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ICSE Question Bank
2020Q5(d)(iv)Grammar
Short answerHard1 mark
5(d)

Re-write the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of each sentence.

She is so busy that she finds no time to entertain her friends. (Rewrite using 'too')

Topic: Transformation — 'too... to'

Previous-year question practice database

Answer

Exam answer

She is too busy to find time to entertain her friends.

Explanation

The conversion from "so... that" into "too... to" follows a fixed pattern, and this is the direction that catches people: so + adjective + that + subject + NEGATIVE + verb too + adjective + TO + verb

THE NEGATIVE DISAPPEARS. "So busy THAT she finds NO time" becomes "too busy TO find time". The impossibility is carried by the word "too" itself, so writing "too busy not to find time" would reverse the meaning.

Note also that the subject is not repeated. "Too busy to find" needs no second "she", because the infinitive already refers back to the subject of the sentence.

The same construction appears in the 2023, 2025 and 2026 papers, in both directions. Learn it as a pair.

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