CLEFT SENTENCES

ADVANCED 2
What are they used for?
• When we want to focus attention on
or emphasize one part of a sentence,
we can do this by adding certain
words or phrases to the beginning of
a sentence. This is sometimes called
‘cleft sentence’
Types of Cleft sentences
•1. beginning with :What or All
▫ What= the thing; All =the only thing
+ clause `be, and then the emphatic
sentence.
▫ E.g.: What I need is a new car.
▫ All I want is to travel
2. beginning with What happens is…/
What happened was….

▫ Used to emphasize an event/ action

▫ E.g.: What happened was ( that) we

missed our flight.
3. beginning with
The person who…, the place where…,

• The person who…,

+ clause+
• The place where…, beemphasized
• The first/last time…, part of the
• The resason why…, sentence at the
▫ E.g.: The reason why I bought it wasend.
because it
was cheap.
4. Beginning with It

▫ It is / was+ the emphasized part

of the sentence + a relative
clause
• E.g. It was last Friday when we had the
meeting
Now it’s your turn to give emphasis
• EXERCISE
• Rewrite the sentences with the bold word.
▫ 1. We stopped in an absolutely beautiful place for
lunch
 PLACE
▫ ______________was absolutelly beautiful.
▫ 2. We got stuck in an enormous traffic jam.
 HAPPENED
 _____________we got stuck in an enormous traffic
jam.
• They didn’t apologize for arriving late, which
really annoyed me.
▫ WHAT
▫ _______________they didn’t apologize for
arriving late
• A girl from my town won the silver medal.
▫ IT
▫ ___________________won the silver medal
• I only said that I didn’t like her dress
▫ ALL
▫ _________________that I didn’t like her dress
• I like my Aunt Emily best of all my relatives
▫ PERSON
▫ _________________is my Aunt Emily.
• You pick up your tickets at the box office.
▫ HAPPENS
▫ __________________you pick up your tickets
at the box office
• Right now you need to sit down and put your
feet up.
▫ WHAT
▫ _________________to sit down and put your
feet up
• I first met Serena at a conference in Berlin.
▫ TIME
▫ ________________at a conference in Berlin.
RESOURCES
• Adapted from: New English File Advanced
• Extra materials:
• http://es.scribd.com/doc/52432150/CLEFT-
SENTENCES
• The teacher’s blog
▫ http://cursodeingles-
elena.blogspot.com.es/2013/10/b2-advanced-2-
grammar-unit-1b-cleft.html