Choose the correct option to change the following statement to an Exclamatory statement:
Major Dhayanchand was a great hockey player.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → What a great hockey player Major Dhayanchand was!
Assertive to exclamatory with "What a":
Pattern: What a + adjective + noun + subject + verb!
| Change | Assertive | Exclamatory | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening words | a great hockey player | What a great hockey player | When the sentence praises a noun with an adjective (“a great hockey player”), the exclamation begins with What a. |
| End mark | (.) | (!) | The sentence ends with an exclamation mark. |
| Full sentence | Major Dhayanchand was a great hockey player. | What a great hockey player Major Dhayanchand was! |
The tense of the verb stays as in the assertive sentence.
Example: She is a very clever girl. → What a clever girl she is!
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: What a great hockey player Major Dhayanchand is! — Incorrect. The pattern is right, but the tense changes from "was" to "is".
Option 3: How great hockey player Major Dhayanchand had been! — Incorrect.
- "How great" before a noun needs "a": "How great a hockey player".
- "Had been" changes the tense.
Option 4: How great hockey player Major Dhayanchand is! — Incorrect.
- The article "a" is missing.
- The tense changes to the present.
Contrast: "What a" comes before the adjective ("What a great hockey player"). "How" needs "a" after the adjective ("How great a hockey player").