STRUCTURAL CONVERSION FOR REPHRASING

• Comparison

Examples: She is kinder than his brother

 His brother is not as kind as she is.

She is more intelligent than his brother.

 His brother is not so intelligent as she is.
(“so”, cuando la primera frase es negativa).

Exercises: 1. He works harder than I do.

I don’t
______________________________________
2. I am not as tall as she is
She is
_______________________________________
3. He is better at mathematics than I am
I am
________________________________________

Examples: His attitude to life is not the same as it was

before.
 His attitude to life is different from what it was
before.

Exercises: 1. The situation now is different from what it was five

years ago.
Five years ago, the situation was not
_______________
2. At university, you won’t meet the same sort of people as
the ones you are used to in a village.
 The people you meet at university will be ___________
______________________________________________
3. In what way is it not the same as you expected?
In what way __________________________________

Examples: He works in an engineering firm, like me/ like his

father.
 He works in an engineering firm, as I do/ as his
father does.

Exercises: 1. He plays football for England, as his father did.

He plays football for England, like
_______________
2. They are going to Brighton for their holidays, as we are.
They are going to Brighton for their holidays,
________
3. I study hard, like him.
I study hard, __________________________________

Examples: As I get older, I become more irritable.

 The older I get, the more irritable I become.

Exercises: 1. If you go on eating so much, you will get father.

The more
_____________________________________
2. As the game went on, the players become more
exhausted.
The longer
____________________________________

Examples: He’s the rudest man I’ve ever met.

  I’ve never met such a rude man.
This is such a big house!
 This house is so big!

Exercises: 1. It’s the most enjoyable holiday I’ve ever had.

I’ve
_________________________________________
2. I’ve never read such an interesting book.
It’s _________________________________________
3. It’s the best film I’ve ever seen.
I’ve _________________________________________
• “If” and “unless” (“unless” generally means ‘if…..not’)

Examples: We’ll be late unless the train arrives on time.

 We’ll be late if the trains doesn’t arrive on time.

Exercises: 1. If he doesn’t tell us who he is, we won’t let him

in.
Unless
______________________________________
2. You can’t take the examination unless you pay
the fee.
You can’t take the examination
___________________
3. Unless you apologise, I’ll ring my lawyer.
I’ll ring my lawyer
_____________________________

• Gerund and “it” … + Infinitive (the gerund form is preferred at the

beginning of the sentence. The infinitive is essential when we begin the
sentence with an impersonal subject, “it”, -except with “It’s worth”, “It’s no
use”)
 Examples: Remembering grammatical rules is something difficult.
 It is sometimes difficult to remember grammatical
rules.

After adjectives always to+inf.

It’s worth + ing.
It’s no use + ing.

Exercises: 1. Marrying for love is better than marrying for

money.
It
__________________________________________
2. Meeting interesting people is always a pleasure.
It
__________________________________________
3. It is dangerous to walk on railway.
___________________________________
dangerous.

• “It” and coordinated relative clauses

Examples: He made a fuss about nothing, which was stupid.

 It was stupid of him to make a fuss about nothing.

Exercises: 1. He solved the puzzle in five minutes, which was clever

of him.

It____________________________________________
2. They didn’t invite her to dinner, which was
hurtful.
 It
___________________________________________
3. It was unkind of her to take the child’s toys away
from
him.
She
__________________________________________

• Present perfect and past tenses: “for”, “since” and “ago”.

Examples: The last time I saw her was in 1978.

 I haven’t seen her since 1978.

Clues
For: present perfect
Since: past simple and present perfect
Ago: past simple

Ex: I have worked here - since September.

- for 7 months.
- since 7 months ago.

Examples: The last came here at the end of June.

 He hasn’t come here since the end of June.

Exercises: 1. I haven’t played tennis since December.

The last time
__________________________________
2. The last time she travelled by air was in March.
 She hasn’t
____________________________________
3. We haven’t heard from them since 1990.
We last
_______________________________________

Examples: The last time I saw her was seven years ago.
 I haven’t seen her for seven years.
He last came here six months ago.
 He hasn’t came here for six months.

Exercises: 1. He has not been to see his mother for ages.

He last
_______________________________________
2. I last played tennis nine months ago.
The last
______________________________________
3. I haven’t heard from her for some time.
The last
______________________________________

Examples: I haven’t seen her for seven years.

 It’s seven years since I last saw her.

Exercises: 1. It’s many years since we last met.

We haven’t
___________________________________
2. He’s been away from school for six weeks.
It’s
__________________________________________
3. It’s a long time since they wrote to us.
 They
haven’t___________________________________
• “Although”, “though” and “even though”

Examples: Although- he played brilliantly, he still lost the match.

Though-
Even though-
 In spite of- playing brilliantly, he still lost the
match.
Despite-

Exercises: 1. We went on playing, although it was raining.

Despite
______________________________________
2. In spite of the increase in production, we have not made
a profit.
Although
_____________________________________
3. They weren’t able to get into the cinema, despite having
queued for an hour.
Even though
__________________________________

• Impersonal construction: “It said”, etc.

Examples: It is expected that the President will arrive tomorrow.

 The President is expected to arrive tomorrow.
It’s said that the robbers are hiding in this area.
 The robber are said to be hiding in this area.
It’s believed that the murder occurred at 3 o’clock.
 The murder is believed to have occurred at 3 o’clock.

Exercises: 1. It is thought that the pilot lost his way in the fog.
 The pilot
_____________________________________
2. A lot of people are thought to be involved in the affair.
It’s
__________________________________________
3. The robbers were thought to have used this car to make
their scape.
It was
________________________________________

• “Because” and “because of”

Examples: They were unable to play because it was raining.

 They were unable to play because of the rain.
Despite-

Exercises: 1. They refused to fly because it was foggy.

Because
of____________________________________

• “May” and “Might”

Examples: Perhaps he will come tomorrow.

 He may come tomorrow.
Maybe he knows the answer.
 He may know the answer.

It’s just possible that he - is working in the garden.

- hasn’t heard the phone.
  He might - be working in the garden.
- not have heard the phone.

Exercises: 1. Perhaps she hasn’t received our letter.

She
_________________________________________
2. It’s just possible that he is waiting for you to ring him.
He
__________________________________________
3. Maybe their train is late.
Their
________________________________________

• Active and passive forms

Examples: A croud of 50,000 people are watching the match.

 The math is being watched by a crowd of 50,000.
You can pay they tickets by cheque or in cash.
 The tickets can be paid by cheque or in cash.

Exercises: 1. We are considering her application for the job.

Her application
_______________________________
2. You should not post your application form later than
10th August.
Your application form
___________________________
_______________________________________________
3. They did not send him a copy of the contract.
He
__________________________________________
• “not only” and “both”

Examples: Both the management and the staff are in favour of the
changes.
 Not only the management but also the staff are in
favour of the changes.

Exercises: 1. Not only the Government but also the Opposition voted
in favour.

Both_________________________________________
2. The tragedy is that not only the negatives but also the
films were destroyed.
The tragedy is that
______________________________
_______________________________________________
3. His success depends both on hard work and on good
business sense.
His success depends
____________________________

______________________________________________
• I wish / if only

Examples: It’s a pity they can’t come.

 I wish / If only they could come.
It’s a pity they live so far away.
 I wish / If only they didn’t live so far away.

Exercises: 1. It’s a pity you don’t earn more money.

If _______ / I
_________________________________
2. It’s a pity this dress costs so much.
 If _______ / I
_________________________________
3. It’s such a nice day! It’s a pity we can’t go to the beach.
It’s such a nice day! If _______ / I
________________

______________________________________________

Examples: It’s a pity you weren’t here to see the show.

 I wish you had been here to see the show.
(“If only” no se usa con el Past Perfect)
It’s a pity they left the party so early. It was rather
boring afterwards.
 I wish they hadn’t left the party so early.

Exercises: 1. It’s a pity we have lost contact with them.

I
____________________________________________
2. It’s a pity I didn’t take your advice.
I
____________________________________________
3. It’s a pity they didn’t invite more people.
I
____________________________________________

Examples: (Conditional  solo par hablar de cosas que nos

enfadan mucho).
  Why do you always drop your cigarette ash on the
carpet?
I wish you wouldn’t always drop your cigarette ash on
the carpet!
Why don’t you look where are you going?
 I wish you would look where you’re going!

Exercises: 1. Why don’t you pay attention to what I’m saying?

I
____________________________________________
2. Why aren’t you more careful?
I
____________________________________________
3. Why doesn’t the Government do something about
unemployment?
I
____________________________________________

• Let’s

Examples: It’s a splendid idea to go to the beach.

 Let’s go to the beach.
It would be a shame if we quarrelled.
 Let’s not quarrel!