Transcript It was John who broke the window.

What is a cleft sentence?
A cleft sentence is derived from a simple sentence
by dividing it into two clauses
e.g. John broke the window. (simple sentence)
→ It was John who broke the window. (cleft)
→ It was the window that John broke. (cleft)
Clefts have the following structure:
It + part of the verb to be (sing.) + …. + who/that
Singular form of verb to be
Note that the verb is always singular
(agreeing with subject it), even if the
complement is plural.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
It
It
It
It
was the king who cried.
was the children who cried.
was me who knocked at the door.
was us who knocked at the door.
Highlighting a specific element
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i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Clefts offer the writer/speaker the
possibility of giving prominence to specific
elements in the sentence.
It
It
It
It
was the king who cried.
was the children who cried.
was me/I who knocked at the door.
was us/we who knocked at the door.
Other examples of highlighted
elements
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It was John who broke the window.
It was the window that John broke.
It was in the bank that the bomb went
off.
It is red that she likes best.
It is a lie that you are telling me.
It was in 1998 that she got married.
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Pseudo-cleft
relative clause (subject) + part of
the verb to be + complement
What I saw + was + a bright light.
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Like clefts, pseudo-clefts give the
writer/speaker the possibility of
highlighting a particular item - the
complement.
The structure allows different
complements to be formed from the
same unmarked simple sentence.
An example
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4.
John gave his mother a necklace.
(unmarked simple sentence)
possible pseudo-clefts (highlighted elements in bold)
What John did was give his mother a necklace.
What John gave his mother was a necklace.
The person/one whom John gave a necklace was
his mother.
The person/one who gave a necklace to his mother
was John.
Nominal relative clauses
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A nominal relative clause is usually
introduced by a wh- element.
what/who/where/whoever/whatever/
why/how
A relative clause has a finite verb.
Examples of nominal relative
clauses
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
what/who/where/whoever/whatever/
why/how
What John did was break a window.
Who John will see is a neurologist.
Where John went was Naples.
Whoever broke the window is a liar.
Why John broke the window is a mystery.
How John broke the window is a mystery.
Paraphrases of wh- elements
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But there are numerous “paraphrases”
of the pseudo-cleft construction
involving noun phrases of general
reference in place of the wh-item.
e.g. the person who, the one who, the
people who, the thing(s) that, the place
that, the reason why etc.
Substitution of wh-elements
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6.
What (The thing that) John did was break a
window.
Who (The person whom) John will see is a
neurologist.
Where (The place to which) John went was
Naples.
Whoever (The person/one who) broke the
window is a liar.
Why (The reason why) John broke the window is a
mystery.
How (The way in which) John broke the window is
a mystery.
Pseudo-clefts highlight the
complement
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What John did was break a window.
Whom John will see is a neurologist.
Where John went is a secret.
Whoever broke the window will be sorry.
Whatever John wants will be his.
Why John broke the window is a mystery.
How John broke the window is not clear.
Pseud-clefts are also equatives
1.
A pseudo-cleft is a sort of equation, with the verb be
equating the subject with the complement.
e.g. What John did was give his mother a
necklace.
The act of giving his mother a necklace is equated
with being what the duke did.
The sentence could, theoretically, be written in two
ways.
What John did was give his mother a necklace.
2.
Give his mother a necklace was what John did.
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Other examples
1 i. What the students will study was grammar
structure.
ii. Grammar structure is what the students
will study.
2. i. The person who arrived late was Mr Jones.
ii. Mr Jones was the person who arrived late.
3. i. Where they got married is Prague.
ii. Prague is where they got married.
(Do Exs. II b.)