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October 2026 - Paraphrasing Study Guide for nursing students in
A paraphrase restates one specific piece of text in your own words at roughly the same length. Unlike a summary it does not compress: it swaps vocabulary and sentence structure while keeping the meaning, the emphasis and the hedging exactly as the author left them.
What a paraphrase has to preserve
A correct paraphrase changes every word it can and no meaning at all. Four things must survive intact.
- The claim — what is being asserted, exactly as strongly as the author asserted it.
- The strength — may, might, often, some and tends to are part of the meaning. Dropping a hedge changes the claim.
- The relationship — cause, contrast, condition or sequence. "Because" and "after" are not interchangeable.
- The scope — who or what the statement applies to. Some patients is not patients.
Paraphrase against the alternatives
| Words | Length | Scope | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quotation | The author's, exactly | Same | Whatever is quoted |
| Paraphrase | Yours | About the same | One specific passage |
| Summary | Yours | Much shorter | A whole text |
Rewriting without drifting
Worked example
Paraphrase: "Although hand sanitiser is effective against most bacteria and viruses encountered on a ward, it does little against spores, which is why soap and running water remain the requirement after caring for a patient with a suspected spore-forming infection."
- Mark the structure: a concession (although), a limitation (does little against spores), and a consequence (soap and water remain required).
- Mark the hedges: "most bacteria and viruses", "does little" rather than "does nothing", "suspected".
- Swap the vocabulary — effective becomes works, requirement becomes rule — without touching either the hedges or the structure.
- Reassemble at the same length, in the same order of ideas.
Hand sanitiser works against most of the bacteria and viruses found on a ward, but has little effect on spores, so washing with soap and running water is still the rule after caring for a patient thought to have a spore-forming infection.
How wrong paraphrases give themselves away
- A hedge disappears — "may reduce" becomes "reduces", or "some studies suggest" becomes "studies show".
- A relationship flips — correlation is restated as cause, or a contrast is restated as agreement.
- A word is kept that should have changed — technically a quotation with a few words moved, not a paraphrase.
- Something is added — an explanation, a reason or an example that clarifies but was not in the original.
Watch for the choice that is easier to read than the original. Prep writers create tempting distractors by removing the author's qualifications, which always produces a cleaner, more confident sentence. On this question type, the crisper option is usually the wrong one.
Terms to know
- Paraphrase
- A restatement of a specific piece of text in different words at roughly the same length.
- Hedge
- A word limiting the strength of a claim: may, might, often, some, tends to, appears.
- Scope
- How widely a claim applies. Narrowing or widening it changes the meaning.
- Plagiarism
- Reusing an author's words or structure without credit. A paraphrase still needs a citation.
- Connotation
- The feeling a word carries beyond its definition. A paraphrase should match it, not just the definition.
What the TEAS asks most
The same core ideas appear in different wording. If you can answer these without stopping to think, you have what this section requires.
Which sentence best paraphrases the underlined sentence?
The one that keeps the claim, its strength, its logical relationship and its scope, while changing the wording.
Why is this restatement not an accurate paraphrase?
Nearly always because a hedge was dropped, a relationship changed, or something was added.
Which is a paraphrase and which is a summary?
Length and coverage decide it: same length and one passage is a paraphrase; much shorter and the whole text is a summary.
Key points
- Paraphrasing restates one part of a text at about the same length; summarising compresses the whole.
- Change the words and the sentence structure. Change nothing about the meaning.
- Hedges are meaning. Dropping may, some or often makes a paraphrase wrong.
- Cause, contrast, condition and sequence must survive the rewrite unaltered.
- A restatement that reads more confidently than the original has almost certainly lost a qualification.
Review quiz
4 questions on this topic, each with the reasoning worked through. Pick an answer to see how it went, or open the explanation straight away.
Read the passage, then answer the questions below
Some evidence suggests that patients who are given written discharge instructions in addition to a spoken explanation are less likely to return to hospital within a month. The effect appears strongest among patients managing several medications at once, though the studies are small and none has yet followed patients for longer than a year.
-
Question 1 of 4
Which sentence best paraphrases the first sentence of the passage?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. There is some evidence that patients who receive written discharge instructions as well as a verbal explanation are readmitted less often within a month.
That choice changes the wording and keeps everything else: the hedge ("some evidence"), the combination of written and spoken, and the one-month window. The first choice deletes the hedge and turns a suggestion into a fact. The third invents a claim about preference. The fourth shifts the scope from patients to hospitals, which is a different comparison altogether.
-
Question 2 of 4
Which restatement of the second sentence loses the author's meaning?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. The benefit is largest for patients on several medications, and the research proves it.
"Appears strongest" becomes "is largest" and small, short studies become proof — two hedges deleted in one sentence, which is exactly the trap. The other three each keep the tentative wording, and it is fine that they emphasise different limitations, because a paraphrase may pick up either the size or the duration as long as it does not overstate the finding.
-
Question 3 of 4
What distinguishes a paraphrase of this passage from a summary of it?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. A paraphrase restates a specific part at about the same length; a summary compresses the whole passage.
The difference is coverage and length: a paraphrase tracks one part sentence for sentence, while a summary reduces the whole thing. A paraphrase deliberately avoids the author's wording, neither form adds interpretation, and sentence counts are set by the material rather than by any rule.
-
Question 4 of 4
A student paraphrases the passage as: "Written instructions given alongside a spoken explanation reduce readmissions, especially for patients on multiple medications." What is wrong with it?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. It removes the hedges, presenting tentative findings from small studies as an established effect.
"Some evidence suggests" and "appears strongest" both vanish, so a cautious finding is reported as settled fact. Swapping "return to hospital" for "readmissions" is precisely the vocabulary change a paraphrase is meant to make, the length is reasonable, and the missing time window is a lesser issue than the strength of the claim.
Put this TEAS topic into practice
Build a set on paraphrasing and use the rationale on every question to reinforce what you just reviewed.
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