3. The Paraphrase

Paraphrase: Many fundamental aspects of our own government are
Original: Many familiar features of our own government are

apparent in the Second Treatise of Government. One can safely
apparent in the Second Treatise of Government. It is safe to assert

say that the oft-censured Supreme Court really owes its existence
that the much-criticized ... Court obtained its being as a

to the Lockeian demand that powers in government be kept separate;
result of Locke's insistence upon the separation of powers;

equally one can say that the allocation of varied and widespread
and that the combination of many powers

authority to the President during the era of the New Deal has
in the hands of the executive under the New Deal has

still to encounter opposition because it is contrary to the principles
still to encounter opposition because it is contrary to the principles

enunciated therein ... Once more it is possible to note the way in
enunciated therein ... Again we see the crystal-

which Locke's writing clarified existing opinion.
izing force of Locke's writing.

The foregoing interlineal presentation shows clearly how the writer has simply traveled along with the original text, substituting approximately equivalent terms except where his understanding fails him, as it does with ``crystallizing'', or where the ambiguity of the original is too great a tax on his ingenuity for him to proceed, as it is with ``to encounter opposition ... consciously traced'' in the original.

Such a procedure as the one shown in this example has its uses; it is valuable for the student's own understanding of the passage, for one thing; and it may be valuable for the reader as well. How then, may it properly be used? The procedure is simple. The writer might begin the second sentence with: ``As Sherman notes in the introduction to his edition of the Treatise, one can safely say...'' and conclude the paraphrased passage with a footnote giving the additional identification necessary. Or he might indicate the exact nature of what he is doing directly in this fashion: ``To paraphrase Sherman's comment...'' and conclude that also with a footnote indicator.

In point of fact, the source used here does not particularly lend itself to the honest paraphrase, with the exception of that one sentence which the paraphraser copied without change except for abridgement. The purpose of paraphrase should be to simplify or to throw a new and significant light on a text; it requires much skill if it is to be honestly used and should rarely be resorted to by the student except for the purpose, as was suggested above, of his personal enlightenment.