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E.O.I. 5th YEARUNIT 5: Cleft sentences
are special constructions which areused to give emphasis to a particular part of thesentence, in which asimple sentenceis expressedusing amain clauseand asubordinate clause:
John took the money. It was John who took themoney.It was the money that John took. These type of sentences are introduced by
It is
/
It was
or by a clause beginning with
what.
They
areparticularly useful in writing where we cannot useintonation for purposes of focus or emphasis, but theyare also frequently used in speech.
•
What clauses
They are formed with the following structure:
WHAT + FOCUS + TO BE
•
We now need actions rather than words.
•
What
we now need
are
actions rather thanwords.
•
Actions rather than words
are what
we nowneed.
•
I enjoyed the brilliant music most of all in theBallet Frankfurt performance.
•
What
I enjoyed most in the Ballet Frankfurtperformance
was
the brilliant music.
•
The brilliant music
was what
I enjoyed most inthe Ballet Frankfurt performance.Note that cleft structures with
what-clauses
areoften used with verbs expressing an emotiveresponse to something like
adore
,
dislike
,
enjoy
,
hate
,
like
,
loathe
,
love
,
need
,
prefer
,
want
,etc.It is sometimes very effective to use
all
instead of
what
in a cleft structure if you want to focus on one particularthing and nothing else:
E.O.I. 5th YEARUNIT 5: Cleft sentences
•
I want a new coat for Christmas.
•
All
I want for Christmas
is
a new coat.
•
A new coat
is all
I want for Christmas.
•
I touched the bedside light and it broke.
•
All
I
did was
(to) touch the bedside light and itbroke.Finally, we can also use
preparatory it
in cleftsentences and join the words that we want to focus onto the relative clause with
that
,
who
or
when
.In the example which follows, note how thisconstruction enables us to focus on different aspects of the information, which may be important at the time:
•
It is/was
They are formed with the following structure:
IT + TO BE + FOCUS
•
My brother bought his new car from our next-doorneighbour last Saturday.
•
It was my brother who
bought his new carfrom our neighbour last Saturday.
•
It was last Saturday when
my brother boughthis new car from our neighbour.
•
It was a new car that
my brother bought fromour neighbour last Saturday.
•
It was our next-door neighbour that
mybrother bought his new car from last Saturday.
•
Cleft structures
include
the reason why
,
the thingthat
,
the person/people who
,
the place where
,
theday when
and
what-clauses
which are usually linkedto the clause that we want to focus on with
is
or
was
.
•
I've come to discuss my future with you.
•
The reason why
I've come
is
to discuss myfuture with you.
•
Your generosity impresses more than anythingelse.
E.O.I. 5th YEARUNIT 5: Cleft sentences
•
The thing that
impresses me more thananything else
is
your generosity.
•
The jewels are hidden under the floor at 23 RobinHood Road, Epping.
•
The place where
the jewels are hidden
is
underthe floor at 23 Robin Hood Road, Epping.
•
Under the floor at 23 Robin Hood Road
is theplace where
the jewels are hidden.
•
Mary works harder than anybody else in thisorganisation.
•
The person who
works harder than anybodyelse in this organisation
is
Mary.
•
Mary
is the person
in this organisation
who
works harder than anybody else.
•
The Second World War ended on 7 May 1945 inEurope.
•
The day (when)
the Second World War ended inEurope
was
7 May 1945
•
7 May 1945
was the day (when)
the SecondWorld War ended in Europe.Rewrite the sentences, making them more emphatic.
1
. I was most unhappy with the service.- ….
What
………………………………………………………………
(to be unhappy with)
2
. I can’t stand the noise.- ….
It’s
…………………………………………………………………
…. (the noise)
3
. John didn’t pay for the wedding ring, Sarah did.- ….
It
……………………………………………………………………
…. (Jonh)- ….
It
……………………………………………………………………
…. (Sarah)
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