EMPHASIS

And how to place it

 What’s emphasized?
• I said I liked the blue ones, not the green.
• Our team hammered the opposition five-nil.
• But it’s true! I did give it back to you!
• My son’s really good at basketball.
• He managed to do it himself.
• Greene and Bailey both finished with a time of 10.02 seconds.
• They not only look similar, they sound the same as well.
• That was the worst song I’ve ever heard or ever want to hear.
• He ran and ran until he could go no further.
• I’ve told you time and time again not to pick your nose.
• Above all, we must stay calm.
• Arsenal have been beaten again by ManU.
 On placing emphasis
• Stress and intonation
• Using stronger words
• Adding other words
• Repetition
• Sentence adverbials
• Passives
• Other grammatical changes
 Stress and intonation

• I said I liked the blue ones, not the green.

In speech, stress a word or use higher pitch.

In writing, use italics or underline.
 Using stronger words

• Our team hammered the opposition five-nil.

Emphasise by using nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc. with a

stronger meaning.
 Adding other words
• DO: But it’s true! I did give it back to you!
• INTENSIFIERS: My son’s really good at basketball.
• REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS:
He managed to do it himself.
• PRONOUNS:
Greene and Bailey both finished with a time of 10.02
seconds.
• LINKING WORDS/PHRASES:
They not only look similar, they sound the same as well.
 Repetition
• REPETITION:
That was the worst song I’ve ever heard or ever
want to hear.
• REPATING WITH LINKERS:
He ran and ran until he could go no further.
• TIME PHRASES:
I’ve told you time and time again not to pick your
nose.
 Sentence adverbials
• Above all, we must stay calm.

Emphasise the whole sentence by using adverbs.

 Passives
• Arsenal have been beaten again by ManU.

Emphasise by using passive.

 Other grammatical changes
• FRONTING
• INTRODUCTORY THERE AND IT
• EMPHASIZING USING WHAT, ALL AND IT
• NOMINALISATION
 FRONTING
• The door opened and Daphne came in.
The door opened and in came Daphne.

• I don’t know what we’re going to do.

What we’re going to do I don’t know.

• His second book was particularly good.

Particularly good was his second book.

Fronting = moving an object, verb or adverbial phrase to a

position before the subject.
 FRONTING
• Lying in the field three men were.
• Lying in the field were three men.
Invert the subject and verb so that the sentence doesn’t end
• At seven o’clock arrivedin BE.the removal van.
• Out of the water jumped the penguins.

When fronting a prepositional phrase of place or movement,

we usually invert the subject and verb. But not other
prepositional phrases.
 Why use fronting
• I stopped work at four o’clock.
• At four o’clock I stopped work.
The beginning of the sentence contains new information.

• He planned to complete the painintg in time

for the opening ceremony. This he did, but
only just.
Move info to the beginning for a clear link with previous info.
 Fronting noun clauses
• Where he went I have no idea.
• That he ran a marathon at his age is unbelievable.
• To read Shakespeare’s plays is my ambition.
Use fronting for formal English.
• It is unbelievable that he ran a marathon at his
age.
• It is my great ambition to read all Shakespeare’s
plays.

Use to-infinitive and that-clauses for less formal English.

 Frointing using introductory phrases
• The thing is, I haven’t got any money.
• The fact remains that we’ve made a mistake.
• The point is we should be there by now.

• The question is – are we ready for the radical

changes being proposed?
• The truth is…
Use them in informal/spoken
• The problem is… English to signal what’s
• The trouble is… important.
 Introductory THERE and IT
• There were two men in the room.
There + be = new information.

• Next year’s sales plan is now available; it

contains a few changes.
It refers back to a noun/noun phrase.

• It was dark in there.

• It’s raining.
Sometimes it is just a grammatical subject or used to describe
weather and time.
 Introductory IT
• Is cold, isn’t it?
• It’s cold, isn’t it?

There needs to be a subject in an English sentence.

When there’s no subject, use:
THERE before nouns and noun phrases
IT before adjectives and noun clauses
 IT + clause
• It’s difficult to understand a word he said.
• It’s fun working with you.
• It turned out that he was lying to us all along.
IT refers forward to a noun clause (to-infinitive, -ing, that-
clause or wh-clause). Use it to emphasise an adjective.

• It’s amazing what you learn from hanging

around bars.
Use IT to avoid using noun clauses in subjec position to sound
less formal.
 IT + report verb
• It is thought that many people have been
injured.
Common with report verbs use in the passive.

• It appears that he’s been promoted.

• It would seem that someone left the door
unlocked.
IT + seem / appear + that = common in reporting events
 Verbs followed by IT
• I find it strange that they haven’t told us.
• I would count it an honour to be included.
• People consider it inappropriate to wear jeans to
such an event.

Verbs: believe, consider, feel, imagine, think,

suppose, judge, count, reckon, guess

Some verbs are commonly followed by IT + clause.

 Common phrases
• There’s no point in worrying.
• It’s no use crying over spilt milk.
• It’s no good having regrets now.
• There’s nothing to be gained by feeling sorry for
yourself.
• It occurs to me / It strikes me that you’re all crazy.
• It’s just dawned on me what he meant.
 Emphasis using WHAT, ALL and IT
• He put the pot on the table.
What he did was (to) put the pot on the table.
• I’m going to persuade him to come earlier.
What I’m going to do is persuade him to come
earlier.
WHAT + do = to emphasise an action

• What you do next is fold the top left corner back

on itself.

Used for demonstrating procedures or sequencing events.

 Using WH-clauses
• What happened next was (that) he dropped
it.
WHAT + HAPPEN + BE + THAT-clause = emphasise an action

• What I think is (that) she should resign.

Use fronted WH-clause + BE as an introductory phrase.

• A good rest is what I need.

WH-clause + BE is sometimes at the end.
 Using ALL instead of WHAT
• All we’re going to do is take your teeth out.

= the only thing

 Emphasising nouns with
IT + BE + THAT / WHO
• She threw the jug out of • It was the jug (that) she
the window. threw out of the
window.
• It was the window
Cleft sentences = (that) she threw the jug
to emphasise nouns out of.

I love going to Cornwall in summer, but it’s in

winter that it’s at its best.
 Emphasizing other parts of the sentence
• It was learning French that he found most
enjoyable at school.
Gerund to emphasise an action
• It was from Heather that I heard the news.
Emphasise a prepositional phrase.
• It was because you’re clever that I married you.
BECAUSE to give reasons
• It was only when he phoned that I realised what
had happened.
With WHEN and UNTIL to emphasise time
 NOMINALISATION
• The boys laughed loudly and woke up the baby.

• The boys’ loud laugher woke up the baby.

Use nominalisation (a noun group) instead of

one or more verb or adjective groups.
 Why use nominalisation?
• I wasn’t very well so I had to stay at home.

• My poor health meant I had to stay at home.

Change the emphasis of a sentence.

 Nominalisation for abundant information
• He had an insatiable appetite for adventure and
because of this he became involved in a pioneering
expedition to Antarctica.

• His insatiable appetite for adventure led to his

involvement in a pioneering expedition to
Antarctica.

Nominalise to pack more information into a sentence.

 Why use nominalisation?
• After several days they eventually reached the
summit of the mountain. The ascent left them
tired and exhausted.

Nominalise to refer back to processes already mentioned.

 Why use nominalisation?
• They looked at the evidence and realised that
there had been a miscarriage of justice.
• The evidence revealed that there had been a
miscarriage of justice.

Nominalise to start a sentence rather than use a verb phrase.

 Why use nominalisation?
• This interesting Australian development was
possible because of the isolation of these
primitive mammals.

Nominalise in formal, scientific and academic English.

 Why use nominalisation?
• It’s always painful when people criticise you.

• Criticism is always painful.

Nominalise to make it impersonal.

 HAVE A…, MAKE A…, etc.
• He gave a short laugh.
• Let’s have a quick look.
• She made some remark about his smelly feet.

Use some verbs as nouns in informal English.

 HAVE A…, MAKE A…, etc.

• We had a long talk about it.

Use verbs as nouns when you use an adjective before the

noun.
 HAVE A…, MAKE A…, etc.

• She sat down and had a good cry.

Sometimes there is no adverbial phrase.

• Give a shout / sigh / hug / welcome / look
• Have a look / belief / chat / fall / sleep
• Have belief / respect
• Take a look / bath / walk / photograph / holiday
• Make a comment / start / claim
• Make progress

Use collocation.