Choose the correct option to change the following Assertive sentence into an Interrogative sentence:
Our school watchman was never rude to the children.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Was our school watchman ever rude to the children?
Assertive to interrogative (“never” to “ever”):
- An assertive sentence states a fact or an opinion and ends with a full stop.
- An interrogative sentence asks a question and ends with a question mark.
| Change | Assertive | Interrogative | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Negative word | never | ever | A positive question with “ever” gives the same meaning as the negative statement, because everyone expects the answer “No”. |
| Word order | Our school watchman was | Was our school watchman | “Was” moves before the subject. The simple past stays. |
| End mark | (.) | (?) | An interrogative sentence ends with a question mark. |
| Full sentence | Our school watchman was never rude to the children. | Was our school watchman ever rude to the children? |
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Was our school watchman never rude to the children? — Incorrect. It keeps “never”. A negative question expects the answer “Yes”, so it says the watchman was rude.
Option 2: Is our school watchman ever rude to the children? — Incorrect. It changes “was” to “is”. The simple past must stay.
Option 4: Why was our school watchman never rude to the children? — Incorrect. It asks for a reason with “Why”. It is a real question, so it does not say the same thing as the given sentence.