10 exercises — how "in other words" restates a preceding idea more plainly, and how it compares to the close synonym "that is to say."
Quick reference
In other words: restates a preceding idea in plainer, more accessible terms
Fixed word order: "in" + "other" + "words" — no articles, "words" stays plural
Close synonym: "that is to say" is interchangeable but slightly more formal
Needs a preceding statement: cannot open a sentence with nothing to rephrase
Register: neutral, common in both spoken explanations and written technical docs
0 / 10 completed
1 / 10
A design doc reads: "The operation is idempotent. ___ , calling it twice with the same input produces the same result as calling it once." Which phrase best introduces a plainer restatement of the same idea?
In other words restates the same idea in plainer, more accessible terms. "In other terms only" awkwardly adds "only" to a phrase that already stands complete. "On the other hand" introduces a contrast, not a rephrasing. "For other reasons" introduces an unrelated cause, not a restatement.
2 / 10
Which sentence uses "in other words" correctly?
"This endpoint is eventually consistent. In other words, a read immediately after a write might not reflect that write yet" correctly restates a technical concept in plainer terms. It cannot introduce a bare future plan, an instruction, or a past time reference — it needs a prior statement to rephrase.
3 / 10
Fill the blank: "The migration is backward-compatible. ___ , old clients will keep working without any changes on their end."
In other words has a fixed word order: "in" + "other" + "words." The other options scramble this into invalid, meaningless sequences.
4 / 10
Which pair correctly distinguishes "in other words" from "that is to say"?
"In other words" and "that is to say" both restate a preceding idea more plainly: "The service is stateless — that is to say, no request depends on data from a previous one." The two are close synonyms; "in other words" is slightly more common and slightly less formal than "that is to say."
5 / 10
A postmortem reads: "The circuit breaker tripped after five consecutive failures. ___ , the system stopped sending requests to a service it detected was already struggling." Which best completes the sentence?
In other words is the correct, fixed form. The other options scramble the required word order into non-idiomatic phrases.
6 / 10
Which sentence contains an error in the use of "in other words"?
"In other words that we discussed at the offsite, the server rebooted overnight" incorrectly attaches a relative clause and applies the phrase to an unrelated event with no preceding statement to restate. "In other words" must directly follow the idea it is rephrasing. The other three sentences use it correctly.
7 / 10
Choose the sentence where "in other words" is best replaced by "to put it more simply" without changing the meaning.
"To put it more simply, messages across different partitions can arrive out of order" preserves the meaning exactly, restating the preceding technical claim. The other options misuse the phrase as an urgency marker, an unrelated possessive-sounding construction, or a pairing with a specific future date.
8 / 10
A design doc states: "The function is pure. ___ , it has no side effects and always returns the same output for the same input." Which best fits?
In other words is the correct, standard form — "words" stays plural and "other" stays singular in form. Option A wrongly makes "word" singular. Option B wrongly pluralizes "others." Option D wrongly inserts the indefinite article "an."
9 / 10
Which register note about "in other words" is accurate?
"In other words" is a neutral phrase equally at home in spoken explanations ("In other words, don't worry about the retry logic — it's handled for you") and written technical docs. It always restates the immediately preceding idea in plainer, more accessible terms.
10 / 10
Which sentence best demonstrates "in other words" clarifying a technical claim for a less specialized reader?
"This endpoint is idempotent under retries. In other words, if your request times out, it's safe to just try it again without worrying about duplicate side effects" is the textbook use: restating a technical term in plain, practical language. The other options misuse the phrase as a command intensifier, insert it awkwardly mid-clause, or pair it incorrectly with a specific future date.