Choose the correct option and rewrite the sentence according to the instruction given after each.
Samudragupta was one of the greatest of the Indian kings. (End with: ...Samudragupta.)
Topic: Degrees of comparison — superlative to comparative
Try it
Pick an option and check your answer. The full worked answer is below either way.
Answer
(c) Very few Indian kings were as great as Samudragupta..
The key phrase is "ONE OF the greatest", which does NOT say he was the single greatest — it places him among several. The transformation must preserve that.
"VERY FEW Indian kings were as great as Samudragupta" keeps the sense exactly: some were as great, most were not.
Option (a) is the trap, and it is the answer most candidates choose. "NO OTHER king is as great as" is the transformation of "Samudragupta was THE greatest" — a stronger claim than the original makes.
Learn the pair:
the greatest → no other... as great as
ONE OF the greatest → VERY FEW... as great as
Option (b) reverses the meaning; option (d) is not English.
Very few Indian kings were as great as Samudragupta..