CPE (Cambridge English Proficiency) Writing: Paraphrasing

My name’s Peter Travis from Flo-Joe and welcome to the very first of this new series of shows helping you with the CPE, Cambridge English Proficiency, Writing paper. In these short shows we’re looking at the common mistakes we see in students&written work - these are mistakes we’ve seen in writing that’s been sent to Flo-Joe by students who’ve signed up for our Writing Critique and Correction service. You can find out more about our CPE Writing Critique and Correction service here: In this show we’ll look at a very common issue - copying vocabulary from the task. It’s an easy trap to fall into, especially when attempting the Part 1 Essay question. If you remember, the question consists of two short passages that you need to summarise and comment on. The texts are full of great vocabulary and it’s very tempting to recycle some of that language in your answer. The problem is, you won’t gain any marks for doing this. However, there are ways you can make use of the language in the text that will gain you marks in the exam which involve paraphrasing - expressing the same idea using different vocabulary. We’ll look at two methods of paraphrasing today: using different forms of the same word or coming up with an appropriate synonym. A useful tip when attempting the Essay task is to underline the key areas of the texts that you think will need summarising or commenting on. Pay attention to the vocabulary you think you’ll need to focus on and decide if you could re-write the...