphrase: Be sure to include a Tuscan wine-tasting experience when visiting Italy.  

Paraphrasing Paragraphs

Duke's online website provides many examples of paraphrasing in order to help students understand the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarism.

Here is an example of paraphrasing of a longer passage taken from the Duke website. 

Original Passage:

In The Sopranos, the mob is besieged as much by inner infidelity as it is by the federal government. Early in the series, the greatest threat to Tony's Family is his own biological family. One of his closest associates turns witness for the FBI, his mother colludes with his uncle to contract a hit on Tony, and his kids click through Web sites that track the federal crackdown in Tony's gangland. 

Paraphrased Passage:

In the first season of The Sopranos, Tony Soprano’s mobster activities are more threatened by members of his biological family than by agents of the federal government. This familial betrayal is multi-pronged. Tony’s closest friend and associate is an FBI informant, his mother and uncle are conspiring to have him killed, and his children are surfing the Web for information about his activities. 

The main point of this passage is that problems within the family are as bad as or even worse than problems caused by the federal government. Details about this betrayal include one family member turning informant, a hit being put out on Tony by family members, and Tony’s kids tracking his activities.

Here is a summary of some of the changes made during the paraphrasing process: 

• Early in the series = first season
• More threatened = greatest threat
• Closest friend and associate = one family member
• His mother colludes with his uncle = his mother and uncle are conspiring
• His kids click through Web sites = his children are surfing the Web

Avoiding Plagiarism 

There is a fine line between plagiarism and paraphrasing. If the wording of the paraphrase is too close to the wording of the original content, then it is plagiarism. The main ideas need to come through, but the wording has to be your own. 

To use another person’s writing in your own can be accomplished with quotes and citations. A quote will need to be the exact wording and the author and source will need to be identified.

Paraphrasing usually makes the passage shorter than the original.  Another option is to use a summary that is much shorter than the original and is an overview of the main points.

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples/examples-of-paraphrasing.html

Taylor Swift - 22

It feels like a perfect night, to dress up like hipsters

And make fun of our exes,  uh uh, uh uh

It feels like a perfect night, for breakfast at midnight

To fall in love with strangers,  uh uh, uh uh

(*chords = 1 strum/beat)

Yeaaaah

We're happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time

    

It's miserable and magical, oh yeah

 

Tonight's the night when we forget about the deadlines

    

It's time, uh uh

(*chords = 1 strum/beat)

I don't know about you,    but I'm feeling twenty-two

                  

Everything will be alright if,  you keep me next to you

                   

You don't know about me,     but I bet you want to

                  

Everything will be alright if,  we just keep dancing like we're

     

Twenty-twooooo, twenty-twooooo

It seems like one of those nights

This place is too crowded

Too many cool kids,  uh uh, uh uh

It seems like one of those nights

We ditch the whole scene

And end up dreaming instead of sleeping

Yeaaaah

     

We're happy, free, confused and lonely in the best way

   

It's miserable and magical, oh yeah

Tonight's the night when we forget about the heartbreaks

   

It's time, uh uh

I don't know about you,    but I'm feeling twenty-two

                  

Everything will be alright if,  you keep me next to you

                   

You don't know about me,     but I bet you want to

                  

Everything will be alright if,  we just keep dancing like we're

     

Twenty-twooooo, twenty-twooooo

                

I don't know about you, twenty-twooooo, twenty-twoooo

It feels like one of those nights

     

We ditch the whole scene

It feels like one of those nights

We won't be sleeping

It feels like one of those nights

                                 

You look like bad news

               

I gotta have you, I gotta have you

      

Oh, oh, yeah yeah

 I don't know about you,    but I'm feeling twenty-two

Everything will be alright if,  you keep me next to you

                  

You don't know about me,     but I bet you want to

                   

Everything will be alright if,  we just keep dancing like we're

    

Twenty-twooooo, twenty-twooooo

      

(Dancing like) twenty-twooooo,  yeah, twenty-twooooo,  yeah yeah

It feels like one of those nights

We ditch the whole scene

           

It feels like one of those nights

 We won't be sleeping

It feels like one of those nights

                                

You look like bad news

                       

I gotta have you,  I gotta have you!

Link

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Print_version

Social Identity

Social Identity

Language is more than just words. It’s a powerful social behavior that speaks volumes about who we are, where we come from and how we relate. Walt Wolfram explains how the field of sociolinguistics has taken on new significance as a means of understanding our world.

Language is one of the most powerful emblems of social behavior. In the normal transfer of information through language, we use language to send vital social messages about who we are, where we come from, and who we associate with. It is often shocking to realize how extensively we may judge a person’s background, character, and intentions based simply upon the person's language, dialect, or, in some instances, even the choice of a single word.
Given the social role of language, it stands to reason that one strand of language study should concentrate on the role of language in society.
Sociolinguistics has become an increasingly important and popular field of study, as certain cultures around the world expand their communication base and intergroup and interpersonal relations take on escalating significance.

Language use represents the fundamentals of social behavior and human interaction

The basic notion underlying sociolinguistics is quite simple: Language use symbolically represents fundamental dimensions of social behavior and human interaction. The notion is simple, but the ways in which language reflects behavior can often be complex and subtle. Furthermore, the relationship between language and society affects a wide range of encounters--from broadly based international relations to narrowly defined interpersonal relationships.
For example, sociolinguists might investigate language attitudes among large populations on a national level, such as those exhibited in the US with respect to the English-only amendment--the legislative proposal to make English the ‘official’ language of the US. Similarly, we might study the status of French and English in Canada or the status of national and vernacular languages in the developing nations of the world as symbols of fundamental social relations among cultures and nationalities. In considering language as a social institution, sociolinguists often use sociological techniques involving data from questionnaires and summary statistical data, along with information from direct observation.
A slightly different concern with language and society focuses more closely on the effect of particular kinds of social situations on language structure. For example, language contact studies focus on the origin and the linguistic composition of pidgin and creole languages. These special language varieties arise when speakers from mutually unintelligible language groups need a common language for communication. Throughout the world, there are many sociohistorical situations that have resulted in these specialized language situations--in the Caribbean, Africa, South America, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. In examining language contact situations, it is also possible to examine not only the details of a particular language but also the social and linguistic details that show how bilingual speakers use each language and switch between them.
Another approach to language and society focuses on the situations and uses of language as an activity in its own right. The study of language in its social context tells us quite a bit about how we organize our social relationships within a particular community. Addressing a person as ‘Mrs.’, ‘Ms.’, or by a first name is not really about simple vocabulary choice but about the relationship and social position of the speaker and addressee. Similarly, the use of sentence alternatives such as Pass the salt, Would you mind passing the salt, or I think this food could use a little salt is not a matter of simple sentence structure; the choice involves cultural values and norms of politeness, deference, and status.
In approaching language as a social activity, it is possible to focus on discovering the specific patterns or social rules for conducting conversation and discourse. We may, for example, describe the rules for opening and closing a conversation, how to take conversational turns, or how to tell a story or joke.
It is also possible to examine how people manage their language in relation to their cultural backgrounds and their goals of interaction. Sociolinguists might investigate questions such as how mixed-gender conversations differ from single-gender conversations, how differential power relations manifest themselves in language forms, how caregivers let children know the ways in which language should be used, or how language change occurs and spreads to communities. To answer these questions related to language as social activity, sociolinguists often use ethnographic methods. That is, they attempt to gain an understanding of the values and viewpoints of a community in order to explain the behaviors and attitudes of its members.

Sociolinguistics thus offers a unique opportunity to bring together theory, description, and application in the study of language

Two trends have characterized the development of sociolinguistics over the past several decades. First, the rise of particular specializations within this field has coincided with the emergence of more broadly based social and political issues. Thus, the focus on themes such as language and nationalism, language and ethnicity, and language and gender has corresponded with the rise of related issues in society at large. Second, specialists who examine the role of language and society have become more and more interested in applying the results of their studies to the broadly based social, educational, and political problems that probably gave rise to their emergence as sociolinguistic themes to begin with. Sociolinguistics thus offers a unique opportunity to bring together theory, description, and application in the study of language.

http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/sociolinguistics/socialbehavior/