In paraphrasing the words you hear, what is the second step?

In paraphrasing the words you hear, what is the second step?

• A. Determine the basic message
• B. Rephrase the key content
• C. Restate the exact words
• D. Ask clarifying questions

Answer: (B)

Paraphrasing is about capturing the speaker’s meaning in your own words. After you’ve identified the basic message, the next move is to rephrase the key content in simpler, different wording while keeping the meaning intact. Restating the exact words would be quoting, not paraphrasing, and asking clarifying questions is helpful if something isn’t clear, but it isn’t the paraphrasing step itself. So the second step is to rephrase the key content.

Paraphrasing is about capturing the speaker’s meaning in your own words. After you’ve identified the basic message, the next move is to rephrase the key content in simpler, different wording while keeping the meaning intact. Restating the exact words would be quoting, not paraphrasing, and asking clarifying questions is helpful if something isn’t clear, but it isn’t the paraphrasing step itself. So the second step is to rephrase the key content.