TRANSFORMATION OF

SENTENCES
There are three types of Transformation of sentences. Those are –
•Simple Sentences
•Complex Sentences and
•Compound Sentences
What is Clause?
The clause is where there will be a subject and a predicate as a group of words, but that will not be considered as
a full sentence. The clause can be of two types. Those are –
1. Independent Clause:
A Clause that –
•contains both a subject and a predicate.
•can stand alone as a sentence or
•can be a part of a multi-clause sentence.
•uses conjunctions such as – or, for, nor, so, yet, and, but.
Example: We visited Agra, but we did not go to Taj Mahal.
2. Dependent Clause:
A Clause that  is –
•that have a subject and a predicate
•cannot stand alone as a sentence
•always be a part of a sentence, on which it depends for meaning.
A dependent clause is of three types – Adjective Clause, Adverb Clause, and Noun Clause.
1. Adjective Clause or Relative Clause:
An adjective clause or relative clause is like an adjective which comes before to change or modify the noun or 
pronoun by – who, which, that, where, when, whose, whom, whoever, etc.
Example:   
•This is a resort that we saw on the TV.
•The Lady who was our tour guide is a American.
2. Adverb Clause or Adverbial Clause:
An adverbial clause or subordinate clause is a type of dependent clause which starts with subordinating
conjunctions like – because, although, when, if, until, as if etc.
Example:   
•The homeless guy spent the night on the road.
•We wanted to go to the Bashundhara Cineplex.
3. Noun Clause:
In a sentence when a clause functions as the complement, subject or object is called noun clause. It starts with the
same words that begin adjective clauses, e.g., that, who, when, which, where, whether, why, how.                 
Example:
•What we saw at the Thor movie was amazing.
To understand the types of transformation of sentences we need to know the definition of the Simple Sentences,
Complex Sentences, and Compound Sentences.
Simple Sentence:
When in a sentence that has one independent clause it is called simple sentence.
Example: He confessed his illegal act.
Complex Sentence:
When in a sentence that has one clause and one or more    subordinate clauses it is called a complex sentence.
Example: He confessed that he was guilty of his illegal act.
Compound Sentence:
When in a sentence that has more than one main clause it is called the compound sentence.
Example: I went to watch a movie named Justice League, but the movie was already houseful.
Rule: 1:
“Present participle” in a simple sentence, to convert into complex sentences by adding “since/as/when” at the first
half of the sentence.
•Simple Sentence: Closing the door, I went back to school.
•Complex Sentence: When I closed the door, I went back to school.
Rule: 2
“Being/ Verb+ing” in a simple sentence, to convert into a complex sentence by adding “as/when/since” at the first
half of the sentence.
•Simple Sentence: After winning a beauty contest she cried.
•Complex Sentence: As she won the beauty contest, she cried.
Rule: 3
“Too…to” in a simple sentence, to convert into a complex sentence by adding “so…that (negative)”.
•Simple Sentence: He is too weak to carry the box.
•Complex Sentence: He is so weak that he cannot carry the box.
Rule: 4
“To” in the simple sentence, to convert into a complex sentence by adding “so that” in the sentence.
•Simple sentence: We eat to live.
•Complex Sentence: We eat so that we can live.
Rule: 5
In the simple sentence “in spite of/ despite”, to convert into the complex sentence by adding “though/ although” in
the sentence.
•Simple Sentence: In spite of being rich, she is hard working.
•Complex Sentence: Though she is rich, she is hard working.
Rule: 6
“Because of” in the simple sentence, to convert it to the complex sentence by adding “since” at the beginning of the
sentence.
•Simple Sentence: Because of his illness, he could not join the meeting.
•Complex Sentence: Since he was ill, he could not join the meeting.
Rule: 7
“Subject + verb + object + present participle” type of simple sentence, to convert it to the complex sentence
by “subject + verb + object + relative pronoun of the object + be verb according to relative pronoun and tense + rest
of the sentence”.
•Simple Sentence: I saw a bird flying.
•Complex Sentence: I saw a bird which was flying.
Rule: 8
In the simple sentence starts with “without”,  by adding “if/ in case” is converted into the complex
sentence.
•Simple Sentence: Without adding the sugar the dish will taste bad.
•Complex Sentence: If you do not add sugar the dish will taste bad.
Rule: 9
In the simple sentence “at the time” will be converted into “when” in the complex sentence.
•Simple Sentence: She woke up at the time of load shedding.
•Complex Sentence: She woke up when it was load shedding.
Rule: 10:
In the simple sentence, “adjective” will be converted into “that/which” in the complex sentence.
•Simple Sentence: It was a blue shirt.
•Complex Sentence: It was a shirt which was blue.
 We can convert a compound sentence into a simple sentence by reducing the number of clauses into one.
Here we reduced the clause 'He got up' into the participial phrase 'getting up'. More examples are given below.
Here we reduced the clause 'he gave them some land also' into the prepositional phrase 'besides a house'.
 If a compound sentence contains just two independent clauses, you can convert it into a complex
sentence by changing one of these independent clauses into a dependent clause. If the compound
sentence contains three independent clauses, you will have to change two of them into dependent clauses.

 A complex sentence can be converted into a simple sentence by reducing a subordinate clause into a

word or a phrase. Study the following examples. A complex sentence can be converted into a simple
sentence by reducing a noun clause into a noun phrase. Complex: I know that he is an honest guy.

 We can convert a complex sentence into a compound sentence by changing the subordinate clause or

clauses into main clauses. Note that subordinate clauses are introduced by conjunctions like because, as,
if, when, where, since and though.
 a simple sentence can be converted into a compound sentence by expanding a word or phrase into a
clause and by using a coordinating conjunction to connect the clauses. More examples are given
below: Simple: Being ill, he didn't attend the party. Compound: He was ill and didn't attend the party.

 A simple sentence can be converted to a complex sentence by expanding a word or phrase into a

subordinate clause. This subordinate clause can be a noun clause, an adjective clause or an adverb
clause. Study the following example. He proved his innocence.