Why is paraphrasing important when answering reading questions?

• A. It helps you memorize the passage exactly
• B. It helps ensure you understand the idea and avoid copying wording
• C. It helps you shorten the passage
• D. It helps you judge the author’s tone

Answer: (B)

Paraphrasing centers on understanding and expressing ideas in your own words. When you restate what you read in your own terms, you prove you grasp the meaning rather than relying on exact phrases. This makes it easier to tackle questions by connecting them to the underlying concepts rather than to specific sentences, so you can apply what you learned to choose the right answer.

It’s the best approach because it confirms you truly understand the idea and helps you avoid simply copying wording. Paraphrasing also helps you spot nuances or shifts in meaning that might be important for selecting the correct response.

The other options don’t fit as well. Memorizing the passage exactly isn’t the goal of paraphrasing—it’s about understanding, not verbatim recall. Shortening the passage isn’t the aim either; paraphrasing is about conveying meaning, even if the wording changes. Judging the author’s tone is related but is a separate skill from understanding the idea itself; paraphrasing focuses on meaning, which supports answering questions that test comprehension.