Sentence transformation 1 14/04

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Hela  #215537  Fri, 14 Apr 06 11:38 PM

Dear teachers,

Would you please correct my exercise ?

1) They’ve just discovered the stolen money in an old warehouse.

The stolen money has just been discovered in an old warehouse.

2) I just can’t remember people’s telephone numbers.

I’m useless in remembering people’s telephone numbers.

3) She regrets not having taken swimming lessons at school.

She wishes she had taken swimming lessons…

4) You’re not obliged to say anything if you don’t want to.

You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.

5) You look as if you’ve been working pretty fast!

You must have been working…

6) She said to John: “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

She told John that she had been looking for him everywhere.

7) There were talking about that man in the office today.

That’s the man whom they were talking about in the office.

8) We need to check all the accounts very carefully.

All the accounts have to be / need be checked very carefully.

9) It’s ages since we last went to the cinema.

We haven’t been to the cinema for ages.

10) She thought I was someone else.

She mistook me for someone else.

11) “Will the weather get any better?” he wondered.

He wondered if the weather would get any better.

12) The last time we saw each other was the day we left school.

We haven’t seen each other since the day we left school.

13) She’s too weak after her illness to go back to work.

She’s not well enough to go back to work.

14) Someone must repaint the house for us soon.

We must have the house repainted soon.

15) We shall have to postpone the party now.

The party will have to be postponed now.

16) I missed my train because the taxi broke down on the way to the station.

If the taxi hadn’t broken down on the way to the station, I wouldn’t have missed my train.

17) “I’m terribly sorry I wasn’t at the airport to meet you,” Anna told James.

Anna apologised for not having been at the airport to meet James.

18) Why don’t we all meet outside the restaurant?

I suggest that we should all meet outside the …

19) Why doesn’t she just listen for once?

I wish she would just listen for once!

20) There’s no point in asking him because he doesn’t know.

It’s not necessary / needless to ask him because he…

Many thanks,

Hela

  
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Mister Micawber  #215791  Sat, 15 Apr 06 07:57 AM

2-- useless at
7-- They were talking
8-- need to be checked
11-- I'd use whether
18-- AmE:  suggest that we all meet...
20-- comma before because

  
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'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'
Diamondrg  #215829  Sat, 15 Apr 06 09:26 AM

 Mister Micawber wrote:

8-- need to be checked

Hi, Mr Micawber.

Can't the modal "need" be used in the passive as in 8?

  
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Mister Micawber  #215922  Sat, 15 Apr 06 02:48 PM

Auxiliary need appears almost exclusively in negative and interrogative utterances, and is a dying form.  The Brits use it more, I understand.  Here, in any case, it sounds very odd to me.


  
Diamondrg  #215924  Sat, 15 Apr 06 02:51 PM
Thanks Mr Micawber.
  
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