Sentence building and paraphrase is the skill of joining, replacing, restating and shortening sentences while the meaning stays the same. It matters whenever you must write from a text or rewrite your own draft more clearly.
This module sits inside IGCSE English as a Second Language and supports the writing in articles and reviews and reports and extended responses. Confirm your syllabus code (0510 or 0511) and exam year on the Cambridge subject page, because routes are assessed differently.
What do you need before you start?
You should be able to write a complete simple sentence with a subject and a verb. You should also know a few linking words such as and, but, because and so. The grammar basics in grammar for clear meaning are a helpful partner to this module.
One example that shows the whole module
Here are three short sentences from a student draft:
The library closes at six. Many students stay late. They use the quiet rooms.
The draft is correct but choppy, and the reader has to work out how the ideas connect. One improved version is:
Although the library closes at six, many students stay late to use the quiet rooms.
Notice four things. The ideas are joined with although, which shows contrast. They is gone because the subject is already clear.
No fact was lost, and the sentence is shorter than the three together. Each of those moves is one lesson in this module.
In what order should you study the lessons?
- Combine short sentences without a run-on. Start here, because joining clauses correctly is the base for everything else.
- Replace a repeated noun with clear reference. Once clauses are joined, avoid repeating words and keep every pronoun clear.
- Restate an idea without changing its strength. Now use different words while keeping words such as all, might and must true to the original.
- Use word families in the correct grammatical role. A paraphrase often needs a noun where the source has a verb, so this lesson gives you the forms.
- Shorten a sentence without losing an essential condition. Finish with cutting words while keeping what the sentence depends on.
Then attempt the mixed sentence practice set.
Which traps catch most learners?
- Joining with a comma alone. Two full sentences joined by only a comma make a run-on, called a comma splice.
- Using it or they for two possible nouns. The reader cannot tell which one you mean.
- Swapping a word for a stronger or weaker one. Might and will look like synonyms and are not.
- Guessing the word form. Writing success where an adjective is needed (successful) is a common slip.
- Cutting a condition to save words. A short sentence that loses only if or unless is wrong, even when it reads well.
How should you use the practice set and the tools?
Do the lessons first, then the practice set without looking at the answers. Mark your work, name each error type, and go back to the matching lesson. Use the summary selection and paraphrase studio to practise choosing relevant points and restating them, and the writing revision compare view to see what changed between a first draft and an edited version.
Self-study can be enough when you can spot a changed meaning on a second read. Some learners rewrite fluently and still drift from the source without noticing. That is where a teacher comparing your version with the original helps, and you can read how we work in online one-to-one English as a Second Language tuition.