Psuedo-cleft sentences

Psuedo-cleft sentences

Psuedo-cleft Sentences

Cleft sentences are used to help us focus on a particular part of the sentence and to emphasise what we want to say by introducing it or building up to it with a kind of relative clause.

Psuedo-cleft Sentences..

• Cleft sentences are particularly useful in writing where we cannot use intonation for purposes of focus or emphasis.

• Cleft structures include the reason why, the thing that, the person/people who, the place where, the day when and what-clauses

"I've come to discuss my future with you."

"The reason why I've come is to discuss my future with you. "

"Your generosity impresses more than anything else."

"The thing that impresses me more than anything else is your generosity."

"The jewels are hidden under the floor at 23 Robin Hood Road, Epping."

" The place where the jewels are hidden is under the floor at 23 Robin Hood Road, Epping. "

Open Ended

Adjust the order of the sentence to emphasise what, where, or why?

"We want to find out where they are hiding."

Open Ended

John was the person I told everything to.

Open Ended

I love the long beach outside of the city.

Continued...

"Mary works harder than anybody else in this organisation."

"The person who works harder than anybody else in this organisation is Mary."

"Mary is the person in this organisation who works harder than anybody else."

"The Second World War ended on 7 May 1945 in Europe."

"The day (when) the Second World War ended in Europe was 7 May 1945."

"7 May 1945 was the day (when) the Second World War ended in Europe."

"We now need actions rather than words." "What we now need are actions rather than words."

"Actions rather than words are what we now need. "

cleft structures with what-clauses are often used with verbs expressing an emotive response to something like adore, dislike, enjoy, hate, like, loathe, love, need, prefer, want, etc.

What-clauses

Cleft structures with what-clauses are also often used with does/do/did and with the verb happen when we want to give emphasis to the whole sentence, rather than a particular clause.

Open Ended

I want fame, money, and power.

Open Ended

Mary lent him money.

All instead of what

It is sometimes very effective to use all instead of what in a cleft structure if you want to focus on one particular thing and nothing else

"I want a new coat for Christmas."

"All I want for Christmas is a new coat."

"A new coat is all I want for Christmas."

Preparatory "it"

we can also use preparatory it in cleft sentences and join the words that we want to focus on to the relative clause with that, who or when.

"My brother bought his new car from our next-door neighbour last Saturday."

"It was my brother who bought his new car from our neighbour last Saturday."

"It was last Saturday when my brother bought his new car from our neighbour."

"It was a new car that my brother bought from our neighbour last Saturday.

"It was our next-door neighbour that my brother bought his new car from last Saturday."

Open Ended

Use the preparatory "it" to rewrite these sentences:

"Mary lent him the money."

Open Ended

"I realised when I read the email that she was leaving me."

Open Ended

"He sold his car to pay the mortgage."