SENTENCE

TRANSFORMATIONS!
By Camille, Sou, and Pranjali

What is a sentence
transformation?
Its when you change aspects of your
sentence in order to change the focus.
Usually, the focus of a sentence is in the
subject and the predicate.
Ex: Jackie drives to school in her
Lamborghini.

Passive Versus Active Voice

In active voice, the focus of the sentence is
on the subject, the person or thing
performing the action. The passive voice
is used when focusing on the person or
thing affected by an action.
When we use a passive sentence, we
emphasize by showing what happens to
something rather than who or what does
something.
Active Voice: Emile ate the piece of cheese.
Passive Voice: The piece of cheese was
eaten by Emile

Active: Monica and Aimee threw

Martin into the dumpster.
How would you transform this
sentence into a passive voice?

Passive: The award for best

dressed ITEPer was given to
Abby.
How would you make this active?

Cleft Sentences: The it-cleft

Sentences introduced by It is or It
was are often used to emphasize a
specific subject, object or adverbial.
It was Gollum who destroyed the evil
Ring in the last part of The Lord of the
Rings Trilogy.
It was the evil Ring that was
destroyed by Gollum in the last part of
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
It was the last part of The Lord of the
Rings Trilogy in which the evil Ring
was destroyed by Gollum.

Obi-Wan chopped off Anakins legs and left him for dead on the
igneous planet of Mustafar.
Using an it-cleft, how can we say this if we want to emphasize that
Obi-Wan did it?
How can we say it if we want to emphasize that it happened to
Anakin?
How can we say it if we want to emphasize that it happened on
the igneous planet of Mustafar?
As you can see, its not good to overuse it-clefts, because
sometimes the sentence is a little confusing. BUT, it does show us
how we can manipulate the different parts to change the focus.

More Cleft Sentences: The what-cleft

Sentences introduced by a
clause beginning with What
are also used to emphasize a
specific subject or object.
What really sucks is that our
final draft is due next week!
What caused the 20 car pile-up
on the freeway was a group of
evil squirrels.

Tuco didnt know that Blondie didnt give him the real
name of the grave where the treasure was buried.
How can you transform this sentence using a whatcleft?
What Tuco didnt know is that Blondie didnt give him
the real name of the grave where the treasure was
buried.

The there transformation

The there transformation allows the

writer to focus on the subject by
shifting it to the slot following the
various forms of be.
Original: A cat was in the blender.
there transformation: There was a
cat in the blender.
There were hundreds of students
in line at the bookstore.

Indiana Jones walked through a chamber

that had hundreds of deadly booby traps.
How would you say this sentence using a
there transformation?
There were hundreds of booby traps in the
chamber Indiana Jones walked through.

Other forms of transformations

Switching positions of Subject,
Predicate, and Object
ex. I was sick so I went to the
doctor.
I went to the doctor because I
was sick.

College level Practice Worksheet

Tammy humiliated the chief-of-medicine in front of everyone so all the

interns are no longer afraid of him. (focus on the interns)
The interns are no longer afraid of the chief-of-medicine because
Tammy humiliated her in front of everyone.
Monica and Audrey worked together to help Abby cope with her pet
rocks death. (use it-cleft, focus on Abby.)
It was Abby who Monica and Audrey helped to cope with her pet rocks
death.
Jackie one day pretended to have a twin brother, but Martin and Colette
did not believe her for one second. (focus on Martin and Colette)
Martin and Colette did not believe Jackie for one second when she
pretended to have a twin brother.
Alissa married Alyssa even if she will always be more emotionally
connected to her best friend Victoria. (use it-cleft, focus on Victoria)
It is Victoria who Alissa will always be emotionally connected to even if
she is married to Alyssa.

Ashley likes to buy appletinis at the bar. (use what-cleft)

What Ashley likes to buy at the bar are appletinis.
A lightbulb was stuck in the large intestine of a certain patient; the entire
hospital was bedazzled. (use there-cleft)
There was a light-bulb stuck in the large intestine of a certain patient;
the entire hospital was bedazzled.

Adapting these concepts for

Children
Start by teaching them
the different components
of a sentence.
The tree was playing a
violin.
Subject: The tree
Predicate: was playing
Object: a violin.
You can get more detailed
depending on the grade.

Active versus Passive

Give them visuals to help them

understand the idea being conveyed.
Ask them to create a sentence
describing the action, subject, and
object, and how they are interacting. You
can tell them to start the sentence with
the subject, but they will usually do that
on their own.
Then, Ask them to start sentences with
the object instead of the subject.
This shows them that the focus has
changed.

Cleft Sentences

Sentence transformations using cleft

sentences (it-cleft, what-cleft) are a bit
complicated for young children.
You should teach these after the children have
already learned and feel comfortable with the
interchangeable parts of a sentence.
When you make a sentence transformation,
you not only switch around parts and add a
cleft, but you also have to add other words to
make the sentence flow. Make sure that
children are at a level where they can do this.

Beware
Theres always more than one way to
transform a sentence.
To avoid confusion tell them what part of
the sentence you want them to focus
on, and what kind of transformation you
want them to do.
Give them enough time to master one
kind of transformation before moving on
to another, or they can get confused.

Please look at the

elementary worksheet.