CLEFTING & PSEUDO-CLEFTING

MARÍA JESÚS PÉREZ JÁUREGUI

CLEFT SENTENCES - EXERCISE

1) Hernan Cortes landed in America in 1492.

2) In the novel by Alexandre Dumas, D’Artagnan befriends five musketeers.
3) Timon and Pumbaa appear in Disney’s Pocahontas.
4) Andy should eat doughnuts if he wants to lose weight.
5) Thomas Edison invented the telephone.
CLEFT SENTENCES

1) Hernan Cortes landed in America in 1492.

It was Christopher Columbus that/who landed in American in 1492.
It was in 1504 that/when Hernan Cortes landed in America.
CLEFT SENTENCES

2) In the novel by Alexandre Dumas, D’Artagnan befriends five musketeers.

It is three musketeers (that) he befriends.
CLEFT SENTENCES

3) Timon and Pumbaa appear in Disney’s Pocahontas.

It is in Disney’s The Lion King that Timon and Pumbaa appear.
CLEFT SENTENCES

4) Andy should eat doughnuts if he wants to lose weight.

It is vegetables (that) he should eat.
CLEFT SENTENCES

5) Thomas Edison invented the telephone.

It is/was Graham Bell that/who invented the telephone.
It is/was the light bulb (that) Thomas Edison invented.
ANOTHER WAY OF EMPHASISING INFORMATION

A hammer is the thing which/that we need.

A hammer is what we need.

What we need is a hammer

ANOTHER WAY OF EMPHASISING INFORMATION

A hammer is the thing which/that we need. DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

NOMINAL NOUN +
A hammer is what we need. RELATIVE RELATIVE
PRONOUN
CLAUSE
COMBINED

What we need is a hammer

ANOTHER WAY OF EMPHASISING INFORMATION

A hammer is the thing which/that we need. DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

Subject complement (C)

NOMINAL NOUN +
A hammer is what we need. RELATIVE RELATIVE
PRONOUN
CLAUSE
COMBINED

BOTH ARE SVC

What we need is a hammer THE VERB IS “TO BE”
IN THE SECOND THE EMPHASIS IS
PSEUDO-CLEFT ON THE INFORMATION IN THE
PREDICATE
PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES

[At a lecture]
Student 1: What is he going to talk about today?
Student 2: No idea.
Professor: What I’m going to talk about today is climate
change.
✓ “Announcing” function: New information
comes at the end.
PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES

A: Mrs Smith gave the kids some banana ice-cream.

B:You’re wrong. What she gave them was some chocolate
ice-cream.

✓ “Correcting” function: We correct information.

PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES

Imagine that you want to assemble the bookcase. What

you do is (to) use nails to fix the shelves.

for actions: to-infinitive clause

✓ “Explaining” function: We give a reason or

explanation.
 PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES

Don’t get her a pair of shoes!

What she wants is a new jacket. PSEUDO-CLEFT

Don’t get her a pair of shoes!

CLEFT
It is a new jacket that she wants.
The meaning is the same. But pseudo-clefts work better when the piece of information
is long:
What she wants is the blue fleece jacket with pockets and golden buttons that Lady
Gaga wore in her music video.
PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES

We don’t usually begin a sentence with who, why, whose,

when, where, why or how. Instead, we use a phrase with or
without the wh-word:
(?) Who I like is Michael.* → The person (who) I like is Michael.
PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES

We don’t usually begin a sentence with who, why, whose,

when, where or how. Instead, we use a phrase with or without
the wh-word:
(?) Who I like is Michael. → The person (who) I like is Michael.
(?) Why I left the party early was that I was feeling unwell. →
The reason (why) I left the party early was that...
PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES

We don’t usually begin a sentence with who, why, whose,

when, where or how. Instead, we use a phrase with or without
the wh-word:
(?) Who I like is Michael. → The person (who) I like is Michael.
(?) Why I left the party early was that I was feeling unwell. →
The reason (why) I left the party early was that...
(?) Where I work best is the library. →
PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES

We don’t usually begin a sentence with who, why, whose,

when, where or how. Instead, we use a phrase with or without
the wh-word:
(?) Who I like is Michael. → The person (who) I like is Michael.
(?) Why I left the party early was that I was feeling unwell. →
The reason (why) I left the party early was that...
(?) Where I work best is the library. → The place where I work
best is the library.
PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES

We can reverse pseudo-cleft sentences (but not cleft

sentences!):
What we need is a hammer. → A hammer is what we need.

It is a hammer that we need. → * That we need it is a hammer.

 PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES - SPEAKING
Find out information about your partner by making a guess and having the information
corrected:
1-What he/she watched yesterday evening.
Example: Question: Did you watch a documentary yesterday evening?
No. What I watched was a film.
2-His/her favourite place to relax.
Question: Do you go to ____________ to relax?
No. The place _______________ is _____________.
3-Something or someone that makes him/her laugh.
Question: Does/do ___________ make you laugh?
No. __________________ is _____________.
4-The type of books he/she enjoys reading.
Question: Do you enjoy reading________________?
No. __________________ is _____________.
 PSEUDO-CLEFT SENTENCES - SPEAKING
Find out information about your partner by making a guess and having the information
corrected:
1-What he/she watched yesterday evening.
Example: Question: Did you watch a documentary yesterday evening?
No. What I watched was a film.
2-His/her favourite place to relax.
Question: Do you go to ____________ to relax?
No. The place _______________ is _____________.
3-Something or someone that makes him/her laugh.
Question: Does/do ___________ make you laugh?
No. __________________ is _____________.
Can you use a cleft
4-The type of books he/she enjoys reading.
sentence in your answer
Question: Do you enjoy reading________________?
instead?
No. __________________ is _____________.