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. Choose the correct options.
If the boys do not reach the school on time, they will be punished. (Begin: Unless......)
Topic: Transformation — 'unless'
Try it
Pick an option and check your answer. The full worked answer is below either way.
Answer
(d) Unless the boys reach the school on time, they will be punished..
UNLESS already means IF NOT, so the negative in the first clause is REMOVED when you convert — and the second clause stays exactly as it was: Original: IF the boys do NOT reach on time, they WILL BE punished. Unless: UNLESS the boys reach on time, they WILL BE punished.
Option (a) is the trap: it removes the negative correctly from the first clause but then adds one to the SECOND ("will not be punished"), reversing the meaning. Only ONE change is required.
Options (b) and (c) swap the clauses into nonsense.
Compare this with the 2026 paper, which set the same conversion the other way round — from "unless" back into "if". Learn it in both directions, and remember that exactly one negative disappears.
Unless the boys reach the school on time, they will be punished..