ENGL 102
UNIT 2
Paraphrase &
Summary Paraphrase
Page
A. Academic Word List 4(B) 2
B. Reading Comprehension 4
C. Paraphrase 7
D. Summary Paraphrase 13
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A. Academic Word List 4B
In Unit 1, you studied half of AWL 4. In this section you will learn the remaining AWL 4 words. These
words will also help you understand the reading passage in the next section on GPS.
AWL 4B
hypothesis • professional • status • conference • attributed • annual • obvious • error •
implications • apparent • commitment • subsequent • debate • dimensions • promote • statistics
• option • domestic • output • access • code • investigation • phase • prior • granted • stress •
civil • contrast • resolution • adequate
Exercise 2.1
Choose the correct word.
1. ___ to the meeting, the secretary arranged the room.
a. hypothesis
b. prior
c. conference
2. The United Nations passed a ___ to financially support poor countries.
a. error
b. access
c. resolution
3. His rudeness was ___ in his body language.
a. debate
b. apparent
c. adequate
4. Her level of ___ was beyond belief. She dedicated a lot of her time to the project.
a. annual
b. commitment
c. civil
5. All ___ flights were cancelled because of the storm.
a. professional
b. domestic
c. granted
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6. It was ___ that he didn’t like the food. He didn’t want to upset his friend.
a. obvious
b. output
c. phase
7. The marketing manager is trying hard to ___ a new product.
a. investigate
b. code
c. promote
8. Which word has a similar meaning to a quality or characteristic?
a. attribute
b. implication
c. dimension
9. Many people suffer from health problems because of ___.
a. status
b. stress
c. contrast
10. In ___ years, he developed his skills to become the world’s best golfer.
a. subsequent
b. option
c. statistics
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B. Reading Comprehension
Discussion Questions
1. How did people find their way before GPS?
2. How useful is GPS?
3. What are the drawbacks of using GPS?
GPS
A. Before electronic navigation systems, getting around wasn’t always easy. Paper maps and
printouts from MapQuest helped people find their way, but it wasn’t always easy. Fold-out
maps were stressful, and prior to using them, you had to know where you were to begin
with. Now, smartphones give users access to precise location information, and humans have
seemingly lost the ability to get anywhere without step-by-step directions. It is now
apparent that digital maps are one of the most important services of the internet—behind
only search and email functions.
B. Innovations using GPS, AI, and other technology are making navigation easier, safer and
error free. Now you open your map app and it will give you a blue dot exactly where you
are. Computer-assisted navigation, with the use of coding, is evolving so quickly that those
blue dots will soon be joined by other advances reaching new dimensions. The implication
of these advancements will mean augmented reality glasses that paint virtual arrows on
sidewalks; scuba masks that guide you back to the dive boat; car windshields that usher you
safely through the fog. Subsequently, travelers are about to find their wayfinding enhanced,
directed, and curated by systems that know their interests and can determine their precise
locations, even in GPS dead zones.
C. Even if you have no cell reception, your phone knows where you are thanks to the GPS
constellation of 24 satellites (plus spares). The significance of GPS was not so obvious in the
past, but the operational success of it can be attributed to the owners, the U.S. military. The
system’s precursor, NAVSTAR, was launched in 1978; although, civilians were not granted
access until 1983, perhaps, due to a resolution being passed. Even then, the civilian signal
was inaccurate until the government stopped scrambling it in 2000. Since that phase, the
rest of the world has caught up. Russia, China, and Europe now have their own GPS-like
satellite arrays, which send publicly available signals to anyone with a receiver. This means
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remote areas are steadily gaining more coverage and there are fewer places in the world
where GPS is not adequate.
D. Better satellite coverage is good news for travelers who like to explore less-traveled places
like the Congo and the high Arctic. It also could make remote wilderness destinations safer.
If you get into trouble, you’ll be able to transmit your exact coordinates to whoever is
coming to rescue you. However, in the world’s wilder places, the status of committed local
experts will never be inferior to improved GPS coverage. If you think you can self-drive in
the Sahara with a GPS, forget it. You need a local guide who has strong domestic
knowledge, or you will get stuck in no time. Statistics from a recent study showed that most
people feel more at ease following a local person’s directions.
E. Travelers who get lost in airports or shopping malls know that electronic navigation rarely
works indoors. That’s because GPS radio signals are stopped by walls no matter how great
the output. An investigation into the problem lead to the development of indoor “beacons”
(Bluetooth devices) that are now built into many smart devices and WiFi routers to
constantly broadcast people's current location. While radio waves are helpful, the biggest
advances in indoor navigation may come from visible light. Smart phones will have the
option to use their cameras and machine learning to interpret scenes, essentially, becoming
a substitute for the human eye and brain. Google showcased and promoted such a system
with its “Live View” feature in a recent conference. Soon, you won’t have to hold a cell
phone in front of you as you navigate. Rather, extra layers of information will be integrated
into car windshields, glasses, or perhaps, contact lenses.
F. In the long run, our devices will flexibly integrate multiple signals to tell us how to get to
where we want to go, whether we’re in the rainforest, the Mariana Trench, or outer space.
Although, technology could fail. Moreover, there is a big contrast between a zoomed-in
digital map on a phone and the local detail and broader regional context of a larger paper
map. While some hypothesize that physical maps and compasses will disappear, annual
sales are in fact on the rise. Our choice of navigation tools will remain debatable.
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Exercise 2.2
Answer the following questions about the reading passage.
1. What is the main idea of the article?
2. Which paragraph provides information about the history of GPS?
3. Which paragraph provides details about the problem of navigating inside buildings and
future solutions?
4. Why were civilians not able to use GPS at first?
5. Answer True, False or Not Given for the following statements:
a. ___ The author believes that GPS navigation is better than local guides.
b. ___ GPS is already being used alongside car windshields and scuba masks.
c. ___ Google’s “Live View” feature is expected to be very popular.
d. ___ Many people are still purchasing traditional maps.
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C. Paraphrasing
Since almost all your writing in English 102 depends on the use of secondary sources to support
your own ideas, you will have to paraphrase any ideas you take from these sources to make the
ideas your own. This is true of both writing tasks and the term report. You will also find that
paraphrasing is a useful skill when you are taking notes on your sources and when you are
summarizing them.
When a writer paraphrases a text, he makes changes to the original wording while keeping the
original idea the same. Such changes may involve changes to vocabulary, grammar, sentence
structure and word order. The aim is to keep the paraphrase about the same length as the original.
Insufficient paraphrasing looks like copying; careless paraphrasing can wrongly change the original
ideas; and paraphrasing without necessary documentation could be considered plagiarism.
When faced with a text to paraphrase, it is advisable not to try and work through the text word by
word. You should read the entire phrase, sentence or paragraph first—possibly several times—to
understand the idea(s) it contains. Without fully understanding the original text, it will be
impossible to write a successful paraphrase.
Exercise 2.3
Original
The factory manufactured leather articles before the country’s grave economic problems forced
its closure.
Possible paraphrase
Owing to the national economic crisis, the factory was compelled to shut down and end its
production of leather goods.
1. Does the paraphrase keep the same idea as the original? In the original, is the relationship
between the crisis and the closure a causal one, a chronological one, or both?
2. Is the paraphrase an acceptable length (i.e. roughly the same length as the original)?
3. What vocabulary changes have been made? Does “national economic crisis” accurately
capture the idea of “grave economic problems”? Would “financial” be acceptable for
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“economic”? Could the word “leather” be changed? Would a word like “plant” be a suitable
synonym for “factory”?
4. What grammar changes have been made? For example, the adjective “national” has been
changed lexically and grammatically to the noun “country”.
5. What sentence structure changes have been made?
6. How has the word order been changed?
7. Overall, is this a suitable paraphrase or should further changes be made?
In the example above, changes have been made to vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure and
word order. We can look at these four different aspects separately though all four changes should
be implemented simultaneously when paraphrasing.
Vocabulary
Firstly, is there a suitable synonym that could be used such as “increase” for “rise,” “yearly” for
“annually” or “hard” for “difficult”? If there is, care needs to be taken since a synonym in one
context may not necessarily be a synonym in a different context. For example, “hard” and “difficult”
are interchangeable in the sentence “The exam is hard” but not in the sentence “The concrete is
hard.” Also, not all words can or should be replaced. Technical words and very common words are
best left unchanged: “An atom usually consists of protons, neutrons and electrons”; “There is a lot
of sand in a desert.” Could the italicized words be replaced easily?
Grammar
Grammar consists of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Often these can be used
interchangeably. For example, “He is a good driver” and “He drives well” have the same basic
meaning even after an adjective becomes an adverb (“good” to “well”) and a noun becomes a verb
(“drive” to “driver”).
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Sentence structure
Sentence structure usually involves larger chunks of text than grammar. The three basic sentence
structures are simple sentences, compound sentences and complex sentences, as exemplified
below:
• Simple (S + V): The scientist conducted the experiment.
• Compound [(S + V) coordinator (S + V)]: The scientist conducted the experiment but it
wasn’t successful.
• Complex [(S + V) subordinator (S + V)]: The scientist conducted the experiment although it
was unlikely to succeed.
When paraphrasing, try and change the sentence type, for example by dividing or combining
sentences, while taking care that the meaning or emphasis of the original is not accidently changed
as well.
Word order
The basic, neutral, word order of an English sentence is SVOA, as in “Ali does his homework every
day.” Word order can sometimes be changed by moving around these four elements. For example,
“Every day Ali does his homework” has the pattern ASVO. Changes from active to passive also result
in changes to word order. Compare “The security guards clamped the car” with “The car was
clamped by the security guards.” Here, the subject at the start of the sentence has become the
agent at the end while the object at the end has become the subject at the start.
However, word order shifts can sometimes result in a change of emphasis when a word is moved to
a more, or less, prominent position in the sentence. Compare “He loves London” with “London, he
loves.” In some cases, the word order change could also result in a completely different meaning.
Compare “Ali got only 50%” with “Only Ali got 50%.”
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Exercise 2.4
In order to paraphrase well you need to make changes to vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure
and word order. Practice these techniques using extracts from the reading passage.
1. Rewrite the following sentences by changing the underlined words with suitable synonyms.
a. Paper maps and printouts from MapQuest helped people find their way, but it
wasn’t always easy.
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b. Fold-out maps were stressful, and prior to using them, you had to know where you
were to begin with.
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2. Rewrite the following sentences by changing the word class of the underlined words.
(Other changes may be required in addition to the word class.)
a. Now, smartphones give users access to precise location information, and humans
have seemingly lost the ability to get anywhere without step-by-step directions.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
b. The implication of these advancements will mean augmented reality glasses that
paint virtual arrows on sidewalks.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Rewrite the following sentences by changing the word order.
a. The operational success of it can be attributed to the owners, the U.S. military.
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b. It also could make remote wilderness destinations safer.
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4. Rewrite the following sentence by changing the sentence structure.
a. Even if you have no cell reception, your phone knows where you are thanks to the
GPS constellation of 24 satellites (plus spares).
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
b. An investigation into the problem lead to the development of indoor “beacons”
(Bluetooth devices) that are now built into many smart devices and WiFi routers to
constantly broadcast people's current location.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Exercise 2.5
Paraphrase the paragraph below. Remember to:
• make changes to the original wording while keeping the original idea the same;
• change the vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure and word order;
• keep the paraphrase about the same length as the original.
Better satellite coverage is good news for travelers who like to explore less-traveled places like
the Congo and the high Arctic. It also could make remote wilderness destinations safer. If you get
into trouble, you’ll be able to transmit your exact coordinates to whoever is coming to rescue you.
However, in the world’s wilder places, the status of committed local experts will never be inferior
to improved GPS coverage. If you think you can self-drive in the Sahara with a GPS, forget it. You
need a local guide who has strong domestic knowledge, or you will get stuck in no time. Statistics
from a recent study showed that most people feel more at ease following a local person’s
directions.
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D. Summary Paraphrase
A summary is a shortened version of a text. The purpose of summarizing is to tell the reader the
overall idea of the passage and any important information he needs to know in order to fully
understand it. To do this, the writer must read the original text several times to make sure he
understands it, himself. He must then use his judgement to select the essential details. The key
characteristic of a summary is conciseness—a combination of brevity and completeness.
People summarize all the time. A friend, for example, may ask you to give him the main points of a
lecture he missed. Someone might ask you to tell him the storyline of a film you just saw or a book
you just read. In this English course, you will need the summarizing skill to write source evaluations
of your term report articles and sometimes to take notes.
Summaries vary in length according to the writer’s (or speaker’s) particular purpose and to the
particular task that has been set. For example, you could be asked to summarize a 6-page article in
less than 100 words. That could require a reduction of over 90% of the original. When taking notes,
you might summarize a 150-word paragraph in 50 words, a reduction of two thirds. In general, the
longer the original text, the greater is the scope for reduction.
In this English course, you will be required to summarize texts in your own words as far as possible.
The task is, therefore, not simply to write a summary but to write a summary paraphrase.
THE MECHANICS OF SUMMARY PARAPHRASE
Your ability to follow all these steps depends on the amount of time you have available.
1. Read the original text several times to make sure you fully understand it.
2. On the second or third reading, annotate the text, that is, mark it using highlighting,
numbers, letters, symbols (+, =), abbreviations (e.g. = for example), and your own words to
help you identify the following:
• the overall idea of the text
• the main points
• any secondary details that support the main points.
3. Transcribe your text markings into paraphrased notes.
4. Arrange the paraphrased notes into an informal plan. Eliminate repetition; sequence the
information logically using indentations.
5. Write a first draft of the summary beginning with the overall idea of the text.
6. Check the first draft for coherence, completeness and accuracy and then write your final
version.
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Exercise 2.6
Follow the same steps as above to summarize the reading passage on GPS. Your summary should be
approximately 100 words.
Start by making annotations on the original reading text above and copy your notes into the box below.
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Write and revise your first draft.
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Write your final version.
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