What are Cleft Sentences for Emphasis?
Cleft sentences are a way to emphasize or highlight a specific part of a statement by splitting it into two clauses. They use the structure 'It is/was... that' or 'It is/was... who' to draw attention to the part you want to stress, making it stand out from the rest of the sentence.
A cleft sentence splits a simple statement into two parts using 'It is/was... that' or 'It is/was... who' to emphasize one specific element. For example: 'It was my brother who won the race' emphasizes 'my brother' instead of just saying 'My brother won the race'.
- •'I met John yesterday'
- •Equal emphasis on all words
- •Direct, simple structure
- •Standard word order
- •'It was John (who) I met yesterday'
- •Emphasis on specific part
- •Longer, more dramatic
- •Restructured for focus
Step-by-step worked examples
Turn into a cleft sentence to emphasize 'Sarah': Sarah helped me with my homework.
Normal: Sarah helped me with my homework. Identify focus: Sarah Cleft structure: It was SARAH who helped me with my homework.
Rewrite with emphasis on the time: They arrived on Monday.
Normal: They arrived on Monday. Focus: Monday Cleft: It was on MONDAY (that) they arrived.
Create a cleft sentence emphasizing 'the report': The report caused all the problems.
Normal: The report caused all the problems. What caused problems? The report Cleft: It was THE REPORT (that) caused all the problems.
Flashcards
Quick quiz
Q1.Which is a cleft sentence?
Q2.Emphasize 'tomorrow' in: We leave tomorrow.
Q3.What does cleft emphasis do?
Q4.Which word goes in: It ___ John who helped me.
The full card deck, worked steps and AI-tutor support for “What are Cleft Sentences for Emphasis?” are in Notek — study by hand before your exam.
Common mistakes
Using cleft for unimportant information. — Correct: Use cleft only to emphasize something truly important.
Wrong structure: 'It is that John helped me'. — Correct: Correct: 'It is JOHN who/that helped me.'
Forgetting 'that' or 'who' after the emphasized part. — Correct: Both are required in the structure.
Overusing cleft sentences. — Correct: Use sparingly for emphasis; too many become repetitive.
FAQ
What is a cleft sentence?
A sentence structure using 'It is/was... that/who' to emphasize or highlight one specific part of a statement.
How do you form a cleft sentence?
Take your main idea, identify what to emphasize, then use: It is/was + [that element] + that/who + [rest].
When should you use cleft sentences?
When you want to draw strong attention to one part of your message for emphasis or clarity.
What's the difference between 'that' and 'who' in cleft?
Use 'who' for people (It was John who...), 'that' for things/times/places (It was yesterday that...).