Cleft Sentences

 

Cleft Sentences

Cleft sentences or clefts, are a variation of basic declarative sentences, differing from them in that constituents have been made prominent through changes that include splitting or clefting the sentences. Cleft sentences in English are of two types:

Example: - He bought a small red convertible.

·         It was a small red convertible that he bought. (It cleft)

·         What he bought was a small red convertible. (Wh-cleft)

Both types have a focused element ‘a small red convertible’.

It Clefts

The common structure/pattern of it cleft is: ‘it + be’ (be means some of its forms; is or was) followed by the part of the sentence that is to be focused element, which is itself followed by that and the rest of the original sentence.

For example,

John bought a small red pen. (Declarative sentence)

(Here, John bought – part 1 and a small red pen – part 2)

It was a small red pen that he bought. (It-type cleft sentence)

In the above example, part 2 is brought into focus or made the focused element by placing after initial ‘it + be’ and part 1 is moved into the background by being made part of a structure resembling a relative clause.

Although ‘it cleft’ generally has that, it occasionally occurs with who and when as shown respectively:

John saw Bill yesterday.

a.       It was Bill that/who John saw yesterday.

b.      It was yesterday that/when John saw Bill.

 

(Note: - different constituents can become the focus elements in ‘it cleft’)

a.       John saw Bill yesterday. (Subject noun phrase)

It’s John who saw Bill yesterday.

b.      He got his promotion six months ago. (Time adverb)

It was six months ago that he got his promotion.

c.       They aren’t changing the rules to make life easier for us. (Adjunct of purpose)

It is not to make life easier for us that they are changing the rules.

a.       He put up with the extra work load for the bonus. Prepositional phrase

It was for the bonus that he put up with the extra work load.

b.      Her favorite colour is flaming red. Adjective phrase

It is flaming red that is her favorite colour.

c.       How you play the game matters. (Subject interrogative clause)

It is how you play the game that matters.

d.      They decided to intervene because they were deeply concerned about his welfare. Adverbial subordinate clause

e.       It is because they were deeply concerned about his welfare that they decided to intervene.

 

Wh-clefts

Wh-clefts, also referred to as pseudo-clefts, are formed by placing what (or, less often, another -wh-word) in front of part 1 and inserting some form of be (mostly is or was) before part 2, which becomes the focused element:

He bought a small red pen. (He bought – part 1 and a small red pen)

What he bought was a small red pen.

 

Note: Different constituents can become the focused elements of wh-clefts as well)

a.       She wanted a glass of water. (Object noun phrase)

What she wanted was a glass of water.

b.      He promised to have it ready today. (Infinitive complement)

What he promised was to have it ready today.

c.       I said that I was hungry. (That complement)

What I said was that I was hungry.

d.      I don’t know why they decided to do it today. (Interrogative complement)

What I don’t know is why they decided to do it today.

e.       I really dislike having to listen to nonsense like that. (Gerund complement)

What I really dislike is having to listen to nonsense like that.

f.        Ram won’t be at the party. (Subject noun phrase)

Who won’t be at the party is Ram.

 

a.      If Verb phrase is focused it requires ‘do insertion’. (do insertion = use of do verbs)

He sells car. Verb phrase

What he does is sell car

b.      The wh-type can focus on the verb, by using the substitute verb do:

He's spoilt the whole thing.

What he's done is spoil the whole thing.

c.       The non-finite verb may be a bare infinitive, a to-infinitive, an -ed participle or an -ing participle:

a.       What he'll do is spoil the whole thing. (bare infinitive)

b.      What he's done is spoil the whole thing. (bare infinitive)

c.       What he's done is to spoil the whole thing. (to-infinitives)

d.      What he's done is spoilt the whole thing. (-ed participle)

e.       What he's doing is spoiling the whole thing. (-ing participle)