We use a grammar structure called cleft sentences to provide emphasis on one specific part of the sentence. We divide the sentence into two clauses in order to put the emphasis on one of the clauses.
A normal statement such as John came to see me yesterday can be converted to a cleft sentence: it was John who came to see me yesterday. This structure emphasises who came.
CLEFT SENTENCES FOR EMPHASIS
There are several ways to provide emphasis in English and cleft sentences are one way. Cleft sentences are an advanced grammar structure and are used in all forms of spoken, written, formal and informal English.
The cleft sentence is a useful advanced grammar technique that can be employed in your writing and speaking tests for the Cambridge English IELTS to showcase your ability to write and use complex grammar structures.
WHY CLEFT?
It is called a cleft sentence as there are two parts. Cleft comes from the verb to cleave meaning divided in two. A cleaver is a noun also derived form the verb to cleave and describes a type of butcher’s knife used to divide meat.
Cleft sentences are used to help focus on a particular part of the sentences. We emphasise what we want to say by using an introduction using a relative clause.
CLEFT SENTENCE STRUCTURES
There are several types of introductions for cleft sentences, although the two main structures are:
- It + be + emphasised subject + (who or that) + clause
- What + clause + be + emphasised phrase clause
The it introduction places the clause you want to emphasise first and the what introduction places the emphasis clause second. They are used for different emphasis purposes.
IT-CLAUSE CLEFT SENTENCES
It-clauses are the most common type pf cleft sentence. The it-clause provides new information and is connected to the second clause by that or who, although that and who are often omitted in informal speech.
The second clause introduced by that contains information that is already known or understood.
For example:
Speaker A. I think that John likes rugby
Speaker B. No. It’s football that John likes, not rugby
The old information is that John likes a sport. The new information is that it’s football he likes, not rugby
Speaker A. Who was it who came to see you yesterday?
Speaker B. It was John who came to see me yesterday
The it-clause emphasises the new information (John came to visit) and the second clause gives the information already known (someone visited)
If you want to emphasise when it was that John came to see you, then you can make yesterday the subject.
Speaker A. When was it that John came to see you?
Speaker B. It was yesterday that John came to see me.
The it-clause gives the new information that John’s visit was yesterday. The second clause is the known information.
Some other examples:
It won’t be the cold you find unbearable, it’ll be the snow. (You’ll find the snow unbearable rather than the cold).
Wasn’t it Winston Churchill who said we will fight them on the beaches?
It’s the cost of petrol (that) I object to, not the motor tax.
WHAT-CLAUSE CLEFT SENTENCES
What-clause cleft sentences introduce the known or understood information first. The second clause provides the emphasised new information.
- I’m very thirsty. What I need is a glass of water as I’m very thirsty. (I need a glass of water as I’m very thirsty).
- What I do is to use the internet for my research. (I use the internet for my research)
- What the investigation will reveal is not yet known. (The results that the investigation will reveal are not yet known).
OTHER CLEFT SENTENCE STRUCTURES
We can also use why, where, how, etc. to introduce this structure of cleft sentence.
- There + be + subject
- The reason why + be
- The thing that + be
- The person who +
- The reason why I did that was because I didn’t like it.
- The reason (why) I did that was because I didn’t like it
- The thing (that) I want is that one over there.
- The person (who) we need will be strong and intelligent.
USING CLEFT SENTENCES
Cleft sentences are extremely useful grammar devices for providing emphasis, but are one of several other options such as inversions and Fronting.
They should not be overused as they might lose emphasis and you could sound unnatural.
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This was very clear in its explanations as to WHY we would want to use the clefts, which is important to understand. I wonder how one would diagram a cleft sentence: if the original sentence would be cleaved together again and the inserted words would float somehow.
A diagram is a nice idea, I’ll give it some thought. It might help.