Choose the correct Assertive form of the following Exclamatory sentence:
What a pity that the rain washed out the annual sports day!
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → It is a great pity that the rain washed out the annual sports day.
Exclamatory to assertive (“What a pity” to “It is a great pity that”):
- 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 a pity that | It is a great pity that | “What a pity” shows sorrow about something that went wrong. In the assertive sentence it becomes “It is a great pity that”. |
| End mark | (!) | (.) | An assertive sentence ends with a full stop. |
| Full sentence | What a pity that the rain washed out the annual sports day! | It is a great pity that the rain washed out the annual sports day. |
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: It is a great pity that the rain washes out the annual sports day. — Incorrect. It changes “washed” to “washes”. The simple past must stay.
Option 2: It is a great pity that the rain did not wash out the annual sports day. — Incorrect. It adds “did not”, so it says the opposite of the given sentence.
Option 4: Is it a great pity that the rain washed out the annual sports day? — Incorrect. It turns the sentence into a question, so it is not an assertive sentence.