Change the following sentence from Assertive to Exclamatory:
The chocolates are very bitter.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → How bitter these chocolates are!
Assertive to exclamatory with "How":
- When the feeling lies in an adjective (bitter) that is not followed by a noun, the exclamation begins with How + adjective.
- Pattern: How + adjective + subject + verb + !
| Change | Assertive | Exclamatory | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening words | very bitter | How bitter | How + “bitter”. The intensifier “very” is dropped, because “How” already expresses the strong feeling. |
| Word order | The chocolates are very bitter | How bitter these chocolates are | Subject + verb: “these chocolates are”. |
| End mark | (.) | (!) | The sentence ends with an exclamation mark. |
| Full sentence | The chocolates are very bitter. | How bitter these chocolates are! |
Example: The water is very cold. → How cold the water is!
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Such bitterness is in these chocolates! — Incorrect. It changes the adjective into the noun bitterness and is an awkward statement with an exclamation mark, not the standard exclamatory form.
Option 3: What bitter are these chocolates! — Incorrect.
- "What" goes with a noun (What bitter chocolates these are!), not with an adjective alone.
- "are these chocolates" is question order.
Option 4: Very bitter are these chocolates! — Incorrect. It only turns the statement round and keeps "very". It has no exclamatory word.
Contrast: How goes with an adjective alone (How bitter these chocolates are!). What goes with a noun (What bitter chocolates these are!), so "What bitter are these chocolates!" fails.