#Speaking
Cleft sentences Cleft means “divided”. In cleft sentences, one sentence is divided into two parts, each with its own verb. This adds emphasis to part of the sentence.
John loves Mary. (one verb)
It’s Mary that John loves. (two verbs, emphasizes Mary)
The following structures are commonly used to begin cleft sentences.
It + …
It was a .. who …
It was in … that …
What + …
What I like about … is …
What they didn’t realize was …
other structures
The person who …
The place that …
The thing that… is/was …
Something that … is/was…
The reason why … is/was …
The only thing that … is/was …
All that I would … is/was …
Note: We use the singular form after
It+… and
What + … sentences.
It
was my parents I had to thank for this. NOT It
were my parents …
What
is really annoying are the arguments. NOT What
are really annoying…
We can use
Wh- words with cleft sentences. To emphasize the action, we use a form of do.
Jane invested well. ➡️
What Jane
did was invest well.
emphasizing with what, all and it.
To emphasize an action or series of actions, we can use sentences beginning with
What.
dropped the vase. ➡️
What happened was (that) he dropped the vase.
We can use
Wh- clauses as introductory phrases.
What I would like to know is where the money went.
We can use
all instead of
what.
All I’d like to say is that the company appreciates your work.
Use
It+be+that/who to emphasize parts of a sentence.
Karin left her bag on the train. ➡️ It was
Karin who left her bag on the train. (Karin – not Fatima)
It was
her bag that Karina left on the train. (not her umbrella)
It’s
because you have such a good sense of humour that I enjoy your company. (emphasizing reason).
It was
only yesterday that I discovered the documents were missing. (emphasizing time).
It was in
Paris that they first met. (emphasizing place).
👉
@ieltsLA
