Learning English spacer gif cleft sentences Jewels

Kristina from Bulgaria asks: What is a cleft sentence and how do we use it? Roger Woodham replies: Cleft sentences are used to help us focus on a particular part of the sentence and to emphasise what we want to say y introducing it or uilding up to it with a kind of relati!e clause" Because there are two parts to the sentence it is called cleft #from the !er clea!e$ which means di!ided into two" Cleft sentences are particularly useful in writing where we cannot use intonation for purposes of focus or emphasis% ut they are also fre&uently used in speech"

Cleft structures include the reason why% the thing that% the person'people who% the place where% the day when and what(clauses which are usually linked to the clause that we want to focus on with is or was" Compare the following sets of sentences and notice how the cleft structure in each case ena les us to select the information we want to focus on: )*!e come to discuss my future with you" +he reason why )*!e come is to discuss my future with you" ,our generosity impresses more than anything else" +he thing that impresses me more than anything else is your generosity" +he -ewels are hidden under the floor at ./ Ro in 0ood Road% Epping" +he place where the -ewels are hidden is under the floor at ./ Ro in 0ood Road% Epping" 1nder the floor at ./ Ro in 0ood Road is the place where the -ewels are hidden" 2ary works harder than any ody else in this organisation" +he person who works harder than any ody else in this organisation is 2ary" 2ary is the person in this organisation who works harder than any ody else" +he 3econd World War ended on 4 2ay 5678 in Europe" +he day #when$ the 3econd World War ended in Europe was 4 2ay 5678 4 2ay 5678 was the day #when$ the 3econd World War ended in Europe" We now need actions rather than words" What we now need are actions rather than words" 9ctions rather than words are what we now need"

) en-oyed the rilliant music most of all in the Ballet :rankfurt performance" What ) en-oyed most in the Ballet :rankfurt performance was the rilliant music" +he rilliant music was what ) en-oyed most in the Ballet :rankfurt performance" ;ote from the last two e<amples that cleft structures with what(clauses are often used with !er s e<pressing an emoti!e response to something like adore% dislike% en-oy% hate% like% loathe% lo!e% need% prefer% want% etc"

Cleft structures with what(clauses are also often used with does'do'did and with the !er happen when we want to gi!e emphasis to the whole sentence% rather than a particular clause" Compare the following: +he police inter!iewed all the witnesses to the accident first" What the police did first was #to$ inter!iew all the witnesses to the accident" ,ou should in!est all your money in telecoms companies" What you should do is #to$ in!est all your money in telecoms companies" What you should in!est all your money in is telecoms companies" 3he writes all her no!els on a typewriter" What she does is #to$ write all her no!els on a type writer" +heir car roke down on the motorway so they didn*t get to Jo*s wedding on time" What happened was that their car roke down on the motorway so they didn*t get to Jo*s wedding on time"

)t is sometimes !ery effecti!e to use all instead of what in a cleft structure if you want to focus on one particular thing and nothing else: ) want a new coat for Christmas" 9ll ) want for Christmas is a new coat" 9 new coat is all ) want for Christmas" ) touched the edside light and it roke" 9ll ) did was #to$ touch the edside light and it roke"

:inally% we can also use preparatory it in cleft sentences and -oin the words that we want to focus on to the relati!e clause with that% who or when" )n the e<ample which follows% note how this construction ena les us to focus on different aspects of the information% which may e important at the time: 2y rother ought his new car from our ne<t(door neigh our last 3aturday"

)t was my rother who ought his new car from our neigh our last 3aturday" )t was last 3aturday when my rother ought his new car from our neigh our" )t was a new car that my rother ought from our neigh our last 3aturday" )t was our ne<t(door neigh our that my rother ought his new car from last 3aturday" Look out for cleft structures in your reading" +hey are a !ery common feature of written English"

)f you want to practise using some of these phrases look at our 2essage Board in the ,ou% 2e and 1s part of our we site"