Change the following Assertive sentence into an Exclamatory one:
He leads a most unhappy life.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → What an unhappy life he leads!
Assertive to exclamatory with "What a / What an":
| Change | Assertive | Exclamatory | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening words | a most unhappy life | What an unhappy life | When the quality is followed by a noun (unhappy life), the exclamation begins with “What a / What an + adjective + noun”. Words of degree such as “most” or “very” are dropped, since the exclamation itself carries the strong feeling. |
| Word order | He leads a most unhappy life | What an unhappy life he leads | The subject and verb follow in statement order. |
| End mark | (.) | (!) | The sentence ends with an exclamation mark. |
| Full sentence | He leads a most unhappy life. | What an unhappy life he leads! |
Example: She is a very clever girl. → What a clever girl she is!
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: What leads an unhappy life! — Incorrect. The subject "he" is lost, and "What" now acts as the subject, which makes no sense.
Option 3: What he leads an unhappy life! — Incorrect. "What" must be followed by "an unhappy life". Here the object is left in its old place after the verb.
Option 4: Unhappy life! He leads. — Incorrect. It breaks the sentence into two fragments with no "What an".