Hi everybody,
There’re some sentence transformation exercises for which I need your idea
I’ve done it myself. Please check:
The force of the wind was so strong that it flattened the houses.
=> Such…
=> Such strong force of the wind was it (or without “it”? which is more right?) that it flattened the houses
Management takes no responsibility for loss of belongings
=> In no way…
=> In no way does management take any responsibility for loss of belongings
The demand for the computer game was so great that it sold out in one day.
=> Such…
For this sentence I have two queries:
Is the use of “sold out” here all right? Or should it be “was sold out”?
Here’s my way of transforming the sentence:
Such a great demand for the computer game was it (or without “it”?) that the game (not “it” because it may cause misunderstanding: “it” = “the great demand”)
The runners were so happy to finish the race that they jumped into the river.
=> So…
=> So happy were the runners to finish the race that they jumped into the river.
She had no idea that he had been unfaithful to her
=> Little…
Should it be:
Little did she know that he had been unfaithful to her
or:
Little or nothing did she know he had been unfaithful to her
She didn’t find a penny
=> Not…
=> Not a penny did she find.
He looked so absurd that everybody stared at him
=> So…
=> So absurd did he looked that every stared at him.
Three days of the holidays had passed before I began to relax
=> Not until…
=> Not until three days of the holiday had passed that I began to speak.
And just one last question: I think all the original sentences are OK, but I’m not sure if the transformed ones are. It seems to me that they sound not very natural. What do you think?
The demand for the computer game was so great that it sold out in one day.
=> Such…
For this sentence I have two queries:
Is the use of “sold out” here all right? Or should it be “was sold out”? [color=blue]I prefer “sold out”.
[color=violet]Why isn’t it “was sold out”, Amy? The game doesn’t sell itself, does it?
Here’s my way of transforming the sentence:
Such a great demand for the computer game was it (or without “it”?) that the game (not “it” because it may cause misunderstanding: “it” = “the great demand”)
[color=blue]Like sentence 1:
Such was the demand for the computer game that it sold out in two days.
So great was the demand for the computer game that it sold out in two days.
[color=violet]Thanks, Amy I now understand the structure “such was + noun” and “so +adj + be + noun”, but I still wonder about the word “it” here: I thinkit may cause misunderstanding (“it” = the demand, not the game)
She had no idea that he had been unfaithful to her
=> Little…
Should it be:
Little did she know that he had been unfaithful to her [color=blue]Yes
or:
Little or nothing did she know he had been unfaithful to her [color=red]No
[color=violet]Why is the latter wrong, Amy? I think it emphasises the idea that she knows nothing about that fact (the original sentence: she had no idea) whereas if we just say “little did she…”, it may mean that she knows a little about it… What do you think?
Three days of the holidays had passed before I began to relax
=> Not until…
=> Not until three days of the holiday had passed that I began to speak.
[color=blue]Not until three days (of my holiday) had passed did I begin to relax.
nessie wrote:
I also wonder if native speakers usually use these:
Beautiful beyond belief was my baby daughter This sounds literary
Happy about their acceptance into their dream school were Jack and John. This sounds extremely literary.
Quick and painless will be your medical procedure. No
[color=violet]Why is this wrong while the first two are right, Amy?
nessie wrote:
=> It seems to me that they are often used with a that-clause after them…
Yes, if the sentence also begins with ‘so’, for example:
So beautiful was my baby daughter that people regularly gaped in disbelief.
So happy about their acceptance into their dream school were Jack and John that they found it impossible to sleep for two days.
So quick and painless will your medical procedure be that you’ll hardly even know it happened.
[color=violet]So if they are not used with “so”, there can’t be a that-clause after them?
Lastly, it seems to me that the use of inversion is not very common in everyday speech. It sounds somehow a bit formal and literary. Do you agree?
You can use also ‘was sold out’. However, in this case, ‘sold out’ would function as an adjective. Saying ‘the game sold out’ makes it more active.
In any case, a passive verb tense is not really possible because there is no real agent that performs the ‘selling out’.
Can “demand” sell out? I have never heard anyone say that demand sold out. How would one sell “demand”? Therefore, it is not possible to misunderstand the word ‘it’ in your sentence.
You could view “Little did (someone) know that…” as a fixed idiom. It’s extremely common. “Little did she know…” means “She didn’t know…”
First and foremost, the word order is wrong. Secondly, the only possible use I can think of for this sentence would be in a poem or in song lyrics – i.e. the word ‘be’ might be needed as a rhyme.
Basically, that’s right. “Such was” would work with a noun version of the adjectives, for example: Such was the beauty of my baby daughter that …"
No, I don’t agree. Some types of inversion are simply more commonly used than others. For example, beginning a sentence with “Not only” (followed by inversion) is not at all unusual in spoken English, in my opinion.
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What about it?? :? Did you spend any time at all analyzing what you found there, Nessie?
When “Not until” begins a complete sentence, those words will either be followed by a specific time or a clause which basically functions as a specific time. After that, you will finally arrive at the main clause and it is there that you need inversion.
In the sentences below (taken from your BNC link!), the blue part indicates a specific time, and the red part is where the subject-verb inversion is necessary:
Not until [color=blue]14 May [color=red]did Gloucester come into the open i.e. Gloucester did not come into the open until 14 May
Not until [color=blue]after the general election of 1935 [color=red]was the Labour Party able to take a decisive stand in parliament i.e. The Labour Party was not able to take a decisive stand in parliament until after the general election of 1935
Not until [color=blue]she had been sitting there for several minutes [color=red]did Isabel realise that no sound at all had come from her torn and bleeding lips. i.e. Isobel did not realise … until she had been sitting…
Not until [color=blue]they were within, the door closed after them, and the silence of the thick walls like a seal against the world, [color=red]did she tell him what manner of guest she had invited to his dwelling, and how soon he was to have his wish. i.e. She did not tell him… until they were within…
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Compare those to the sentence I gave you:
Not until [color=blue]three days had passed [color=red]did I begin to relax. i.e. I did not begin to relax until three days had passed.
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You need to make shorter posts, Nessie. It’s very difficult and time-consuming to answer so much at once. Not many people will be willing to do it!
It’s clear that your teachers are giving you sentences involving inversion. Didn’t they give you any information at all about how/when/where to do it? :?
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But to read such posts is so useful! (for me) I think, it’s more pleasant for Nessie to talk/deal with you, Amy, than with her teachers. Boring teachers make bored students.
I am happy when my students ask me questions - it makes me look for (and find) the answers if I don’t know anything. But many teachers just refer their students to some ‘clever’ books or pretend that they do know the answer (and sometimes even give the wrong answer). They are wrong teachers, to my mind.
Well, Inga, everybody knows nobody is perfect, but sadly very few can accept that, especially non-native teachers (and I’m saying about VNese non-native teachers only, since I don’t know about non-native teachers in other countries :D). Sometimes they make mistakes but never accept that, and when we point out the mistakes, usually they just claim that they are right: they are teachers. You’d never understand that unless you were a Vnese student like me (Oh! God forgive me for speaking ill of most of my teachers - I only tell the truth, so he’ll forgive me :P)
One more thing: I don’t know why but most teachers here are afraid of me - the silly girl with thousands of questions all the time. I am forever disturbing them with my questions, and so… :P:P:P (I believe you are a very good teacher, Inga, you like quesions from students :D)
I’m glad you feel happy with my input. By the way, you are the same age as my niece and she seems to like my input, too.
I would like to emphasize the idea about not putting too many questions in a single post. It can be off-putting to people who might otherwise reply. People might want to answer, but they might not have the time to wade through and reply to so much all at once. Or they might get interrupted in the middle of a long reply, and then the reply might never be posted at all. This is something that has been mentioned here before – as well as on other ESL forums.
In addition, you should try to make your questions as specific as possible. You asked this question about your BNC search results: “What about this?” Asking a question like that is basically the same thing as asking someone to become a mind reader. Although mind-reading ability often seems to be expected of ESL teachers, I’m here to tell you that none of us can actually do that. :lol:
I find it distinctly unfriendly if a teacher does not challenge a student to think for herself. I find it distinctly unfriendly and counter-productive if a teacher does a lot of a student’s work. There is a lot to be said for the concept of “learning by doing”. Thus, if you are going to use resources such as the BNC, you also need to do something with the information you get. A BNC search will get you examples of how a word or phrase is used in context. It is then your job to try to analyze and understand the contextual usage. If after doing this you still have a question, then you can ask a specific question.
I’m not quite sure why Inga decided to write that here. If a friend of mine asks me to do something for him/her, it is not unfriendly if I tell my friend what will help me to best help him or her.
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I’m sorry, but this is what I can’t understand. I suspect, my English is not good enough.
Anyway, next time I will try to be more careful before writing anything here.
I don’t understand either, but that’s no surprise - I’m a dumb incompetent English learner. Anyway, it’s a bit sad when not being able to understand what Amy means :oops:
I now understand the structure “such was + noun” and “so +adj + be + noun”, but I still wonder about the word “it” here: I thinkit may cause misunderstanding (“it” = the demand, not the game)
