LIFT - Session 03 - Cleft Sentences

Cleft Sentences

We sometimes use cleft sentences when we want to give emphasis on a particular part of the sentence, usually by splitting a sentence into two parts.

It-cleft

We use the it-cleft in order to emphasize one of the parts.

Multiple Choice

It-cleft:

We use the it-cleft in order to emphasize one of the parts.

Which one is being emphasized?

• The blue part

• The underlined green part

It-cleft

We use the it-cleft in order to emphasize one of the parts.

The part of the sentence we want to minimize is put into a type of relative clause.

What-cleft

We also use the what-cleft to add emphasis.

Multiple Choice

What-cleft:

We use the what-cleft to put the content we want to emphasize...

• at the beginning of the sentence

• ... at the end of a sentence

What-cleft

We use the what-cleft to put the content we want to emphasize at the end of a sentence.

The minimized content is put at the beginning of the sentence followed by ‘what’.

'The thing (that)'

or

'The person who'

An alternative for a what-cleft is using the thing (that) or the person who to put the content we want to emphasize at the end of a sentence and the minimized content at the beginning.