Rephrasing

Strategies for ClearCommunication

Review

• Strategies we’ve learned so far for the final group discussion:

(1) Checking Comprehension(2) Asking For Clarification

Last Week• Last week, we looked at asking for clarification

as a strategy for avoiding misunderstandings.

• When we ask for clarification we followed three steps:

Step (1) InterruptStep (2) State the problem. Step (3) Ask speaker to clarify.

Last Week

• Step (1) We interrupted the speaker.I’m sorry.

Excuse me.Hang on a minute.

Just a minute. Wait a minute.

Last Week

• Step 2: We stated the problem:• If you didn’t hear:

I didn’t catch that. I didn’t hear you

I didn’t hear what you said. I missed that.

Last Week

• If you didn’t understandI don’t follow you.I don’t understand.

I didn’t understand that.I don’t get it.I’m not clear.You lost me.

Last Week• Step 3: We asked the speaker to clarify.

You can ask the speaker to clarify everything again:Can you repeat that?

Can you say that again?Can you explain that again?

Can you rephrase that?Can you clarify that for me?

You can ask your partner to clarify details:

He did what?He went where?

He left when?He did it because why?

He talked to who?

This Week

• We are going to look at another good strategy for maintaining clear communication:

Rephrasing What You Say

Rephrasing means ‘to say something again.’

When you rephrase, you say what you said again but you change the way you say it.

Rephrasing will help your partner understand you because it gives your partner a second chance to catch your drift.

• We usually rephrase in two steps (though adding comprehension check is also a good option):

Step 1: Indicate You Are About to RephraseStep 2: RephraseStep 3 Optional: Check Comprehension

Step 1: Indicate You Are About to Rephrase

Indicating you are about to rephrase is an important step. It allows your partner to prepare for what you are about to say. You can use the following phrases:

In other words, . . To put it another way . . .What I am saying is . . .

What I am trying to say is . . . What I mean is . . .

• You can also use phrases like the following, which are a little more formal:

Let me rephrase that.Let me explain that another way.

Let me explain that again.Let me put that (to you) differently.

Let me put that another way.

Step 2: Rephrase

Exactly what the title says! Rephrase what you said. But here are some things that can help you simplify your argument.(1) Change/simplify Vocabulary(2) Change/simply Sentence Structure

Changing Structure:Negative to Positive

• Some things you can do to change structure is to change form negative sentences to positive sentences.

Smoking is not allowed in the bathrooms.

Smoking is prohibited in the bathrooms.

Changing Structure:Passive to Active

• You can also change passive voice sentences to active voice sentences.

Stronger laws are needed to reduce the crime rate.

We need tougher laws to cut down the amount of crime.

Changing Structure:Stripping Modals

and Difficult Tenses• Among ESL learners the nuance of modals is

often difficult to understand. We can strip them from sentences when we rephrase:

He could have committed the crime.

Maybe, he did it.

Here’s an example rephrasal:

Exercise

Complete the rephrasal writing exercise on the handout.

In the next hour we will practice rephrasing in a communication activity.