Paraphrasing Practice to Improve Writing
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Paraphrasing Exercise 1Read the following passage and paraphrase it by putting it into your own words.
In American society, Introverts are outnumbered about three to one. As a result, they must develop extra coping skills early in life because there will be an inordinate amount of pressure on them to “shape up,” to act like the rest of the world. The Introvert is pressured daily, almost from the moment of awakening, to respond and conform to the outer world.
Classroom teachers unwittingly pressure Introverted students by announcing that “One-third of your grade will be based on classroom participation.” From Otto Kroeger and Janet M. Thuesen, Type Talk: The 16 Personality Types that Determine How We Live, Love and Work. New York: Dell Publishing, 1989.
There is not a single correct answer, but you could paraphrase the above passage by writing something like this:
There are many more extroverts than introverts in America. This puts a lot of pressure on introverts to fit in and be like everybody else. Even in school, teachers add to this pressure by making class participation part of the student's grade. Consequently, introverts have to acquire additional skills to deal with these pressures.
