VS 2A 2009 English Language Blog

Recap
You will be told explicitly that you are to express a word or phrase (from the passage) in your own words. This type of question is pretty much the same as substitution in summary writing. The aim of it is to ascertain that you know the gist of the phrase (as used in the passage).

Tips
When answering such questions, read the paragraph containing the given phrase first (to get contextual meaning).

Then, underline the important words in the phrase (usually the verbs, nouns and adjectives) and write down the meaning (as used in the text) or a synonym for each word.

Thirdly, join the meaning/ synonyms of the important words into a cohesive phrase (may rearrange the meaning/ synonyms, if necessary).

Finally, check that what you have written has the same contextual meaning as the original phrase.

IMPORTANT: The above method will not work if the phrase used is an idiom (e.g., "bite the bullet") as replacing individual words will only give you the literal meaning. In such cases, your answer will be a phrase (or word) that has the same contextual meaning as the given phrase.

IMPORTANT X 2: All verbs must be replaced.

NOTE #1: There is no restriction on the number of words you may use to express the given phrase in your own words.

NOTE #2: There are some nouns you may be unable to replace (e.g., "parents"). In such cases, it is usually acceptable to use them in your answer.