Sentence Transformation: Meaning, Form, and Relative-Clause Pronouns
Mr. Fujita is marking a sentence-transformation and ordering section. Item 1 asks students to rewrite 'Emi was too tired to finish her homework' using 'so ... that ...'. Candidate A writes, 'Emi was so tired that she couldn't finish her homework.' Candidate B writes, 'Emi was so tired that she didn't finish her homework.' Item 2 asks students to order the words to make a correct sentence: 'the / most / is / this / interesting / book / I / have / ever / read'. Candidate C writes, 'This is the most interesting book I have ever read.' Candidate D writes, 'This is the most interesting book I have ever read it.' Mr. Fujita must decide which answers preserve the original meaning and which are grammatically possible but incomplete, and how to explain the difference between 'too ... to' and 'so ... that ...' without treating all answers with the same structure as equally correct.
1. Which candidate answer for Item 1 preserves the original meaning, and why is the other one not equivalent?
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Candidate A is correct. 'Too tired to finish' means the tiredness made finishing impossible, so 'so tired that she couldn't finish' keeps the negative result. Candidate B is grammatical, and it may be true in the situation, but it does not express the same meaning. 'She didn't finish' reports what happened; it could be because she chose not to finish, was interrupted, or had another reason. The original 'too ... to ...' specifically signals inability or impossibility. In the 'so ... that ...' pattern, the result clause must carry that meaning, usually with 'couldn't,' not simply 'didn't.'
2. For Item 2, explain the error in Candidate D and state the rule in a way a student can apply.
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Candidate D adds 'it' after 'read': '... the most interesting book I have ever read it.' The noun 'book' is already the object of 'read' inside the relative clause 'I have ever read.' The relative pronoun is omitted, but its grammatical role remains. A pronoun such as 'it' must not repeat that object. Rule to apply: if the noun before the relative clause is the object of the verb inside the clause, do not add a pronoun after the verb. Candidate C is correct: 'This is the most interesting book [that] I have ever read.'
3. How should Mr. Fujita score Candidate B if the item is worth 2 points and the rubric rewards both grammar and meaning?
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Candidate B should receive partial credit, most likely 1 point out of 2. The sentence correctly uses the required 'so ... that ...' frame and is grammatically well formed, so a form/grammar point is earned. However, it does not preserve the impossibility meaning of 'too ... to ...,' so the meaning point is not earned. Giving full credit would tell students that any grammatical 'so ... that ...' sentence is acceptable even when the logical relationship changes. Giving zero would ignore the candidate's control of the target structure. The score should follow the rubric's separation of form and meaning.