Change the following sentence into positive degree.
Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4 i.e. No other planet is as small as Mercury in the Solar System.
Error concept: Converting from superlative degree to positive degree.
What is wrong: The original sentence “Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system” is in superlative degree. Option 1 uses a double superlative (“most smallest”), and option 4 is grammatically incorrect. Option 2 is comparative, not strictly positive degree.
Grammatical concept: Positive degree expresses a quality without using comparative or superlative forms. It can use constructions like “as … as” for comparison.
Incorrectness of the concept in context: To convert to positive degree, we use the “as … as” construction to maintain the same meaning without the superlative form.
How to correct: Reframe the sentence using “No other planet is as small as Mercury” to express the superlative meaning in positive degree.
Correct phrase/ correction: No other planet is as small as Mercury in the Solar System.
Final sentence: No other planet is as small as Mercury in the Solar System.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.