Paraphrasing Tool
You ever read over your writing and think, 'Oh, I've used three words 15 times in the last 100 words.' Yeah. That's what it's like being a freelance writer.
I'm writing for agencies and companies. Formal stuff, mostly. And I found myself repeating 'We offer', 'We provide', 'We deliver' ad nauseum. After four paragraphs, I feel like I'm reading an instruction manual for a corporation.
After writing a particularly substandard version, I decided to try out the AI Paraphrasing Tool on UtilityGenAI. I'd written an uninspiring intro for a client's website and read it over and I even dozed off a little. So I entered it into the tool and waited.
It didn't just swap words. It changed the rhythm. It was like getting a cup of coffee.
How Does It Work?
What it does: you give it a crap, redundant, or wordy sentence. It spits out something that means the same thing - but isn't so bad that you want to close the browser.
It keeps the meaning intact. That's what I feared. I've used other tools that obliterate the meaning of the sentence. This one seems to retain the context well.
Free. No time limit on credits. Paste, convert, repeat. If you don't get what you want, paste again.
My Experience - Two Tests
📝 The Prompt
I had been asked to re-write a 'About Us' page for a client. I now realise that it was dull and dry. I entered a part into the generator: 'Since 2020, we've been delivering cutting edge solutions in the technology industry - ensuring customer satisfaction.'
💬 The result
'Since 2020, we've been innovating in the tech space - and putting our customers first.' I mean, it's a fair thing. More enthusiasm, less business jargon. I'd make some changes, but it's good.
📝 The Prompt
I was explaining a technical thing to a non-technical friend - and not doing that well. I fed it this: 'We use lots of data and algorithms to perform optimisation tasks according to user preferences.'
💬 Output
'We use a lot of data to understand what people want and we make things more efficient.' Well, it's dumb and dumber, almost too colloquial - but a text to your mates? Perfect.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- ✗It doesn't lose the plot. After a month of use, I have yet to run into an example where the rephrasing altered the meaning of what I had written.
- ✓Speed. Up to three versions, in fewer than six seconds. I timed it.
- ✓Dead simple interface. Paste, convert, done. No sign-up, no forms, no welcome.
Cons
- ✓Some non-English languages can have very technical language. I encountered this writing about linguistics - some of the paraphrase results had wordy phrasing that needed editing.
- ✓No tone modes. Other apps provide a choice of Formal/Creative/Casual. This one doesn't. You take it or leave it.
Who's It For?
I think anyone who writes on a computer would benefit. But I think it's particularly helpful for bloggers and social media marketers - those who are often battling the 'I just said that' phenomenon.
It's not, however, for academic writing. If you're writing a thesis or a research paper, don't expect that a chunk of it will be magically transformed into the finished article. The subtlety of academic writing can be lost in translation. And for the legal document or official document people? Not the right tool.
Final Score and Verdict
One point better than the subject line tool, and I'm not even joking. A month later I'm using it as part of my process - it's not a novelty that I've forgotten about.
If you're starting to feel like your sentences are bland and boring, invest 20 minutes. At the very least, you don't see any improvement. Best case, you've found something that expands your thinking about sentence construction. Give it a shot.
✦ Editor's Verdict