I'm trying to use (2) as a paraphrase of (1), so I need to make sure that there's no semantic daylight between the two:
(1) We can't be sure whether there's still an opportunity for diplomacy.
(2) It’s uncertain whether there’s still an opportunity for diplomacy.
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Hi, Andrew—The two sentences have the same meaning, but you should rephrase the embedded question if you want (2) to count as a paraphrase.
Thanks! Can you tell me more about what you mean? It would seem that it counts as a paraphrase if there's no semantic daylight, right?
And what about the distinction between a summary and a paraphrase?
A paraphrase does not duplicate long strings of words from the text being paraphrased. (When we duplicate long strings of words, we are quoting, not paraphrasing, and quotation marks are required.) Summaries are for longer texts, but they are essentially paraphrases that leave out minor details.
