SENTENCE TRANSFORMATIONS! By Camille, Sou, and Pranjali 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 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 didn’t know that Blondie didn’t give him the real name of the grave where the treasure was buried. How can you transform this sentence using a what- cleft? What Tuco didn’t know is that Blondie didn’t 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. [...]... 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 . 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. 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 didn’t know that. 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