Transformation Section: Judging Drafts Against Four Rules
You are working on the sentence-transformation section. The instructions on the paper are:
- Keep the meaning the same.
- Use the word in capitals. Do not change its form.
- Your answer must be 5 to 9 words long, counting every word.
- Do not add or remove information.
Here are your drafts.
Item 1: The box was too heavy for me to carry. (ENOUGH) Your answer: The box was not light enough for me to carry. (9 words)
Item 2: Taro began learning Chinese three years ago and still studies it. (FOR) Your answer: Taro has learned Chinese for three years. (7 words)
Item 3: I sat down and the phone rang immediately. (HARDLY) Word cards: had / I / down / sat / hardly / when / rang / phone / the
Item 4: Complete with two words: I left the windows open ___ ___ the room would be cool.
You have five minutes left and can change only two answers.
1. Judge Items 1 and 2 against all four instructions. Which draft passes, which must be changed, and on which rule does the failing draft break?
Read the worked answer
Item 1 passes - all four rules.
- Meaning: "too heavy to carry" and "not light enough to carry" describe the same limit. ✓
- ENOUGH appears unchanged. ✓
- Word count: The(1) box(2) was(3) not(4) light(5) enough(6) for(7) me(8) to(9) carry - 9 words, inside 5–9. ✓
- No information added. ✓
Item 2 fails - on meaning, not on word count.
- The word count is fine: Taro(1) has(2) learned(3) Chinese(4) for(5) three(6) years(7) - 7 words. ✓
- ENOUGH-style form rule is satisfied (FOR unchanged). ✓
- The break is meaning: has learned describes a completed result and, with for three years, reads as though the learning finished. The original says "still studies it," so the action is ongoing. The correct form is "Taro has been learning Chinese for three years" (8 words), which keeps the continuation.
Where to spend the five minutes: you may change only two answers, so Item 2 must be one of them. Item 1 should be left alone - rewriting a correct answer is the most common way to lose marks here.
2. Solve Item 3 with the word cards. Give your answer, its word count, and one acceptable alternative.
Read the worked answer
Answer: I had hardly sat down when the phone rang.
Word count: I(1) had(2) hardly(3) sat(4) down(5) when(6) the(7) phone(8) rang(9) - 9 words, exactly at the limit. ✓
Why this order:
- Hardly pairs with when, not with than or that: the frame is hardly … when.
- The first action (sitting down) is completed before the second (the phone ringing), so it takes had + past participle: had sat down. The second clause stays in the past simple: rang.
- Hardly must sit immediately before the verb it modifies, between had and sat.
Acceptable alternative: Hardly had I sat down when the phone rang. This uses inversion after the negative adverb hardly, which is grammatical and also 9 words. Both keep HARDY? - note that the card is HARDLY and must not be shortened to hard.
A wrong answer to avoid: I hardly had sat down… - this puts hardly in the wrong slot and loses the "immediately" sense.
3. Solve Item 4 and explain why the most obvious single word does not work.
Read the worked answer
Answer: so that - "I left the windows open so that the room would be cool."
Why not just "so": "so the room would be cool" is grammatical, but the item asks for two words. Filling one gap leaves the other empty, so the answer fails the format even though the meaning is right.
Why not "in order": in order that is three words, and in order to would require a verb phrase ("in order to cool the room"), not the room would be cool. Neither fits two gaps before a clause with would.
Why "so that" is correct here:
- It introduces a purpose clause, which matches leaving the windows open.
- The purpose clause takes would because the whole situation is shifted into the past ("I left…"). A present version would be "so that the room will be cool."
- It keeps the meaning identical and adds no information, satisfying the same four rules that governed Items 1–3.