Cleft Sentences

Exercises

Explanation

1. What are cleft sentences?

A cleft sentence consists of two main parts:

1. A main clause (often beginning with it or what)

2. A second clause that completes or explains the idea

By reorganising the sentence, we give special focus to one element.

Normal sentence: Lena organised the whole event.

Cleft sentence: It was Lena who organised the whole event.
(We highlight Lena.)

Cleft structures are useful for:

• emphasising new information

• correcting previous assumptions

• adding dramatic or emotional impact

2. It-cleft sentences (the most common type)

Structure: It + be + emphasised element + (that / who / where / when) + clause

We choose which part of the sentence to emphasise.

Examples:

Emphasising a person:
It was Daniel who fixed the computer.

Emphasising an object:
It was the red suitcase that I lost at the airport.

Emphasising a place:
It was in the library where we first met.

Emphasising a time:
It was last winter when the project finally ended.

Notes:

• who → for people

• that → for things (often optional in informal speech)

• where/when → for places or times

• The verb be adjusts to the correct tense.

Negative and question forms:

It wasn’t Mia who called earlier.
Is it tomorrow that the results will be published?

3. What-cleft sentences

What-clefts highlight the information in the second part of the sentence. They often sound more dramatic or expressive.

Structure:

What + subject + verb + be + (noun / -ing form / infinitive / clause)

Examples:

Noun phrase:
What I really need is a day off.

-ing form:
What she enjoys most is dancing in the evenings.

Bare infinitive:
What he did was break the silence with a joke.

Reason clause:
What I can’t understand is why the plan changed again.

Other WH-words can also be used:

How she managed the situation was impressive.
Where the story begins is in a small mountain village.

4. Cleft sentences with fixed expressions

Cleft sentences can also begin with set phrases such as:

• all

• the thing

• the reason

• the person

• something

Examples:

All we want is a fair solution.
The reason I left early was that I wasn’t feeling well.
The person you should speak to is the supervisor.
Something I’ve always dreamed of is travelling the world.

These structures provide a natural way to emphasise key information and organise your ideas more clearly.

5. Helpful rules to remember

Cleft sentences create focus

Normal: Jake forgot his passport.
Cleft: It was Jake who forgot his passport.

The verb be matches the tense

Past: It was last night that the power went out.
Present: It is the main hall that needs cleaning.

In what-clefts, the form of the verb after be depends on meaning

• Action in progress → -ing
  What they’re doing is preparing the stage.

• Plans or intentions → to + infinitive
  What she wants to do is to launch her own business.

• Simple completed action → bare infinitive
  What he did was open the window.