AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE
Compound   : Jones is a rich man but he is not honest.       Simple       : The news is too good to be true.
Complex    : Jones is not honest although he is a rich man.  Complex      : The news is so good that it cannot be true.
Compound   : Search his pockets and you will find the watch. Simple       : It is never too late to mend.
Complex    : If you search his pockets, you will find the    Complex      : It is so late that it cannot be mended.
             watch.                                          Simple       : He is too late to hear the first speech.
Compound : Do as I tell you, or you will regret it.          Complex      : He is so late that he can not hear the first
Complex    : Unless you do as I tell you you will regret it.                speech.
Compound : The lion was wounded but not killed.              Simple       : The boy is too old for a whipping.
Complex    : The lion was not killed although he was         Complex      : The boy is so old that he cannot whip.
             wounded.                                        (b) Sentences expressing a Condition.
Compelx into Double or Multiple (Compound)                   Double       : Work hard and you will succeed.
Complex    : If you speak, you shall die.                    Complex      : If you work hard, you will succeed.
Compound : Speak and you will die.                           Complex      : Should you work hard, you will succeed.
Complex    : If you do not speak, you shall die.             Compound : Unless you work hard you will not succeed.
Compound : Speak or die.                                     Simple       : It is never too late to mend.
Complex    : He failed although he did his best.             Complex      : It is never so late for anything that it cannot
Compound : He did his best, still he failed.                                be mended.
Complex    : I have lost the pen which my father gave me.    (c) Sentences expressing Concession or Contrast.
Compound : My father gave me a pen and I have lost it.            He is honest though poor.
Complex    : I am certain you have made a mistake.                Poor as he is, he is honest.
Compound : You have made a mistake, and of this I am              Although he is poor, he is honest.
             certain.                                             In spite of his poverty, he is honest.
Complex    : I am glad that he has recovered from illness.        For all his poverty, he is honest.
Compound : He has recovered from illness, and I am glad           Admitting that he is poor, he is honest.
             of it.                                               He is poor; all the same he is honest.
Complex    : We can prove that the earth is round.           (d) Interchange of Degrees of Comparison.
Compound : The earth is round, and we can prove it.          Positive          : This book is not as good as that.
Complex    : I have found the book that I had lost.          Comparative : That book is better than this.
Compound : I had lost a book, but I have found it.           Positive          : Birds do not fly as fast as the aeroplane.
Complex    : As soon as he got the telegram, he left in a    Comparative : The aeroplane flies faster than birds.
             taxi.
                                                             Positive          : I am as strong as he.
Compound : He got the telegram, and immediately he left
                                                             Comparative : He is not stronger than I.
             in a taxi.
                                                             Positive          : This razor is not as sharp as that one.
Complex    : He worked hard so that he might win the
                                                             Comparative : The razor is sharper than this one.
             prize.
                                                             Positive          : Few historians write as interestingly as
Compound : He aimed at winning the prize and worked
                                                                                  Joshi.
             hard.
                                                             Comparative : Joshi writes more interestingly than most
Other ways of Transformation of Sentences
                                                                                  historians.
(a) Sentences with the Adverb too can be transformed as
                                                             Comparative : Ram is better than any other boy in the
follows :
                                                                                  class.
Simple     : He speaks too fast to be understood.
                                                             Positive          : No other boy in the class is as good as
Complex    : He speaks so fast that he cannot be under-
                                                                                  Ram.
             stood.
                                                             Positive          : No other metal is as useful as iron.
Simple     : This tree is too high for me to climb.
                                                             Comparative : Iron is more useful than any other metal.
Complex    : This tree is so high that I cannot climb it.
                                                             Superlative       : Iron is the most useful of all metals.
Simple     : He was too small to reach up to the branches
                                                             Comparative : Shakespeare is greater than any other
             of the tree.
                                                                                  English poet.
Complex    : He was so small that he could not reach up
                                                             Superlative       : Shakespeare is the greatest of the En-
             to the branches of the tree.
                                                                                  glish poets.
Simple     : She is too clever not to see through your
                                                             Comparative : This newspaper has a bigger circulation
             tricks.
                                                                                  than any other morning paper.
Complex    : She is so clever that she will be through your
                                                             Superlative       : This newspaper has the biggest circula-
             tricks.
                                                                                  tion among morning papers.
Simple     : These mangoes are too cheap to be good.
                                                             Superlative       : This building is the tallest in the city.
Complex    : These mangoes are so cheap that they can-
                                                             Comparative : No other building in the city is taller than
             not be good.
                                                                                  this.
                                                         SEE–79