The Communicative Grammar of English Workbook - Edward Woods, Rudy Coppieters 2002

17.6. Organising information - Cleft sentences
Unit seventeen. Focusing

Sections 419-423; 496; 592

Cleft sentences

“It”-type:

• This construction is useful for fronting an element as topic and also for putting focus on the topic element.

• It cannot focus on the complement of a clause.

• It cannot focus on the verb, by using the substitute verb “do”.

“Wh”-type:

• It can focus on the complement of a clause.

• It can focus on the verb, by using the substitute verb “do”.

• It can be linked by the verb “be” to a demonstrative pronoun.

• It is more common at the beginning of a sentence.

Task one **

Rewrite the following sentences so that the focus (the underlined word) is a cleft with the introductory It.

1. I spent last week in Sweden not Switzerland.

2. No, Shakespeare wrote ’Much Ado about Nothing’ not Marlowe.

3. At the meeting of the fiscal committee, she supported the lower interest rate.

4. The prince was filmed by our camera crew.

5. Nobody will ever forget the 1960s.

6. My sister got married in 1969 not 1970.

7. I didn’t tell them and I don’t know who did.

8. We now face a global recession.

9. They bought the house as an investment, not to live in it.

10. Michael Apted directed the movie I liked.

Task two **

Rewrite the sentences below so that the part underlined is the focus using a “wh” cleft.

1. We now face a global recession.

2. I was working with the army, not the navy.

3. It isn’t known when he will get here.

4. Emily Dickinson wrote poetry not plays.

5. Cybereconomics attracts the over fifties.

6. E-crime is on the increase.

7. The head of department needs the annual turnover figures tomorrow morning.

8. A last minute error delayed him.

9. The streets of London are paved with concrete, not gold.

10. Mick Jagger has become a film producer.