Before we master how to change assertive sentences into exclamatory sentences, we must know what assertive and exclamatory sentences are. This post helps us understand what an assertive sentence is, what an exclamatory sentence is, and how to transform an assertive sentence into an exclamatory sentence.
What is an assertive sentence?
Assertive sentence definition: an assertive sentence is used to declare something. The information you give can be facts or simply opinions. It ends with a period, also known as a full stop. Note that assertive sentences are also known as declarative sentences.
Examples:-
- I love teaching English.
- You guys are the best.
- We watched a movie yesterday.
- Jon is my school friend.
- Ashish loves doing things that he finds challenging.
What is an exclamatory sentence?
Exclamatory sentence definition: An exclamatory sentence is used to express strong feelings/emotions like love, hate, excitement, joy, sadness, frustration, etc. An exclamatory sentence ends with an exclamation mark.
Examples:-
- This car is amazing! (expressing happiness)
- My dog has passed away! (expressing sorrow)
- How can you lose that paper?! (expressing frustration)
- What a movie that was! (expressing admiration)
Now we know what assertive and exclamatory sentences are. Let us look at how to transform or change assertive sentences into exclamatory sentences.
Assertive sentence examples:
- It is a beautiful day.
- That was a nerve-racking match.
- Max has an amazing car.
- You have a beautiful girl to love.
- He was shocked to see me.
- You are fortunate to have her.
- The place was expensive.
- The weather is romantic.
- They are excited to come to my place.
Exclamatory sentence examples:
- What a beautiful day it was!
- What a nerve-racking match that was!
- What an amazing car you have!
- What a beautiful girl you have to love!
- How shocked he was to see me!
- How fortunate you are to have her!
- How expensive the place was!
- How romantic the weather is!
- How excited they are to come to my place!
Wasn’t it easy to change assertive sentences into exclamatory sentences? It was, right? There are two structures using which the transformation of assertive sentences into exclamatory happened above.
Structure 1:
| Assertive sentence: | Subject | linking verb | noun phrase (subject complement) | other parts (optional). |
| Exclamatory sentence: | What | noun phrase | subject | linking verb! |
Assertive: It is a beautiful day.
Exclamatory: What a beautiful day it is.
Assertive: That was a nerve-racking match.
Exclamatory: What a nerve-racking match that was!
Assertive: Max has an amazing car.
Exclamatory: What an amazing car Max has!
Assertive: It is a scary dog.
Exclamatory: What a scary dog it is.
NOTE: It is not necessary that an assertive sentence must have a linking verb in it for us to be able to change it into an exclamatory sentence. There is a small change in the structure when the assertive sentence has a different verb.
Assertive: Subject + action or stative verb/verb phrase + object.
Exclamatory: What + object + subject + verb/verb phrase!
| Assertive sentence: | Subject | action/stative verb | object | other parts (optional). |
| Exclamatory sentence: | What | object | subject | verb/verb phrase! |
Assertive: Jon has bought a beautiful car.
Exclamatory: What a beautiful car Jon has bought!
Assertive: He fought a brilliant fight.
Exclamatory: What a brilliant fight he fought!
Assertive: You have given me a wonderful surprise.
Exclamatory: What a wonderful surprise you have given me!
In the last example, there are two objects in the sentence: a wonderful surprise (direct object) and me (indirect object). When we transform a sentence into another type, the focus is usually on the subject complement or the direct object. That’s why the direct object is put after the interrogative adjective ‘what’ in the exclamatory sentence.
Structure 2:
| Assertive sentence: | Subject | linking verb | adjective (subject complement) | other parts (optional). |
| Exclamatory sentence: | How | adjective | subject | linking verb + other parts (optional)! |
Assertive: The weather is romantic.
Exclamatory: How romantic the weather is!
Assertive: The place was expensive.
Exclamatory: How expensive the place was!
Assertive: They are excited to come to my place.
Exclamatory: How excited they are to come to my place!
Assertive: Your place is huge.
Exclamatory: How huge your place is!
Assertive: They are excited to come to my place.
Exclamatory: How excited they are to come to my place!
Important points to note
A) The need of changing an assertive sentence into an exclamatory sentence arises when the speaker wants to focus on a certain part of the assertive sentence with rendering strong emotions. The part that’s focused here is one of the following: predicate adjective, predicate nominative, or direct object.
Assertive: You are kind.
Exclamatory: How kind you are!
Here, the speaker focused on the description of the subject (predicate adjective).
Assertive: You are a kind person.
Exclamatory: What a kind person you are!
Notice that when the focus is on the name we are giving to the subject, we use ‘what’ instead of ‘how’, and it follows the name (predicate nominative) we are giving to the subject.
Assertive: You have built an extremely committed team.
Exclamatory: What an extremely committed team you have built!
The speaker is focusing on the direct object, which is a noun phrase ( a name).
B) As a general rule, use ‘how’ if you want to focus on the adjective, and use ‘what’ when you are focusing on a noun or noun phrase.
Assertive: This girl is so smart.
Exclamatory: How smart this girl is!
Assertive: It was a great match.
Exclamatory: What a great match it was!
Assertive: You have loyal friends.
Exclamatory: What loyal friends you have!
C) We usually drop the adverb that’s modifying the adjective in the adjective phrase when we change assertive sentences into exclamatory sentences.
Assertive: She is too fast for her age.
Exclamatory: How fast she is for her age! (dropped too)
Assertive: The boy has been very consistent lately.
Exclamatory: How consistent the boy has been lately! (dropped very)
Assertive: Her mother is so adorable!
Exclamatory: How adorable her mother is! (dropped so)
Too fast, very consistent, and so adorable are adjective phrases in the assertive sentences above. Notice that we haven’t used the adverb (too, very, so) in the exclamatory sentences as the interrogative adjective ‘how’ does that job.
D) Assertive sentences are also changed into exclamatory sentences when the focus is on the adverb of manner.
| Assertive sentence: | Subject | action verb | adverb of manner | other parts (optional). |
| Exclamatory sentence: | How | adverb of manner | subject | verb! |
Assertive: She sings beautifully.
Exclamatory: How beautifully she sings!
Assertive: The boys are working on the task honestly.
Exclamatory: How honestly the boys are working on the task!
Assertive: He kissed her passionately.
Exclamatory: How passionately he kissed her!
Assertive: Max surprisingly knocked him out.
Exclamatory: How surprisingly Max knocked him out!
NOTE: We change assertive sentences into exclamatory sentences using the above structure when assertive sentences have an action verb and an adverb of manner (beautifully, honestly, passionately, surprisingly). But we don’t change assertive sentences into exclamatory sentences the same way when the assertive sentences don’t have an adverb of manner. In such a case, simply replace the period with an exclamation mark.
Assertive: She sings. (no emotions)
Exclamatory: She sings! (Expressing strong emotions, maybe the speaker is shocked or happy to say that.)
Assertive: We won the match. (Expressing no emotions)
Exclamatory: We won the match! (Expressing happiness)
Assertive: My dog died last night. (Expressing no emotions)
Exclamatory: My dog died last night! (Expressing happiness)
Assertive: We are going to the mall. (Expressing no emotions)
Exclamatory: We are going to the mall! (Expressing excitement and joy)
Now, we know how to change assertive sentences into exclamatory sentences. Feel free to share your question, doubt, or feedback in the comment section, and also, share the post with the people that need it.
For one-on-one classes, contact me at [email protected].
FAQs
How do you convert an assertive sentence into an exclamatory sentence?
Answer: an exclamatory sentence is a statement that expresses a strong emotion. Simply use an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence if it exudes a strong emotion, or use HOW or WHAT at the beginning of an assertive sentence to change it into an exclamatory sentence (when these are followed by a noun, adjective, or adverb of manner).
Examples:
You look beautiful. (assertive)
You look beautiful! (exclamatory)
The fight was unbelievable. (assertive)
How unbelievable the fight was! (exclamatory)
He is a nice guy.. (assertive)
What a nice guy he is! (exclamatory)
What are 10 examples of exclamatory?
Here are 10 examples of exclamatory sentences:
I can’t wait to go there!
What a man he is!
How smartly he made us do that!
How beautifully she dances!
Wow! That’s a house I want to buy!
Boy oh boy! This is beyond my imagination!
Dang! We are so lost!
What a performance that was!
We all got the job!
What a loser that guy is!
3. How do you change a sentence into exclamatory?
We change a sentence into an exclamatory sentence simply by using the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence or using WHAT or HOW at the beginning of the sentence when there is a noun, adjective, or adverb of manner after ‘what’ or ‘how’. Examples:
1. What a house it is! 2. How excited you look! 3. How fast she runs!
What are the exclamatory words?
Exclamatory words express strong emotion in a sentence. They can express happiness, sadness, excitement, astonishment, grief, anger, etc. Examples: wow, yay, welcome, darn, alas, hurray, come on, boy oy boy, oh, ah, woohoo, etc.
What a pity converts into an assertive sentence?
When such assertive sentences are changed into affirmative sentences, they take a pseudo subject ‘IT’. Generally, a sentence using this structure and the word ‘pity’ takes a that clause after it.
What a pity + that clause
What a pity that he lost the match.
Assertive: It is a pity that lost the match.
What are five exclamatory sentences?
That is so sweet of you to say!
Jesus, just listen to what I am saying!
Thank you, I appreciate the help!
How smart he is!
What a family this is.
Here’s our youtube video that helps you master how to change assertive sentences into exclamatory sentences:
Thanks mann, your explanation on changing assertive to exclamatory sentences helped me a lot in my english assignment in school…….Hats Off…….Nice Website too….
Elated to know that, Akhil! I am glad I could help! Keep learning and stay connected! 🙂
i am extremely sorry to hear about your misfortun. rewrite in exclamatory?
This can simply be changed into an exclamatory sentence by using an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.
You are a great explainer I ever sin in my life it is so easy to read
Thank you for the encouraging words, Arnab!
Are you study in matrix sikar
Q-a beautiful is painting what this
{Arrange into exclamatory sentence}
Correct ans1 -what a beautiful painting is this!
Ans2- what a beautiful painting this is!
Which one is correct?
The second one is more common. Though, the one first is also sometimes used.
Can you help me to convert this assertive sentence into an exclamatory one?:
It is a pity that he had to undergo all this.
What a pity it is for him to undergo all this!
Is she going to london?
How to change into exclamatory
She is going to London.
Hello. And Bye.
Hello. And Bye.
Change to Exclamatory
These flowers have a pleasant smell.
Is this answer also correct?
Wow ! These flowers have a pleasant smell
It does the job, but that’s not how we change it.
Correction: What a pleasant smell these flowers have.
Change to Exclamatory
These flowers have a pleasant smell.
Is this answer also correct?
Wow ! These flowers have a pleasant smell.
It does the job, but that’s not how we change it.
Correction: What a pleasant smell these flowers have.
RMA is one of the most attractive clubs.(exclamatory)
The movie was to our expectation.
Change to exclamatory sentence.
The sentence is not correct. It misses something.
Sample example: The movie was close to our expectation.
RMA is one of the most attractive clubs (exclamatory)
Please help…
What’s the rule here?
Hello Pulok,
It is not an exclamatory sentence; it does not seem like one though. It is a declarative sentence. Use the exclamation mark at the end to add the necessary emotion and make it an exclamatory sentence.
What should I do?
What have you done.
Have you lost ur mind.
How can we change these interrogative sentences into exclamatory?
The first is a direct question. It can’t be changed into an interrogative sentence. But the last two can be.
What have you done! (expression displeasure or astonishment)
Have you lost your mind?! (shocked at something)
thank you so much Anish for your wonderful explaination. I just want to ask you this:
“6. What are five exclamatory sentences?
That is so sweet of you to say!
Jesus, just listen to what I am saying!
Thank you, I appreciate the help!
How smart he is being!
What a family this is.”
Why ” What a family this is” doesn’t have an exclamation mark in the end of this sentence.
Thank you Anish.
The fifth sentence is an exclamation sentence. There should be an exclamation mark at the end.
Thank you for the kind words about the content.
Regards,
Ashish Sharma