Table 2 

Some common syntactic transformations in English.

Transformation
Original sentence
Transformed sentence
Passivization The dog kissed Peter. Peter was kissed by the dog. 
Topicalization I like pasta. Pasta, I like. 
Clefting He won a new bike. It was a new bike that he won. 
Extraposition To achieve that is impossible. It is impossible to achieve that. 
Preposing I like cheese bagels. Cheese bagels are what I like. 
There-construction A cat is in the garden. There is a cat in the garden. 
Pronominalization I put the cake in the fridge. I put it there. 
Fronting “What!” Peter said. “What!” said Peter. 
Transformation
Original sentence
Transformed sentence
Passivization The dog kissed Peter. Peter was kissed by the dog. 
Topicalization I like pasta. Pasta, I like. 
Clefting He won a new bike. It was a new bike that he won. 
Extraposition To achieve that is impossible. It is impossible to achieve that. 
Preposing I like cheese bagels. Cheese bagels are what I like. 
There-construction A cat is in the garden. There is a cat in the garden. 
Pronominalization I put the cake in the fridge. I put it there. 
Fronting “What!” Peter said. “What!” said Peter. 
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