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Understanding Cleft Sentences | PDF | Language Arts & Discipline | Foreign Language Studies
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Understanding Cleft Sentences

The document defines and provides examples of cleft sentences, which rearrange parts of a sentence to emphasize a specific element. Cleft sentences move nouns, pronouns, or clauses to the beginning of the sentence using constructions like "it was [element] that", "what [element] was", or "the [element] that" to highlight a key part of the information. Five common types of cleft sentences are described and examples are given to illustrate each type.

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82 views1 page

Understanding Cleft Sentences

The document defines and provides examples of cleft sentences, which rearrange parts of a sentence to emphasize a specific element. Cleft sentences move nouns, pronouns, or clauses to the beginning of the sentence using constructions like "it was [element] that", "what [element] was", or "the [element] that" to highlight a key part of the information. Five common types of cleft sentences are described and examples are given to illustrate each type.

Uploaded by

dakooles1
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Cleft Sentences

The word "cleft" means divided or split. A cleft sentence is a sentence in which some part is
moved from its normal position into a different place to give it more emphasis.

1. It + BE + Noun + Relative Clause


Bob ate the cake. → It was Bob who ate the cake.
Khawlan asked for colors. → It was Khawlan who asked for colors.

2. What/All + Clause + BE + Noun/Pronoun/Noun Phrase


Bob ate the cake. → What Bob ate was the cake.
All Bob ate was the cake. (All=The only thing)

3. What happens is + (that) + Clause


Bob ate the cake. → What happened was that Bob ate the cake.

4. The + Noun + Question Word + Clause + BE + Noun/Noun Phrase


Bob ate the cake. → The person who ate the cake was Bob.
The thing which Bob ate was the cake.
Bob works at Apple. → The place where Bob works is Apple.

5. The first/last time + Clause + BE + Complement


I saw Bob last week. → The last time I saw Bob was last week.

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