When academic writers report other writers’ ideas, they mostly incorporate them in their texts after paraphrasing them, i.e., saying the same thing in different manner. This sort of information is important as it adds credibility to the text as well as make it fully informative and concise. Despite the significance of paraphrasing, the learning writers mostly do not try to understand that it is not simply replacing words with their synonyms. Rather, it is a tool of delivering message successfully in an integrative manner. This post presents a good number of points related to the paraphrasing. These points are related to the adjectives that are turned into other grammatical items or other items are turned into adjectives.
1. Changing the Grammar of the Source Texts
Basic thing in the activity of paraphrasing is that the writers extract information from the source texts concerned without remembering its actual words. In the case of longer texts, this is possible. However, when the writers paraphrase short texts particularly at sentence level, it is very difficult to remember information of the texts without remembering their words. When such type of texts is to be paraphrased, the learning writers fall back upon the synonyms to replace certain words of the target text. This sort of change can be avoided by changing the grammar of the source text instead of changing its words only. This can be done by starting the paraphrase with a word that is different from the word that starts the source text.
| Original Texts | Paraphrased Texts |
| a. The people living in glass houses a. The people accommodated in glass houses | b. The people who live in glass houses b. The people who are accommodated in glass houses |
When texts are paraphrased by changing grammatical structures, the writers are required to replace some words by their synonyms. Nevertheless, the synonyms often have different grammatical kind. For example, verbs can be used as nouns or adjectives, etc.
| Original Texts | Paraphrased Texts |
| a. They wrote their message skillfully. | b. The production of their message was skillful. |
| a. The board discussed the consequences of their decision. | b. The board had a discussion about the consequences of their decision |
In this sort of re-writing, the emphasis remains on grammatical restructuring than on word replacement through dictionary synonyms. An important thing about this reformulating is that it requires in-depth understanding of the source text.
2. Replacement of Adjectives by Nouns
Many adjectives have correspondence to nouns. This correspondence is there because either adjectives are derived from nouns or nouns are derived from adjectives. Adjectives can be replaced by their respective corresponding nouns in various ways.
2.1 Adjectives that Stay after Linking Verbs
The adjectives that stay after linking/complement taking verbs can be turned into nouns. The linking/complement-taking verbs are is/are/am, appear, seem, remain, etc. For example:
| Original Text | Paraphrased Text |
| a. When the opinions of the experts are bias-ridden, their decisions are often flawed. | b. When the opinions of the experts are full of bias, there are always flaws in their decisions. |
For the purpose of this sort of replacement, a number of things are required. First, the linking/complement verb should be of right sort, i.e., it has ability to stay before either an adjective or a noun. For example:
| Linking Verb + Adjective | Linking Verb + Noun |
| a. He became furious. b. The house looked abandoned. c. The beggar seemed cunning. | a. He became a threat. b. The house looked a derelict. c. The beggar seemed a schemer. |
In the examples given above, adjectives furious, abandoned, and cunning have been changed into nouns threat, derelict, schemer respectively.
2.2 Using It-Statement and There-Statement
For the purpose of paraphrasing, adjectives in ‘it-statements’ can be replaced by nouns using ‘there-statements’. In ‘it-statements’ an adjective indicates something about the statement that follows. The statement that follows ‘it is’ contains a verb + to, -ing or that. On the other hand, when a noun is used in place of the adjective in ‘it statement,’ ‘it’ is required to be replaced by ‘there’. Further, the noun is required to be followed by some preposition + present participle (-ing form of the subsequent verb). For example:
| Original Texts (It statements) | Paraphrased Texts (There statements) |
| i. a. It is beneficial to rise early. ii. a. It is wise to take right decisions on right time. | i. b. There is benefit in early rising. ii. b. There is wisdom in taking right decisions on right time. |
It is important to note that many adjectives can be turned into nouns but not every adjective. The adjectives that cannot be changed into nouns their placement is strictly restricted to predicative position, i.e., after linking verbs. On account of this restriction, they cannot take suffixes and thus cannot be turned into nouns. For example:
a. The child is asleep.
b. *The asleepness of the child is confirmed.
a. This old person is afraid of his loneliness.
b. * The afraidness of this old person in his home is unmanageable.
3. Paraphrasing by Replacing Adjectives with Verbs
For the purpose of paraphrasing, an adjective can be replaced by a verb. When an adjective is replaced by a verb, the adjective and the verb be both turn into a verb. For example:
| Adjectives | Verbs |
| i. a. Bears are abundant in the forest. | i. b. Bears abound in the forest. |
| ii. b. This lamb is similar to a bear. | ii. b. This lamb resembles a bear. |
In the example (i-b), the verb abound is intransitive (i.e., it does not require a noun as object after it). On the other hand, in the example (ii-b), the verb is transitive as it requires a noun after it.
Some adjectives (with suffixes like -able or -ible) along with their preceding linking verb, i.e. is/are turn into a passive verb with can be. For example:
| is/are + adjectives + -able or -ible | can be + passive verb |
| i. a. This chemical material is disposable. | i. b. This chemical material can be disposed. |
| ii. a. Their landed property in this village is divisible. | ii. b. Their landed property in this village can be divided |
| iii. a. The observation of these office regulations is inevitable. | iii. b. The observation of these office regulations is cannot be avoided. |
The predicative adjectives (with suffix -less) turn into lack + an object noun. This combination represents linking verb + adjective. For example:
| adjective + -less | verb (lack) + object |
| i. a. He is tactless when he highlights his success in public events. | i. b. Highlighting his success in public events lacks tact. |
| ii. a. The employees are clueless why the manager cancelled the event. | ii. b. The employees lack understanding why the manager cancelled the event. |
3.1 Predicative Adjectives Replaceable by Transitive Verbs
There are a number of predicative adjectives that can be replaced by transitive verbs. For example, afraid of can be replaced by fear; fond of by like; desirous of by desire; etc. Some of the verbs with which these adjectives are replaced are the transitive verbs which act upon the objects. Some other verbs stay in complex transitive constructions (transitive verb + object + adjective) where adjectives (as complements) describe the objects. For example:
i. a. Tariq is afraid of street cars.
b. Tariq fears street cars.
ii. a. Rehman is happy with my praise.
b. My praise made Rehman happy.
In example (i.a.), the adjective afraid has been replaced by the verb fear (a transitive verb). In (ii. b.), the adjective happy has become the part of the complex transitive construction, i.e. made Rehman happy. However, it should be noted that all adjectives + PP cannot be replaced by corresponding transitive verbs.
4. Paraphrasing Adjectives by Turning them into Adverbs
Some adjectives can be paraphrased by turning them into adverbs. The adverbs that replace adjectives for paraphrasing them are either same as adjectives (fast, late, hard, etc.) in spelling or with added ending. The adverbs with added endings can be considered derived from the related adjectives (quick–quickly, cheap—cheaply, north – northward, etc.).
An important thing about these adjectives is that when they are paraphrased by turning into adverbs, their associated nouns are to be paraphrased also. And, these nouns are turned into verbs. These verbs should be the ones to which adverbs are commonly associated. Further, these adverbs can go before or after the verb. For example:
| Adjective + Noun | Adverb + Adverb/Verb + Adverb |
| A strong emphasis on punctuality was clear. | The manager strongly emphasized punctuality. |
| Frequent stops in journey were necessary. | We stopped frequently in our journey. |
| Early departure was inevitable. | We departed earlyto reach in time. |
5. Using Adjectives for Paraphrasing Linking Adverbials
Linking adverbials demonstrate the way the meaning of the sentence in which they fall are connected to that of the sentence that usually precedes. Common examples are thus, hence, however, on the other hand, etc. This sort of meaning link between sentences can also be indicated by certain adjectives. For example:
| First Clauses | 2nd Clauses and their Paraphrases |
| i. Shaheen is an ambitious person. | a. Similarly, Naheed takes bold steps. b. Naheed has a similar nature. |
| ii. I avoided stagnant water drops. | a. Consequently/Therefore, my dress is clean. b. In consequence, my dress is clean. |
6. Using Adjectives for Paraphrasing Prepositional Phrases
Preposition phrases commonly perform the role of adjectives. However, preposition phrases cannot alter into adjectives easily. Further, writers do not prefer the use of preposition phrases in place of adjectives on account of the greater wordiness of preposition phrases.
| Adjectives | Prepositional Phrases |
| Our purpose to secure endangered species of birds. | We secure the species of birds that are in danger. |
| Sohail frequently takes leading role in politics. | Sohail stays at the front as an activist politician. |
The adjectives that are in the position of complement (i.e., after linking verb) can be replaced by the preposition phrase at the spot. However, when an adjective stays as a pre-modifier of a noun, the preposition phrase that replaces it stays after the noun head. For example:
i. a. The hardships he suffered in his life were endless.
b. The hardships he suffered in his life were without end.
ii. a. He suffered endless hardships in his life.
b. He suffered hardships without end in his life.
In sum, paraphrasing is a core rhetorical tool used in academic writing on which credibility, precision, fluid integration and the perception of the texts depends. Simply replacing words of the original texts with their synonyms does not work. For the successful paraphrasing, changing the grammar of the source texts is a productive option. For this purpose, depending upon the context, adjectives can be paraphrased by nouns, verbs, or adverbs. On the other hand, adjectives can be used to paraphrase linking adverbials and prepositional phrases. On the whole, adjectives in both ways play a productive role in paraphrasing the source texts and help integrate them in the new texts.
