Definitions:
The term paraphrase, originated from the Ancient Greek work paráphrasis (meaning additional manner of expression), is defined by the Cambridge Online Dictionary as “restating something written or spoken using different words, often in a shorter or simpler way to make the original meaning clearer”. The original thought should still stay the same.
A paraphrase can often include changing only the sentence structure, using synonyms for the words used in the original statements, or replacing advanced terms with simpler vocabulary. It can often be confused with summarising, which means to condense a long body of text into your own words, keeping only the main ideas.
In literature, we can often find paraphrase in the process of translating older text into modern language to make it more comprehensible for the current day reader, as well as translation from one language to another – often times you will stumble across a word in a foreign language that doesn’t have an exact translation in your mother tongue, so you might use a synonym instead, effectively paraphrasing the original sentence.
Examples:
“Thou know’st the mask of night is on my face,
Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek
For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight.”
- W. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
“The darkness of night masks my face, or else you’d see me blushing about the things you heard me say tonight”
- W. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, paraphrased by litcharts.com
Sarah: “Sorry, I’m busy working on my linguistics assignment, so I cannot attend the party tonight.”
-> “Sarah said she was busy with her English homework so she can’t come to tonight’s party.”
“Over 100 signed copies of the new book were purchased by the author’s fans during the event.”
-> “Fans of the author have purchased over 100 signed copies of the new book during the event.”
Sources:
Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 2 translation | Shakescleare, by LitCharts. (n.d.). LitCharts. https://www.litcharts.com/shakescleare/shakespeare-translations/romeo-and-juliet/act-2-scene-2
Library Guides: Paraphrasing - an overview: What is Paraphrasing? (n.d.). https://lit.libguides.com/paraphrasing
Writer, L. (2017, September 5). Paraphrase: Definition and examples | LiteraryTerms.net. Literary Terms. https://literaryterms.net/paraphrase/
paraphrase. (2024). https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/paraphrase
Author of the page: Barbora Hanáková, 563376