Transformation of sentences
Change the form of a sentence while keeping its meaning exactly.
Transformation draws on everything you know about sentence types, degrees of comparison and conjunctions. The aim is to say exactly the same thing in a different form.
Transformation is rewriting a sentence in another grammatical form while keeping its meaning unchanged.
Examples
- Only a fool would believe that. → None but a fool would believe that.
- Mumbai is bigger than most other Indian cities. → Mumbai is one of the biggest Indian cities.
- What a beautiful sunset! → It is a very beautiful sunset.
- She is too young to vote. → She is so young that she cannot vote.
- Everyone loves a good story. → Who does not love a good story?
How it works
Affirmative and negative
Replace a word with its opposite and add not or never so that the meaning stays the same. Always pairs with never, and only with none but.
He is always honest. → He is never dishonest.
Interrogative and assertive
A rhetorical question hides a statement. A positive question hides a negative statement, and a negative question hides a positive one.
Isn't it a lovely day? → It is a lovely day.
Degrees of comparison
The same fact can be shown in the positive, comparative and superlative degrees. Watch the key words no other, any other and very few.
No other player is as tall as Raj. → Raj is taller than any other player.
too…to, so…that, no sooner…than
Too…to becomes so…that with a negative verb. As soon as becomes No sooner did/had…than, with the auxiliary before the subject.
As soon as he saw me, he waved. → No sooner did he see me than he waved.
Quick reference
| Change | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmative → negative | Rekha remembered the date. | Rekha did not forget the date. |
| Interrogative → assertive | Who does not want peace? | Everyone wants peace. |
| Exclamatory → assertive | How fast she runs! | She runs very fast. |
| Superlative → comparative | Everest is the highest peak. | Everest is higher than any other peak. |
| Superlative → positive | Everest is the highest peak. | No other peak is as high as Everest. |
| too…to → so…that | The rope is too short to reach. | The rope is so short that it cannot reach. |
| as soon as → no sooner | As soon as we sat down, the film began. | No sooner had we sat down than the film began. |
Common mistakes
✕No sooner did the guests arrive when the music started.
✓No sooner did the guests arrive than the music started.
No sooner always takes than.
✕Everest is higher than any peak.
✓Everest is higher than any other peak.
Without other, Everest is being compared with itself.
✕He is too weak that he cannot stand.
✓He is so weak that he cannot stand.
Too goes with to; so goes with that.
Worked example
Exercise 1
Tap the word that makes this sentence negative.
Ramesh never tells lies.
✓never
Never is a negative word, so the sentence is negative in form.
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