SENTENCE TRANSFORMATIONS!By Camille, Pranjali, and Sou

What is a sentence transformation? It’s when you change aspects of your

sentence in order to change the focus. Usually, the focus of a sentence is in the

predicate because the predicate is the action:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 rock’s death. (use it-cleft, focus on “Abby.”)

It was Abby who Monica and Audrey helped to cope with her pet rock’s 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.

Practice Worksheet

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 Adapting these concepts for ChildrenChildren

Start by teaching them Start by teaching them the different components the different components of a sentence. of a sentence.

The tree was playing a The tree was playing a violin.violin.

Subject: The treeSubject: The tree Predicate: was playingPredicate: was playing Object: a violin. Object: a violin.

You can get more detailed You can get more detailed depending on the grade.depending on the grade.

Active versus PassiveActive versus Passive Give them visuals to help them Give them visuals to help them

understand the idea being conveyed. understand the idea being conveyed. Ask them to create a sentence Ask them to create a sentence

describing the action, subject, and describing the action, subject, and object, and how they are interacting. object, and how they are interacting. You can tell them to start the sentence You can tell them to start the sentence with the subject, but they will usually with the subject, but they will usually do that on their own. do that on their own.

Then, Ask them to start sentences Then, Ask them to start sentences with the object instead of the subject. with the object instead of the subject.

This shows them that the focus has This shows them that the focus has changed. changed.

Cleft SentencesCleft Sentences Sentence transformations using cleft sentences (it-Sentence transformations using cleft sentences (it-

cleft, what-cleft) are a bit complicated young cleft, what-cleft) are a bit complicated young children.children.

You should teach these after the children have You should teach these after the children have already learned and feel comfortable with the already learned and feel comfortable with the interchangeable parts of a sentence. interchangeable parts of a sentence.

When you make a sentence transformation, you When you make a sentence transformation, you not only switch around parts and add a cleft, but not only switch around parts and add a cleft, but you also have to add other words to make the you also have to add other words to make the sentence flow. Make sure that children are at a sentence flow. Make sure that children are at a level where they can do this.level where they can do this.

For exampleFor example

Beware…Beware…

There’s always more than one way There’s always more than one way to transform a sentence.to transform a sentence.

To avoid confusion tell them what To avoid confusion tell them what part of the sentence you want them part of the sentence you want them to focus on, and what kind of to focus on, and what kind of transformation you want them to do.transformation you want them to do.

Give them enough time to master Give them enough time to master one kind of transformation before one kind of transformation before moving on, or they can get confused. moving on, or they can get confused.