Keywords and paraphrase – how questions hide the answer
IELTS Reading questions almost never repeat the words of the passage. Learn the seven kinds of paraphrase and how to choose keywords that lead you to the answer.
If IELTS questions used the same words as the passage, the test would only measure your ability to match shapes. Instead, the question writers express the idea in different language. The skill of seeing that two differently worded sentences mean the same thing, or do not, is the single most important skill in the Reading test. It is called recognising paraphrase.
Choosing keywords
A keyword is a word in the question that helps you find the right part of the passage. Not all words are equally useful. Sort them into two groups.
Anchor words – unlikely to change. Names, dates, numbers, places, technical terms.
When did Conté develop his new process? What was the Koh-i-Noor pencil named after?
You can scan for these directly (Lesson 2).
Flexible words – likely to be paraphrased. Ordinary nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
Farmers were unwilling to adopt the new method.
The passage might say: Growers were reluctant to take up the technique. Not one of the three words survives.
So when you read a question, do two things:
- Highlight any anchor word and scan for it.
- For each flexible word, quickly ask yourself: how else could this be said?
The seven kinds of paraphrase
1. Synonyms
The simplest type: one word is exchanged for another with a similar meaning.
| Question | Passage |
|---|---|
| a shortage of water | water was scarce |
| the main cause | the chief reason |
| rapid growth | expanded quickly |
| were forbidden to | were not permitted to |
2. Word-form changes
The same root appears as a different part of speech.
| Question | Passage |
|---|---|
| The population grew. | the growth of the population |
| a solution to the problem | how the problem was solved |
| It is difficult to predict. | its unpredictability |
3. General ↔ specific
The question uses a general category and the passage gives examples, or the other way round. This type is very common in matching information tasks.
| Question | Passage |
|---|---|
| human activities that harm fungi | ploughing, heavy use of fertilisers, felling of woodland |
| a family member | her uncle |
| dairy products | cheese, butter and yoghurt |
| an everyday comparison | like holding a conversation beside a motorway |
4. Opposites with a negative
| Question | Passage |
|---|---|
| The method was not expensive. | The method was cheap. |
| Few people failed the test. | Most candidates passed. |
| It is rarely considered. | It is not usually taken into account. |
Be careful here: this is where True/False/Not Given questions set their traps.
5. Active ↔ passive and changed sentence structure
| Question | Passage |
|---|---|
| Fox invented a steel rib. | A steel rib was designed by Fox. |
| Because it rained, the match was cancelled. | The cancellation of the match was due to rain. |
6. Numbers and quantities expressed differently
| Question | Passage |
|---|---|
| a quarter | 25 per cent; one in four |
| a decade | ten years |
| most | nine out of ten; the majority |
| doubled | rose from 12% to 24% |
| in the mid-nineteenth century | in the 1850s |
7. Explanation instead of a word
Sometimes one side uses a single word and the other explains it.
| Question | Passage |
|---|---|
| drought | long periods without rain |
| nocturnal animals | creatures that are active at night |
| it was abandoned | people stopped using it altogether |
Worked example
Read this paragraph and then look at how four questions paraphrase it.
By the 1890s the American bison, which had once numbered in the tens of millions, survived only in a handful of protected herds. The animals had been slaughtered for their hides and to clear the plains for cattle. Their later recovery owed less to government policy than to a small group of private ranchers, who began breeding them for profit when a market developed for their lean meat. Today roughly half a million bison live in North America, although the great majority are kept behind fences and fewer than one in twenty roam freely.
Question A: Bison were killed partly so that the land could be used for farming animals. (TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN)
- Passage: slaughtered … to clear the plains for cattle.
- killed = slaughtered (synonym); farming animals = cattle (general ↔ specific); so that the land could be used = to clear the plains for.
- Answer: TRUE.
Question B: The increase in bison numbers was mainly the result of official action.
- Passage: Their later recovery owed less to government policy than to … private ranchers.
- increase in numbers = recovery; official action = government policy. But owed less to means the opposite of mainly the result of.
- Answer: FALSE.
Question C: Ranchers became interested in bison when people started to buy their ____. (ONE WORD ONLY)
- Passage: began breeding them for profit when a market developed for their lean meat.
- people started to buy = a market developed for (explanation ↔ noun phrase).
- Answer: meat. (Not lean meat: that is two words.)
Question D: Only a small proportion of today’s bison are wild.
- Passage: fewer than one in twenty roam freely.
- a small proportion = fewer than one in twenty (quantity); wild = roam freely (explanation).
- Answer: TRUE.
In all four cases, a reader who searched for the exact words of the question would have found nothing.
Small words that change everything
Paraphrase is about meaning, and meaning often depends on small words. When you read closely, watch for these:
| Type | Examples | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Quantity | all, most, many, some, few, a few, none | Some scientists agree ≠ Scientists agree |
| Frequency | always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never | is usually fatal ≠ is always fatal |
| Certainty | will, may, might, is likely to, is thought to | may cause ≠ causes |
| Limits | only, mainly, solely, at least, up to | only in winter ≠ in winter |
| Comparison | more than, as … as, less … than | check which thing is greater |
| Time | before, after, until, by, since | until 1990 ≠ in 1990 |
Compare:
Passage: The drug may reduce pain in some patients. Statement: The drug reduces pain.
The statement is stronger than the passage in two ways. In a True/False/Not Given task, it would not be TRUE.
How to build your paraphrase skill
- Keep a paraphrase notebook. After every practice test, for each question write the words in the question and the matching words in the passage side by side, exactly as in the tables above. Thirty pairs per test, ten tests, and you have three hundred real examples in your memory.
- Learn words in families. When you meet decline, also note fall, drop, decrease, go down, reduction, shrink. IELTS returns to the same ideas again and again: increase and decrease, cause and effect, advantage and problem, similarity and difference.
- Paraphrase actively. Take a sentence from a passage and rewrite it twice in your own words. Being able to produce paraphrase makes you much faster at recognising it, and it will help your Writing as well.
Try it
Match each question phrase (1–6) with the phrase from a passage (a–f) that means the same.
- was introduced gradually
- the majority of participants
- is no longer in use
- a lack of funding
- had the opposite effect
- at the end of the 1800s
a. more than two-thirds of the volunteers b. in the closing years of the nineteenth century c. there was not enough money d. was brought in step by step e. has been abandoned f. made the situation worse rather than better
Answers: 1 d · 2 a · 3 e · 4 c · 5 f · 6 b
Key points
- Expect paraphrase in every question; exact repetition is rare.
- Scan with anchor words; think of synonyms for flexible words.
- Know the seven patterns: synonym, word form, general ↔ specific, negative + opposite, structure, quantity, explanation.
- Small words (some, only, may, until) often decide whether a statement matches.
Now try it in a real section
A complete IELTS reading section in the official format — every answer explained.
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