Did you know that understanding how paraphrasing is used in IELTS Reading will make your life easier when answering True/False/Not Given questions? This is what we’re looking at today.
What is a paraphrase?
A paraphrase of something is the same thing written (or spoken) using different words.
Let’s look at this example sentence:
Wildfires could have significant implications for climate change as they are highly likely to cause an increase in the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere.
A paraphrase of this sentence can be:
Wildfires have the potential to have a large impact on climate change since they are very likely to increase the quantity of carbon released into the atmosphere.
As you can see, the second sentence is worded in a different way but the meaning hasn’t changed very much.
What words have changed in the second sentence without changing the ideas expressed in the original sentence? Stop reading for a moment and see if you can find the differences.
Done? So, let’s see if you spotted them all.
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We now have a better idea of what a paraphrase is and how it works. But how can this help you answer TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN questions in IELTS Reading?
Let’s find out.
How paraphrase can help you answer TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN questions in IELTS Reading
When reading the passage, looking out for a paraphrase of the question in the text can help you find where the answer is located.
Top Tip!
For TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN questions, read the passage until you find the keywords from the questions or any other words that express a similar meaning. This is when you need to use your paraphrase noticing skills.
Let’s do an example. This is a TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN question taken from IELTS 11 based on an IELTS Reading Passage 1 titled ‘The Story of Silk’:
Gold was the most valuable material transported along the Silk Road.
The first step to find the right answer to this question is to read it and underline the key words (the main words that communicate the meaning of the question). I suggest you do this in the exam too.
So you may underline these words:
Gold was the most valuable material transported along the Silk Road.
The second step is to read the passage until you find the keywords from the questions or any other words that express a similar meaning. This is when you need to use your paraphrase noticing skills.
I read the passage for you and found a section with the same key words and some similar ones. The passage reads:
Demand for this exotic fabric eventually created the lucrative trade route now known as the Silk Road, taking silk westward and bringing gold, silver and wool to the East. It was named the Silk Road after its most precious commodity, which was considered to be worth more than gold.
See how the words are the same or similar? 
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Now we know where the answer is located in the passage, so we need to read carefully and check the passage against the question in order to answer it correctly. The answer, in this case, is FALSE because the text says the Silk Road was named after its most precious commodity, Silk, and that silk was worth more than gold.
Let’s have a look at a second example from the same passage. Here is the question with its keywords already underlined:
Most tradesmen only went along certain sections of the Silk Road.
I now read the passage and, because TRUE /FALSE / NOT GIVEN questions usually follow the same order as they appear in the text, so I’ll probably find the answer somewhere in the text after the section that contained the answer to the previous question.
I read the text using my paraphrase noticing skills and found this:
Few merchants travelled the entire route.
Again, notice the similarities between our question and the passage:
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After reading carefully and checking the passage against the question we can say that the answer is TRUE because in the question we read ‘most tradesmen’ (not all of them), only went along certain sections of the Silk Road, which means that there were few of them who travelled the entire route.
But what about a NOT GIVEN answer? Clearly, if the answer is NOT GIVEN, I won’t find a paraphrase of the question in the text, right? Not really. Let’s see.
This is the question:
Silk yarn makes up the majority of silk currently exported from China.
And this is where I identified similar words in the passage by using my paraphrase noticing skills:
China has gradually recaptured its position as the world’s biggest producer and exporter of raw silk and silk yarn.
Can you see how the words are similar but nothing indicates whether the answer is TRUE or FALSE? For the answer to be TRUE or FALSE, the text would have to compare the amount of raw silk and silk yarn exported but we don’t have that information.
So, to recap, here is how you can answer TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN questions using paraphrase:
- Read the question carefully and underline the key words.
- Read the passage looking out for a paraphrase of the question.
- Once you’ve found it, read the section carefully and check the paraphrase against the question.
- Answer the question.