Sentence transformation: three rewrites, three different failures
In a mock exam in Toledo the grammar section has five transformation items. The instruction says: complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first, using the word in capitals; write between two and six words, including the word given; do not change the word given. Item 1: 'I regret not revising enough.' → 'I wish ______.' (WISH). Álvaro writes I revised enough. Item 2: 'A technician repaired my laptop yesterday.' → 'I ______ yesterday.' (HAD). He writes had fixed my laptop. Item 3: 'Although the tickets were expensive, we went to the concert.' → 'Despite ______, we went to the concert.' (DESPITE). He writes of the expensive tickets. The marking notes state that spelling slips which do not affect meaning are tolerated in this section, but any change of meaning scores zero.
1. Score each item out of one and give the version that would be accepted, checking the two-to-six-word limit each time.
Read the worked answer
Item 1 - 0. I revised enough is a wish about the present or future; regret about a finished action needs wish + past perfect: I had revised enough (4 words). The original past simple is backshifted, just as in reported speech.
Item 2 - 0. had fixed my laptop is past perfect and says the writer fixed it. The original has an outside agent, so the required structure is the causative have something done: had my laptop repaired (4 words - exactly at the limit, with the key word inside the count).
Item 3 - 0. Despite of does not exist; despite is a preposition taking a noun phrase or an -ing form: the expensive tickets (3 words), the tickets being expensive (4 words) or the high price of the tickets (6 words). 'Despite the fact that the tickets were expensive' is grammatical but runs to 8 words and breaks the limit.
2. All three errors come from one habit. Name it and give a 20-second self-check he can run on any transformation.
Read the worked answer
The habit is transferring Spanish structure instead of asking what the key word grammatically demands: a pesar de → 'despite of'; ojalá hubiera estudiado flattened into 'I wish I revised'; me arreglaron el portátil rendered as a plain perfect.
20-second check:
- Key word: what does it take? wish + past perfect for past regret; have + object + past participle for a service done by someone else; despite + noun/-ing; since + point in time with a perfect tense.
- Meaning: who did the action, when, and is it real or hypothetical? If the agent has changed, the sentence is wrong even when the grammar looks fine.
- Count: including the capitalised word, 2–6 words, and never alter it (no 'Despite of', no added auxiliaries).
- Re-read the pair and ask whether a stranger would see the same facts in both sentences.