Sentence Transformations

UNIT 5 SENTENCE TRANSFORMATIONS

Structure
5.0 Objectives
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Types of Sentences
5.3 Sentence Transformations – Negative
5.4 Sentence Transformations – Interrogative
5.5 Sentence Transformations – Exclamatory
5.6 Let Us Sum Up
5.7 Suggested Readings
5.8 Answers

5.0 OBJECTIVES
This unit is devoted to sentence transformations. In this unit you will learn about
different types of sentences and how sentences can be converted from one type
to another. In particular, you will learn more about how interrogative and negative
sentences are formed, which is a problematic area for many Indian users of
English.

5.1 INTRODUCTION
Different languages have different ways of forming sentences, and therefore,
different types of sentences. English too have its own way of constructing
sentences. According to how various elements are combined into sentences and
what structural and intonation patterns are followed, English sentences can be
broadly divided into four types, which we shall study in the subsequent sections.
We shall also study how each type of sentences is expected to perform particular
functions. In the process we may also become aware that there are some interesting
differences between sentence types and functions related to them between English
and most Indian languages. This awareness is important in order to use English
appropriately.

5.2 TYPES OF SENTENCES

As mentioned above, there are four broad types of sentences in English – assertive
(or declarative), interrogative, imperative and exclamatory. Let us look at the
details of each type. Each of these types can be affirmative or negative. The
negative versions contain some negative element like no, not, nothing, none,
nobody, never, etc.

A) Assertive/Declarative Sentences
Assertive or declarative sentences are various kinds of statements. In terms of
punctuation they end in a full stop (period). For example,

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Sentence Type: Form and 1) Delhi is the capital of India.
Function
2) The water in the tank was not safe for drinking.
3) Nobody was ready to accept the challenge.
4) Numbers were the biggest problem for the young Einstein.
5) I request you to go away immediately.
Assertive sentences can be affirmative or negative. Negative sentences contain
some negative element like not, nobody, none, never, nowhere, nothing, etc.
Affirmative sentences do not contain any such negative element. In the examples
given above, sentences 2 and 3 are negative while the remaining are affirmative
sentences. Here are more examples of affirmative and negative sentences:

Affirmative Sentences
6) I like eating out in evenings with friends.
7) Recently this writer published her autobiography.
8) Films in 1990s were more socially oriented.
9) Margaret Thatcher was the former prime minister of England.
10) You should take a taxi from here to save your time.
Negative Sentences
11) My friends don’t like eating out frequently.
12) None of her books were published in India.
13) We shall never forget your great support.
14) You should not take a taxi at this late hour.
15) He remembers nothing from his visit to Russia.
To summarise from these examples, you will see that
• Assertive sentences follow subject–verb–object (if any) sequence;
• They end in full stop (period);
• Negative sentences contain some negative element.
In one of the following sections we are going to discuss the formation of negative
sentences in more detail.

B) Interrogative Sentences
Interrogative sentences are questions. In terms of punctuation, an interrogative
sentence ends in a question mark. For example,
16) Isn’t that your house?
17) Who killed all the cheetahs in India?
18) What does the director know about our policy?
There are two main types of interrogative sentences – yes-no questions and wh-
questions. In the examples above, sentence 16 is a yes-no question and sentences
17 and 18 are wh-questions. Yes-no questions are called so because they are
answered in either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Wh-questions are called so, because they contain
some wh- word like who, which, where, why, when, etc.
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Yes-no questions are usually asked to check information or to seek agreement/ Sentence Transformations
disagreement. Wh-questions are usually asked to get information. But both yes-
no and wh- questions can also be used to make requests, to give suggestions, to
invite, etc in a polite way. For example,
19) Can you please pass that file? (request)
20) Shall we go for a movie tomorrow? (invitation)
21) Why don’t you try the new herbal treatment? (suggestion)
You must have noticed from these examples that
• Both in yes-no type and wh- type questions, the subject-verb order is reversed
(e.g. ‘you can’ becomes ‘can you’, ‘that is’ becomes ‘is that’, etc.);
• The wh- word is always at the beginning of the wh- type questions;
• Interrogative sentences carry a question mark in the end;
• Interrogative sentences can be affirmative or negative.
We shall look into more details of forming questions in one of the subsequent
sections.

C) Imperative Sentences
An imperative sentence has the sense of ‘do something’ or ‘don’t do something’.
They may end in full stop or exclamation mark, and they do not have a subject.
(Actually imperative sentences have ‘you’ as an understood subject.) For example,
22) Keep this bag over there.
23) Don’t shout at me!
24) Leave this room at once!
25) Please maintain complete silence in the reading hall.
26) Open the window, please!
In all these sentences ‘You’ is implied.

Imperative sentences are used to make requests, give commands, make

suggestions, etc. There is another type – ‘Let us’ type – of imperative sentences,
which are generally used for invitations or suggestions.
27) Let us not go that way.
28) Let’s order some nice, warm coffee!
29) Let us have a grand party on your success!
From all these examples you can understand that
• Imperative sentences have ‘you’ as an understood subject, but it is not
expressed;
• Imperative sentences may end in a full stop or an exclamation mark;
• They begin with the base form of the verb; negative sentences begin with
‘don’t’; in addition, words like ‘please’ may sometimes be added;
• Another type of imperative sentences begins with ‘Let us’.
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Sentence Type: Form and D) Exclamatory Sentences
Function
Exclamatory sentences are usually expressions of strong emotion.
30) What an amazing performance they gave!
31) How cruel of that boy to treat the dog that way!
32) How foolish of me to come here!
33) What a waste of time you had!
34) How very funny!
35) What a brilliant idea!
Looking at these examples you may have noticed that
• Exclamatory sentences start with ‘what’ or ‘how’, and end in exclamation
marks;
• ‘What’ is the beginning for a noun and ‘how’ for an adjective;
• They may or may not have the subject–verb pair;
• If they have the subject-verb pair, it usually comes at the end of the sentence;
• Exclamatory sentences are normally only affirmative.
We shall see more details on the formation of exclamatory sentences in the section
on forming exclamatory sentences below.
Check Your Progress 1
I) State whether the following sentences are assertive, interrogative, imperative
or exclamatory:
1) Who has ever seen a car flying in the sky?
_________________________
2) Mangoes cannot be packed in aluminum foil.
_________________________
3) How sensible of him to refuse the offer!
_________________________
4) Don’t talk while eating!
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5) Let’s have another round of coffee!
_________________________
6) Why did she always choose coloured dresses?
_________________________
7) I am not in any mood to listen to your long speeches.
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8) What a cruel joke to play on those kids!
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9) Someone had just opened the window without warning.
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10) How long will this bus take to reach Delhi?
126 _________________________
II) State whether the following sentences are affirmative or negative. If a Sentence Transformations
sentence is negative, underline the negative element in it.
1) Santa Claus is a popular figure among children.
_________________________
2) Why did nobody tell me about the accident?
_________________________
3) Do not leave your bags unattended on the platform.
_________________________
4) How wonderful the food was in that little pub!
_________________________
5) Save your work before shutting down the computer.
_________________________
6) The young man would never tell the police about his family.
_______________________
7) What a strange thing to say on the occasion!
_________________________
8) Nowhere in Australia will one find a dirty beach full of garbage.
____________________
9) How she manages to get so much money is not my concern.
______________________
10) When will they understand the importance of our time?
_________________________

5.3 SENTENCE TRANSFORMATIONS -

NEGATIVE
In this and the next three sections we shall look at some of the common sentence
transformations which pose problems for Indian users of English. Here we shall
look at how negative sentences are formed, while in the next sections we shall
look at the formation of interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences.

As we saw in Section 5.2, negative sentences contain some negative element

like no, not, none, nobody, never, etc. This means that in order to form negative
sentences we should add a negative element to the original sentence. We shall
now look at how different types of sentences are transformed into negatives.

Assertive sentences
Look at the following examples, where negative elements are added to the original
sentences:
36) Weather on these islands is very pleasant.
→ Weather on these islands is not very pleasant.
37) She could lift those heavy bags.
→ She could not lift those heavy bags.
38) My friends were planning to arrange a surprise for me.
→ My friends were not planning to arrange a surprise for me. 127
Sentence Type: Form and [Note: It is quite common to use contracted forms like ‘isn’t’, ‘couldn’t’ etc instead
Function
of full forms in negative sentences.]

You will see that the element ‘not’ is added after the first auxiliary (can, were,
etc) or after the ‘be’ form (is). In case a sentence has only the main verb and no
auxiliary, then we have to introduce ‘do’, ‘does’ or ‘did’ before using ‘not’.
39) These children love the sticky chocolate milk.
→ These children do not (don’t) love the sticky chocolate milk.
40) The special monitor helps in locating delivery vans.
→ The special monitor does not (doesn’t) help in locating delivery vans.
41) A speeding car injured the old man.
→ A speeding car did not (didn’t) injure the old man.
There is another way of forming negative sentences. If the original sentences
contain words like ‘anybody’, ‘somebody’, ‘everybody’, ‘anything’, ‘something’,
‘everything’, ‘somewhere’, ‘sometimes’, etc, we can also form negatives by using
related negative words like ‘nobody’, ‘nothing’, ‘nowhere’, ‘never’, etc.
42) Somebody was knocking on the door last night.
→ Nobody was knocking on the door last night.
43) Everything in this shop is very expensive.
→ Nothing in this shop is very expensive.
44) You could buy anything in a few rupees then.
→ You could buy nothing in a few rupees then.
You may have also noticed that the meaning of the negative sentence in all the
above examples is opposite to the meaning of the original sentence. In practice
we often come across tasks or examination questions, where students are asked
to change a sentence into negative “without changing its meaning”. Teachers
teach students to use an antonym of some word in the sentence along with a
negative element so that “the meaning remains the same”. But it is really difficult
not to change the meaning, because the meaning of a negative sentence will
never be the same as that of the original affirmative sentence, in spite of any play
of words. There will be some difference of meaning. Look at the following
sentences:
45) She was feeling very sad the whole day.
→ She was not feeling very happy the whole day.
46) Everybody in this group is a good worker.
→ Nobody in this group is a bad worker.
47) I hate ice-cream.
→ I don’t like ice-cream.
You will agree that both the sentences in each pair do not mean exactly the same
thing. It makes better sense to ask students just to form negative sentences, and
not insist on avoiding change of meaning, because the main purpose of such
tasks/ questions is to see if students can use negative constructions.
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Interrogative sentences Sentence Transformations

It is easy to form negatives of interrogative sentences. In interrogative sentences

the first auxiliary is already shifted before the subject, or if there is no auxiliary,
forms ‘do’, does’ or ‘did’ are already in place. The negative is formed by adding
‘n’t’ (contraction of ‘not’) to these auxiliaries or forms of ‘do’. The process is
the same in yes-no type and wh- type questions.

Please remember that there is a difference of construction when we use the

contraction ‘n’t’ and when we use the full form ‘not’ for making negative. The
contraction ‘n’t’ is directly attached to the first auxiliary or forms of ‘do’, but the
full form ‘not’ is placed after the subject. Both the constructions are given below
so that you can compare them.

Yes-no questions
48) Is she coming to the theatre?
→ Isn’t she coming to the theatre?
→ Is she not coming to the theatre?
49) Have you heard of the new film?
→ Haven’t you heard of the new film?
→ Have you not heard of the new film?
50) Should the workers stop working now?
→ Shouldn’t the workers stop working now?
→ Should the workers not stop working now?
51) Can someone tell the right password for this machine?
→ Can’t someone tell the right password for this machine?
→ Can someone not tell the right password for this machine?
Wh- questions
52) When was the system working properly?
→ When wasn’t the system working properly?
→ When was the system not working properly?
53) What does he like about his new job?
→ What doesn’t he like about his new job?
→ What does he not like about his new job?
54) What do they want in the office?
→ What don’t they want in the office?
→ What do they not want in the office?
55) Why has she left the town?
→ Why hasn’t she left the town?
→ Why has she not left the town?

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Sentence Type: Form and 56) Who did the minister want to invite?
Function
→ Who didn’t the minister want to invite?
→ Who did the minister not want to invite?
Imperative sentences
Negatives of imperative sentences are formed by using ‘do not’ or ‘don’t’ before
the main verb. Generally these are the starting words of the negative sentences,
if words like ‘please’ are not there.
57) Answer the following question in detail.
→ Don’t answer the following question in detail.
58) Please keep this instrument away from heat.
→ Please do not keep this instrument away from heat.
59) Stand here and wait for the next instructions.
→ Don’t stand here and wait for the next instructions.
60) Leave the door open when you go out.
→ Don’t leave the door open when you go out.
61) Kindly make cash payments at Counter No. 6.
→ Kindly do not make cash payments at Counter No. 6.
Check Your Progress 2
Transform the following sentences into negative:

1) It is easy to quit the habit of smoking.

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2) Was the officer busy in meetings the whole day?

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3) Who could tell the difference between the twin brothers?

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4) We have been planning a special event since long.

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5) Drop the bags on the floor of the room.

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6) Why did he call the doctor immediately? Sentence Transformations

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7) They like the large old-fashioned house by the river.

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8) He gives all his salary to his wife every month.

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9) Who allowed you to come through that gate?

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10) Will a hundred rupees be enough for one day?

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5.4 SENTENCE TRANSFORMATIONS -

INTERROGATIVE
We have seen examples of interrogative sentences in the Section 5.2. From these
examples we learnt an important feature of interrogative sentences in English –
the reversing of subject-verb order to verb-subject. This is a crucial point, because
in most Indian languages there is no such order change while making questions
and therefore many Indian users form English question without changing the
subject-verb sequence.

There are some simple points we should remember about this subject-verb
reversal. If the verb phrase of a sentence has one or more auxiliaries with the
main verb, or if the main verb is ‘be’, then only the first auxiliary or the form of
‘be’ moves before the subject.
62) The lion was hunting alone for some animal.
→ Was the lion hunting alone for some animal?
63) Our guests will be arriving by the next train.
→ Will our guests be arriving by the next train?
64) The government should have cancelled the whole scheme.
→ Should the government have cancelled the whole scheme?
65) They must go away from their current job.
→ Must they go away from their current job?
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Sentence Type: Form and 66) One cannot request for any help from them.
Function
→ Can one not request for any help from them?
67) Nina was the only person left behind.
→ Was Nina the only person left behind?
68) Green vegetables and fruits are good for our health.
→ Are green vegetables and fruits good for our health?
Note: If a contracted negative like can’t, don’t, won’t, etc are used, the whole
contracted form moves before the subject. E.g.
69) She can’t come for the meeting.
→ Can’t she come for the meeting?
70) Father doesn’t like to take breaks in his work.
→ Doesn’t father like to take breaks in his work?
If there are no auxiliaries in the verb phrase and the main verb is alone, we need
to introduce ‘do’, ‘does’ or ‘did’ for forming questions. If the main verb is in –s
form we use ‘does’; if it is in the past tense form we use ‘did’, and in all other
cases we use ‘do’.
71) The programme started right on time.
→ Did the programme start right on time?
72) So many people live in just one room.
→ Do so many people live in just one room?
73) Regular exercise helps in controlling many problems.
→ Does regular exercise help in controlling many problems?
74) One university offered free laptops to all students.
→ Did one university offer free laptops to all students?
75) Birds migrate in thousands from cold to warm regions.
→ Do birds migrate in thousands from cold to warm regions?
All the examples so far show us how to form yes-no type questions. The process
is basically the same for forming wh- type questions also. In wh- questions also
we have to reverse the subject-verb order and use forms of ‘do’ as above. In
addition we have to use an appropriate wh- word in the beginning of the question.

In the following examples, we have to form wh- questions about the underlined
parts. So the first important step is to choose a correct wh- word for that part.
Then we can form the question by putting that wh- word in the beginning, by
changing subject-verb order and by including forms of ‘do’, if necessary. In the
following examples the appropriate wh- word for the underlined part is given in
the brackets for your convenience.
76) The little girl could see a train in the distance. (what)
→ What could the little girl see in the distance?
77) Earlier she had seen a dream about a fast train. (what)
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→ What had she earlier seen about a fast train? Sentence Transformations

78) The old woman was listening to the speech of her son. (who)
→ Who was listening to the speech of her son?
79) It is difficult to write quickly on cold mornings. (when)
→ When is it difficult to write quickly?
80) The food in this restaurant is very tasty. (how)
→ How is the food in this restaurant?
81) The traffic on Delhi roads was disturbed because of the heavy fog. (why)
→ Why was the traffic on Delhi roads disturbed?
82) Sunil felt a strong sadness on the death of the little bird. (what)
→ What did Sunil feel on the death of the little bird?
83) Sheila sends him some wonderful gifts every year. (whom)
→ Whom does Sheila send some wonderful gifts every year?
84) The old man was painting his car himself. (what)
→ What was the old man painting himself?
85) Most children like chocolate flavoured sweets. (which)
→ Which sweets do most children like?
Check Your Progress 3
I) Convert the following sentences into yes-no type questions:

1) He was suffering from a severe back ache.

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2) Hill stations are not good places to visit during heavy rains.
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3) People like a warm cup of tea on cold mornings.

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4) All the posters have been taken away by the organisers.

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5) The protesters should have been told to avoid violence.

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Sentence Type: Form and 6) Political parties in India are an important part of democracy.
Function
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7) There was some confusion about the departure time of the train.
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8) She grabbed her husband’s shirt to save herself from falling.

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9) A calendar does not show all the festivals of every community.

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10) A learner finds it difficult to learn without support.

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II) Change the following sentences into wh- type questions, where the wh-
word corresponds to the underlined parts:

1) She may be telling the truth this time.

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2) People gathered in front of the royal palace in large numbers.

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3) My grandfather does not take any meal in the evenings.

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4) There was a long line up of vehicles because of the accident.

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5) The students sent a strong complaint to the principal.

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6) Tourists can go to the temple only by walking on foot. Sentence Transformations

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7) The final match between Williams and Sharapova lasted almost three
hours.
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8) There were only sixty chairs in the hall for the meeting.
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9) The announcements have been posted on all notice boards.

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10) We were asked to wear only red-coloured shirts.

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5.5 SENTENCE TRANSFORMATIONS -

EXCLAMATORY
In this section we shall see how assertive or interrogative sentences can be
transformed into exclamatory sentences. As we have seen in Section 5.2,
exclamatory sentences begin with ‘what’ or ‘how’ and, if there is subject-verb
pair, it is moved to the end of the sentence without changing its sequence. In
questions we change the sequence of subject and verb, but in exclamatory
sentences we only shift them to the end of the sentence, but do not change their
sequence.

The first important step for transforming into exclamatory sentence is to decide
if the sentence should begin with ‘what’ or ‘how’. If the reference is to a noun
phrase we use ‘what’, and if the reference is to an adjective phrase we use ‘how’.
The use of an article or the plural form clearly tells us that it is a noun phrase. In
other cases it is likely to be adjective phrase.

The next step is to shift the subject-verb pair to the end of the sentence, or
sometimes to drop it altogether. In addition we may also drop words like ‘very’,
because their sense is taken up by ‘what’ or ‘how’ in the beginning. Finally we
end the sentence with an exclamation mark. Let us try to understand these steps
with the following example:
86) It was a fantastic performance by the young group.
The exclamation is about the underlined part. It contains an article ‘a’, which
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Sentence Type: Form and shows that it is a noun phrase. So we shall begin our exclamatory sentence with
Function
‘what’. We may shift the subject-verb pair to the end (see 86a below) or we may
drop it (see 86b below). We do not make any change in the remaining part of the
sentence.
86a) What a fantastic performance by the young group it was!
86b) What a fantastic performance by the young group!
In the next example you will see an adjective phrase and not a noun phrase.
87) The child was very excited about the new house.
So our exclamatory sentence will begin with ‘how’. Once again we may think of
two options – moving the subject-verb pair ‘the child was’ to the end or dropping
it. But you will see that dropping the subject-verb pair makes the sentence vague
and incomplete (see 87b below). We may also choose to drop ‘very’.

87a) How excited about the new house the child was!

87b) How excited about the new house!

Here are some more examples of transformation into exclamatory sentences:

88) That was a brilliant idea.
→ What a brilliant idea (that was)!
89) People were greatly disappointed with the old king.
→ How greatly disappointed with the old king people were!
→ How greatly disappointed people were with the old king!
90) The song had such a beautiful tune.
→ What a beautiful tune the song had!
91) Kubla Khan built a massive royal palace for himself.
→ What a massive royal palace Kubla Khan built for himself!
When we need to transform a question into an exclamatory sentence, the simple
trick is to turn it into an answer, i.e. into an assertive sentence, like the ones
listed above. From there you can easily transform it into an exclamatory sentence.
92) Wasn’t it a great miracle?
→ It was a great miracle. (assertive)
→ What a great miracle it was! (exclamatory)
93) Are they worried about their future?
→ They are worried about their future. (assertive)
→ How worried about their future they are! (exclamatory)
Check Your Progress 4
Change the following sentences into exclamatory sentences:
1) It was a very dull show.
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2) The new player was very graceful. Sentence Transformations

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3) The ants of this type are very attacking.

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4) The magician showed really amazing tricks.

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5) Wasn’t it a really great speech?

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6) The bride was looking so charming in the red dress.

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7) It is extremely difficult to get honest followers now.

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8) Her face is looking really miserable.

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9) The second player made a clever move.

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10) She is a very innocent child.

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5.6 LET US SUM UP

• There are four broad types of sentences – assertive, interrogative, imperative
and exclamatory. Out of these the first three can be affirmative or negative,
while exclamatory sentences are usually affirmative.

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Sentence Type: Form and • Negative sentences contain a negative element like no, not, nothing, never,
Function
nobody, nowhere, etc.

• Interrogative sentences are of two types – yes-no questions and wh-

questions. Yes-no questions are called so, because they are answered in
either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Wh- questions are called so because they contain a wh-
word. In English interrogative sentences, the normal sequence of subject-
verb is reversed to verb-subject.

• Imperative sentences do not have an expressed subject; they have ‘you’ as

an implied subject. Another type of imperative sentences begins with ‘let
us’.

• Exclamatory sentences start with either ‘what’ (referring to a noun phrase)

or ‘how’ (referring to an adjective phrase). The subject-verb pair is either
shifted to the end of the sentence or dropped altogether.

• There are various important points and steps we should remember while
transforming sentences into interrogative, negative or exclamatory.

REVISION EXERCISE
I) State whether the following sentences are assertive, interrogatory, imperative
or exclamatory:

1) Two heads are better than one.

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2) Isn’t the Mahabharata world’s longest poem?

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3) Body tattoos have a long history of centuries.

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4) What will you do after completing this course?

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5) How crisp and crunchy these biscuits are!

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6) Don’t touch these live wires!

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7) How can anybody miss this large notice? Sentence Transformations

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8) Should we call the fire service or the police?

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9) She was such a smart person before her marriage.

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10) Just look at that little blue bird without shouting!

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II) Change the following sentences into negative:

1) Horse carriages were the only transport available in the town.

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2) Who could have imagined such a sad end to his life?

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3) Warm weather will quickly change the mood of these people.

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4) All the details of your accounts must be given in this form.

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5) Can one book a taxi or a car from the station?

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6) Stop counting how many times this machine broke down!

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139
Sentence Type: Form and 7) We need a specialist surgeon for this surgery.
Function
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8) Even at 87 my father wants to watch Hindi films.

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9) It was the life-long hard work which affected his mind.

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10) Answer the following questions in only one word each.

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III) Form wh- questions from the following sentences:

1) Her phone was lying on the table when the thieves came.
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2) After the examinations we went to a sports camp in Mumbai.

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3) Their 4-year old daughter can speak five languages.

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4) Due to her old age she can’t easily remember names.

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5) The speaker spoke every word slowly and clearly.

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6) Only over-6-feet tall boys were selected in the basketball team.

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7) One of the writers has been nominated for the national award. Sentence Transformations

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8) Each magic show runs for about two hours.

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9) The launch ceremony will be attended by six hundred guests.

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10) The students should be examined by an experienced medical officer.

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5.7 SUGGESTED READINGS

Cowan, R. 2009. The Teacher’s Grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Leech, G. & J. Svartik. 1994. A Communicative Grammar of English. Harlow,

Essex: Longman.

Leech, G. et al. 1982. English Grammar for Today. Hampshire: Macmillan.

Quirk, R. et al. 1972. A Grammar of Contemporary English. London: Longman

Swan, M. 1996. Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

5.8 ANSWERS
Check Your Progress 1
I) 1) Interrogative
2) Assertive
3) Exclamatory
4) Imperative
5) Imperative
6) Interrogative
7) Assertive
8) Exclamatory
9) Assertive
10) Interrogative
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Sentence Type: Form and II) 1) Affirmative
Function
2) Negative. ‘Nobody’
3) Negative. ‘Not’
4) Affirmative
5) Affirmative
6) Negative. ‘Never’
7) Affirmative
8) Negative. ‘Nowhere’
9) Negative. ‘Not’
10) Affirmative
Check Your progress 2
1) It isn’t/ is not easy to quit the habit of smoking.
2) Wasn’t the officer busy in meetings the whole day?
Was the officer not busy in meetings the whole day?
3) Who couldn’t/ could not tell the difference between the twin brothers?
4) We haven’t/ have not been planning a special event since long.
5) Don’t drop the bags on the floor of the room.
6) Why didn’t he call the doctor immediately?
Why did he not call the doctor immediately?
7) They don’t/ do not like the large old-fashioned house by the river.
8) He doesn’t/ does not give all his salary to his wife every month.
9) Who didn’t/ did not allow you to come through that gate?
10) Won’t a hundred rupees be enough for one day?
Will a hundred rupees not be enough for one day?
Check Your Progress 3
I) 1) Was he suffering from a severe back ache?
2) Are hill stations not good places to visit during heavy rains?
3) Do people like a warm cup of tea on cold mornings?
4) Have all the posters been taken away by the organisers?
5) Should the protesters have been told to avoid violence?
6) Are political parties in India an important part of democracy?
7) Was there some confusion about the departure time of the train?
8) Did she grab her husband’s shirt to save herself from falling?
9) Does a calendar not show all the festivals of every community?
10) Does a learner find it difficult to learn without support?
II) 1) What may she be telling this time?
2) Where did people gather in large numbers?
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3) When does my grandfather not take any meal? Sentence Transformations

4) Why was there a long line up of vehicles?

5) Who sent a strong complaint to the principal?
6) How can tourists go to the temple?
7) How long did the final match between Williams and Sharapova last?
8) How many chairs were there in the hall for the meeting?
9) Where have the announcements been posted?
10) Which shirts were we asked to wear?
Check Your Progress 4
1) What a dull show it was!
2) How graceful the new player was!
3) How attacking the ants of this type are!
4) What amazing tricks the magician showed!
5) What a great speech it was !
6) How charming the bride was looking in the red dress!
7) How difficult it is to get honest followers now!
8) How miserable her face is looking!
9) What a clever move the second player made!
10) What an innocent child she is!
REVISION EXERCISE
I) 1) Assertive
2) Interrogative
3) Assertive
4) Interrogative
5) Exclamatory
6) Imperative
7) Interrogative
8) Interrogative
9) Assertive
10) Imperative
II) 1) Horse carriages weren’t/ were not the only transport available in the
town.
2) Who couldn’t/ could not have imagined such a sad end to his life?
3) Warm weather won’t/ will not quickly change the mood of these people.
4) All the details of your accounts mustn’t/ must not be given in this
form.
5) Can’t one book a taxi or a car from the station?
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Sentence Type: Form and Can one not book a taxi or a car from the station?
Function
6) Don’t/Do not stop counting how many times this machine broke down!
7) We don’t/do not need a specialist surgeon for this surgery.
8) Even at 87 my father doesn’t/does not want to watch Hindi films.
9) It wasn’t/was not the life-long hard work which affected his mind.
10) Don’t/Do not answer the following questions in only one word each.
III) Form wh- questions from the following sentences:
1) Where was her phone lying when the thieves came?
2) When did you/we go to a sports camp in Mumbai?
3) How many languages can their 4-year old daughter speak?
4) Why can’t she easily remember names?
5) How did the speaker speak every word?
6) Which boys were selected in the basketball team?
7) Who has been nominated for the national award?
8) How long does each magic show run?
9) How many guests will the launch ceremony be attended by?
10) Who/Whom should the students be examined by?

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