In today’s lesson, let’s look at cleft sentences. There are many variations of cleft sentences, but today we are going to look at the most common.
It Cleft Sentences
Wh- Cleft Sentences
All Cleft sentences
You can watch my video lesson or keep scrolling to read more.
Cleft. What does that mean?
If we want to understand today’s grammar, we need to understand its name.
“Cleft” means “divided”.
It’s important to note that the adjective “cleft” is not so common in English. But, it is used to describe a sentence type.
What is being “divided”?
Cleft sentences are divided into “new” information and “old/known/obvious” information.
Let’s start with a simple conversation:
A: How was your trip to Greece with Stef?
B: Yeah good.
A: I heard Stef accidentally dropped her passport off a boat.
B: Her passport? She dropped my passport.
We can see that person “B” is correcting someone. Person “B” is giving someone new information. We can use a cleft sentence to make this more emphatic:
It was my passport that she dropped.
STRUCTURE: It + be + main focus + that clause
New information: my passport
Old information: that she dropped
You can see this sentence is divided between new and old information.
Many times, we can often remove the “old” part because it’s obvious.
Cleft sentences are great in spoken English, but you’ll see them a lot in written English.
Why?
We cannot use our voice or facial expressions to emphasize words in writing. What can we do? Use the grammar.
A: We met our client John Bloom last Monday, right?
B: Last Monday. No, we met him last Tuesday. Remember the offices were closed on that Monday.
We can see that person “B” is correcting someone. Person “B” is giving someone new information. We can use a cleft sentence to make this more emphatic:
No, it was last Tuesday that we met him.
STRUCTURE: It + be + main focus + that clause
New information: last Tuesday
Old information: that we met him
I’m going to give you four more examples, each with a mini change.
1.I believe it was Shel Silverstein that/who wrote The Giving Tree.
We can use “who” or “that” for people.
2. It was a painting by my uncle that/which inspired me to study art history.
We can use “which” or “that” for things.
3. It’s not a cricket’s mouth that makes the chirping noise. It’s actually their legs or wings.
We can make the sentence negative by adding “not” after “be”.
4. It’s Matt and Jessica who are having the party.
After “it” the verb “be” must remain singular even if the subject is plural.
You can remove the relative pronoun in a sentence if it’s the object of the clause.
- It was my passport (that) she dropped.
- I believe it was Shel Silverstein who wrote The Giving Tree.
- It was a painting by my uncle which inspired me to study art history.
- It’s not a cricket’s mouth that makes the chirping noise. It’s actually their legs or wings.
- It was last Tuesday (that) we met him
- It’s Matt and Jessica who are having the party. Not me.
- It’s form B6115 (that) you need.
You can see that in sentences 1, 5, and 7, I can remove the relative pronouns.
TRICK: If there is a subject and a verb after your relative pronoun, you can remove it. If there is only a verb after your relative pronoun, you know it’s your subject and you cannot remove it.
WH-cleft sentences
And what do I mean by Wh-?
who / what / when/ where / why / how
A: We need more time for this project.
B: We need more funding.
Person “B” is giving someone new information. We can use a cleft sentence to make this more emphatic:
What we need is more funding.
STRUCTURE: Wh- + subject + verb + be + main focus
Old information: What we need is
New information: more funding
We can reverse the parts in this type of cleft sentence: More funding is what we need.
Let’s compare this to an “It” cleft sentence.
It’s more funding that we need.
Both of these types of cleft sentences give you the same information, but it’s important to have variety.
A: My car has been having trouble starting lately.
B: You need a new battery.
Person “B” is giving someone new information. We can use a cleft sentence to make this more emphatic:
What you need is a new battery.
STRUCTURE: Wh- + subject + verb + be + main focus
Reversed: A new battery is what you need.
And many times you’ll see the Wh-clause, just the Wh- clause in video titles.
For example:
What I eat in a day
What I got for my birthday
These are just half of a cleft sentence because the main information is in the video.
What I want is new cushions for the couch.
What we enjoyed was the beautiful walks.
Notice how these sentences use a singular “be” (is/was) even though the objects are plural. Normally, “is” and “was” are considered correct, but many people do use “are” and “were”.
More examples
1.Who first accused the CEO of embezzlement is unknown.
2.When a person should get married is a personal choice.
Students, you need to find all six of these objects that are hidden in this park.
3.Where they are is something you need to find out.
What??? Is it possible to have “be” and “be” together? Are is?
Yes, it’s absolutely correct.
Here’s another example of a “double be”: When your exam is is all I need to know.
The first “is” is the main verb and the second “is” is the “be form” that is part of this cleft structure.
4.Why Steve quit uni is a mystery.
Sandra was lost in the woods for three weeks. 5.How she survived is an amazing story. You should read her book.
What ALL + subject + verb + be + main focus
We can replace “Wh-” with “all”. When we use “all”, we mean “the only thing”.
1.Imagine a parent with a new baby.
Simple: I want more sleep.
Cleft sentence: All I want is more sleep.
Reversed cleft: More sleep is all I want
2.Renewing a passport is pretty simple.
Simple: You need to take a new picture and fill out a form.
Cleft sentence: All you need to do is take a new picture and fill out a form.
Reversed: Taking a new picture and filling out a form is all you need to do. You don’t need to do anything else.
Using “all” in this way is really common, especially in songs. Why? Because songs are all about emphasis. Songs are emotional.
Remember Sandra was lost in the woods for three weeks?
A: How did she survive for three weeks?
B: She found a water source and made a camp under a tree.
This is pretty impressive. We can use a cleft sentence to emphasize this.
What she did was (to) find a water source and make a camp under a tree.
STRUCTURE: What + subject + do/does/did + be + (to)* + verb 1
I can’t believe Aaron didn’t call the police. He tried to solve the crime himself.
What he did was (to) try to solve the crime himself.
*Yes, “to” is optional. In my opinion, the version without “to” is more common.
What ALL + subject + do/does/did + be + (to) + verb 1
You can replace “what” with “all”. Again, “all” means “the only thing”.
1.I don’t know why Emily was so offended. All I did was (to) ask her a question.
2.This vacuum is useless. All it does is (to) scare our dog.
3.All I do every day is (to) sit at home.
Test
Can you unscramble the sentences to make correct cleft sentences? Scroll down for the answers!
Kids: Do we all get new shoes? Mom: No.
1) today / new / who / Chloe / it’s / shoes / only / gets
Helen didn’t do much shopping on her trip to London.
2) she / fridge magnet / bought / all / was / a
Howard Carter discovered something incredible in Egypt in 1922.
3) what / the tomb of / Tutankhamun / was / he / discovered
Yoga is so good for you.
4) your / mind / is / (to) relax / what / it / does / and / body
Joanna is the worst colleague I’ve ever had. She never works.
5) (to) wait / for / all/ she / the work / does / is / someone else / to do
Thank you very much for reading!
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See you next time!
Answers
1.It’s only Chloe who gets new shoes today. OR Today it’s only Chloe who gets new shoes.
2.All she bought was a fridge magnet. OR A fridge magnet was all she bought.
3.What he discovered was the tomb of Tutankhamun. OR The tomb of Tutankhamun was what he discovered.
4.What it does is (to) relax your mind and body. OR your body and mind
5.All she does is (to) wait for someone else to do the work.
