Exercises to develop the ability to paraphrase. Exercises for developing writing skills in preparation for the “writing” part of the Unified State Exam in English. Exercises for paraphrasing in English, collection.

Good day, colleagues and readers of my blog!

I often hear questions from my colleagues about which grammar collections are better, where to get a lot of practice exercises, and so on. Therefore, I decided to cover this issue in more detail, although I have already written about some things in my other articles. In general, I decided to tell you about my favorites that I use every day.

Lately, people very often write to me in personal messages in contact and by email about how I work with my students, what aids I use and, of course, where can I get normal, but at the same time varied exercises to train my child’s grammar skills.

Yes, I love grammar. As far as I can remember, when I was still a student, I really loved to compose exercises, look for interesting grammar tasks from a variety of sources and copy them, carefully putting them in a folder with files, which became thicker and thicker each time. Have you ever had such an oddity?

After all, before there was not such a great abundance of books as there is now. I remember with such zeal I then downloaded books and manuals from various torrents, storing them all in numerous folders. And now, looking back, I understand that I was simply experiencing a grammatical hunger for the lack of literature and wanted to have everything! Colleagues, has this happened to you?

What about today? There are a lot of books and manuals, downloading anything is not difficult, there is everything your heart desires. But this, it turns out, is not always good. You have to work with such abundance that you don’t know what to take on. Therefore, in such a matter, a measure is needed, as in principle everywhere.

It turned out to be a big retreat. But this is to say that what follows is purely my personal opinion, my experience is more than 13 years and everything that I use in my work suits me personally perfectly. Other teachers may not like something or like it, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad! Just an individual approach)))

Must have for any category of students

What kind of grammar books did I not have! And cheap, and expensive, and famous, and unknown authors! I decided to focus on the New Round Up book series.

New series of books New Round Up with a CD of additional exercises and games

I bought the entire series, starting with the Starter level. The favorite and most used are Starter, 1, 2, 3 and 4 levels. Levels 5 and 6 are not so shabby, I rarely resort to them, only for the most motivated and gifted children.

Why this series? Maybe because it was with her that my acquaintance with foreign textbooks began. Back then, Round Up was not New and the publication was completely foreign. By the way, I have two versions of this series at home.

Old version of Round Up books. It is entirely in English. No disk.

I find this series convenient, logical, systematic and colorful. Easy to match to any student level.

Collections of exercises for schoolchildren

I often turn to the collections of Marina Anatolyevna Gatskevich English Grammar for pupils. I have three collections, the degree of complexity increases from book to book. There are so many exercises there!!! Drill down any grammatical rule once or twice! The first two parts are used more actively than the third. Her hands never reached her.

Buy Collection 1 in the Labyrinth online store

Buy Collection 2 in the Labyrinth online store Ozone

Buy Collection 3 in the Labyrinth online store

When you need to understand English tenses...

English times are a quiet horror for our students. Understanding them all and being able to use them correctly is a separate aspect. At school, children hate them because they don’t understand them and don’t train them enough.

So...the tutor’s task is to explain this not only in accessible language and different methods (songs and dances), but also so that the child can automatically use the right tense in his speech.

1. Here some colleagues may not understand me, because from time to time I like the collection... Yuri Borisovich Golitsynsky. From there I take only exercises from time to time. On other topics I turn to him extremely rarely. Why him? Because the vocabulary there is school vocabulary and it is more or less understandable to children, there are a lot of exercises in different variations with different tenses.

Labyrinth

Buy Grammar. Collection of exercises (Golitsynsky) in the Ozon online store

2. I constantly use my mini-books on the topics Present Simple and Present Continuous, Past Simple and Present Perfect. I once selected the most successful and understandable exercises in one collection and now I use them in my work. You can also download . I share my work completely free of charge.

A serious book for preparing for exams

Somehow I found a book online by E.V. Makarova and T.V. Parkhamovich Upgrade your English Grammar. I got acquainted with the electronic version and you know, I really liked the way everything was presented there, that I myself wanted to refresh my memory. There are points there that are not discussed in simple grammar collections.

The book is designed for motivated people who want to know grammar in detail. The ideal tutorial. I would even advise all tutors and teachers to test their knowledge using this book. I am sure that you will discover a lot for yourself there.

Buy Upgrade your English Grammar in the Labyrinth online store

Buy Upgrade your English Grammar in the Ozone online store

300 interactive exercises in English

When you want to move a little away from paper books and copies, another variety comes to the rescue. My students enjoy doing exercises on the computer. And then I use Sergei Chernyshov’s wonderful simulator. Four years ago, he published a collection of class exercises on various grammatical topics for the school curriculum.

In 2013, I wrote a review on it. And now he decided to improve and supplement it. A lot of different exercises have been added, all the shortcomings have been taken into account and corrected, the material has been updated by 80%.

The collection contains the following topics (the number of exercises is indicated next to it):

• Present Simple - 15 ex.
• Present Continuous - 15 ex.
• Present Perfect - 15 ex.
• Present Perfect Continuous - 15 ex.
• Past Simple - 15 ex.
• Past Continuous - 15 ex.
• Past Perfect (+Past Perfect Continuous) - 20 ex.
• Future Simple (+to be going to) – 20 ex.
• Articles (a, an, the, —) — 20 ex.
• There is (are, was, were, will be) - 20 ex.
• Countable and Uncountable Nouns - 15 ex.
• Plural Nouns - 15 ex.
• Degrees of Comparison - 15 ex.
• Yes / No Questions - 15 ex.
• WH - questions - 15 ex.
• Conditional I - 10 ex.
• Conditional II - 10 ex.
• Conditional III - 10 ex.
• Mixed Conditional Sentences – 15 ex.

As always, the collection turned out to be excellent and a good support for paper versions, since in addition to exercises on the computer, they can all be printed out and used as a repetition or as homework.

The collection will also appeal to school teachers who use interactive whiteboards in their work. The font has become much larger, which helps students who sit in the last desks see it.

Examples of interactive exercises on various topics

You can read more about this collection of interactive exercises. There is a promotion on it now and it will only last for three days.

P.S. Part of the money that will be received from the sale of this course through my link, will be transferred to one Kazan boy Amirchik. He goes to kindergarten with my eldest daughter Alisa. As they say, no one expected trouble. He was diagnosed with a tumor in his kidney. I know what it is (I wrote in) and what parents are going through now. I really want to help them at least a little.

P.S.S. Colleagues, do you have any favorite books with grammar exercises? Please share in the comments. In case I don’t know something and I’ll try your options. Of course, I have described only a few books here, but these are the most used ones.

Have a great week everyone! And take care of your loved ones!

So (that)

We can use so that to express purpose (the reason why someone does something). So that is usually followed by can, could, will or would.

• T he police locked the door so (that) no-one could get in.

Infinitive of purpose

We can also use to express purpose. The subject of the main clause and of the purpose clause must be the same.

• Jack went to England so that he could study engineering.
• Jack went to England to study engineering. (NOT for to study)

If the two subjects are different, we can’t use to. We have to use so th at.

• Jack went to England so that his brother would have some help working in the restaurant.

In order to, so as to

These are more formal ways of expressing purpose.

• Scientists used only local materials, in order to save money.

There are also negative forms: in order not to, so as not to.

• The soldiers moved at night, so as not to alarm the villagers.

For

This describes how something is used.

• This button is for starting the engine.
• This is for the lights.

So, such a

So is used with an adjective or adverb.

• Jim was so tall (that) he hit his head on the ceiling.
• Jim drove so quickly (that) they reached the station twenty minutes early.

Such a is used with adjective + singular noun.

• Helen is such a busy person (that) she never feels bored.

So many, so much, so few, so little

So many/few are used with plural nouns. So much/little are used with uncountable nouns.

• There were so many passengers (that) we couldn’t find a seat.
• There was so much noise (that) I didn’t get to sleep until 3 a.m.

Too/Not enough + to

Too means more than is necessary or good. Not enough means less than is necessary or good. They can both be used with an adjective + to. Compare:

• The bookcase was too big to get down the stairs.
• The bookcase was not small enough to get down the stairs.

Although, though, even though

Although often becomes though in speech. Though can come at the end of a sentence, although cannot.

• Although I asked her, she didn’t come.(speech and writing)
• Though I asked her, she didn’t come.(speech)
• I asked her, (but) she didn’t come, though. (speech)

Even though gives a stronger contrast than although.

• Even though I asked her, she didn’t come. (which was really surprising)

While, while

While and whereas are used in formal speech and writing. They compare two facts and emphasize the difference between them.

• While United were fast and accurate, City were slow and careless.

However, nevertheless

However is a way of expressing contrast in formal speech or writing. It can go at the beginning, middle or end of the sentence, and is separated by a comma (or a pause in speech).

• Normally we don’t refund money without a receipt. However, on this occasion I’ll do it.
• Normally we don’t refund money without a receipt. On this occasion, however, I’ll do it.

Nevertheless is a very formal way of expressing however.

• I'm not happy with your work. Nevertheless, I’m going to give you one last chance.

Despite and in spite of

These expressions are followed by a noun (including the -ing form used as anoun), and not by a clause (subject + verb).

• In spite of the rain, we went out. (Although it was raining, we went out.)
• Despite losing, we celebrate. (Although we lost, we celebrated.)

The same idea in English (and in any other language, of course, too) can be expressed in dozens of different ways:

Using antonyms

Completely changing the sentence structure and so on.

This is called "paraphrasing" a sentence or paraphrasing/rephrasing. That is, say the same thing, but in different words.

The ability to juggle different ways of paraphrasing is very useful in life:

• when the right word is on the tip of your tongue, but you just can’t remember it
• when you need to more accurately express shades of meaning
• when you take international English exams, for example,

In IELTS Reading, in general, almost everything is based on the use of synonyms and rephrasing. And in this regard, you need to use certain reading strategies.

Let's do this:

• Let's see how we can rephrase the same idea
• Let's practice calculating sentences with similar and different meanings
• Let’s improve our reading strategies and complete one task from IELTS Reading – Yes / No / Not Given, where you need to understand paraphrasing.

Let's take one text from IELTS Reading - When conversations flow. I recommend downloading it for convenience and using it during our exercises, holding it before your eyes. And in general, an interesting text for general development)) Read it!

Perhaps, for any person who has started or continues to study English, there are two words that chill the soul and make you wake up in a cold sweat - these are “spelling” and “grammar”.

And, since we are taught from childhood to face our fears, today we will try to get rid of one of them together.

Ladies and gentlemen, we present to your attention the top 10 grammar aids. We'll start our review with tutorials for beginners:

1. The Good Grammar Book

Level: Elementary-Lower Intermediate

The Good Grammar Book is intended for students of English and can be used starting from the Elementary level. The authors themselves created the book for independent work.

The book consists of 21 sections, each section begins with an introduction and a test (the test is designed to identify gaps in your knowledge). At the end of section B you will also find a test that will help you understand how well you have mastered a particular topic.

The grammar in the book is presented in small portions, in several lines, followed by exercises to consolidate this material. A pretty good textbook with simple explanations that will help you better understand English grammar.

2. Essential Grammar in Use

Level: Elementary-Pre-Intermediate

Essential Grammar in Use, also known as “red Murphy”, appeared later, after such a successful debut of “blue Murphy” (we will talk about it below), after which both books began to be distinguished by color.

"Red Murphy" covers topics that are typically covered at the Elementary-Pre-Intermediate levels.

There are two editions of “red Murphy”, with and without answers, respectively, this textbook can be used both for classroom work and for independent study of the English language.

The book consists of 114 independent lessons, which can be studied in any order.

Each lesson consists of theory, which is located on the left, and exercises, which you will find on the right.

Traditionally, there is also a test to identify problem areas.

If your level is higher, then you should pay attention to the grammar aids given in the article below.

3.English grammar in use

Who doesn't know old man Murphy? This book also goes under the code name "Blue Murphy", and in Russian as "blue Murphy".

The grammar in Murphy's Blue is laid out in a very simple, “human” language, so it can be used starting from the Pre-Intermediate level.

This is a grammar reference book, each topic of which is accompanied by reinforcement exercises.

Consists of 136 lessons, each of which is devoted to a separate grammatical topic. One grammar topic takes up an entire spread of the textbook, on the left of which you will find an explanation, and on the right - exercises for it.

Each of the lessons is independent and can be studied in any order. As a bonus to the lessons, there is a test to determine your level of English, as well as gaps in your knowledge.

Can be used independently or in English lessons. Murphy is perhaps the classic of English grammar.

And you should know this textbook if you want to pass as one of your own in English learning circles.

4. A Practical English Grammar

Level: Intermediate

A practical English Grammar - a reference book of the English language. It does not contain exercises itself, but it comes with two collections of exercises that cover the topics in the reference book.

After Murphy's simplicity and laconicism, A Practical English Grammar may truly shock you.

This is an extremely broad and in-depth presentation of English grammar, with many usages, exceptions and examples. Perhaps one of the most detailed and in-depth publications of practical English grammar.

However, this reference book should be used rather as an additional guide to learning English, to understand the details and nuances, since I don’t think it’s practically possible to put everything that is presented in one chapter of this book in my head.

You can also use it to find the information you need; Thompson's table of contents is quite convenient and allows you to quickly find the information you need. The style of the reference book is dry and academic, without illustrations or jokes.

The collections of exercises are reminiscent of their “parent” in every way and may seem boring to you.

However, they are very useful for working on English grammar. The collections contain answers and can be used independently.

5. Oxford Practice Grammar

Level: Intermediate

Oxford Practice Grammar, if you follow the words of its publishers, will provide you with the necessary material to pass the FCE (First Certificate in English). The structure of this textbook is very similar to Murphy's above-mentioned structure, since each topic also occupies one spread, with theory on the left and exercises to work through the material on the right. The book consists of 153 lessons grouped under thematic tables of contents. Every 5-6 lessons there is a test that will help you test your knowledge on previous topics; the book also contains a test to test your knowledge of the English language and identify problem areas. Suitable for both home and classroom use. Among the advantages of the book, it is worth noting the fact that each of the lessons begins with illustrations or dialogue, which helps to enliven the boringness of other grammar reference books, as well as the fact that the book sometimes contains quite atypical and interesting tasks, as well as tasks that later will be at FCE. The disadvantages include stinginess and even some lack of theoretical material.

Essential Grammar in Use,

English grammar in Use,

Oxford Practice Grammar,

Longman English Grammar Practice,

Cambridge Grammar for IELTS,

Advanced Grammar in Use,

Enterprise Grammar Books,

6. Longman English Grammar Practice

Level: Intermediate

Longman English Grammar Practice is designed for Intermediate level students. Can be used both for independent work and for working with a teacher. Contains 16 topics, each of which is divided into several subtopics. Each of the subtopics occupies a spread on which both theory and consolidation exercises are presented. The theory is presented in portions, followed by practical exercises. The last exercise is about using grammar in context, usually a fun story with an illustration that summarizes all the knowledge gained in the section. The book can be worked through in any order. Quite a good English textbook with a sufficient number of both theoretical and practical exercises. The disadvantages include a basic presentation of grammar, without nuances and details.

7. Cambridge Grammar for IELTS

Level: Upper-Intermediate

Cambridge Grammar for IELTS is intended for those wishing to take the exam of the same name. Designed for students to use independently, but can also be used as a textbook in the classroom. It also contains a diagnostic test to determine the level, which will allow you to highlight problem areas and focus on working on them. The lessons in the book are not related to each other, so they can be studied in any order. Consists of 25 lessons. Each lesson consists of 4 parts: “Context Listening”, which introduces the listener to new grammar and also trains listening comprehension; "Grammar", which contains theory; “Grammar exercises”, which contains exercises to study, and “Test practice”, which contains an examination task. On the plus side, one can note a fairly detailed presentation of grammar with examples, as well as “Grammar extra”, a section that provides additional interesting information on the topic, for example, the use of modal verbs in official documents. The downside is that the presentation of the grammar is complex and not very logically organized, which makes it difficult to understand. Each section contains 4 small grammar exercises to develop new grammar, which is clearly not enough to master the topic.

8.Advanced Grammar in Use

Level: Advanced

Advanced Grammar in Use is a book in the same series as Essential Grammar in Use and English Grammar in Use, also known as Murphy's Red and Blue, but in a break with tradition, the book is written by Martin Hewings. This book is intended for advanced English learners, mainly used independently to improve their English grammar. The structure is reminiscent of its predecessors, and consists of 120 sections, each of which takes up a page spread, with extensive theory on the left and exercises on the right. The presentation of the theory is quite simple and successful, contains a lot of useful information, exceptions and nuances of use, which will really allow you to improve your command of English. The sections are independent and can be completed in any order. First, it is recommended to take a test to identify problem areas (the test is also in the book), then begin to study the problem sections. The only drawback of this textbook is the insufficient number of exercises with a huge amount of theoretical information, therefore, in order to master a particular topic, you will have to use additional materials. Overall, a good textbook for self-improvement.

It is also worth paying attention to the series of grammar guides for children and adults:

9. Round-up

Level: Starter-Upper-Intermediate

The Round up series from the British publishing house Longman consists of 7 books. Intended for children and teenagers and probably well known to those children who studied English in post-Soviet times. This is a very popular series that is often used by schools and courses in teaching English as it has a number of advantages. Firstly, this is a very colorful publication, which is a definite plus for children. After all, when they see gray grammar books with monotonous exercises, their faces immediately change and, remembering the grammar exercises, they involuntarily shudder. Information is presented in the form of tables with examples and situations close to real ones. The exercises are intended for both written and oral training of grammatical structures; there are also exercises for group work. It can also be used for self-study of the English language, since the series contains detailed explanations for each section, as well as exercises for repeating the material covered. Grammar is presented in portions, each new topic is introduced by dialogue, often a joke, accompanied by a funny illustration. In general, this series is replete with illustrations and exercises that are interesting for children, but, on the other hand, provides a sufficient number of exercises for mastering new grammar. So, if you want to reduce your child’s stress in learning English, feel free to choose Round-up.

10. Enterprise Grammar Books

Level: Beginner-Intermediate

In general, the Enterprise series consists of a “Student’s Book”, “Workbook” and “Grammar Book” for additional grammar development, but can also be used independently. In my opinion, one of the best books for working on grammar, especially for Pre-intermediate, Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate levels. The series consists of 4 levels, the entire theory is presented at the beginning of the lesson, followed by exercises to develop it. There are a lot of exercises, they are quite dynamic and allow you to work well on new grammatical structures. After 2-3 lessons there are exercises for repetition and elaboration of several studied topics. The undoubted advantage of this particular series is exercises in paraphrasing and transforming one grammatical structure into another. A very good grammar book, more suitable for classroom use as it does not contain keys. At the end of the books there are tests to test the learned material.

In an interview, Michael Swan, a famous English grammarian, admitted that he often receives letters from English language learners asking them to eliminate the ending “-s” in the third person singular in the Present Simple, and one of my friends even suggested organizing a movement to eliminate confusion in English grammar, abolition of articles and most tenses. You can join this movement or write to Michael Swan, or you can simply learn grammar from one of the above-mentioned textbooks. It's up to you to decide and in any case I wish you success in learning English via Skype!

Big and friendly EnglishDom family

Imagine this situation. You arrived in London and, hungry after the airport, decided to stop by a restaurant. They brought your order to you, but they forgot to give you a fork. You call the waiter and suddenly realize that you don’t remember how this word sounds in English (and your phone died because you didn’t have a chance to charge it after the flight). If you know how to paraphrase, then you can easily get out of this situation.

You can simply say “Give me, please, device to eat.” The waiter will understand you, and you won’t even have to draw or show anything on your fingers. Sometimes this is easy to do (as in the fork example). Sometimes it's a little more difficult. In this article we will look at several ways to replace a word in speech that you do not know or have forgotten.

Thinking in English

Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.
Learning another language isn't just about learning different words for the same things, it's also about learning a different way of thinking about things.

Fiona Lewis

As a rule, translation difficulties are the main reason that prevents you from saying what you would like to say in English. Translation is a complex mental operation that has little in common with independent speaking. It is especially difficult to translate your thoughts from Russian into English if you do not already have an extensive vocabulary. So try to avoid this. From the very beginning, train yourself to formulate your thoughts only in English during class.

Practice doing this in your free time: describe your day, make plans for tomorrow, retell the events of your favorite TV series in English, even if just for yourself when no one can hear you. By the way, we have a video on our channel where we already talked about this in more detail.

Another way to help reduce the need for translation is to memorize entire phrases. If you listen to English a lot and borrow ready-made constructions for independent use, then it will be much easier for you to find the right equivalent for a word that you did not know or have forgotten.

Alias

A fun board game that will help expand your vocabulary. Players are divided into teams of two. One thinks of a word, and the other must guess it. The words are written on cards, and the person guessing takes them in a row. If the word seems too difficult, you can skip it. The more words the second participant manages to guess, the more points the team receives.

According to the classics, words are guessed in your native language, and you just need to paraphrase them without naming them. For example, the word "Mars rover" can be described as "a means of transportation on the red planet." But we teach English here, so the rules change a little. There are several options.

Easy. The word is written in Russian, and you must either translate it or describe it in other words (but also in English).

Medium. The word is written in Russian, but you need to paraphrase it in English

Hard. The game is played entirely in English (a good vocabulary is required, since players must not only be able to paraphrase, but also know the translation of the riddle word itself).

Try playing with some friends sometime. It’s both fun and develops thinking.

First steps

In English classes via Skype at our school, special attention is paid to the method of paraphrasing. This is especially true for students at the Elementary and Pre-Intermediate level, when the stock of English words is not yet so large, but they need to somehow express their thoughts. This is where paraphrasing comes in. At first, this, one might even say, is one of the most important skills, because with it, even with a small vocabulary, you can convey almost any thought.

Students quickly begin to do exercises that help them learn to explain some words with the help of others. For example, let’s take words from the first lessons and try to define them using the particle “not” and antonyms from the same topic:

• healthy - not ill;
• rich - not poor;
• rude - not polite;
• clever - not silly, etc.

Let’s move on to the study of the possessive case (“Mary’s book”, “my friend’s car”), and we can already give the following definitions:

• my uncle - my mother's brother;
• niece - my aunt's daughter;
• grandmother - my father's mother, and so on.

Synonyms

Many commonly used words have synonyms. Nouns and verbs have less frequency, adjectives and adverbs more often. But nonetheless.

Starting from the Intermediate level, it will be a good strategy to learn several similar synonym words at once. Firstly, this will make your English level appear higher. Secondly, it will help in situations where a certain word has slipped your mind.

Vocabulary games

The most interesting things begin, of course, from the Pre-Intermediate level. Students begin using the Mini-dictionary, a dictionary that accompanies the textbook and provides English definitions and examples of words. The number of vocabulary games that our teachers offer during lessons is in the dozens, and for especially creative teachers, perhaps even hundreds.

For example, you can retell known stories or create new ones, guess a word using definitions, come up with associations for words, explain a word using phrases in which it can appear, and much more.

Let's see what this might look like. Let's take "Mini-dictionary Pre-Intermediate" and play. The student guesses a word from the page, and the teacher tries to guess it.

• Is it an animal that lived long ago?
• No, it's not a dinosaur.
• Is it a negative side of something?
• No, it's not a disadvantage.
• Is it something that all girls like to play with?
• No, it's not a doll.
• Is it a device used to take pictures?
• Yes, it's a digital camera.

We won’t reveal all the secrets, come to class and see for yourself, especially since in practice it all looks much more fun than in the text description.

Thanks to these games, students, in a comfortable lesson environment, train the ability to paraphrase their thoughts, so that later, when faced with this need in real life, they do not experience difficulties in English-language communication. Very soon the dictionary becomes the student’s favorite book, because working with it is always fun and exciting.

Conclusion

Once you master the paraphrasing method, you will speak English much more fluently and fluently. Even if at first your speech is not as rich and varied as in your native language, do not be discouraged.

The main thing is to create a basis for speaking and, in fact, to speak, and you can hone your skills and perfect your command of English for a long time. This technique is very important in the development of conversational skills, so don’t put it off for a long time: as soon as you get “stuck” on an unfamiliar English word, try to rebuild the sentence and do without it.

EnglishDom #inspiring to learn