Choose the correct Assertive form of the following Exclamatory sentence:
What useful advice our physics teacher gave us before the board exams!
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Our physics teacher gave us very useful advice before the board exams.
Exclamatory to assertive (What + adjective + uncountable noun):
- An exclamatory sentence shows a strong feeling, such as joy, surprise or sorrow, and ends with an exclamation mark.
- An assertive sentence states a fact or an opinion and ends with a full stop.
| Change | Exclamatory | Assertive | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening words | What useful advice | very useful advice | “What useful advice” shows strong praise. “What” goes away and “very” comes before “useful”. |
| Word order | What useful advice our physics teacher gave us | Our physics teacher gave us very useful advice | The subject and verb come first. |
| End mark | (!) | (.) | An assertive sentence ends with a full stop. |
| Full sentence | What useful advice our physics teacher gave us before the board exams! | Our physics teacher gave us very useful advice before the board exams. |
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Our physics teacher gave us a very useful advice before the board exams. — Incorrect. It adds “a” before “advice”. “Advice” cannot be counted, so it cannot take “a”.
Option 2: Very useful advice our physics teacher gave us before the board exams! — Incorrect. It is still an exclamatory sentence. It only moves the words around and keeps the exclamation mark.
Option 3: Our physics teacher gives us very useful advice before the board exams. — Incorrect. It changes “gave” to “gives”. The tense must stay in the simple past.