2. ADDING EMPHASIS: CLEFT
SENTENCES
1. EMPHASISING ONE ELEMENT
2. EMPHASASING AN EVENT
3. EMPHASASING A PART OF A SENTENCE
a) With an identified subject
b) With “it” as a subject
3. 1. EMPHASASING ONE ELEMENT:
What (=the thing) / All (=the only thing) + clause+
be
I need a coffee - What I need is a coffee
I just want to travel All I want is to travel
4. 2. EMPHASASING AN EVENT (OR
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS)
What happens is / What happened was + that
+ clasuse
You do a test and then you have an interview
What happens is that you do a test and then
you have an interview
We left our passports at home What
happened was that we left our passports at
home
5. 3. EMPHASASING PART OF A
SENTENCE
a)identified subject
The person who…/ the place where… / the
first-last time that…/ the reason why… +
relative clausese + be + emphasised
element
I spoke to the manager The person
(whom) I spoke to was the manager.
I saw him on Saturday The last time
6. b) Subject “it”
It + is / was + emphasised part of the
sentence + relative clause
A boy in my class won the prize It was a
boy in my class who won the prize
We had the meeting last Friday It was
last Friday when we had the meeting.
