Paraphrasing

Exercise 1

Paraphrase each sentence. They may be more than one way to rewrite each one. Remember to change vocabulary, phrases and sentence structure wherever you can.

1.   Despite their massive size, elephants are known for being agile.

Although their huge size, elephants are recognized for been agile.

2.   Because elephants consume up to 500 pounds of food a day, they are able to strip a forest bare in no time.

      Elephants eat up to 500 pounds a day, for that reason they can pull down a forest quickly.

3.   Over the centuries, lions have been used in art to represent power and magnificence.

      Lions have been used in art to simbolize strength and bravery for ages.

4.   Lions are social animals with one dominant male in each pride.

      Lions are interacting animal that have one male that is authority in each pride.

5.   George Washington Carver was a dedicated teacher, in addition, he was known as a talented artist, musician, and researcher who made valuable contributions to his people and his country.

George Washington carver who was a devoted teacher and was known as a very good artist, musician and researcher, made important contributions to his community and his country.

6.   Archibald McLeish, known for his poetry, was appointed head of the Library of Congress by President Roosevelt in 1939.

      President Roosevelt named Archibald McLeish who is known for his poetry, head of the Library of Congress in 1939. 

Exercise 2

Read each paragraph and state the main idea in your own words. If you find the main idea stated directly in the paragraph, be sure to use the paraphrasing techniques that you practice in exercise one.

1.   There is plenty of water on the earth. In fact, there is enough water in this planet for everyone to have huge lake. The trouble is that the water is not always found in the place where it is needed. In addition, much of the water is polluted or salty. Because of these problems, there are many people without sufficient water.

Main Idea: Problems that are with water aroun the world.

2.   New oil supplies need to be found to replace those that have been used up. There is a constant search for new oil fields. Oil hunters sink their wells there are signs of oil. Each of these drillings costs thousands and thousands of dollars, and often there is not enough oil to make it profitable. Nevertheless, the search for new oil never ends.

Main idea: The search of new oil to replace those that have already been used.

3.   Quakers, a religious group known as the Society of Friends, have always worked for human causes. Before the Civil War in the United States, they were against slavery and led the movement to help slaves escape from the southern part of the United States and seek freedom in the northern part. Today, they fight hunger and disease around the globe and still aid people fleeing tyranny and war. Their beliefs are based on the principles of pacifism and simple living.

Main idea: Purpose of the Quaker's work. 

Exercise 3

Fill in the outline and write a 100 word summary.

Thesis: Students should be take into account at the moment of make decisions at the faculty.

I (Main idea) Students should be informed about the process of selecting faculty members.

II (Main idea) Students are the only ones who knows what they need to learn and they should participate in the creation of the curriculum.

III (Main idea) Students must discuss about the injustices they percieve in the faculty sistem.

Summary

Although students are the only ones who know what university should do for them, they never are asked what they think about topics like the selection of schedule, curriculum and faculty members. So this is one of the major issues in the faculty, because if students are the ones who spend hours studuying subjects selected by other people, they should be asked what they want to learn and how they want to do it. Another point is the selection of professors, the best personal to evaluate are the students and they just know the professor the first day of class. Furthermore they are no even ask about the schedule although the hours at which classes are offered affect them dayli, but the worst thing about it is that students do not do anything about it even though it affects them directly.

Clouds

This picture is a perfect capture of the clouds over the ocean and it transmits me a state of peace and quiteness, because I feel like I am flying and going to a better place, where everything is peace, and if you look at it carefully you find shapes in the clouds, it is just fascinating.