Strategy 5, Rewriting Numbers & Statistical Information, Short Answer Exercise

Refer to the guidelines below on the left, then read the given sentence in each question and paraphrase it in each box according to the hints provided.

STRATEGY 5: Rewrite Numbers and Statistical Information

Here are some techniques you can use to rewrite statistics when you are paraphrasing:

CONVERT A PERCENTAGE TO A FRACTION OR VICE-VERSA

Original: "Three-fourths of the faculty objected to the pay cut."

→ 75% of the teaching staff were angry that their salaries would be reduced.

CONVERT A NUMBER INTO WORDS OR VICE-VERSA

Original: "500,000 people around the world participated in peace rallies."

→ Marches for peace drew half a million participants all over the globe.

FLIP OVER A PERCENTAGE TO DESCRIBE THE OPPOSITE PHENOMENON

Original: "65% of the citizens want the president to resign."

→ 35% of the population hope that the president will remain in office.

USE MATHEMATICS TO CREATE A NUMBER THAT WAS NOT IN THE ORIGINAL


Original: "1000 people took part in the survey. 94% of them felt that having good English was important for Hong Kong people.

→ 940 respondents to the questionnaire believed that the citizens of Hong Kong need to have proficiency in English.

CONVERT FROM ONE CURRENCY OR MEASUREMENT SYSTEM TO ANOTHER
(but only if both you and your reader are familiar with both and know the conversion)

Original: "The train station is situated 2 miles from the shopping center."

→ The location of the railway station is 3 kilometers from the mall.

Original: "America spends $800,000,000 HK every year to buy weapons for its troops."

→ The annual expenditure of the United States on arming its soldiers is $100,000,000 US.

CHANGE PREPOSITIONS WHEN SPEAKING OF INCREASES OR DECREASES

Original: "Two years ago, unemployment stood at 5%. Since then, the jobless rate has increased by 2%."

→ The unemployment rate has risen from 5% to 7% in the last twenty-four months.

DESCRIBE A SITUATION IN WORDS, FOCUSING ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE NUMBERS GIVEN

Original: "Last year, 50 people attended the Professor Chan’s presentation. This year, the number was closer to 120.

→ The attendance level at the talk given this year by Professor Chan more than doubled over last year.

CONVERT NUMBERS INTO APPROXIMATIONS, (especially when the numner is large & exactness is not important or cannot be guaranteed)

Original: "About 120,000 children go blind each year as a result of accidents in the home.

→ Domestic accidents leads to more than 100,000 youngsters annually losing their sight.

Original: "Documents obtain from immigration officials show that 950,000 citizens of China traveled overseas last year."

→ Last year, nearly a million/almost 1,000,000 Chinese went abroad, according to immigration records.