5 Rules: Assertive to Interrogative Sentence Transformation

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Learn 5 assertive to interrogative rules of transformation of sentences with examples and exercises for changing assertive to interrogative sentences or interrogative to assertive sentences. When you will be given questions on interchange of assertive or affirmative to interrogative, you have to use one of these 5 rules given for assertive to interrogative transformation.

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If you are a student of school/ college or a candidate of versity admission/ public job exams, you must learn these rules for changing assertive to interrogative in order to transfom sentences as directed.

First of all, you must know the defination, format, and structure of both assertive sentence and interrogative sentence to change them correctly. Please note that in transformation of sentences, you can only change the structure of a sentence but not the meaning of it.

The meaning and sense of the sentence should be intact and same even after changing their structures and forms. It’s similar to the lessons of affirmative to negative or assertive to imperative sentence transformation.

Assertive & Interrogative Sentence

Before starting our discussion on transformation rules of seertive to interrogative we should learn the basic definition and structure of both assertive sentence and interrogative sentence.

What is Assertive Sentence?

Assertive sentence means the sentences which are used to describe any general action, event, speech, or expression of our daily life. It may be both in affirmative (positive sense) and negative (negative sense) form. So, both affirmative and negative sentences are categorized under assertive sentence.

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Structure:

  • Affirmative: Subject+ verb+ object+ Adjunct
  • Negative: Subject+ do not/ does not/ did not/ verb+ object+ Adjunct

Example:
I told him to stay here till I come back.
We do not take old clothes for our business.

What is Interrogative Sentence?

Interrogative sentence means the sentences which are used to ask or inquiry about any daily acts, events, or speeches of our daily life. Here is the structure of it.

Structure: WH-Q/Auxiliary verb+ subject+ main verb+ object?

Example:
Do you study in this college?
When do they play here?

WH-Questions

Please note that here in interrogative sentence, the sentence starts with either a WH-Question: (who/ what/ which/ when/ why/ where/ when) or an auxiliary verb: (do/ does/ did/ am/ is/ are/ was/ were/ can/ may/ shall/ will) and after that the subject comes. This is completely different in case of the assertive sentence where a sentence starts with a subject.

But, in case of an interrogative sentence, it will always start with a WH-Question word or an auxiliary verb and there will be a question mark “?” at the end of the sentence.

Question Marks-Assertive to Interrogative Sentence
Question Marks-Assertive to Interrogative Sentence

Now, I hope you have no problem in identifying both assertive sentences and interrogative sentences in English language. So, let’s start our main discussion…

Assertive to Interrogative Rules

Most of the English grammar books have a lot of rules on changing assertive/ affirmative to interrogative sentences but the major problem for a student is to read a lot of rules in number and getting confused in memorizing them and applying them during exams. So, i have shortened and categorized all of those rules into only 5 rules. It will help you learn transformation process easily and effectively without any confusion.

A Few Points You Must Consider:

  • You cannot change the meaning of sentences while changing assertive to interrogative.

  • If the assertive sentence is in affirmative or positive, you have to use negative expression in interrogative structure and if it is in negative, you will use the affirmative or positive expression in interrogative structure while transformation of sentences.

  • An interrogative sentence may start with either a wh-question or a verbal question.

  • Do not forget to use the interrogation mark (?) at the last of the sentence in interrogative structure.

  • During transforming into interrogative sentence, you have to use the auxiliary verb according to the tense. For an example, in present indefinite tense, the auxiliary verbs will be ‘do/does’. In past indefinite tense, it should be ‘did’. And in case of all other tenses, the auxiliary verb will be given in the question sentence. You have to just re-write that in answer sentence.

Here is the list/ chart of the transformation of sentences assertive to interrogative. The most interesting fact of this chart is that in some cases, you can also change sentences even without understanding the meaning of the whole sentences.

Because, you don’t need to change all elements of a sentence during transformation. All you need is to change a few words/phrases which are listed in the chart given below.

Assertive to Interrogative Transformation Chart

AssertiveInterrogative
General Sentences (Affirmative/ Negative)
(Subject + Verb + Object + Ext.)
Or, 
(Subject + Aux. verb +not + Main verb + Object + Ext.)
Interrogative
(Aux. verb + Subject + not + Main verb + Object + Ext.?)
Or,
(Aux. verb + Subject + Main verb + Object +Ext.?)
Never  Ever
(Aux. verb + Subject + ever + Main verb + Object +Ext.?)
Nothing  Anything
(Aux. verb + Subject + anything + Main verb + Object +Ext.?)
Everybody/ Everyone/ AllWho – Positive
(Who + Aux. verb + not + Main verb + Object +Ext.?)
Nobody/ None/ No oneWho – Negative
(Who + Aux. verb + Main verb + Object +Ext.?)
Assertive to Interrogative Transformation Chart

Chart Note: Aux.v = Auxiliary verb, Main verb = Principal verb, Ext. = Extension

Assertive to Interrogative Examples

Now here are the examples and explanations of all rules of assertive to interrogative: transformation of sentences step by step. Please match each rule with the chart given above and study its examples and explanations given below.

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1. General sentences (Affirmative/ Negative) … Interrogative

Examples:
Affirmative: He is a famous player of this country.
Interrogative: Is he not a famous player of this country?
(In case of positive expression)

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Negative: We do not play in the sun.
Interrogative: Do we play in the sun?
(In case of negative expression)

Explanation: Here, you only have to place the auxiliary verb at first and then the subject. And, the sentence which is positive is changed into negative and which is in negative is changed into positive. When, there is no certain words such as ‘never, nothing, everybody, nobody, all, none’ in a sentence, that sentence should be considered as general sentence.

2. Never … Ever

Example:
Assertive: My brother has never visited India.
Interrogative: Has my brother ever visited India?

Explanation: Here, only the word ‘never’ is changed into ‘ever’ and the rest are in the same structure.

3. Nothing … Anything

Example:
Assertive: He has nothing to do in this situation.
Interrogative: Has he anything to do in this situation?

Explanation: Here, only the word ‘nothing’ is changed into ‘anything’ and the rest are in the same structure.

4. Everybody/ Everyone/ All … Who (Positive)

Examples:
Assertive: Everybody wants to be happy in life.
Interrogative: Who does not want to be happy in life?

Assertive: All were present in the last meeting.
Interrogative: Who were not present in the last meeting?

Explanation: Here, you have to use a WH-Question – ‘who’ in the beginning and the rest parts are in same structure. And ‘Everybody/ Everyone/ All’ are positive in sense so the interrogative structure should be in negative.

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5. Nobody/ None/ No One … Who (Negative)

Examples:
Assertive: Nobody believes a liar in this world.
Interrogative: Who does believe a liar in this world?

Assertive: None has helped him yesterday.
Interrogative: Who has helped him yesterday?

Explanation: Here, you have to use a WH-Question-‘Who’ in the beginning and the rest parts are in same structure. And ‘Nobody/ None/ No one’ are negative in sense so the interrogative structure should be in affirmative.

Assertive to Interrogative Exercise

Change assertive into interrogative or interrogative to assertive as directed:

  1. Everybody likes to have a summer vaccation. (Interrogative)
  2. This person has never helped us in our needs. (Interrogative)
  3. Who has given him the opportunity last year? (Assertive)
  4. I have nothing to add here and there. (Interrogative)
  5. Who didn’t attend the last class? (Assertive)
  6. Is he not selected Mayor of this city this year? (Affirmative)

Conclusion: Transformation of Assertive to Interrogative

So, have you understood the process of changing assertive sentence to interrogative sentence?

Can you change a sentence now following these 5 rules explained above? Please note that, you must always remember the ground rule of transformation of sentences that you have to always change the structure of a sentence without changing the meaning or sense of it.

If you want to study more grammatical lessons based on transformations, please check out these similar lessons such as Degree Change Rules, Voice Change Rules, Changing Assertive to Exclamatory. These lessons will help you complete your SSC /HSC/ University/ Job exam syllabus.

So, get on the board, learn these rules, and start changing assertive sentences into Interrogative sentences. Hope this lesson will help you answer your academic questions given on assertive to interrogative transformation correctly and successfully. Best of luck!

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