Key Techniques for Sentence Reordering & Transformation in Class 10 English Grammar
In today’s lesson, we will discuss sentence reordering and sentence transformation. To fully comprehend what sentence reordering and sentence transformation are, we will start by defining them. Practice questions and solved examples are given throughout the article for better understanding and concept clarity. Let’s begin the journey on this amazing topic.
Introduction to English Grammar
Sentence Reordering
Sentence reordering is one of the most important grammar concepts in English. Just by looking at the name, it is easy to determine what these words signify. It concentrates on rearranging a few jumbled sentences.
Untied or poorly managed sentences that have been written in a random order make up jumbled sentences. It is our responsibility to read, understand, and then reassemble or rearrange all of these statements so that they make sense. Rearranging sentences involves moving words, phrases, or clauses around in a sentence to produce a different effect or meaning.
There are Four Types of Sentence Reordering
1. Basic Format
2. Static First Statement
3. Static Last Statement
4. Static First and Last Statement
1. Basic Format
The statements are presented to students in this structure in a disorganized form, and they must correctly rearrange them.
2. Static First Statement
In the second type, the initial sentence is provided as static, and one must logically arrange the following sentences. The original statement cannot be modified.
3. Stationary Last Statement
Just as they must arrange the other sentences to make the paragraph logical with a static first statement, they must organize the remaining sentences to make the paragraph logical with the last sentence constant.
4. Static First and Last Statement
One must rearrange the words in between the introductory and final claims in such a way as to make them logically sound.
Examples of Sentence Reordering:
Necessary/oil/business/trees/are/for/the
Trees are necessary for the oil business.
Advantage/Indian/took/farmers/the/English/of
The English took advantage of Indian farmers.
Argued/favour/releasing/of/he/birds/caged
He argued in favour of releasing caged birds.
Sentence Transformation
Transformation is a process of changing the form of a Sentence without changing its basic meaning. It enables a person to express the same thing differently without affecting the meaning.
The following are the basic rules for sentence transformation:
The general rule is to add "not" to the main verb in the sentence to turn an affirmative sentence into a negative one.
To alter an assertive statement into an interrogative one, you must first reverse the subject and auxiliary verb's positions while largely leaving the remainder of the sentence alone. Remember to add a question mark after the interrogative statement as well.
You must shift the infinitive or participle phrase into an independent clause to turn a simple sentence into a compound sentence; the other clause in the simple sentence stays the same. After that, connect the two clauses with a coordinating conjunction.
You must use a subordinating conjunction to alter the infinitive/participle phrase into a dependent clause to convert a simple statement into a complicated sentence. The rest of the simple sentence must remain the same.
Simply change one phrase into a dependent clause, add subordinating conjunction, and remove the coordinating conjunction to turn a compound sentence into a complicated sentence.
It only takes changing the dependent clause into an independent clause and swapping the subordinating conjunction for appropriate coordinating conjunction to turn a complex sentence into a compound sentence.
If a conditional statement is complex, you can change it into a negative sentence by adding the word "not" to the main verbs in both clauses. In other situations, you'll need to modify the pronoun or turn the verb negative by using its opponent.
Difficult Words with Meanings
Summary
In this chapter, we studied sentence reordering and sentence transformation. We learned their types and discussed some basic rules of transformation for sentences. Rearranging words to form meaningful sentences is a process called sentence reordering. Sentences can be changed from one form to another without changing their meaning until specifically requested to do so. And this process is known as the transformation of sentences.
Practice Questions
Rearrange the following words to make meaningful sentences:
1. Interruption/time/passes/without
2. Sudha/into/her/puts/work/a/to/be/lot/of/class/in/best/her/the/efforts
3. twice/elected/Obama/Barack/was/president/the/as/ United States/of
4. how/train/they/the/were/on/going/get/to/know/diidn’t/we
5. since/rain/he/to/went/started/outdoors/it/when/only/had/a/short/while
6. Social/injustice/prevalent/very/world/the/around/is
7. emotionally/he/very/attached/was/to/car/gifted/toy/uncles/by/his
8. health/for/care/Gut/should/utmost/of/be/ importance/to care
9. prankster/a/not/he/is
10. I/professional/she/saw/looks/practice/her/tirelessly/dancing/for/months/and/now
Transform the following sentences:
1. I want to be the winner.
2. He is the final man to say such a thing.
3. Despite his advanced age, he managed to carry two baskets.
4. These days, gold is exceedingly pricey.
5. They are unable to ignore the setbacks they have experienced.
Answers
Rearrange the following words to make meaningful sentences:
1. Time passes without interruption.
2. Sudha puts a lot of effort into her work to be the best in her class.
3. Barack Obama was elected as the president of the United States twice.
4. We didn't know how they were going to get on the train.
5. Only a short while had passed since he went outdoors when it started to rain.
6. Social injustice is very prevalent around the world.
7. He was very emotionally attached to the car toy gifted by his uncle.
8. Gut health should be of utmost importance to care for.
9. He is not a prankster.
10. I saw her practice dancing tirelessly for months and now she looks professional.
Transform the following sentences:
1. I want to come out on top.
2. He is the last individual to say something like that.
3. He was too old to walk, yet he could carry two baskets.
4. Gold is very expensive these days.
5. They can't avoid thinking about the setbacks they've suffered.
NCERT Solutions - Class 10 Sentence Reordering Sentence Transformation Grammar Solution
NCERT Solutions for English Grammar serves as a comprehensive solution book for the students of Class 10 Sentence Reordering Sentence Transformation who are willing to expertise in the English Grammar subject.
The Class 10th English Grammar syllabus is comprehensively mentioned in this NCERT Solutions. Exhaustive Class 10 Grammar topics are present in the NCERT Solutions. Also, this is to ensure that students from any board can refer to the NCERT Solutions for English Grammar Class 10 Sentence Reordering Sentence Transformation.
FAQs on Master Class 10 English Grammar: Sentence Reordering & Transformation (2025-26)
1. What are the most important types of sentence transformation questions for the CBSE Class 10 English exam 2025-26?
For the CBSE Class 10 English board exam, the most frequently asked sentence transformation questions include:
Active and Passive Voice: Changing sentences from active to passive voice and vice-versa.
Direct and Indirect Speech: Reporting statements, questions, or commands (Reported Speech).
Sentence Types: Converting between Affirmative, Negative, Interrogative, and Exclamatory sentences without changing the meaning.
Clauses: Using connectors like 'unless', 'if', 'so...that', and 'no sooner...than' to combine or transform sentences.
Simple, Complex, Compound: Transforming sentences from one structure to another.
2. How are marks usually awarded for sentence reordering questions in the Class 10 board exam?
In the CBSE Class 10 English exam, sentence reordering questions are typically worth one mark each. To get full marks, the student must arrange the jumbled words or phrases into a grammatically correct and logically coherent sentence. There is generally no provision for partial marks; the entire sentence must be structured correctly to be awarded the mark.
3. What is a reliable strategy to solve jumbled sentence (reordering) questions quickly under exam pressure?
A reliable strategy to solve jumbled sentence questions accurately is to follow these steps:
Identify the Subject: First, find the noun or pronoun that is performing the action. This is the starting point of most sentences.
Find the Verb: Next, locate the main action word (verb) that corresponds to the subject.
Locate the Object: Look for the noun or pronoun that receives the action.
Connect Other Elements: Use articles, prepositions, adverbs, and conjunctions to link the remaining phrases and complete the sentence.
Review and Reread: Finally, read the constructed sentence to ensure it makes complete sense and is grammatically sound.
4. Why is it crucial to maintain the original meaning during sentence transformation, and what are some common errors?
It is crucial to maintain the original meaning because the exercise tests your ability to express the same idea in a different grammatical form, not to create a new message. Changing the meaning results in a completely incorrect answer. Common errors to avoid include:
Changing the Tense: Transforming a sentence from present tense to past tense or vice-versa, unless required by the rules (e.g., in reported speech).
Altering Key Words: Adding or removing words that change the core message.
Misinterpreting Modals: Incorrectly changing modals like 'can' to 'could' or 'may' to 'might' if the context doesn't demand it.
Changing Sentence Type: Forgetting to use a question mark in an interrogative transformation or a full stop in a statement.
5. How do questions on sentence transformation test a student's understanding of grammar beyond just rules?
Sentence transformation questions test more than just memorised rules. They assess your deep understanding of syntax and semantics. For example, they check if you can:
Recognise the subtle differences between sentence structures (e.g., how a complex sentence creates emphasis differently than a simple one).
Correctly apply rules of tense consistency and subject-verb agreement in a new structure.
Understand the function of clauses and phrases and how they can be rearranged or modified.
Manipulate sentence parts logically, proving you understand the function of each word rather than just its definition.
6. What are some expected questions on converting from Active to Passive Voice for the Class 10 exam?
For the Class 10 exam, you can expect questions on Active-Passive voice that involve different tenses and sentence types. Important examples include:
Simple Present/Past: e.g., 'She writes a letter.' → 'A letter is written by her.'
Interrogative Sentences: e.g., 'Did he complete the assignment?' → 'Was the assignment completed by him?'
Sentences with Modals: e.g., 'You must obey the rules.' → 'The rules must be obeyed by you.'
Imperative Sentences (Commands/Requests): e.g., 'Shut the door.' → 'Let the door be shut.' or 'You are ordered to shut the door.'
7. Besides the SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) rule, what other grammatical clues are important for correctly reordering a complex sentence?
While the SVO pattern is fundamental, other clues are vital for complex sentences:
Conjunctions: Words like 'and', 'but', 'because', 'while', and 'although' are crucial clues that connect two different clauses or ideas.
Prepositions: Look for words like 'in', 'on', 'at', 'with', and 'for'. They indicate relationships between nouns and other words and often begin a prepositional phrase.
Articles and Determiners: 'A', 'an', 'the', 'this', 'that', 'my', 'his' almost always come before a noun, helping you identify noun phrases.
Relative Pronouns: Words like 'who', 'which', 'that', and 'whose' introduce dependent clauses that describe a noun, helping you place them correctly.
